{"id":1737706,"date":"2022-11-14T06:20:08","date_gmt":"2022-11-14T11:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1737706"},"modified":"2022-11-14T09:04:02","modified_gmt":"2022-11-14T14:04:02","slug":"esg-the-merger-of-state-and-corporate-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/esg-the-merger-of-state-and-corporate-power\/","title":{"rendered":"ESG: The Merger of State and Corporate Power"},"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\">16<\/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%2Fesg-the-merger-of-state-and-corporate-power%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=1737706&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--><p><em>News Analysis<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In 2022, in the midst of a recession, record inflation, and a tumbling stock market, a corporate ideology known by the acronym <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-esg\">ESG<\/a> emerged from obscurity to become a headline topic. It has been called everything from a risk-management tool and a movement for a cleaner, more just world, to a \u201ccon,\u201d a \u201cfraud,\u201d and even\u2014in an <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1510485792296210434\">Elon Musk tweet\u2014<\/a>\u201cthe devil incarnate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The term itself is opaque; ESG brings environmental, social, and governance causes together under one umbrella. The environmental component includes things like transitioning from fossil fuels to wind and solar energy, and from gasoline-powered cars to electric vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>The social component includes racial and gender equity, diversity training for employees, economic equity, and gun control. The governance component focus on how companies are run and includes racial and gender quotas for corporate boards, management, and staff, and\u2014in the case of Exxon\u2014putting green energy advocates on the board.<\/p>\n<h2>The Origins of ESG Ideology<\/h2>\n<p>The ESG movement is a derivative of the <a href=\"https:\/\/sdgs.un.org\/goals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">United Nations Sustainable Development Goals<\/a> (SDGs). There are 17 SDGs in all, ranging from \u201cno poverty, zero hunger, and good health\u201d to \u201cresponsible consumption and production\u201d and \u201cpeaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, the World Economic Forum (WEF), an annual gathering of the world\u2019s most powerful political and corporate leaders in Davos, Switzerland, signed a strategic partnership with the U.N. to advance the SDGs throughout the corporate sector. Led by founder and chairman, Klaus Schwab, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.weforum.org\/agenda\/2019\/12\/davos-manifesto-2020-the-universal-purpose-of-a-company-in-the-fourth-industrial-revolution\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WEF issued<\/a> the \u201cDavos Manifesto 2020: The Universal Purpose of a Company in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4501228\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/05\/30\/DAVOS-2022-1200x800.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-full wp-image-4501228\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/DAVOS-2022-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"5000\" height=\"3333\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4501228\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/DAVOS-2022-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"5000\" height=\"3333\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab delivers remarks at the Congress centre during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on May 23, 2022. (Fabrice Coffrini\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<p>The manifesto declared that \u201ca company is more than an economic unit generating wealth. It fulfills human and societal aspirations as part of the broader social system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During the annual meeting, Schwab told the gathered corporate executives and world leaders, \u201cLet\u2019s be clear, the future is not just happening; the future is built by us, by a powerful community here in this room.\u00a0We have the means to improve the status of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=l90QesusNgQ\">CNBC interview<\/a> in 2020, Bank of America CEO and WEF International Business Council Chairman Brian Moynihan said,\u00a0 \u201cTo solve these huge problems that the world faces\u2014this is U.N. week and the SDGs are the statement to the world of what we\u2019d like to make progress on\u2014you have to bring capitalism to the task.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Nov. 4, 100 executives from the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders issued a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.weforum.org\/agenda\/2022\/11\/cop27-alliance-of-ceo-climate-leaders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">joint letter<\/a> to attendees of the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP27), stating, \u201cWe are ready to work side-by-side with governments to deliver bold climate action.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAccelerating the transition to net zero requires significant collaboration and shared responsibility between the private and public sectors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Signatories of the letter included Coca-Cola, Dell, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Nestle, PepsiCo, Siemens, Sysco, and Unilever.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qLTcC7srnLw\">COP27 conference<\/a>, former Vice President Al Gore concurred, saying, \u201cWe need 4.5 trillion dollars per year to make this transition, and that can only come by unlocking access to private capital.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Author and political analyst Michael Rectenwald told The Epoch Times, \u201cThis is a massive campaign that has already metastasized to almost all of the corporate world. The tentacles of the WEF extend to almost every sector of society.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More than 500 of the world\u2019s largest corporations have signed pledges to support ESG goals across industries including banking, insurance, asset management, tech, media, energy, manufacturing, and transportation. These pledges are signed as part of membership in international clubs like Climate Action 100+, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, the Net Zero Banking Alliance, and the Net Zero Asset Managers Alliance. There\u2019s no segment of the American economy that\u2019s outside the reach of this movement.<\/p>\n<p>From its origins in U.N. think tanks and WEF conference rooms, ESG is then passed down to the corporate world via Wall Street, marketed as an investment strategy for companies to follow, voluntarily or involuntarily.<\/p>\n<p>BlackRock\u2019s head of sustainable investing research Carole Crozat\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Mu2dPVwSTZU\">explained to investors<\/a> that \u201cwhile measuring the alignment of investments to the U.N. SDGs is a complex and evolving task, we believe that their integration in investment decisions can help secure long-term financial performance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRedirecting capital toward U.N. SDGs could offer $12 trillion of market opportunities linked to our long-term social and environmental well-being,\u201d Crozat said.<\/p>\n<h2>ESG in Practice<\/h2>\n<p>In principle, ESG means that companies look beyond making profits and consider higher political and moral issues like the welfare of the planet; in practice, it means that corporations become political agents for left-wing causes. This concept is also called \u201cstakeholder capitalism,\u201d which has been endorsed by CEOs across the corporate world.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking for Bank of America, Moynihan said, \u201cOur research shows that companies that do well on ESG end up doing better \u2026 It defines capitalism the way that people want to define it, which is stakeholder capitalism and solving the big problems of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stakeholder capitalism means that, instead of answering exclusively to shareholders, CEOs will focus on employees, the environment, and society at large. As head of the Business Roundtable, a club of America\u2019s largest corporations, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon applauded the organization\u2019s announcement in 2019 that corporate executives would henceforth follow stakeholder ideology, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessroundtable.org\/business-roundtable-redefines-the-purpose-of-a-corporation-to-promote-an-economy-that-serves-all-americans\">stating<\/a> that the American dream was \u201cfraying\u201d and that \u201cthese modernized principles reflect the business community\u2019s unwavering commitment to continue to push for an economy that serves all Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In accordance with ESG principles, stakeholder-oriented banks like JPMorgan Chase refused to lend to oil drilling companies in Alaska. Delta Airlines, Coca Cola, and Major League Baseball fought against voter ID laws in Georgia that they claimed were racist.<\/p>\n<p>The world\u2019s largest food companies such as Nestle, Danone, Kellogg\u2019s, General Mills, and Unilever encourage\u2014and sometimes pressure\u2014the hundreds of thousands of farmers who supply them to take up a U.N.-approved method of farming called \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.unep.org\/news-and-stories\/story\/rethinking-food-systems\">regenerative agriculture<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As part of the U.N. and ESG goals to reduce shootings, banks like Citibank restricted lending to the firearms industry. Credit card companies Visa, Mastercard, and American Express began tracking purchases from gun shops.<\/p>\n<p>Amalgamated Bank President Priscilla Sims Brown stated in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=EZ9zdplKLZ8&#038;t=143s\">interview with CBS<\/a> that \u201cwhere there may be gun sales that are intended for black markets or we see patterns of gun purchases made in multiple gun shops \u2026 we can provide that information to authorities to investigate.\u201d PayPal went a step further and refused to allow its payment services to be used to buy guns or ammunition.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4449987\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/05\/06\/IMG_8263-1200x900-1200x900-1200x900.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-full wp-image-4449987\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_8263-1200x900-1200x900-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4449987\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_8263-1200x900-1200x900-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Protesters rally in opposition to The Walt Disney Company\u2019s stance against a recently passed Florida law outside of the company\u2019s headquarters in Burbank, Calif., on April 6, 2022. (Jill McLaughlin\/The Epoch Times)<\/figure>\n<p>Following ESG social criteria, Disney fought to repeal a Florida law that bans teaching of sexual topics to schoolchildren in Kindergarten through third grade, which Disney said was a human rights violation. Disney <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/disney-executives-outline-gay-agenda-push-for-more-queer-characters-in-internal-meeting_4372179.html\">executives also announced<\/a> during a staff meeting they were \u201cadding queerness\u201d and \u201cadvancing a not-so-secret gay agenda\u201d in the children\u2019s shows they produce.<\/p>\n<p>Corporations across the board began implementing diversity, equity and inclusion training for employees, with Coca Cola urging employees to \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/02\/23\/coca-cola-diversity-training-urged-workers-to-be-less-white\/\">be less white<\/a>,\u201d and asset manager Vanguard instructing its white male employees to accept <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/diversity-training-at-vanguard-tells-white-men-to-accept-uncomfortable-criticism-floats-holding-them-accountable\">\u201cuncomfortable\u201d criticism<\/a> about their racist biases toward minorities. United Airlines set <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/united-airlines-sparks-debate-pledge-diversify-pilot-staff-1581733\">racial and gender quotas<\/a> for hiring new pilots, and Bank of America announced that it would provide <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/bank-of-america-black-hispanic-mortgage\/\">no-downpayment mortgages<\/a> for minorities who want to buy a house.<\/p>\n<p>The WEF, Bank of America,\u00a0Disney, Coca-Cola, and PayPal didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<h2>A Money Machine That Spans the Globe<\/h2>\n<p>ESG isn\u2019t just an ideology; it\u2019s also an industry. ESG investment funds and other assets have rapidly grown over the past decade to reach a current $55 trillion dollars worldwide. ESG assets are projected to grow to $100 trillion by 2025.<\/p>\n<p>To put this in perspective, the entire United States GDP is about $21 trillion today. The ESG industry is enormous and pervasive; it\u2019s lucrative; and it has created a broad network of vested interests\u2014consultants, rating agencies, accountants, investment managers, and proxy agents\u2014to bring agnostics into the fold. Often, the companies that impose ESG ratings on companies, countries, and even American states, also provide paid consulting services to help them improve their ratings.<\/p>\n<p>The main drivers of the ESG movement are Wall Street banks and investment funds, which control the capital for the world economy. The three largest asset managers, BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street, together control more than $20 trillion in assets under management. Because they manage index funds, they own shares in most corporations that are included in market indexes like the S&#038;P 500.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you just look at BlackRock by itself, it\u2019s the first, second or third largest shareholder in 80 percent of the companies in the S&#038;P 500,\u201d former CEO of CKE Restaurants Andrew Puzder told The Epoch Times. \u201cThey use that tremendous voting power, not only to advance this economic leftist agenda, but to put it above their obligation to generate returns for their investors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Will Hild, Executive Director of Consumers\u2019 Research, told The Epoch Times that \u201cthe way that these fund managers use ESG to push progressive politics is multifaceted. The first and probably the most public way is they get to vote the shares that they\u2019re managing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe more quiet, sort of less public way is that they have what they call engagement meetings with corporate leadership on these issues,\u201d Hild said. \u201cAnd when they show up, they don\u2019t say: hey, we\u2019re just representing ourselves, they say we represent ownership of 7.5-20 percent of your publicly traded shares. BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard together would be the largest shareholder in 90 percent of the S&#038;P 500.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-cCs9Kh2Q08\"> New York Times conference<\/a> in 2017, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink appeared to underscore this point, stating: \u201cBehaviors are going to have to change and this is one thing we\u2019re asking companies. You have to force behaviors and here at BlackRock we are forcing behaviors.\u201d Fink writes an annual letter to CEOs, setting priorities for the coming year.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4741465\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1425234787.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-full wp-image-4741465\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1425234787.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4741465\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1425234787.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> BlackRock CEO Larry Fink speaks at a forum during the opening of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), a meeting of international leaders in New York City on Sept. 19, 2022. (Spencer Platt\/Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIf you read his annual letter to CEOs, Larry Fink actually thinks he needs to tell the world\u2019s CEOs every year what BlackRock thinks,\u201d Puzder said. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t have to go to every shareholder meeting, he just tells them what to do in a letter. And the letter the year before last said we need to get to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, which will require a transformation of the entire economy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite its rhetoric to the contrary and its membership in various global ESG organizations, BlackRock has vehemently denied that it uses its influence to push a political agenda. Responding to a letter (<a href=\"https:\/\/ago.mo.gov\/docs\/default-source\/press-releases\/blackrock-letter.pdf?sfvrsn=75bb481e_2\">pdf<\/a>) from 19 state attorneys general who charged that \u201cBlackRock used citizens\u2019 assets to pressure companies to comply with international agreements such as the Paris Agreement that force the phase-out of fossil fuels,\u201d BlackRock countered (<a href=\"https:\/\/thetexan.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/BlackRock-Response-to-AGs-09062022_Final.pdf\">pdf<\/a>) that its funds were highly rated from a performance perspective and that \u201cour participation in these initiatives is entirely consistent with our fiduciary obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other financial institutions that have pledged support for the ESG movement include Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, and UBS. And in pledging fealty to ESG goals, corporations are not only aligned with each other, but with governments, as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s now becoming increasingly difficult to tell where the private sector ends and the government begins,\u201d Alex Newman, CEO of Liberty Sentinel Media, told The Epoch Times. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing a merger of the two.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley also didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my experience, large Wall Street banks are not charitable institutions,\u201d Vivek Ramaswamy, entrepreneur and founder of Strive Asset Management, told The Epoch Times. \u201cYou look at which firms are rewarded with government packages, like who gets the COVID-19 stimulus packages; a lot of that flowed through BlackRock.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tom Jones, president of the American Accountability Foundation, told The Epoch Times: \u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing is a new revolving door in Washington. We\u2019re seeing liberal activists, whether they\u2019re in the administration or on Capitol Hill, instead of leaving those positions and going to K Street to become lobbyists in Washington, what we\u2019re seeing now is they\u2019re going to Wall Street. And they\u2019re using the enormous influence that these Wall Street firms have to really drive policy at the state and local level in a way they haven\u2019t done before.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4502067\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/05\/31\/GettyImages-1239648553-1200x799.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-full wp-image-4502067\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1239648553-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"4000\" height=\"2664\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4502067\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1239648553-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"4000\" height=\"2664\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Director of the National Economic Council Brian Deese speaks during a briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, on March 31, 2022. (Nicholas Kamm\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<p>Brian Deese, for example, who\u2019s\u00a0the current National Economic Council director, was global\u00a0head\u00a0of sustainable investing at\u00a0BlackRock, Hild noted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd you have Tom Donilon, who\u2019s now been put in charge of a significant portion of our foreign policy, vis a vis China. And again, he comes right out of BlackRock and it\u2019s going down the line.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Biden administration has been heavily staffed by BlackRock alums, and in some cases, it\u2019s even scary some of the issues that they handled when they were at BlackRock. Tom Donilon, for example, recommended to clients while he was there that they tripled their exposure to China, and now he\u2019s in charge of a portion of the Biden administration\u2019s foreign policy vis a vis China.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>A Democratic Deficit<\/h2>\n<p>What\u2019s most striking about ESG is how, in joining corporations with government under a common cause, it has created a new power structure that often supersedes national laws and overrides the Constitution. Working in collaboration with government agencies, corporations have engaged in enforcement, censorship, and warrantless surveillance, often doing what the government is legally prohibited from doing.<\/p>\n<p>Some believe that this public-private\u00a0alliance, which overrides democratic institutions, is necessary because the crises humanity are facing\u2014including climate change and racism\u2014are so dire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe climate crisis is about human security, economic security, environmental security, national security and the very life of the planet,\u201d President Joe Biden said in his speech at the U.N. COP27 summit on Nov. 11.<\/p>\n<p>Calling for a \u201csustainability revolution\u201d at the COP27 conference, former Vice President Al Gore condemned \u201cthe culture of death that surrounds our addiction to fossil fuels by digging up dead life forms and burning them recklessly in ways that create more death.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But others are wary about this concentration of power and authority in so few hands, and the public\u2019s loss of a voice or vote in such major decisions about the future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow you address racial inequity or global climate change, these are important enough questions that we should resolve them through free speech and debate in the public square by putting people into public office who are accountable to the American electorate. Companies are not accountable, BlackRock is not accountable, Larry Fink is not accountable,\u201d Ramaswamy said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the heart of the question that was an issue in 1776, where we said for better or worse, citizens decide how to settle these common political questions through the political process where everyone\u2019s voice and vote counts equally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>New York University Finance Professor Aswath Damodaran told the Prague Finance Institute in November 2021: \u201cDo you really want Larry Fink and Jamie Dimon deciding what\u2019s good or bad for the world? You\u2019ve outsourced what should be your responsibility as a voter, as a citizen, to CEOs of companies. Nothing good has ever come of doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-kevin-stocklin\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Kevin-Stocklin.jpg\" alt=\"Kevin Stocklin\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Kevin Stocklin is a writer, film producer, and former investment banker. He wrote and produced &#8220;We All Fall Down: The American Mortgage Crisis,&#8221; a 2008 documentary on the collapse of the U.S. mortgage finance system.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News AnalysisIn 2022, in the midst of a recession, record inflation, and a tumbling stock market, a corporate ideology known by the acronym ESG emerged from obscurity to become a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1737709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1737706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1737706","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1737706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1737706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1737709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1737706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1737706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1737706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}