These two lessons are best demonstrated in the Biden administration’s new obsession: the Environmental, Social and Governance, or ESG, rating system.
ESG is a political score created by social and environmental activists, the United Nations, European and global interests and now supported by many of the largest U.S. financial services companies. ESG measures how compliant an entity needing capital is to a subjective set of political factors.
In theory, it is an investment strategy. In practice, it is an invisible fist that bypasses the legislative process to force a political agenda on society. It is the epitome of the saying, "He who has the gold makes the rules."
Therein lies the problem. ESG intermediates outside interests into the decisions of private corporations, and now even state and local governments, to coerce behavior. It is an effort that uses backdoor channels to implement public policy that could never make it through Congress because Americans would reject it.
For example, the Green New Deal didn’t pass in Congress, but that didn’t stop those advocating its passage from pushing forward their radical agenda. They simply changed the forum from Congress to corporate America.
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