“ESG” was initially introduced in the Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) area. With this term, the objective was to group three of the main pillars of ethical finance: environmental, social, and governance.
The term ESG was officially coined in 2004 with the publication of the UN Global Compact Initiative’s “Who Cares Wins” report.
In 2004, Kofi Annan (secretary of the United Nations) asked major financial institutions to collaborate with the United Nations and the International Finance Corporation in identifying ways to integrate environmental, social, and governance concerns into capital markets.
TWENTY NOW, 22 Mar 2022 | The story behind the term ESG
The term ESG was the thought child of James Gifford, a staunch ecologist, and an economics student at the University of Sydney. James was a regular twenty-something passionate about the environment.
James Gifford, an ardent ecologist, studied economics but was unconcerned about profitability. Methinks I smell a Marxist.
“Marxists define capital as “a social, economic relation” between people (rather than between people and things). In this sense, they seek to abolish capital.” LibreTexts, SOCIAL SCIENCES 16.1C: The Marxist Critique of Capitalism
A Question of Ownership: Marxism vis-à-vis Capitalism
Capitalism, a free-market economy, dominates Western civilization, which is a product of, a consequence of Christianity. In a capitalist country, people share ownership of an enterprise as shareholders. Marxism is diametrically the opposite of capitalism. In a Marxist country, the government controls the economy. The ‘ism‘ suffix suggests a belief system. A more commonly used word for a Marxist economy is socialism.
Capitalism and a free-market economy are synonymous. Capitalism in and of itself is not a belief system. The dominant belief system in a capitalist civilization is Christianity. In contrast, the dominant belief system in a socialist (Marxist) civilization is atheism; the state is the god of a socialist society.
ESG v. a Free Market
Investors —shareholders — own free-market enterprises. The shareholders have ‘skin in the game‘, so to speak. If the enterprise does well with its profitability, the shareholders reap financial benefits. Shareholders can influence the enterprise’s goals in order to benefit both the investors, the shareholders, and society at large.
Stakeholders, the key people affecting the goals of ESG-controlled enterprises, typically do not have ‘skin in the game.’ To be clear, the word stakeholder used to be synonymous with an investor, but ESG-controlled enterprise stakeholders include investors and people with no ‘skin in the game.’ Environmentalist stakeholders are people who value their ‘mother earth’ over financial profitability. Social stakeholders may insist on racial quotas, male-female employee parity, and the placement of homosexuals in administrative positions. Joe Biden appointed over 200 homosexuals to his administration without respect for their qualifications. For example, Pete Buttigieg, the Transportation Secretary. He demonstrates zero competencies on national transportation issues. His one proposal is to spend $20,000,000 (million) on female crash dummies to solve “gender inequity.”
So then, the word of the Lord to them will become:
Do this, do that,
a rule for this, a rule for that;
a little here, a little there—
so that as they go they will fall backward;
they will be injured and snared and captured.
Isaiah 28:13 NIV
What is ESG? Do you not see that it is a form of human government? Perhaps you can better understand the purpose of ESG, as explained by Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock.
On Thursday, November 9, 2017, Larry Fink, Chairman, and CEO, of BlackRock, Inc., was in a session entitled Economy, Consumers, and Redefining the Long Term. As the Chairman and CEO of BlackRock, Inc., he controls trillions of dollars in investment money and sits on all the key globalists’ boards. When he speaks, the world’s most powerful business leaders listen. During this session, Larry Fink explains: “Behaviors are going to have to change, and this is one thing we are asking companies; you have to force behaviors, and at BlackRock, we are forcing behaviors.”
What entities can force behaviors? Governments. ESG is a de facto socialist branch of our federal government. ESG is simply the socialistic central planning of the economy.
The reason our country thrives under capitalism is there are more than 300 million minds involved in shaping the economy. A capitalist economy is natural. Willing sellers and willing buyers settle on the prices of goods and services. A socialist economy is doomed to fail because it is the creature of central planners. ESG is a form of central planning.
Friedrich A. Hayek realized that what was at stake was the wider question of whether, in fact, the government had the wisdom and ability to successfully plan an economy. Can you better understand now why the Fed is not your friend? The compound blunders of the Fed micromanaging prices and ESG micromanaging business decisions will now be further compounded as the federal government CENTRAL PLANNERS rush to shove a central bank digital currency (CBDC) down our throats. The final stage of the financial transformation of our country from a free-market economy to a socialist central-planning economy will be complete. Central planning, ESG, and a digital currency will work together to control all aspects of our lives. Will it work? Check with communist China for an answer. China already has central planning down pat.
We recently began moving our personal and business money from PNC Bank, an ESG practitioner, to Independent Financial Bank, a non-ESG practitioner, here in our hometown.
As a parting thought, what have the major banks that failed this year have in common? ESG: they were more focused on ‘stakeholder’ interests than the interests of their investors.
John White
Rockwall, Texas
John N. White 