Joe Biden is opening the door for the investment management companies that handle the retirement funds of 152 million Americans to no longer seek the best financial returns, but instead fund companies, like Solyndra, that pledge to advance the progressive agendas encapsulated in the expression ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance). The New York Post editorially warns us: "Don't let Biden & Co. force YOUR nest egg to be invested in woke-only companies."
A new Biden Labor Department rule aims to steer the retirement funds of 152 million Americans toward companies with woke policies on climate change and other "environmental, social and governance" goals.
Under the Biden rule, fund managers would no longer be limited to investing workers' assets "solely in the interest of participants and beneficiaries," as the law has long required. Instead, they could also "consider climate change and other environmental, social and governance factors when they select investments and exercise shareholder rights" — by implication, even if it doesn't maximize returns for workers.
Climate-change and social-justice warriors began pushing companies to adopt ESG practices, and for large shareholders to invest in them, back in the Obama era. But President Donald Trump banned retirement-fund managers from using worker cash for such political purposes. The new Biden rule would override that.
At a time "when Americans' 401(k)s have already taken such a hit due to market downturns and record high inflation, the last thing we should do is encourage fiduciaries to make decisions with a lower rate of return for purely ideological reasons," warns Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), who's pushing a resolution to block the rule.
It's "irresponsible of the Biden administration to jeopardize retirement savings for more than 150 million Americans for purely political purposes," fumes Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).