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Author Topic: The myth of socially responsible investing
MJ
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 441

posted 03 February 2003 03:42 PM      Profile for MJ     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
click

quote:
Socially responsible investing is a contradiction in terms that tricks investors into feeling good about the capitalist system, says Canadian Auto Workers economist im Stanford.
"We will not overcome the elite by picking ethical funds," Stanford said. The SRI industry is rife with "loosey-goosey" standards, he added, pointing to McDonald's, the Gap, Wal-Mart and the big banks as examples of questionable SRI fund holdings.

If SRI performs as well as other types of investing, he said, it's probably because 90% of the holdings are the same.

Stanford attacked negative screening for its "questionable economics," arguing that screening cannot hope to affect the cost of capital in a meaningful way.


[ 03 February 2003: Message edited by: MJ ]


From: Around. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
DrConway
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 490

posted 03 February 2003 08:07 PM      Profile for DrConway     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Exactly what I've been saying since I read Paper Boom. (Gee, I'm modest )

Really, the credit does go to Jim Stanford for not hesitating to point out the defect in reasoning that underlies "ethical investing" - this defect assumes that the paper economy has anything to do with the real economy. In actual fact, it is partially disconnected, so that it shows its worst face only during recessions.


From: You shall not side with the great against the powerless. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged

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