Mr. Pan penned an article that appeared on RealClearPolitics I find both his article and point of view to be (I can’t write the words, we’d be censored). Let’s go through it, and I shall explain.
Don’t Politicize Investing, in Texas, California, or Anywhere Else
By Eric Pan
It starts with the very title. Don’t do what he and his ilk are doing, and have already done themselves.
The politicization of American investing just reached a new low. On August 25, the Texas Comptroller’s office banned 10 financial companies and 350 investment funds from doing business with the state, including offering their products in state-run pension funds. Their offense? These companies and funds consider “Environmental, Social, and Governance” factors in their investment strategies. To Texas politicians, any consideration of ESG is an assault on the oil and gas industry, which is critical to the state’s economy.
“Environmental, Social, and Governance” IS the Politicization of Investing PERIOD. It is the cutting off of money to certain industries based completely on Politics.
While Texas politicians are right to think about the future of Texas’s oil and gas industry, the appropriate response is not to meddle in the financial security of hundreds of thousands of Texas public servants. That’s exactly what will happen if this ban moves forward. Cutting off business with these financial companies and prohibiting investment in ESG funds will limit the ability of Texas public servants, including teachers, police officers and firefighters, to choose the best investment options in their state pension plans — options that meet their individual financial goals and objectives. A ban could ultimately cost state employees millions of dollars in savings that could have gone to retirement, children’s education or other life goals.
According to Mr. Pan blocking State workers Pensions from being controlled by Leftist Money Men will hurt those Pensioners. Because their political ESG money will if they have their way, be the only money to use for investing. Nothing like a little fearmongering ay Eric.
The implementation of this ban is a surefire way to curb business growth and opportunities, reduce incentives to invest, and lower investor confidence. And it won’t just hurt Texans. It will injure millions of other Americans as well. It is the proverbial slippery slope, because as goes Texas, so go other states.
No it’s a surefire way of fighting back against Leftist Money Brokers who want to starve industries they find politically offensive of investment funds.
Democrats need to take heed of this as well. So-called blue states also seem inclined to take their own kinds of heavy-handed actions, tilting the scales toward the political causes they prefer. Sure enough, California has been steadily moving toward forcing its public pension funds to divest from fossil fuels. While bills to that effect have fallen short so far, if the Texas ban is implemented, there will be much greater momentum to pass them.
This Paragraph is a smokescreen he’s using ESG because what California did is exactly what ESG does to actually warn against preventing ESG. A true salesman….
If these trends aren’t stopped, Americans can expect a constant see-saw of competing and incompatible political demands on investors. Today, it’s Republicans in Texas and Democrats in California who want to call the shots. In some states and at the federal level, there’s a risk that investors will face a different policy regime every two to four years. We are rushing toward the day when investors are banned from supporting ESG one day, then forced to support it the next, simply because someone new is in office. This is not investing. It is politics.
Politics that Mr. Pan and his ilk engaged in when they decided to allow Politics to decide their investing strategy rather than Demand, Viability, and Future Demand of a company or product.
U.S. financial markets are the envy of the world because they foster capital formation, deep liquidity, economic growth, and many of the world’s most innovative companies. Our financial markets work because we allow them to be driven by market fundamentals and investor choice, not heavy-handed public policy. Many other countries seek to replicate our capital markets but some struggle in part because their governments have tried to directly control investment opportunities. When government imposes its will on investors and the markets, the entire economy suffers.
ESG removes market fundamentals and investor choice. It blocks investment in Industries that are sound and have continual growth strictly on the basis that they are “Politically Correct”. Mr. Pan wants to control YOUR money and place it in company’s that match HIS political beliefs, not economic ones.
The politicization of investing will hurt every American. The better bet is to let investors choose their investment objectives and pursue those strategies that work best for them, without a red-state treasurer or blue-state attorney general looking over their shoulder. It’s equally important to let financial companies and funds compete for the business of American investors, including in government-run pension funds. When it comes to investing, state leaders should remember that when government picks winners and losers, everyone loses.
I’m sure Arthur Andersen felt exactly the same way Mr. Pan as they poured Billions into Enron and other “Solid” Investments.
Eric J. Pan is president and CEO of the Investment Company Institute, which represents many of the companies and funds affected by the Texas ban.
Mr. Pan is either an Idiot or a Conman, on some scale I am sure both in spite of his Harvard College, the University of Edinburgh, and Harvard Law School, degrees. He is peeing down the peoples backs and telling them it’s raining. ESG is the control of Investment Money based on pure politics. ESG funds won’t invest in Oil, Gas, or Coal, Firearms and whole slue of other businesses because it is politically incorrect to do so.
The Goal of ESG is to choke industries that the Arthur Anderson’s and Mr. Pan’s of the world feel aren’t good for the Environment. Aren’t good in their view for Society. Make it harder for the people to be Governed. Mr. Pan does not want your money to be invested in Oil because oil, coal and gas pollute. YOUR money must be invested in all the new Enron’s that the Inflation Control Bill (Build Back Better) promote.
Oil, Gas and Coal are NOT going away. There is no replacement for them. None of the so-called Green Industries that ESG funds support work. They can not supply our Energy needs. No matter what line of bull you have been fed at no time soon will Wind and Solar be able to power our Society, nor EV’s be able to replace the Car and Pickup Truck.
So please Mr. Pan, if you choose to invest your personal wealth in another Enron feel free, but the rest of us should protect or Pensions from these future Arthur Anderson’s and their purely political ESG’s.
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