A critical part of the progressive globalist project is what can be called public-private partnerships. These partnerships happen when the government encourages private sector companies to do what it is constitutionally prohibited from doing. One way these partnerships become visible is when large asset managers attempt to connect investment with corporations adopting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies. These demands made by large investment firms are alarmingly similar to the Biden administration’s social justice and green agenda.
One recent example is activist investment firms pushing companies to adopt policies supporting abortion as part of the S in ESG. According to a recent op-ed in Fox News, following the Dobbs decision corporations were under tremendous “social” pressure:
Pressure is mounting to include provisions that promote abortion within a company’s “Environmental, Social and Governance” (ESG) policies. ESG analyzes companies and assigns a score, based on social and political policies that have nothing to do with core business activities. Under this mantle, extreme policies have quietly been adopted by the largest fund managers in America, including BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard.
ESGs are also why the oil and gas industry has a shortage of refining capacity. They are also why Dodge is killing the muscle car, and “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) training takes place in corporations of all sizes. Adopting ESG policies and principles requires certain behaviors now and alterations in business plans for the future. While there are many woke CEOs, pressure from large investment firms encourages and sometimes even forces corporate leaders to act against decisions that would yield the most profit and the most significant increase in shareholder value.
Large investment firms accomplish their ESG goals through proxy voting and placing people on the company board. Proxy voting refers to BlackRock or another investment firm voting on behalf of their investors. In May 2021, BlackRock used this method with Exxon Mobil. As the company’s second-largest shareholder, BlackRock backed three activists who wanted to push Exxon toward renewable energy investments.
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BlackRock placed all three of the activists they backed using their proxy votes and bargaining with other large institutional investors. Millions of Americans are invested in BlackRock funds through 401Ks, pensions, and other investment vehicles. Almost none realize that BlackRock is pursuing specific policies to make fossil fuels more expensive and scarce using Americans’ hard-earned dollars. Vanguard and State Street take similar approaches and push ESG policies, often on behalf of Americans paying the price of those policies at the pump and elsewhere.
One investment firm is stepping up to challenge the status quo. Strive Asset Management launched a new market fund last week called DRLL. Co-founder and Executive Chairman Vivek Ramaswamy has been making the media rounds to explain Strive’s value proposition. By creating a fund that matches the fossil fuel holdings of BlackRock, Strive will look to take them on in the boardroom representing investors who want the fossil fuel industry to grow and produce.
According to Ramaswamy, “The goal is to restore the voice of the everyday citizen in corporate America where they haven’t been heard.” He goes on to say that BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard own a controlling interest in nearly every large corporation in America. “I think they are using their client’s capital to advocate for viewpoints in the boardrooms of corporate America that most of their own clients disagree with.”
Peter Thiel, Bill Ackman, Joe Lonsdale, and the Founders Fund were early investors. Since Ramaswamy rang the closing bell on Wall Street last week, the fund has grown from $20 million to over $100 million. DRLL is Strive’s first market fund. Ramaswamy told Fox Business that ESG investing is a fiduciary breach and Strive Asset Management will fix it.
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There is an open question of whether these investment firms meet their fiduciary obligations to their investors. In simple terms, the expectation is that BlackRock and any other investment firm will keep investors’ money as safe and profitable as possible. They are charged with balancing risk and reward using the guidance individual investors provide. It appears they are using other people’s money to pursue the same political ends, green energy, and abortion rights as the Biden administration.
Destroying the ESG dreams of the world’s largest investment firms is a David vs. Goliath fight. But Ramaswamy believes that once enough Americans understand what the largest investment firms have been doing with their retirement savings, they will demand change. He is hopeful they will vote with their investment dollars and join Strive in telling America’s oil producers to drill, drill again, and then drill some more.
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