ESG
Commentary
Calling Out The ESG Bait And Switch
The bait and switch that Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) activists have been peddling for too long is coming into focus. Activist investors claim they submit ESG proposals at annual meetings to improve corporate profitability. All too often, these proposals are attempts to hijack the corporate governance process to implement ...
Business & Economics
Read the latest about green investment mandates
Is CalPERS Still A Responsible Fiduciary?
Addressing global climate change is difficult and costly. Success requires an environment that encourages many ideas and experiments to flourish. Mandates from CalPERS undermines such an environment to the detriment of investors, the economy, and the environment. Read the full article at Forbes.com
Blog
Read about latest costly green mandate
New Climate Disclosure Laws Will Hurt Business, Won’t Help Planet
When author and journalist Tom Wolfe coined the term “statusphere” – in which participants compete for prestige within a groupthink bubble – he didn’t have the California Legislature of the 21st century in mind. But he could have. In California, it’s routine for lawmakers to pass bills that have little ...
Blog
Read latest about state pension problem
ESG and CalPERS Sub-par Investment Returns
CalPERS has one core social responsibility – maximizing returns to help secure the retirement of millions of current and future pensioners. The pension fund is also a major proponent of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing. CalPERS claims that ESG “disclosures provide important metrics to understand how a company’s practices ...
Business & Economics
Paul Atkins – ESG Investing: Doing well and doing good? Or not?
Our guest this week is Paul Atkins, CEO of Potomak Partners, a financial services consulting firm in Washington, DC. Paul was also a commissioner at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from 2002 to 2008. We discuss with Paul ESG – environmental, social, and governance – investing and its negative ...
Business & Economics
Read the latest on ESG
There The SEC Goes Again
President Biden’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is increasingly becoming an advocate for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) activists to the detriment of its core mission. In its latest iteration, the SEC is using its enforcement discretion to roll back recent reforms to rule 14a-8. These changes make it more ...
Business & Economics
Empowering Shareholders Will Help Reduce Proxy Advisory Firm’s Undue Influence
Titans of Wall Street have become vocal advocates for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing – including leaders of the world’s largest asset managers, banks, and other financial institutions. Less well known proponents, but perhaps even more influential, are the proxy advisory firms ISS and Glass Lewis, who control 97 percent of ...
Business & Economics
Governor Newsom’s ESG Errors
California Gov. Gavin Newsom this week released a lengthy commentary defending so-called ESG investing, which he wrote has “proven results.” His defense requires fact checking and context. Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) is the latest investing trend that claims investors can earn higher returns while also “doing good” on important social issues ...
Blog
ESG Has Become An Obstacle to Resolving The State Unfunded Pension Crisis
By Tim Anaya and Wayne Winegarden Even with generous assumptions, the state unfunded pension crisis is worsening. The market surge of 2021 helped reduce the unfunded gap, but then came the bear market of 2022. As a recent Wall Street Journal Headline put it, Market Rout Sends State and City ...
Business & Economics
Proxy Advisory Firms And The ESG Risk
Warren Buffett presciently noted that “only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq are all now in bear market territory, so the tide has undoubtedly receded. And true to Mr. Buffett’s wisdom, the unsustainability of many fashionable investment trends ...
Calling Out The ESG Bait And Switch
The bait and switch that Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) activists have been peddling for too long is coming into focus. Activist investors claim they submit ESG proposals at annual meetings to improve corporate profitability. All too often, these proposals are attempts to hijack the corporate governance process to implement ...
Read the latest about green investment mandates
Is CalPERS Still A Responsible Fiduciary?
Addressing global climate change is difficult and costly. Success requires an environment that encourages many ideas and experiments to flourish. Mandates from CalPERS undermines such an environment to the detriment of investors, the economy, and the environment. Read the full article at Forbes.com
Read about latest costly green mandate
New Climate Disclosure Laws Will Hurt Business, Won’t Help Planet
When author and journalist Tom Wolfe coined the term “statusphere” – in which participants compete for prestige within a groupthink bubble – he didn’t have the California Legislature of the 21st century in mind. But he could have. In California, it’s routine for lawmakers to pass bills that have little ...
Read latest about state pension problem
ESG and CalPERS Sub-par Investment Returns
CalPERS has one core social responsibility – maximizing returns to help secure the retirement of millions of current and future pensioners. The pension fund is also a major proponent of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing. CalPERS claims that ESG “disclosures provide important metrics to understand how a company’s practices ...
Paul Atkins – ESG Investing: Doing well and doing good? Or not?
Our guest this week is Paul Atkins, CEO of Potomak Partners, a financial services consulting firm in Washington, DC. Paul was also a commissioner at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from 2002 to 2008. We discuss with Paul ESG – environmental, social, and governance – investing and its negative ...
Read the latest on ESG
There The SEC Goes Again
President Biden’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is increasingly becoming an advocate for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) activists to the detriment of its core mission. In its latest iteration, the SEC is using its enforcement discretion to roll back recent reforms to rule 14a-8. These changes make it more ...
Empowering Shareholders Will Help Reduce Proxy Advisory Firm’s Undue Influence
Titans of Wall Street have become vocal advocates for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing – including leaders of the world’s largest asset managers, banks, and other financial institutions. Less well known proponents, but perhaps even more influential, are the proxy advisory firms ISS and Glass Lewis, who control 97 percent of ...
Governor Newsom’s ESG Errors
California Gov. Gavin Newsom this week released a lengthy commentary defending so-called ESG investing, which he wrote has “proven results.” His defense requires fact checking and context. Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) is the latest investing trend that claims investors can earn higher returns while also “doing good” on important social issues ...
ESG Has Become An Obstacle to Resolving The State Unfunded Pension Crisis
By Tim Anaya and Wayne Winegarden Even with generous assumptions, the state unfunded pension crisis is worsening. The market surge of 2021 helped reduce the unfunded gap, but then came the bear market of 2022. As a recent Wall Street Journal Headline put it, Market Rout Sends State and City ...
Proxy Advisory Firms And The ESG Risk
Warren Buffett presciently noted that “only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq are all now in bear market territory, so the tide has undoubtedly receded. And true to Mr. Buffett’s wisdom, the unsustainability of many fashionable investment trends ...
