This report from the FT this morning is of interest:
Joe Biden is on course to issue the first veto of his presidency after two Democratic senators sided with Republican lawmakers in opposing a White House rule that allows fund managers to consider environmental, social and governance factors in their investment decisions.
Jon Tester, a Democratic senator from Montana, on Wednesday afternoon said he would join fellow Democrat Joe Manchin in voting to roll back a US labour department rule that allows retirement plan fiduciaries to include ESG considerations in their investments.
Note that the US labour department is not saying a pension fund must take ESG (environmental, social and governance) issues into account. It says that they may. In other words, it relaxes the requirement that the only concern of a pension trustee must be with financial return because that Department thinks there may be other, at least as important, issues to consider when appraising an investment.
Like whether a company sells addictive opioids that will destroy the lives of millions of US citizens.
Or whether that company trashes the planet meaning that the chance of there actually being a retirement to enjoy is diminished.
Or that the corporation is an abusive monopolist destroying supposedly free markets.
And on, and on.
None of these abuses apparently matter to Republicans. All that matters is profit, apparently. And, what is more, profit made irrespective of its social consequences.
This is neoliberalism gone mad. At the very core of this suggestion is the idea that the people for whom a pension fund is set up are not as important as the mechanisms set up to exploit and abuse them in which it might invest. But then, that is what neoliberals think. People come second.
Thankfully, Biden will be vetoing this. But it is scary that his own party is so far to the right that it could not carry the day on this and his veto has been required. We live in dangerous times.
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
Two Senators from small states Montana ( 1.12 million people) and West Virginia ( 1.78 million ) together less than one percent of the total population.
When the Senate was 50 Republican Senators and fifty Democratic Senators during the Trump administration, it was calculated that the population of the Democrat states was 40 million more than the Republican. Each state having two Senators.
The small rural states tend to be Republican. To change that would need a major constitutional amendment. It needs three quarters of the states to agree ( though there are other methods ). One quarter of the states -13- can block it. That could be as little as 20% of the population. I can’t see them agreeing.
We often hear calls for a written constitution here, for good reasons, but there need to be robust mechanisms for change. A proportional voting system delivers better democracy IMO.
It could be worse. The senate members were originally representatives from the states chosen by their own legislatures. They weren’t voted into power but we’re a nod to local aristocracies. These local aristocracies rejected the original draft of the us constitution to make sure that their voice would always be louder than anyone else’s.
The change to enforce that they have to be elected by the electorate was progress. Sadly the US has very little to show in terms of change since the progressive era ended.
Agreed.
Once again Neo-liberalism demonstrates how selective it is when claiming the truth in order to justifying maximising greed through ignorance.
One reason that De Santis, busy turning Florida into GileadMk2, may well find himself POTUS next time round. – empowerment of unrepresentative/disproportionate minorities of a distinctly non-liberal bent.
Sorry but what is Gilead Mk2?
Gilead is a reference to Margaret Atwood’s book “The Handmaid’s Tale”. Well worth a read.
I’ve got to say though that I heard Biden talking about Russia this morning on the radio the ‘leader of the free world’ just sounds like a cowboy to me.
No wonder they call him ‘Ramblin’ Joe’. Better him that Trump or any number of disgusting Republicans though (I mean, line ’em and take your pick – eugh!!).
Better than any Republican such as DeSantis, sure but Biden’s done his bit. He needs to stand down.
Neo-liberalism puts money before people and everything else, and makes the false assumption that the markets will decide favourable towards the people. In reality, the market decides favourably towards rich people and shareholders, which sounds like a dig, but sadly is very accurate.