Fake Polls, Real Consequences (TCF Investigates)

Private equity firms have spent the last decade buying up life insurers, and now those insurers hold a growing share of private credit. If those bets go bad, state guaranty funds, and ultimately policyholders, could be left covering the losses.Today on Private Credit Crisis, Executive Editor Teddy Downey talks with Andrew Granato of the University of Texas School of Law and Pranjal Drall of Yale University about their paper on how private equity shifts that risk onto the states, and what regulators can do about it.

Democrats swept the House and Senate on Tuesday in what pollster G. Elliott Morris calls the biggest rebuke of an incumbent party since Watergate. Morris had warned for months that the polls might understate how well Democrats would do.In this episode of Second Request, Executive Editor Teddy Downey, senior podcast producer Arjun Singh and reporter Paul McLeod sit down with Morris, a data journalist and pollster who writes the Substack Strength in Numbers. They dig into what the polls got right and wrong, why his own poll was among the most accurate of the cycle, which voters shaped the results and whether Tuesday was a rejection of the status quo.

When a private credit fund tells you what its loans are worth, how much should you believe it?Today on Private Credit Crisis, Executive Editor Teddy Downey talks with Drexel University finance professor Chuck Fang, whose research finds that funds that lock investors’ money in inflate their loan values the most. The funds that do let investors out, the kind Wall Street is now pitching for retirement accounts, face a different risk: something that looks a lot like a bank run.

Trade talks between the U.S. and Canada are stalled, and Canadians are more united and more willing to take the economic hit than almost anyone in Washington expected. On this week’s TCF Investigates election special, Arjun Singh and Paul McLeod talk with Capitol Forum Senior Advisor Beth Baltzan about whether there’s any logic behind Trump’s approach and what it could mean in border states like Michigan. Paul also sits down with Lisa Raitt, a former Conservative cabinet minister in Canada, to hear how the fight looks from up north and how long that resolve can last.

Today, we’re re-airing our award-winning episode of TCF Investigates, “Zynex Fought the Capitol Forum and Ended Up Bankrupt,” which won a Signal Award for Best Individual Episode in the business category.In this episode, Arjun Singh sits down with reporter Michael Williams to discuss Williams’ multi-year investigation into how the medical device company Zynex defrauded the government. They also hear from one of the men hired by Zynex’s former CEO to harass and intimidate The Capitol Forum’s reporters.Update: Since this episode first aired, Zynex’s former CEO, Thomas Sandgaard, has been indicted on federal charges including health care fraud and securities fraud. Prosecutors allege the scheme brought in more than $873 million for the company.

If your insurer goes under, there’s no FDIC waiting to make you whole. Today on Private Credit Crisis, Executive Editor Teddy Downey talks with retirement industry veteran Peter Gould about why the safety net behind annuities is far weaker than most retirees think, and why the regulators meant to watch these companies keep looking the other way.

Corporations have figured out how to squeeze more out of every purchase, and new technology is making it easier than ever.In this episode of Second Request, Teddy sits down with Lindsay Owens, president and CEO of the Groundwork Collaborative, to talk about her new book, Gouged: The End of a Fair Price and What That Means for Your Wallet. 

A polling outlet that fooled news organizations and campaigns just admitted it was making up its numbers.In this episode of TCF Investigates, Paul McLeod and Teddy Downey talk with pollster G. Elliott Morris, whose team uncovered the fraud. They also dig into what the real polls are saying two weeks out from the midterms.

Your retirement savings might be buying a ballpark.Today on Private Credit Crisis, Executive Editor Teddy Downey sits down with Barry James Dyke, president of Castle Asset Management and author of “Black Eyes for BlackRock.” They discuss how annuity money ends up tied to sports teams and AI data centers, and why some of the biggest annuity sellers have almost no cushion if things go wrong.

Editor's Note: This is a re-broadcast of a previous episode. In 1961, Congress granted the NFL an antitrust exemption allowing the league to collectively negotiate broadcasting rights, revolutionizing sports broadcasting in America. Now, streaming companies like Amazon argue the law doesn't cover them, and that NFL teams can't collectively bargain with them for broadcasting rights.Today on Second Request, Executive Editor Teddy Downey speaks with Katie Van Dyck, Senior Legal Fellow at the American Economic Liberties Project, to discuss her recent article, "How an Obscure Law Lets Sports Leagues Rob Fans Blind."