Major corporations are pushing to implement DEI (“diversity, equity and inclusion”) policies, and familiarity breeds contempt. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that just 25% of American Adults think diversity, equity, and inclusion programs make companies better. (To see survey question wording, click here.) DEI policies seek to promote […]
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The fight over woke ESG — environmental, social and governance — policies being used by massive asset managers to make investment decisions entered new territory on Wednesday, thanks to Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson. In a first-of-its-kind move, Watson and his office’s Securities Division issued a cease and desist […]
Despite a barrage of Republican attacks, lackluster returns and diminishing client interest in the US, BlackRock Inc. has been quietly expanding its dominance in ESG investing. The world’s largest asset manager has posted net ESG inflows every quarter for the past two years, a period that marks one of the […]
“The board is set; the pieces are moving. We come to it at last.” My husband and I re-watched Lord of the Rings over the holidays and that line stuck with me. The board has been set without us knowing, and when the pieces move, we will lose. A 2016 […]
Over the past decade, many of the largest corporations in the United States have adopted overtly political causes, including positions on controversial social issues. In most cases, these corporate policies have favored left-wing ideological positions. For example, in 2021 , massive companies such as American Airlines, Dell, and AT&T openly […]
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics are a popular kind of social credit scoring, one that poses a significant threat to individual liberty and free-market economies, both in America and abroad.[1] ESG is regularly used by corporations and investors as a tool to impose values and environmental policies on other […]
Bloomberg News recently published an article that has been met with criticism for its representation of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and its influence on corporate America. The article, titled “Corporate America Promised to Hire a Lot More People of Color. It Actually Did,” linked the 2020 BLM protests […]
Republican attorneys general are criticizing the U.S. Treasury Department’s recent implementation of “Principles for Net-Zero Financing & Investment,” labeling it as part of the green agenda and a potential legal concern. The attorneys general are probing net-zero alliances in key economic sectors like asset management, banking, insurance, and financial services […]
A recent study by Bloomberg revealed a striking statistic: 94 percent of new corporate jobs are being filled by non-white employees. This trend emerged following the death of George Floyd in 2021. As quoted by Bloomberg, “After Floyd’s murder, companies adopted several practices to help hire and retain underrepresented workers, […]
Salesforce is planning to enhance its Net Zero Cloud environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting tool by integrating generative AI capabilities from its Einstein AI system. The aim is to automate some aspects of preparing ESG reports, a field drawing increasing interest from investors and regulators. The new features are […]
Morningstar’s ESG analytics group, Sustainalytics, has announced that it will lay off up to 12 percent of its workforce next week. This decision was disclosed during a recent town hall meeting, where the company revealed that between 150 and 180 employees would be let go. However, the specific departments or […]
At a recent fintech conference organized by the Philadelphia branch of the U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed), the Fed’s vice chairman for supervision Michael Barr outlined the Fed’s commitment to building out a robust central bank digital currency (CBDC) payment infrastructure. In addition to the Fed’s launch of “FedNow” in […]
Numerous prominent corporations have taken big hits to their bottom lines and stock prices this year in the wake of political controversies they have brought on themselves with woke and sexual agendas. Leftists used to mock censorship complaints by saying, “Build your own Twitter if you don’t like it!” They […]
Blue-chip U.S. companies increasingly rely on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics to determine top executives’ bonuses, raising concerns among investors about manipulation to maximize payouts. Approximately 3/4 of S&P 500 companies have revealed that environmental, social and governance metrics contributed to executive compensation, a rise from two-thirds in 2021, […]
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is facing heavy criticism from leftist organizations over its recent rejection of numerous environmental, social, and governance (ESG) shareholder proposals. After attracting criticism from conservative figures for supporting the ESG agenda, it is now being attacked by Democratic officials who are alarmed at its […]
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has publicly criticized major investment firms as part of his campaign against the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) framework. Ramaswamy specifically referred to BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard, commonly known as the “Big Three,” stating they represent “arguably the most powerful cartel in human history.” […]
Entrepreneur, biotech mogul, and presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has made headlines with his remarks about President Joe Biden during a recent event in Atlanta, in which Ramaswamy asserted that Biden isn’t “really the person running the country.” Elaborating further, Ramaswamy emphasized that the “cancer that lies beneath [Biden]” is the […]
A recent survey conducted by The Harris Poll and the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Sustainable Business reveals a substantial disparity between the lip service corporate directors give to ESG during board meetings and firms’ actual strides taken to achieve ESG objectives. The survey found that: 43 percent of employees […]
BlackRock Inc., MSCI Inc., and other major firms anticipate heightened scrutiny as congressional investigations delve into investments in Chinese companies considered national security threats, especially after a recent Biden administration executive order prohibiting certain investments in China. Over $294 billion from more than 2,000 US mutual and exchange-traded funds are […]
Allianz, a prominent German insurance company, recently withdrew from the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA), one of the top global industry consortiums focused upon achieving net zero carbon dioxide emissions goals by 2050. Allianz Chief Financial Officer Giulio Terzariol expressed concerns over legal implications, emphasizing the responsibility to its shareholders. “We […]
According to a recent Bloomberg client poll, the vast majority of Wall Street brokers and other market insiders are highly skeptical of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives, believing ESG funds will continue to underperform and do not have the ability to sustain profits. Eighty-seven percent of 116 Bloomberg terminal […]
The financial industry is taking a step further in evaluating customers’ worthiness for banking facilities, as they begin to scrutinize social media accounts based on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) screening criteria, warns former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage. Farage, who has been vocal against what he calls “woke capitalism,” […]
In June, A.T. Kearney, Inc. — a global management consulting firm — announced a partnership with Al Gore’s nonprofit, Climate TRACE. Along with its various management consulting services, A.T. Kearney boasts about its role in helping organizations “establish and implement decarbonization strategies.” This new partnership, according to A.T. Kearney, will […]
Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) likened the Republican party’s attempts to challenge corporate America’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives to a “Taliban-like attack on the private sector,” in an interview with Politico. His commentary comes amid a growing partisan divide over the role of ESG principles in corporate decision-making and […]
A recent survey conducted by WTW and the Nasdaq Center for Board Excellence ostensibly shows that a strong majority of board members believe that a coherent environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy fosters sustainable organizational value and improves financial outcomes. However, the survey’s legitimacy is under scrutiny due to its […]
The environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing model is currently facing significant challenges, as outlined in a comprehensive report by the Republican congressional ESG Working Group, many members of which have dubbed July “ESG month.” With nebulous objectives, politicized portfolios, and underwhelming returns, ESG investing has garnered criticism, leading even […]
The recent surge in corporate commitments to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles is leading to increased pressure on the personnel involved with corporate social impact (CSI), with potentially serious implications for employee wellbeing. According to a recent survey by the Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals and YourCause from Blackbaud, […]
BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager with $9 trillion in assets under management, declared plans to extend its Voting Choice program to retail investors in the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV), its biggest ETF, worth $305 billion. The initiative originally targeted institutional investors and was operational from 2022, […]
The rise of roles within the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) industries have offered numerous job opportunities to recent graduates, which helps buttress President Biden’s already nebulous claims of job growth under his economic policies. These positions, such as sustainability coordinators, DEI officers, and […]
U.S. House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), together with Republican North Carolina Rep. Dan Bishop and Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, has issued letters to major international entities including the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net-Zero (GFANZ) and asset management titans such as BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard regarding their actions […]
This article has been lightly edited from the original, authored by Simon Elmer at Off-Guardian.com The World Health Organization (WHO) s the One Ring to Rule them All, and its written goal, inscribed in fiery letters along both sides of its band, is the Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response Treaty. […]
On Feb. 28, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote an impassioned appeal in The Wall Street Journal for Republicans to support environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores because ESG ostensibly represents the free market at work, by offering investors more “choices.” Schumer appears to be deeply confused about how ESG operates. Or, more […]
President Joe Biden recently issued his first veto since taking office on Jan. 20, 2021. Biden rejected a bipartisan bill that would have required investment fund managers to take politics out of their investment decisions and to stay focused on providing the best return to their clients as much as […]
The 2024 presidential race gets more exciting each day. Now 37-year-old entrepreneur businessman Vivek Ramaswamy has entered the race as the newest Republican candidate. Whether this political novice has a chance at winning the highest elective office in the land remains to be seen. But for sure he has something […]
The 2023 World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos has been heavily covered, for good reason. Beyond providing a physical meeting location for the world’s political, economic, and technocratic elite to execute their Great Reset of the entire planet’s social and economic infrastructure, the annual summit also provides a […]
The purpose of this post is two-fold. First, I want to give my subscribers a heads-up that tomorrow (Feb. 15, 2023) I’ll be releasing a new video, “Why Is the Federal Reserve Provoking a Financial Crisis?” I’m shooting for noon eastern time, but we’ll see how the timed-publication feature on […]
With abundance, anything is possible; with scarcity nothing is certain. And what the world is facing right now is an abundance of scarcity. From climate change edicts to purposefully limiting housing supplies to cordoning off the public square from the free exchange of ideas to food shortages and/or diet modifications […]
Unless you can get fired for asking it, a rather common question today is exactly what has happened in the past few years to bring society to the point that, well, you can get fired for asking a question? In other words, how did we from zero to woke in […]
Adding to the efforts of a multitude of states across the country, the U.S. House of Representatives will be taking the fight to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores. A press release on February 3 from House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-NC) has announced the formation of a […]
Efforts to stem the tide of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores reached a zenith in 2022, due in large part to the actions of state financial officers and other state government officials. The State Financial Officers Foundation has been working to raise awareness on ESG investing and prevent it […]
As written in UnHerd, the exponentially increasing demand for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings for companies has led to a parallel growth in data sweatshops across the globe. Data companies use artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to process the vast amounts of data required to produce a company’s ESG score. […]
As thousands of dignitaries, business tycoons, pseudo-celebrities, politicians, and so-called elites gather in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Annual Meeting so they can finally “master the future,” millions of Americans have much more pressing issues on their minds. For instance, while the eggheads in Davos rant and […]
World Economic Forum (WEF) Chairman Klaus Schwab, who has run the organization since its foundation in the early 1970s, may be the target of a mutiny. According to The Guardian, a group of current and former WEF members contacted them, saying “Schwab was a law unto himself and had surrounded himself with […]
President Joe Biden’s Labor Department recently announced a new rule that will permit money managers to play politics with trillions of dollars of people’s retirement savings. The administration is pushing environmental, social and governance investing, which allows retirement fund managers to select stocks of companies based on their positions on […]
In mid-January, the World Economic Forum (WEF) will host its 53rd Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland wherein more than 2,700 leaders from 130 countries (including 52 heads of state) will gather to “address people’s immediate, critical needs while also laying the groundwork for a more sustainable, resilient world by the […]
In recent months, several states have taken legislative, administrative, and/or regulatory steps to oppose the proliferation of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment metrics. On January 3, Kentucky officially joined the anti-ESG fray, when its treasurer, Allison Ball, released a list of 11 financial firms (BlackRock, Inc., BNP Paribas SA, […]
As environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores have become the darling of the “sustainable investment” community, it is vitally important that those of us who oppose ESG are wary of the path forward. To simply invest in “anti-ESG” or “conservative” companies as a way of mitigating ESG’s influence would play directly into […]
There’s no such thing as blue money or red money. Only the green stuff will pay bills. Friday, North Carolina State Treasurer Dale Folwell became the latest of many officials from nearly half the states across the U.S. — including Florida, Texas, Kentucky, Missouri, Arizona and West Virginia — to […]