InfluenceWatch Podcast #230: The Dictatorship of Woke Investing

We’ve discussed “woke capital” on the podcast before with author Stephen Soukup and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. But now we turn to a related topic: Environmental, Social, and Governance — “ESG” – investing. ESG strategies adopted by fund managers—perhaps most notably BlackRock—can place left-of-center social policy goals as equal considerations with investors’ returns in investing decisions. Making matters worse, some state pension funds are following ESG strategies that would leave taxpayers on the hook if trendy liberal activism cost the funds the returns they need to pay their obligations. Other states—most notably West Virginia and Florida—are taking action to prevent their state funds from engaging in ESG investing. Joining me to make sense of it all and to explore what can be done about it is Lee Schalk, Vice President of Policy at the American Legislative Exchange Council.

• American Legislative Exchange Council: State Government Employee Retirement Protection Act
• American Legislative Exchange Council: Keeping the Promise: State Solutions for Government Pension Reform
• InfluenceWatch: ESG Activism
• InfluenceWatch: BlackRock, Inc.
• InfluenceWatch Podcast #187: The Business of Woke
• InfluenceWatch Podcast #220: Dictatorship of Woke Capital