Harvard: University or Hedge Fund?

[LazyBoy]

http://www.unz.com/article/paying-tu...nt-hedge-fund/

Meanwhile, during most of these years, Harvard’s own endowment has annually grown by five or ten or even twenty times that figure, rendering net tuition from those thousands of students a mere financial bagatelle, having almost no impact on the university’s cash-flow or balance-sheet position. If all the students disappeared tomorrow—or were forced to pay double their current tuition—the impact would be negligible compared to the crucial fluctuations in the mortgage-derivatives market or the international cost-of-funds index.

...

during the 2008 Financial Crisis, Harvard lost $11 billion on its net holdings, teetering on the verge of bankruptcy as its highly illiquid assets could not easily be redeployed to cover hundreds of millions of dollars in ongoing capital commitments to various private equity funds. The desperate hedge fund—ahem, academic institution—was forced to borrow $2.5 billion from the credit markets, lay off hundreds of university employees, and completely halt construction work on a huge expansion project, ultimately surviving and later recovering in much the same way as did Goldman Sachs or Citibank.

During all these untoward events, the dollars being paid in by physics majors and being paid out to professors of medieval French literature were of no significance whatsoever...

[lektrode]

Re: Harvard: University or Hedge Fund?

http://www.unz.com/article/paying-tuition-to-a-giant-hedge-fund/

The numbers tell the story.

yes, OH yes they do....

Each September, Harvard’s 6,600 undergraduates begin their classes at the Ivy-covered walls of its traditional Cambridge campus owing annual tuition of around $37,000 for the privilege, up from just $13,000 in 1990.

good thing the CPI has been 'subdued' eh?
(read: good ole hahvahd's rates dont factor-in that rate of 'growth' )

Harvard’s Division of Arts and Sciences—the central core of academic activity—contains approximately 450 full professors, whose annual salaries tend to average the highest at any university in America. Each year, these hundreds of great scholars and teachers receive aggregate total pay of around $85 million. But in fiscal 2004, just the five top managers of the Harvard endowment fund shared total compensation of $78 million,

all the while the social 'sciences' dept decries the wealth disparities in The US ?

during the 2008 Financial Crisis, Harvard lost $11 billion on its net holdings, teetering on the verge of bankruptcy ..
—was forced to borrow $2.5 billion from the credit markets, lay off hundreds of university employees, and completely halt construction work on a huge expansion project, ultimately surviving and later recovering in much the same way as did Goldman Sachs or Citibank

ah yes - it just happened to be a(nother) convenient co-incidence that the incoming occupant - along with most of the rest of lower manhattan finest (ruthless gamblers in/with OPM - thats somebody else money) - most all happened to be on the same team - with hahvahd's boys at the top of the list of invitees to the current occupant's coronation.

since its my contention that THEY ALL KNEW WHAT WAS COMING, heading into the 2008 election season - and in concert with the liberal-run lamestream media - conspired to DRIVE THE ECONOMY INTO THE DIRT, thus throwing the election - and CONTROL OF ALL THREE BRANCHES of the .gov - to THEIR TEAM - knowing that they would ALL BE BAILED OUT with their man/alumnus in the whitehouse !!!!!!

and if institutional investors had balked at the massive bond sales,

heh - and we'll just fuhgetabout balking at bailouts of some of the alumnae - nahhh - that wouldnt have had _anything_ to do with anything then - right?

both groups might have arrived at the classroom one morning only to see a “Closed for Bankruptcy” notice, while Cerberus Capital Management and the Blackstone Group began furiously bidding for the liquidated real estate properties and private equity holdings of what had once been America’s most storied center of learning. Meanwhile, Bill Gates might have swooped in and acquired the unimportant educational properties themselves for a song, afterward renaming the campus itself Microsoft U.-East.

or worse - they might've had to put the bite on GS's saviour and named the hedgefund... uhhh... i mean... the Division of Arts and Sciences after the ORACLE of omaha

i wish i could be around to attend a lecture sometime in the future when their historical revisionists recount the heroic efforts in the name of 'saving the financial system' - read: gave away the treasury/goldmine to lower manhattan

WHILE MAIN STREET GOT THE SHAFT!!!

and we can 'thank' the party in control - with some of hahvahds finest - FOR THAT TOO!!

and just think - it was just 100 years ago this year (next week) when they also had control of ALL THREE BRANCHES - and what a smashing success things have been - like since the 1990's - esp since it was some the prev 'masters of the universe' administration that 'fixed things'

[BadJuju]

Re: Harvard: University or Hedge Fund?

I really don't understand why you rail so much against the Democrats. Both parties suck, lektrode. And they suck equally. So what's the deal?

[santafe2]

Re: Harvard: University or Hedge Fund?

I really don't understand why you rail so much against the Democrats. Both parties suck, lektrode. And they suck equally. So what's the deal?

JMO of course, but I think it's important for everyone to understand that this party we call politics in America is not for any of us. It's being run by and for FIRE and the other boys and girls in the Forbes 400. It's like people who watch television and don't realize that they are the product. Television is just a vehicle to deliver a human product to advertisers. These two political parties are roughly the same thing. They are designed to make us feel like we have a choice, like we can flip the channel from left to right....but as you flip back and forth, you realize it's all the same stuff. It's Pepsi or Coke.

[BadJuju]

Re: Harvard: University or Hedge Fund?

It's Pepsi or Coke.

To be fair, I actually like Coke. I can't say the same thing for the despicable Democrats or Republicans.

[vinoveri]

Re: Harvard: University or Hedge Fund?

JMO of course, but I think it's important for everyone to understand that this party we call politics in America is not for any of us. It's being run by and for FIRE and the other boys and girls in the Forbes 400. It's like people who watch television and don't realize that they are the product. Television is just a vehicle to deliver a human product to advertisers. These two political parties are roughly the same thing. They are designed to make us feel like we have a choice, like we can flip the channel from left to right....but as you flip back and forth, you realize it's all the same stuff. It's Pepsi or Coke.

You left out the secularists "intellegentsia" who control the academies and who, save for science and technology, continue to teach a self-chosen, perpetuated and dogmatic worldview that is so self-contradictory that no wonder we have a population of confused and isolated individuals who are not in a position and do not have the "educational" wherewithal to understand what is being done to them by the symbiotic relationship of big bus and big gov. The academies give a pass to the politicos b/c they (like any other bought off group) depend on the gov, e.g., tax treatment, grants, student loans, etc. Ask yourself when was the last time an association of universities stood firmly against gov policy in any meaningful way .....

[subtly]

Re: Harvard: University or Hedge Fund?

I really don't understand why you rail so much against the Democrats. Both parties suck, lektrode. And they suck equally. So what's the deal?

I agree for the most part, and preach the same almost daily to whoever will listen to me. But, to lots of folks there are enough differences that make it easy for them to pick a "side".

For a same sex couple raising a child together not having some of the same legal rights as a couple in a traditional man-woman marriage.
For people who strongly believe gay couples have no business raising kids together...
For people with strong feelings on either side of the abortion debate.
For people with strong feelings on the right to bear arms.

It's a really tough sell trying to convince these folks, and others, there's no difference in Dems/Reps. They may not understand the economic concepts discussed at iTulip, but they know what affects them on a day in, day out basis. I guess Divide and Conquer is complete...

[Woodsman]

Re: Harvard: University or Hedge Fund?

... Ask yourself when was the last time an association of universities stood firmly against gov policy in any meaningful way .....

Pick up a copy of the Chronicle of Higher Education or Academe and see for yourself. Here's a story from the AAUP blog as a for instance.

You know some good things come out of colleges and universities every once in a while, vino. It's not all so black and white, I think. I feel the same either/or about parts of Nebraska and Texas, so I'm just as guilty.

[santafe2]

Re: Harvard: University or Hedge Fund?

I agree for the most part, and preach the same almost daily to whoever will listen to me. But, to lots of folks there are enough differences that make it easy for them to pick a "side".

For a same sex couple raising a child together not having some of the same legal rights as a couple in a traditional man-woman marriage.
For people who strongly believe gay couples have no business raising kids together...
For people with strong feelings on either side of the abortion debate.
For people with strong feelings on the right to bear arms.

It's a really tough sell trying to convince these folks, and others, there's no difference in Dems/Reps. They may not understand the economic concepts discussed at iTulip, but they know what affects them on a day in, day out basis. I guess Divide and Conquer is complete...

There are always wedge issues and the more political leaders can megaphone these issues through the MSM while they fail to lead, the easier it is to maintain the status quo.

When it gets worse, and I agree with everyone here who has said, it's getting worse, it will be easier to pit sides against each other so no one is blaming the uber-rich and our mostly worthless political leadership. You can count on one hand, (maybe less), the ones that are not bought and paid for.

[vinoveri]

Re: Harvard: University or Hedge Fund?

Pick up a copy of the Chronicle of Higher Education or Academe and see for yourself. Here's a story from the AAUP blog as a for instance.

You know some good things come out of colleges and universities every once in a while, vino. It's not all so black and white, I think. I feel the same either/or about parts of Nebraska and Texas, so I'm just as guilty.

Woods, I believe you make my point for me if that blog is supposed to qualify as a counter-example (unless I missed something, which is likely) it is complaining about failure to invest more in education and the horror of charter schools .... sorry not seeing how this is preaching truth to power, but only self-serving "talking book".

Your other point is straw my friend - I never said NOTHING good evers comes out of the U's - in fact I would say that a lot of good does come out, in the natural sciences and engineering.

[Woodsman]

Re: Harvard: University or Hedge Fund?

Woods, I believe you make my point for me if that blog is supposed to qualify as a counter-example (unless I missed something, which is likely) it is complaining about failure to invest more in education and the horror of charter schools .... sorry not seeing how this is preaching truth to power, but only self-serving "talking book".

Your other point is straw my friend - I never said NOTHING good evers comes out of the U's - in fact I would say that a lot of good does come out, in the natural sciences and engineering.

Okay, vino. Have it your way. No worries; moral equivalency will save us all.

Merry Christmas.

[vinoveri]

Re: Harvard: University or Hedge Fund?

Okay, vino. Have it your way. No worries; moral equivalency will save us all.

Merry Christmas.

And a most Happy Holiday season to you Woods!

[vt]

Re: Harvard: University or Hedge Fund?

Woodsman,

The AAUP blog suggests that communist and socialist governments, and U.S. cities run by liberal mayors cannot even provide basics like toilet paper!

The Detroit example calls for more spending on public education when all we see is a sinkhole for money and not improvement, but the opposite.

All I'm seeing is government spending more and more, and the poor not being helped to get out of poverty. We need jobs, not government programs created by academics needing to publish something, anything in the social sciences

Meanwhile I see students taking on massive debt to receive educations that do not help them get employment. I also have seen college tuitions skyrocket far faster than the rate of inflation and population increase. Man, would I like to see an OBJECTIVE academic study as to the reason for THAT!! I'd like to see a Pulitzer prize won for an investigation on this subject!

This forum is doing a great service going after FIRE. We need a similar one to go after the other destructive element in America: GUME

G BIG inefficient, wasteful spending Government
U Public Unions (not the unions that help the working man in industry get safety, decent pay, and fair treatment; how about just create jobs.)
M Main Street Media. More like Pravda under the U.S.S.R.
E Academia at all levels.

They all fed each other, help each other to grow. It's like a cancer that teams up with FIRE to create lack of opportunity to GROW the economy.

They GUME up the system

[lektrode]

Re: Harvard: University or Hedge Fund?

I really don't understand why you rail so much against the Democrats. Both parties suck, lektrode. And they suck equally. So what's the deal?

+1 mr juju
agree 100%, with one small caveat.

lets just say that i think the dems suck more with, IMHO - 51.8% of the blame for our present sitch.

and here's my .02 and why i think that.

it goes back to being a dual-resident of MA & NH during my 'formative' years, in the 70's/80's - and the POV of my self-employed ole man - a 1920 vintage, 1st gen irish american, born/raised in boston/dorchester, ww2 vet - who voted dem for most of his life - right up til MA and the dems rammed thru one of the first no-fault auto ins laws and decimated his biz in the early 70's (not that the oilprice-induced recession of '74 helped much) - altho he was onto em by the 60's - the first thing that sent him off was JFK's exec order allowing the unionization of the .gov workforce - clearly a conflict of interest tween We, The People and THEM in the .gov - particularly the 'camelot' bunch - and then we had 'camelot2' and now the 'camelot3' mob, all posing as 'champions' of whom, precisely???

it sure as hell aint all or even a majority of WE, The People.

no, my friend, the dems are THE Party of the SPECIAL interests - and whats happened since 2009 lays it out large and
IN YOUR/OUR FACES

why do i say this?

its simple - in an effort to cobble together a 51.8% margin of 'victory' - they need to pander to ever smaller toenail slivers of the electorate to gain said 'majority' - and if that alone isnt suspect, then not sure i could convince you otherwise - but lets just say that most of these slivers are so... uhhh... 'diverse' that if ya put em all under the big blue tent and gave em all FREE BOOZE (on top of all the rest of the stuff a lot of em feel 'entitled' to) THEY'D ALL BE FIGHTING WITH EACH OTHER WITHIN AN HOUR.

another reason - and you'd have to experience living in the state that i've been for over 24years now to really appreciate why this particular issue matters - the dems are THE party of the .gov unions - and what happened during/after 2009 is a case in point - when their supposed 'stimulous' plan bailed-out the state/municipal unions - with most of the blue states, in particular - having spent money like drunken sailors (with apologies to sailors) during the boom years tween 2003 and 2007 (after the prev .com bubble had crashed in 2000-01, sending the country into a recession and THEN a failure of the US intelligence system allowed obama... uhhh... i mean osama to cause ANOTHER wipeout in just about everything - and how they just luh`uv to blame all this on geedubya/repubs = HILARIOUS - and dont forget the bailout of the auto unions, aka Cash fer Klunkers - which saved NOT the auto industry, but the auto UNIONS - as the industry itself was never in danger - even if that wouldve meant that foreign mfr's would've ended up owning it - the auto industry wouldve certainly recovered

but what cash fer klunkers REALLY DID - was to ***screw*** those of us who depend upon a plentiful supply of USED CARS - those of us who either cant afford or DONT want to go deeply into debt to buy an overpriced new car.

and i wont even get into the fact - since NOBODY HAS EVER CHALLENGED MY ASSERTION that the big newyork banks are DEM-RUN outfits - and even finster himself sez that ZIRP is nothing but a naked/blatent bailout of the 5 biggest and otherwise bankrupt banks - they all would've/shouldve been LIQUIDATED after they bet the farm and LOST in the derivitives casino - and we wont even get into what happened with the bailout of AIG for the benefit of one of the dems biggest campaign contributors - when they were selling BS/lipsticked pigs out of their front office while their backoffice was betting against those same deals and when the SHTF, got paid 100cent on the dollar - for counterparty risk contracts that AIG had neither the right/licence nor capital to sell in the first place - all the while the lamesteam media played deaf/dumb/blind to all this - leading me to conclude that the liberal-run BIG MEDIA purposely put out ALL BAD NEWS, ALL THE TIME leading upto the election of 2008 - in an effort to drive the economy/stockmarkets into the dirt - thus putting their man/team into the whitehouse.

and yet - with all thats happened - we see little or nuthin from them on The Biggest Organized Crime Event of The Century - with even less from em a couple years back when our constitutional law professor looked straight into the camera and said
"...from 40000feet nothing looked illegal..."

and practically nobody called him on it?

why? - because its makes their team look bad, thats why.

again - could you just imagine if it had been the bad ole BIG OIL companies that has just driven the economy into the ditch -
not once, but TWICE IN 10 YEARS - just

HOW BIG THE HEADLINES WOULD STILL BE ????

but yet - there's nuthin....

and the fact that the dept of 'justice' is run by one of em that worked for one of the same lawfirms that represent lower manhattans biggest banksters in matters of enforcement

AND NOBODY IN THE DEM/LIB-RUN LAMESTREAM MEDIA HAS A GD THING TO SAY ABOUT IT???

well... cept for my hero matt taibbi.

but i digress - the biggest problem i have with the dems politix is that they continue to say how much they are "working for the working class", the little guys like us - and saying whatever they have to to favorably impress whatever toenail sliver of the electorate they happen to talking to - twisting their heads 360deg around on their shoulders - its like that scene from the movie the exorcist - ever see that one? - where the priest is talking to the possesed girl her head spins around and she screams "your mother s__ks c__ks in hell" while spewing green vomit at him - was quite a riveting moment the first time eye saw it.

while we _know_ that the repubs represent business interests - at least they are more or less honest about it (usually less) and dont promise 'free' everything and will "tax the rich" to pay for it all, like the dems are soooooo fond of doing - when we know only too phreakin well just who ends up paying for it.

and as much as i'm a FIRM SUPPORTER of the 'social safety net' - i also know the welfare class doesnt CREATE JOBS - well, aside from the now burgeoning welfare-industrial complex, along with their accomplices in the .edu/liberal-industrial complex and the legal-industrial complex - all of whom are part of core of the dems base - with the new med-insurance-legal-drug mob that will in all likelyhood cause a collapse of the entire medical services delivery-industrial complex - and who all together now have at least as much - if not MORE power than the .mil industrial complex.

but let me get back to my 'dual resident' POV - its pretty damn hard to ignore what one sees when one splits his time tween 2 states like MA and NH - esp during a nor'easter this time of year - when north of the border in NH the roads will be - if not bare/wet (from all the salt they dump to make sure) - at least OPEN/PASSABLE - vs south of the border, in MA - where they will typically be a disaster, un or barely plowed, even hours after the snow stops falling - where in NH the plan is bare/wet within 4hours of the end of snowfall - at least along the major thru-routes, like i-95/93 or rt16 into the north country - always got a kick out of seeing the tv news from the BOS area after major dump storms - literally stopped em, while i'd have no problem driving 20miles or more to the ski areas

course that was back in the good ole daze, when NH was still mostly a republican-voting state - where if one expects to run/win the govenors office, one MUST TAKE THE PLEDGE: not to back/sign any 'broadbased' tax regime - which prevents the political class from promising the moon and giving away the treasury to BUY VOTES - vs MA having every tax and 'fee' known to exist and most of it nothing but a slushfund that the political class wields to keep the dems in power.

and THEN theres the fact that the NH legislature are VOLUNTEERS - vs MA's being very well paid, for a part time job - vs NH's 100bux/year for a 30day session - where they _still_ manage to keep the budget more or less balanced (not so much the past 5 years or so), while building/maintaining some of the best infrastructure, some of the best performing public schools, with low crime rates etc - while its kinda tuff to survive on welfare and one genl'y has to take ones own trash to the dump, they manage to do all this - for going on near 400 years now - and _still_ with NO INCOME AND NO SALES TAXES.

just good ole yankee frugality and ingenuity, while maintaining as much as possible the tradtional 'small-r' republican ideal.

and after having had the benefit and experience of living in various states such as MA, FL, CA and HI - i can tell you that these are the reasons why, IMHO, that the dems politics/policies are at least 51.8% responsible for the mess we are in - and not only that but THEY OWN THE 'GREAT RECESSION' as well as the most anemic recovery since the great depression -
and THEY OWN IT LOCK, STOCK AND BARREL.

meanwhile, the mancession continues unabated - and the community-organizer in-chief, with the now mythical and non-existent 'pivot to jobs' still taking a back seat to - syriaously ??? - the fantasy of 'peace' in the mideast - while the labor participation rate here at home bounces along the bottom.

other than that, i really dont have much of an opinion or political bias....

personally, i hope it rains for the next 2weeks - since it'll mean good news for my fave activity...

and a MELE KALIKIMAKA to all!!!