There are many good people spreading a lot of good messages of liberty
and justice.
But trillions of dollars of investment capital is working against us
and powering efforts to undermine freedom and justice. Specifically,
trillions are invested into defense companies who push for new wars,
and companies that torture on behalf of the U.S., and companies that
spy on us, and companies that drive up food prices, destroy food safety,
kill bees, and otherwise mess with our food supply.
In other words, all of the talk in the world won't turn things around
if all of the money is working against
what we're demanding.
Millions of us raised our voices and demanded that the U.S. not launch
the Iraq war. Millions of us wrote to Congress and demanded that Bush
and Cheney be impeached. But Congress listened to the large defense
contractors and other well-financed companies (and flush lobbying groups,
such as AIPAC), not to the American people. Actions speak louder than
words, and money is
The Good News
The good news is that not all of the people investing the trillions
of dollars are bad people. In fact, as of 2003, $2.16
trillion dollars - or 1 out of 9 dollars invested - was invested
with the intent to be "socially responsible". That is 240% more than
in 1997, when attempts at socially responsible investing totaled $529
billion dollars. The numbers are still increasing.
There are now numerous large
mutual funds and other investment vehicles focusing on socially
responsible investing (many of them get returns comparable to mainstream
investments).
Some of the trillions invested through "socially responsible investing"
(SRI) programs focus on big-picture issues like not investing in defense
industry (others focus on things like tobacco, or wages). The motto
of socially responsible investing is "doing
well by doing good".
"Thanks in part to the work of concerned investors, thousands
of companies worldwide are publishing corporate social responsibility
reports that lay out their codes of conduct, describe their progress
on various issues and reveal where their products originate and who
makes them. "
So there is a lot of money and a lot of interest flowing into investments
which will do no harm, and maybe some good.
The Bad News
A lot of the social responsibility movement is a scam. A 2004
study found that the SRI industry has no standards or definitions,
is unregulated and too often invests in the same companies as non-SRI
mutual funds. Indeed, the study concludes that:
"The screening methodologies and exceptions employed by most
SRI mutual funds allow practically any publicly-held company to be considered
as an SRI portfolio company."
For example, one SRI mutual fund invests in "hiqh-quality growth stocks
with no investments in the tobacco, alcohol, gambling, or pharmaceutical
companies". That doesn't necessarily mean they don't invest in Halliburton.
Another may stay away from defense companies, but that doesn't mean that
they don't invest in companies that spy on Americans.
"As of December 30, 2003, 23 SRI funds are invested in Haliburton
. . . weapons manufacturer Raytheon was held by 12 funds; ExxonMobil
was held by 40 SRI funds; and Monsanto, maker of genetically modified
seeds and Round Up weed killer, was held by 19 SRI funds."
As entrepreneur and activist Paul Hawken notes,
'The term socially responsible investing is so broad it is meaningless.
If a fund doesn't own companies involved with gambling and pornography,
it can be called socially responsible."
(You can research what criteria or "screens" self-proclaimed SRI companies
use here.)
And as for corporate social responsibility reporting by corporations,
this is obviously largely motivated by acting
like the company is doing good so as to attract customers and employees.
Harnessing Investments for Good
The important thing to note is thetrend
for people to want to do the
right thing, and the trillions of dollars which investors are willing
to put towards that goal. In other words, the fact that most of the social
responsibility professionals are scammers (although there are some good
ones) does not mean that the desire among investors to do good isn't there.
It only means that unscrupulous people are trying to take advantage of
the gullible (surprise surprise).
If we can harness the desire among trillion dollar investors to do good,
it could go a long way towards
supporting our struggle for liberty and justice. Specifically, if financial
experts within the 9/11 truth, anti-war, impeachment, anti-torture and
other patriotic movements set up socially responsible investment companies
which can get reasonable returns for investors investing in things which
promote our causes, then things
could dramatically change for the better . . . since huge amounts of money
would be working for our causes,
instead of against them.
Don't tell me why this won't work. I
can myself punch holes in the idea of harnessing huge investment sums
to effect deep systemic change.
Instead, we need experts, visionaries and passionate activists to figure
out how it can work and to make it happen.
My initial thoughts (I'm not
an expert in any relevant area) are that we need a focused and coordinated
effort to get this off the ground, including:
Seasoned investment advisors, mutual fund managers, stock screeners
and like experts starting new socially responsible investment companies
which focus on the real and important issues, like liberty and justice.
Or else taking over established companies to get them back on the
straight and narrow, and focusing them on the most important issues
of liberty, justice and truth. (There should also be a requirement
that some leading activists in the relevant fields be on the board
of directors, so that the money people don't get off track)
Those who can get the word out (owners of popular websites, widely-read
writers, etc.) spreading the word about the power of socially responsible
investing to put wind in the sails of activist efforts
Those who have squirreled away
some savings should invest a little bit of our money in these programs
(they'll hopefully pay a good return; even if they don't, we can take
a little of the money we were going to invest in gold or other allegedly
safe investments to promote liberty, justice and truth)
Activists for freedom, justice
and truth should be supported. For example, if a 9/11 activist can
make enough money with his website, video, or books to quit his day
job and focus on activism full-time, more power to him. Anyone who
criticizes an activist for being able to support herself in that role
is either a disinfo shill (it is usually apologists for the tyrants
who raise such criticism) or out of touch with reality. Personally,
I have a day job, and I don't get paid a dime for my activism. But
I support people who do.
Catherine Austin Fitts (managing director
and director of the Wall Street investment bank Dillon, Read & Co.
Inc., Assistant Secretary of Housing/Federal Housing Commissioner at the
US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and president of Hamilton
Securities Group, Inc., an investment bank) has written along these lines
(see this,
this
and this). Fitts knows
a lot more about investing than I do, but so far she has not been very
direct in how to set up investment systems which will help promote liberty
and justice. Fitts claims that the government has put a gag order on her,
so that she can't say what she knows. If that is true, it becomes even
more important for a wide group of experts on money and investing - who
aren't gagged - to get active with creating systems of social investment
which can improve our country.
