Posted on 06/07/2019 4:12:56 AM PDT by Kaslin
Trump-hating liberal activists know how to cause trouble. With record low unemployment numbers and a thriving economy, we have seen well-organized activists interrupting townhalls, blocking traffic in major cities, and using violence.
But there is an awful type of activism happening out there, and it affects us all. Even though this activity is underreported, it affects everyone's 401K retirement savings.
Shareholder activists are taking direct aim at companies - such as oil companies and gun manufacturers - by abusing rules that publicly traded companies must follow to promote a far-left agenda. Instead of trying to gun control pass laws through Congress, they are forcing public companies to bend to their will. What they are doing is dangerous.
The most recent example happened to the legendary gun maker Smith & Wesson. As The Free Beacon reported, an obscure women's group called the Adrian Dominican Sisters has organized their 600 members to become marginal shareholders in gun companies to pass far-left political resolutions. In this case, Smith & Wesson's parent company was forced to do a study about so-called "smart guns." After an expensive process, the report showed "smart guns" are not viable, and consumers overwhelmingly do not blame gun manufacturers for crimes committed by criminals with their products. Both results are common sense.
Ultimately, Smith & Wesson emphasized that its reputation for supporting the second amendment was much more important than attempting to appease its critics.
Other asset managers and hedge fund leaders are willing to cave to activists - in the form of "virtue signaling" - because they fear retribution and take actions which are not in the shareholders' best interest. For example, Dick's Sporting Goods' CEO Edward Stack frequently speaks about how his company is losing money to stop selling guns while claiming it was the right thing to do. It is doubtful that elderly shareholders counting on those stock dividends for retirement would agree.
This sort of activity goes against the shareholders' interests and directly harm investment portfolios which own those shares. These agitators are cautious about branding their organizations in ways which encourage the anti-gun mainstream media to generate sympathetic reports to their cause, which further damages the companies' reputations. That is why the anti-Smith & Wesson activists were "nuns." And it's the same reason why "Handgun Control, Inc." changed their name to the softer sounding "Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence." These campaigns are well organized.
These shareholder activists are taking it a step further, by sponsoring legislation (H.R. 2364) that would turn the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) into a political policing operation by forcing financial institutions to disclose significant investments with gun and ammunition manufacturers. The goal is to hurt embarrass those investors while harming the manufacturers'' bottom line.
The reckless game played by shareholder activists makes it dangerous for shareholders who invest money that they will need to carry them through retirement.
Thankfully, Americans for Tax Reform has taken a positive step in this cause by starting the Shareholder Advocacy Forum, which will provide a voice to the legitimate shareholders while holding executives accountable when they embrace activist proposals. There should always be repercussions for company leaders which bend to the will of left-wing activists.
Enough is enough! It's time to expose shareholder activists and stop them before they harm your retirement savings.
Forget Jackson...see #12
if you look, you will find many articles about how pension funds should be used for unreliable “renewable” energy, all in the cause of stopping of gloBULL warming - lol.
the ultimate aim of the warmists is to get hold of as much of the world’s pension funds as possible.
2 Jun: Japan Times: Japan must exit coal
by Jan Erik Saugestad, CEO of Storebrand Asset Management
To catch up, it would do well to take a cue from Norway, which, like Japan, has a world-leading government pension fund with assets exceeding $1 trillion.
Norway’s finance ministry has announced that it will divest $4 billion more from coal assets, which it began dumping in earnest in 2015, and that it will invest up to 2 percent of its global portfolio, or over $20 billion, in solar, wind and other renewable projects…
Rather than allowing Japan to be left behind, the Government Pension Investment Fund should pursue a similar course. Given the size of their pension funds and the reach of their international connections, Japan and Norway could help to drive change in energy policies worldwide…
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2019/06/02/commentary/world-commentary/japan-must-exit-coal/
“He doesn’t trust what congress will do 30 years down the road.”
He shouldn’t. And neither should we.
L
401’s are racist anyway. That’s what my betters tell me
Yeah, for the time being. Politicians say “401k” but really mean all retirement assets including IRAs.
It’s not enough to disagree; libs, et al, want to control, suppress & villify anyone who has a different opinion, idea, focus or believe. They are intolerant, which makes them toxic, as in destructive & harmful to others & the environment as they want it their way no matter what the proof and the reality actually is.
Exposure would have no impact on them. They don’t care who knows.
MUST-READ BUMP
I listen to Rick Edelman on the radio. He prefers regular IRA’s to a Roth. A Roth is 2 in the bush as taxes have been paid already. I disagree but he has a point. He doesn’t trust what congress will do 30 years down the road.
However, don’t you think its next to impossible for the gov’t to solve the national debt/SS trust fund problems, which means they’ll continue to print more money to service the debt. Over time, this devalues the dollar, and requires you to pull more money out to keep the same lifestyle - A hidden tax increase.
Another alternative to the ROTH is permanent life insurance, as it avoids IRS reporting entirely if used properly. Not whole life though.
Example: Ban all assault weapons! Trouble is, who defines what an "assault weapon" is? In their minds, it's ALL firearms!!!
When we have a conference call with him we review the new companies he has bought and tell him that we don't want to be invested in "political" companies. So Starbucks is out, so is Google, Facebook, Netflix and Wells Fargo and Citi, any company that even begins to get political and is buckling under left wing pressure, we tell him to sell our shares immediately!
At least they are getting bought. In the Microsoft days they just stole all the new technology embedded it into Windows, (which was stolen too) and say to the little coder, sue us!
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