America’s state financial officers, such as treasurers and auditors, are elected to safeguard tax dollars to ensure responsible spending. These managers of state investments are charged with growing the retirement funds of public servants and other state public monies.
Ten years ago, I co-founded the State Financial Officers Foundation to empower state financial officers to promote fiscally-responsible public policy. These true servants of the people have been indispensable public advocates. Thanks to SFOF, they advancing the cause of freedom and liberty.
Since January 2021, an increasing share of SFOF’s efforts revolve around pushing back against those who seek to undermine economic freedom and hamper fiscal growth, and ultimately harm taxpayers and anyone with investments, retirement accounts, or a pension. Agitators are threatening to “financially cancel” people for their political beliefs. Political activists have made a concerted effort to pressure companies into using people’s hard-earned money to achieve their preferred political agendas across the issue landscape — all in the name of Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance.
While there are many folks whose hearts are in the right place on the environment or non-discrimination, others have intentions that are far from pure. These political extortionists within the progressive movement are promoting what some have called ‘woke capitalism,’ and exploiting a lack of public knowledge about ESG.
But let me be clear: ‘woke capitalism’ has very little to do with true capitalism.
Radicals on the far Left have, with some success, distracted and disarmed the broader public with buzz words and phrases like “sustainability,” and “existential threat.” Further, they are currently attempting to distort essential, established terms like “fiduciary” and “shareholders,” and trying to confuse and/or redefine their meanings.
Aggressive activist investors are using people’s pensions, 401k, and other investments as weapons and they have penetrated corporate board rooms to coerce companies into adopting progressive political agendas — all with little or no public knowledge or consent. This effort not only violates the public trust, but also the sacred fiduciary relationship that requires financial institutions to maximize returns above other considerations.
ESG policies have been adopted by the largest fund managers in the U.S., but these fund managers abuse the public’s naivete with talk about ESG in a way that belies its toxic impact.
Blackrock, the largest fund manager in the world with approximately $10 trillion in assets globally, has ownership in many of the top 500 companies in America. The CEO, Larry Fink, is putting public pressure on American companies to become ‘carbon neutral’ all under the name of ‘shareholder capitalism.’
ESG power brokers, like Blackrock’s Larry Fink, never try to pressure Chinese or Russian companies to adopt anti-growth climate policies as they do to American companies, who now fear cancellation over issues that are not germane to their businesses. This ‘woke capitalism’ is detrimental to American competitiveness.
People can argue all day about the particulars of their political views, but when it comes to deliberations about people’s hard-earned money, those issues should never be a factor when it comes to maximizing returns.
Taxpayers can fight against ESG investing: Get to know your state financial officer, and learn what they do and what their brand of politics is. State treasurers, auditors, and other elected state financial officers wield enormous power and shape the fiscal policy of their states.
A small group of people, standing up for what is right, can make an amazing impact. Earlier this year, Riley Moore — state treasurer for West Virginia (and a SFOF member) — announced that since asset manager BlackRock is betting against his state by cutting investments in coal, he will no longer allow them to manage his state’s public funds. Other state treasurers and auditors are examining the investment practices of their fund managers. When state treasurers do this, Americans win.
State financial officers across the nation are now on guard against this troubling trend. Politics should be kept out of your pension. We strive to maximize value and economic freedom.
Empowering state financial officers is critical to championing economic freedom and sound financial principles — and pushing back against “woke capitalism” and radical ESG agendas.