{"id":1500633,"date":"2022-06-02T07:45:10","date_gmt":"2022-06-02T11:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1500633"},"modified":"2022-06-02T07:45:12","modified_gmt":"2022-06-02T11:45:12","slug":"republican-state-treasurers-warn-wall-street-trying-to-punish-middle-america-through-woke-investing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republican-state-treasurers-warn-wall-street-trying-to-punish-middle-america-through-woke-investing\/","title":{"rendered":"Republican State Treasurers Warn Wall Street \u201cTrying to Punish\u201d Middle America Through Woke Investing"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frepublican-state-treasurers-warn-wall-street-trying-to-punish-middle-america-through-woke-investing%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1500633&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/05\/GettyImages-1152686518.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Many Americans have a distaste for wokeness \u2014 but few may realize that the ideology may soon be invading their retirement accounts and siphoning their taxpayer dollars.<\/p>\n<p>As Utah State Treasurer Marlo Oaks pointed out in a recent op-ed for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/s-and-p-states-politicized-credit-scores-esg-rating-utah-oaks-carbon-environmental-energy-crisis-price-fracking-ukraine-russia-11652037089?mod=hp_opin_pos_4\">The Wall Street Journal<\/a>, S&#038;P Global Ratings \u2014 the nation\u2019s largest credit rating firm \u2014 began applying an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) rating system to states\u2019 finances in a manner divorced from their true budgetary conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Though the system purports to be objective, Oaks and <a href=\"https:\/\/treasurer.utah.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/04-21-22-Utah-Letter_SP-Global_ESG-Indicators.pdf\">other Republican state treasurers<\/a> contend that progressive ESG metrics are giving investment funds an excuse to discriminate against states with conservative values.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are calling attention to political factors that are subjective \u2014 and that opens the door to being able to borrow in the capital markets at a less advantageous rate than would be indicated by the credit rating by itself,\u201d Oaks told The Daily Wire.<\/p>\n<p>Common ESG objectives pursued by corporations may involve setting certain green energy commitments or tapping a certain number of women to serve as executives. In essence, ESG conforms the nation\u2019s most influential companies to a progressive agenda \u2014 even if political or social activism has nothing to do with their brand identities or corporate missions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt has the potential to increase the bond costs for states that don\u2019t align with the underlying ESG ideology,\u201d Oaks added. Utah has a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.treasurer.ca.gov\/ratings\/current.asp\">AAA bond rating<\/a> from ratings agencies S&#038;P, Moody\u2019s, and Fitch.<\/p>\n<p>For states like West Virginia \u2014 which ranked among the top six states for energy production as of 2019, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eia.gov\/todayinenergy\/detail.php?id=49356\">U.S. Energy Information Administration<\/a> \u2014 ESG funds pushing green power are particularly threatening to employment and public finances.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re trying to punish us based on our culture, our economy, and our industries, making it more expensive for us to do things like build schools, build roads, build hospitals \u2014 all those types of projects that get bonds floated out there for them,\u201d West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore told The Daily Wire. \u201cThey\u2019re trying to coerce us into conforming to their agenda, and they\u2019re doing that by trying to financially punish us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moore alluded to the <a href=\"https:\/\/gasprices.aaa.com\/\">rising cost of gas<\/a> in the United States and around the world amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which occurs as the Biden administration has nixed expansions to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/peter-doocy-asks-for-a-straight-answer-on-keystone-gets-the-runaround-from-jen-psaki\">Keystone XL Pipeline<\/a> and dragged its feet on issuing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/unacceptable-cruz-gop-senators-demand-end-to-oil-and-gas-lease-permit-delays\">oil and gas permits<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we\u2019re going to be an energy independent country, you need states like West Virginia,\u201d Moore remarked. \u201cWe could be helping our allies over in Europe \u2026 if these people would just let us build pipelines to get gas out of West Virginia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moore said that green energy is \u201ca rich man\u2019s problem,\u201d noting the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eia.gov\/todayinenergy\/detail.php?id=3130\">increased use of fossil fuels<\/a> in China and India. Even if West Virginia makes an effort to align itself with ESG objectives, \u201cthey\u2019ll just move the goalposts again\u201d until fossil fuels are eliminated, Moore said.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Missouri State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick expressed concern over ESG funds condemning states with pro-life cultures \u2014 especially as the Supreme Court reportedly prepares to overturn<i> Roe v. Wade<\/i>. Stockholders for Walmart, Lowe\u2019s, and other retailers were <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bloomberglaw.com\/daily-labor-report\/walmart-lowes-shareholders-urged-to-approve-abortion-proposals?context=search&#038;index=1\">urged to consider abortion-related proposals<\/a> at their most recent shareholder meetings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose decisions really have nothing to do with the underlying credit quality of a state government or of a corporation that is operating in that state,\u201d Fitzpatrick told The Daily Wire. \u201cIf they\u2019re successful in making this a key component of how financial institutions look at credit risk at large, it\u2019s going to drive up the cost for taxpayers in states that don\u2019t subscribe to this ideology that we should intentionally hamstring our own economies in the name of environmentalism or some type of social cause.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Oaks cast doubt upon the notion that most investors have a favorable attitude toward ESG. Indeed, an exclusive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/poll-by-two-to-one-margin-investors-reject-woke-companies-pushing-political-causes\">Daily Wire poll conducted by Echelon Insights<\/a> showed last week that most American investors would rather see companies solely pursue profits rather than opine on political matters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would say most investors don\u2019t want this,\u201d Oaks said. \u201cI believe most investors will look at the credit rating of a state and look at whether they are going to get paid back or not. That is their fiduciary obligation, and most people that operate in the capital markets still believe in that standard. There are some that are not, and those are the ones that are creating this problem. But I believe it is a minority.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In alignment with Oaks\u2019 suspicion, a strong margin of investors \u2014 66% versus 20% \u2014 supported the right of individual investors to opt out of ESG-style investments, according to The Daily Wire\u2019s poll. Most investors also prefer to focus on profits instead of ESG when they select assets of their own.<\/p>\n<p>Nebraska State Treasurer John Murante told The Daily Wire that the American people are undergoing a \u201cGreat Awakening\u201d to the dangers of woke investing due to criticism from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/elon-musk-comes-down-hard-on-fraudulent-woke-investing\">high-profile business leaders like Elon Musk<\/a>, who has called ESG \u201cfraudulent\u201d and argued that its standards \u201chave been twisted into insanity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople do not want their retirement accounts invested for political purposes,\u201d Murante said. \u201cThey want it invested in a way that will achieve the best return for their investment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many Americans have a distaste for wokeness \u2014 but few may realize that the ideology may soon be invading their retirement accounts and siphoning their taxpayer dollars.As Utah State Treasurer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":498,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1500633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1500633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1500633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1500633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1500633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}