PrairiePundit

 Just the News: Governors of 18 states form coalition to fight Biden administration's ESG policy Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is leading a coalition of governors from 18 states who’ve pledged to fight the Biden administration’s environmental, social and corporate governance agenda. ... The governors said Biden's investment agenda is a “decision to jeopardize retirement savings for millions of Americans to promote far left priorities.” Joining DeSantis are the governors of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming. The coalition argues President Joe Biden’s ESG agenda is “destabilizing the American economy and the global financial system.” “At my direction, Florida has led the way in combating the pernicious effects of the ESG regime by directing our state pension fund managers to reject ESG and instead focus on obtaining the highest retur...

 Fox Business: A coalition of 21 state attorneys general sent a stark warning to dozens of financial institutions and asset managers, warning them against pursuing woke environmental and social initiatives . In a letter sent Thursday to 53 of the nation's largest financial institutions, which collectively manage trillions of dollars worth of assets, the attorneys general threatened to take legal action if the firms veer from the best interests of their clients while pushing social priorities . The effort, led by Montana, Utah and Louisiana, comes ahead of proxy season during which most companies hold annual shareholder meetings where they vote on key policy initiatives. "This ESG nonsense is filtering into a lot of our states and the way they're doing it is really, really concerning and probably flagrantly illegal," Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen told Fox News Digital in an interview. "Pushing it through these asset managers and through these proxy votes...

  Helen Raleigh: President Joe Biden issued his first veto against a bipartisan bill that sought to protect millions of Americans’ retirement plans from woke investments. His action shows he prioritizes politics over Americans’ financial security. Early this month, the U.S. House and Senate passed a bipartisan resolution to prevent fiduciaries of retirement plans from subordinating financial returns to woke causes. Biden chose to ignore all the concerns and warnings, including those from his own party. Instead, he used his first veto to preserve a so-called environmental, social, and governance, or ESG, rule that his administration adopted last year. His action confirms that despite his rhetoric of bipartisanship, he is an inflexible politician. The Labor Department issued a new ESG rule last November, which “allows plan fiduciaries to consider climate change and other environmental, social, and governance factors when they select retirement investments and exercise shareholder...

 Elizabeth Nickson: Some of us have been saying this for a very long time: green will bring down the world. Green creates a vicious circle, a term you may remember from Economics 101. It is when the serpent eats itself, no wealth is created and collapse results. That is what we are doing with ESG, with carbon taxes, with the forced adoption of unreliable vertiginously expensive green energy. It has skewed every single market. No one is investing in sound enterprise, and anything once sound is a Jenga tower, unstable, rotting from within. This. This is what threatens to bring down the world. ... Green is built on subsidies. And not just government subsidy. Every mutual fund, every hedge fund, every multinational and every local or national corporation has a green monster within preventing innovative investments, sucking profits and growth. Every local, regional and state government leaks millions to green morons promising to “bring sustainable prosperity”. The only prosperity is the...

 Fox Business: Senator Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., put the Biden administration on blast Monday after President Biden carried through with his promise to veto bipartisan legislation that would have killed a regulation that encourages private retirement plan fiduciaries to consider environment, social and governance (ESG) factors when making investment decisions for over 150 million Americans. Manchin, who was one of two Senate Democrats to vote with Republicans to nullify the proposed Department of Labor (DOL) rule, issued a heated statement Monday condemning the Biden administration for, in his view, prioritizing politics over securing the best financial returns for Americans. The other was Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. "This Administration continues to prioritize their radical policy agenda over the economic, energy and national security needs of our country, and it is absolutely infuriating," Manchin said. "West Virginians are under increasing stress as we continue to recover ...

 National Review: President Biden issued the first veto of his presidency on Monday, blocking a resolution passed by Congress that would have prohibited retirement-plan fiduciaries from considering environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in making their investment decisions. “I just signed this veto because the legislation passed by the Congress would put at risk retirement savings of individuals across the country,” Biden said in a video published on Twitter. “They couldn’t take into consideration investments that would be impacted by climate impacted by overpaying executives.” ... Following the veto, Manchin blasted Biden in a comment to CNN: “This Administration continues to prioritize their radical policy agenda over the economic, energy and national security needs of our country, and it is absolutely infuriating.” Republicans characterized the rule as a “woke” innovation of the Biden administration that will financially harm Americans. Some ESG proposals restric...

 Kimberly Strassel: If government funds it, they will come. That’s an overlooked story line in the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. If Washington wants to point fingers, it should aim the biggest digit at itself. Let’s talk about what actually imploded over the past week. If the name wasn’t already a giveaway, SVB was the lender of choice for tech dreamers. It claims to have banked nearly half of all U.S. venture-backed tech and healthcare startups. Yet in recent years those clients have skewed ever more in one direction. “We serve those creating positive environmental change,” SVB’s website brags, noting that the bank worked with some 1,550 companies in the “climate technology and sustainability sector.” ... What inspires a bank to disregard risk and shower money on products or services that nobody is clamoring to buy? One answer is easy money and misguided regulation, which washed dollars into the economy even as it pushed banks like SVB to load up on sovereign debt, lulled by a ...

 The Hill: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Thursday announced an alliance with 18 other states to push back against President Biden’s support for environmental, social and corporate governance investing, known as ESG. The states argue that Biden’s backing for socially-conscious ESG investing, under which investors weigh sustainability and ethical considerations, is a threat to the U.S. economy. DeSantis joins with the governors of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming in what his office called “an alliance to push back” against Biden’s ESG “agenda.” “The proliferation of ESG throughout America is a direct threat to the American economy, individual economic freedom, and our way of life, putting investment decisions in the hands of the woke mob to bypass the ballot box and inject political ideology into investment decisions, corporate g...

 Fox Business: Silicon Valley Bank reckless with risk, ESG push: State Financial Officers SVB had catered to the Bay Area tech community and pursued ESG initiatives along with a joint venture in China The failure of Silicon Valley Bank is being cited by the State Financial Officers Foundation as an example of what can go wrong when financial institutions prioritize political agendas over basic risk management. The State Financial Officers Foundation — a group of Republican state auditors, chief financial officers, controllers, and treasurers — released a statement that said Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) "should have focused on safeguarding their depositors’ money and making sound investments, but it’s clear their focus was on pushing a progressive agenda." "Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) prioritization is about pushing a progressive political agenda even when it is at odds with sound financial or business decision-making," the financial officers wrote. ...

 Mike Gonzales: You don’t need a political science degree from the Sorbonne to know there are forces attempting regime change in America. Diversity, equity, and inclusion; critical race theory; environmental, social, and governance—these are the strategies that nonelected entities are using to alter how we live. Now to the rescue comes a functioning branch of representative democracy. State governments, particularly state legislatures, are going into overdrive to introduce a raft of bills to defeat DEI, CRT, and ESG. Florida and Texas led the way. Now, Missouri and Arizona have introduced bills that defend the constitutional order the purveyors of the alphabet soup are trying to deconstruct. Even Congress is getting in on the act: Two anti-CRT bills have just been introduced in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The state efforts, however, have a much better chance of passing than the one about to be reintroduced in the Senate by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and in the Hous...

 National Review: On Wednesday, the Senate voted 50-46 to block a Biden administration rule that allows retirement plan fiduciaries to consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in investment decisions. The Labor Department enacted a rule last year to make it easier for investors to take into account climate change and other social factors that are not solely focused on profitability and returns for retirees. Republicans have classified the rule as one of many “woke” moves by the Biden administration that will materially hurt Americans. The House voted 216-204 Tuesday to block the rule. In both chambers, Republicans were able to peel off members of the Democratic caucus. Jon Tester and Joe Manchin joined Republicans in the Senate, and Maine representative Jared Golden did the same in the House . “This Congressional Review Act measure that I am offering is a bipartisan, bicameral joint resolution disapproving of a Department of Labor rulemaking that will politiciz...

 Fox News: House votes to kill Biden’s ‘woke’ ESG investment rule that props up ‘phony climate movement’ House voted to kill Department of Labor rule; Senate will take it up next ESG is a pander by the Biden administration to the Climate kooks.  It is a scheme to avoid investment in fossil fuels.  The pander would reduce production and drive up the cost of energy for Americans. See, also: S.O.S for the U.S. Electric Grid PJM Interconnection sounds the latest alarm that fossil-fuel plants are shutting down without adequate replacement power. The political class yawns. The warnings keep coming that the force-fed energy transition to renewable fuels is destabilizing the U.S. electric grid, but is anyone in government paying attention? Another S.O.S. came Friday in an ominous report from PJM Interconnection, one of the nation’s largest grid operators. The PJM report forecasts power supply and demand through 2030 across the 13 eastern states in its territory covering 65 millio...

 Fox News: On Monday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and state legislative leaders announced a sweeping new bill to curb the politicization of corporations and the use of social credit scoring in banking and other financial services in their state. If passed into law, the legislation would become the most far-reaching protection against woke corporations established to date. "Today’s announcement builds on my commitment to protect consumers’ investments and their ability to access financial services in the Free State of Florida," DeSantis said during a press conference announcing the bill. "By applying arbitrary ESG financial metrics that serve no one except the companies that created them, elites are circumventing the ballot box to implement a radical ideological agenda. Through this legislation, we will protect the investments of Floridians and the ability of Floridians to participate in the economy." "ESG" stands for "environmental, social, and gove...

 National Review: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced a series of new proposals on Monday aimed at cracking down on the use of so-called Environmental, Social, and Governance criteria in investment decisions involving state and local funds. The ESG movement promotes an investment discipline which emphasizes not just financial returns, but also grades companies on things such as their ethics, board diversity, political donations, and sustainability efforts. Speaking during a press conference in Naples on Monday, DeSantis defined ESG as a “mechanism to inject political ideology into investment decisions, corporate governance, and really just the everyday economy.” As part of the proposed legislation DeSantis unveiled was a plan to codify into statute a resolution enacted last year that prohibited ESG investing in pension funds for state and local government employees, including firefighters, police officers, and teachers. The proposed legislation would restrict banks that hold p...

 Fox News: Over 100 groups back Manchin, GOP plan to block Biden’s ‘woke’ ESG investing rule Biden admin is setting ESG standard that will affect retirement investments of 152M Americans ... Last week, every Republican senator and West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin introduced legislation that they hope will terminate a new Department of Labor rule that allows retirement plan managers to factor environment, social and governance (ESG) issues into investment decisions, which they say "politicizes" the retirement savings for 152 million Americans. Advancing American Freedom (AAF) Executive Director Paul Teller wrote a letter, first obtained by Fox News Digital and signed by the heads of more than 100 conservative groups, urging Congress to rollback Biden's "politically inappropriate" and "financially irresponsible" rule. ... Biden's policies would harm not only the retirement accounts but also weaken US energy production and make it harder for fossi...

 Fox Business: A group of 25 states on Thursday filed a federal lawsuit against the Biden administration, arguing a recent rule allowing retirement plan managers to factor environmental and social issues into investment decisions violated the law. The lawsuit — led by Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes and joined by 24 other states including Louisiana, Texas and Virginia — challenges a Department of Labor (DOL) rule unveiled in November and which is set to go into effect on Jan. 30. The rule would open the door for fiduciaries to factor so-called environment, social and governance (ESG) considerations into Americans' retirement accounts, an action the states argued could significantly harm the financial interests of customers. "The Biden administration is promoting its climate change agenda by putting everyday people’s retirement money at risk," Reyes told FOX Business in a statement. "Americans are already suffering from the current economic downturn." "Pe...

 NY Times: BlackRock’s Pitch for Socially Conscious Investing Upsets All Sides Right-wing officials are attacking BlackRock for overstepping. Those on the left say the world’s biggest asset manager is not doing enough. The left would rather see the economy ruined by pushing their Big Green agenda which is totally unrealistic.  The right is correct that the ESG nonsense is a mistake. 

 Oliver Wiseman: ... The ESG story starts in 2004, when the three-letter acronym appeared in a UN report arguing for environmental, social and governance considerations to be hardwired into financial systems. Since then the term has been on a long but rapidly accelerating journey from NGO-world obscurity into the financial mainstream and subsequently the political limelight, prompting strong reactions from a chorus of prominent figures. Elon Musk calls it “a scam.” Peter Thiel says it’s a “hate factory.” Warren Buffett describes it as “asinine.” Unsurprisingly for a piece of UN jargon that has become part of the political cut and thrust, “ESG” is often used to mean different things. Properly defined, it refers to an investment strategy that factors in environmental, social and corporate governance considerations. That might mean not investing in oil and gas companies, for example. Or it might mean only investing in companies that have a stated commitment to diversity, equity and in...

 Daily Caller: Americans were just issued a dire warning after “Dilbert,” a comic beloved by many over the years, was dropped from 77 publications after over three decades. Created by cartoonist Scott Adams, “Dilbert” uses satire to poke fun at traditional office life on a number of issues, which recently included “ESG.” As this particular comic strip explained, the ESG movement seeks to use a new set of criteria — environmental, social, and governance — to evaluate businesses and consumers based on how well they align with the progressives’ woke priorities, including climate radicalism, gender ideology, gun control and even abortion-on-demand. Probably not by coincidence, “Dilbert” was dropped from many major publications after pointing out the lunacy of such policies. There’s no doubt its culture-shaping commentary will be missed by many that enjoyed the subtle humor. What is not so subtle, however, is the ESG movement, which has used the Left’s fear-driven, systemic cancel cult...

 Joan Sammon: In the weeks since the S&P 500 announced Tesla’s removal from its ESG Index while inviting Exxon to join, but leaving Chevron out, the incongruous nature of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) construct has never been more obvious. It reveals what some might consider proof of the fraud that ESG represents. But what exactly is ESG? Where did it come from? Understanding its genesis and purpose of ESG will clarify what it actually is, not what many purport it to be. Beginning in 2000, the World Economic Forum (WEF) embarked on an initiative that over two decades later can only be described as a Trojan-horse attack on free markets, private property, and democratic institutions. Founded in 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab, the WEF describes its mission in part as, "improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas." Agenda-shaping ...