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Toward A Just And Sustainable Economy: Policy Recommendations For The Next Presidential Administration – US SIF

Toward A Just And Sustainable Economy: Policy Recommendations For The Next Presidential Administration – US SIF

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US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment just released a set of policy recommendations for the next presidential administration. The recommendations aim to help achieve a more just and sustainable economy and provide a framework through which the private sector can contribute alongside government’s leadership. I attached the full set of recommendations to this email.

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Executive Summary

US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment is the leading organization in the United States advancing sustainable investing across all asset classes. One of our key strategies for creating a more just and sustainable economy is engaging in public policy.

The United States is currently facing multiple large-scale problems. The coronavirus pandemic, racial injustice, economic inequality and climate change are crises that require urgent government action as well as meaningful private sector responses.

Sustainable investors have addressed critical environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues for decades. Sustainable investment strategies are used by a broad range of investors and have grown rapidly, accounting for more than one in four dollars under professional management.

Sustainable investors engage with companies to secure more sustainable policies and practices in those companies. Recently, there have been multiple developments focused on moving companies from a shareholder primacy model to one focused on multiple stakeholders.

The next presidential administration has the opportunity to further catalyze these private sector trends and to set new rules of the road. Thus, our first recommendation is to create a White House Office of Sustainable Finance and Business.

Our recommendations, if implemented, will help achieve a more just and sustainable economy and provide a framework through which the private sector can contribute alongside government’s leadership.

1) CREATE A WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF SUSTAINABLE FINANCE AND BUSINESS

  • The White House Office of Sustainable Finance and Business will be a focal point in the administration to advance the continued growth of sustainable investment and accelerate the shift from a shareholder-centric company model to a multi-stakeholder model.

2) APPOINT LEADERSHIP AT THE SEC AND DOL WITH SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT EXPERTISE

  • While there are multiple agencies that interact with the field of sustainable investment, the most critical ones, to date, have been the Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Labor. The SEC Chair, Commissioners and division directors as well as the Secretary of Labor and the Assistant Secretary for Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) should be knowledgeable about sustainable investment and use of ESG data.

3) THE SEC SHOULD TAKE ACTION ON THE FOLLOWING POLICIES

  • Enhance sustainable investment expertise inside the SEC by creating an external Advisory Committee to provide guidance and recommendations on current ESG trends.
  • Create a new sustainable investment advisor position in the office of the SEC Chair who will advise division leadership and Commissioners.
  • Mandate public company reporting of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.
  • Reverse regulatory action limiting shareholder proposals.
  • Reverse regulatory action hindering access to independent proxy advice.
  • Reverse staff interpretations or legal bulletins weakening the ability of shareholders to file resolutions.

4) THE DOL SHOULD TAKE ACTION ON THE FOLLOWING POLICIES

  • Work with Congress to amend the ERISA law so that ESG considerations and proxy voting are permissible in retirement plans governed by ERISA and are recognized as part of a plan administrator’s fiduciary duty.
  • Reverse regulatory action limiting the inclusion of ESG factors in retirement plans.
  • Reverse regulatory action discouraging retirement plan fiduciaries from proxy voting.

5) THE FEDERAL THRIFT RETIREMENT BOARD SHOULD ACCELERATE IMPLEMENTATION OF A MUTUAL FUND WINDOW

  • Encourage the Federal Thrift Retirement Investment Board to accelerate the implementation of the legislatively authorized mutual fund window option and include one or more sustainable investment options.

6) WORK WITH CONGRESS TO APPROPRIATE ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS (CDFI) FUND

  • Accelerate the powerful work of CDFIs by providing $1 billion in CDFI Fund emergency grants in the next COVID relief legislation and annually each year going forward.

7) TAKE ACTION TO ADDRESS THE CLIMATE CHANGE CRISIS

  • Re-join the Paris Agreement and position the United States as a climate change leader.
  • Create a new position of sustainable finance liaison at the EPA.
  • The Federal Reserve should join the Network for Greening the Financial System.
  • End fossil fuel subsidies.
  • Embed environmental justice in climate crisis solutions.
  • Reverse regulatory changes to the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and National Environmental Policy Act.

8) TAKE ACTION TO ADDRESS ECONOMIC INEQUALITY

  • Enact a minimum wage of at least $15 per hour and mandate paid sick leave.

Introduction

The next administration faces multiple crises. The coronavirus pandemic, racial injustice, economic inequality and climate change are challenges that require urgent action by the federal government and meaningful responses by the private sector.

Mobilizing the private sector can be achieved, in part, by making it the policy of the next administration to support sustainable investment and encourage the development of a stakeholder-centric approach to managing companies.

Sustainable investment1 has become a core strategy for investors all over the world. Interest in and assets flowing to sustainable investment have exploded in the last decade. Since 1995, when the US SIF Foundation first measured US sustainable investment assets at $639 billion, assets have increased 18-fold, at a compound annual growth rate of 13.6 percent. From 2016 to 2018 alone, assets grew from $8.7 trillion to $12.0 trillion, a 38 percent increase.i More than 25 percent of all professionally managed assets in the United States consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.

Globally, sustainable investing assets stood at $30.7 trillion at the start of 2018, a 34 percent increase in two years.ii The European Union, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and other countries have created sustainable finance plans. Many of the world’s largest asset managers have signed on to the Principles for Responsible Investment. The notion that fiduciary duty requires the incorporation of ESG issues is increasingly mainstream.

Sustainable investors incorporate ESG issues into their investment processes to create competitive financial returns, generate social and environmental benefits, manage risk and fulfill fiduciary duties.

ESG issues include inequality, climate change, human rights, equal employment and diversity, sustainable agriculture, executive pay and anti-corruption. Sustainable investors were among the early voices urging corporate action and public policies to address the climate crisis. This year, they have spoken out on the coronavirus and racial injustice crises.iii

As shareholders, sustainable investors regularly engage with public companies about ESG issues, helping them improve their sustainability performance and mitigate negative impacts. Through the proxy process and by submitting resolutions that all shareholders vote on at company annual general meetings, they focus management attention on ESG issues.

Sustainable investors have also invested in underserved communities through community development banks, credit unions and loan funds in the United States and through small business lending and microfinance funds abroad. They have developed critical standard-setting organizations and influenced public policy.iv They have challenged the assumption that short-term shareholder return is the key relevant outcome for companies and advocated for a focus on a broader group of stakeholders.

In short, sustainable investors are leading the way towards a more sustainable and equitable society. As a result of multiple influences, including investor engagement, academic research and consumer pressure, corporations have embedded more sustainable business practices. One indication of this is that 90 percent of S&P 500 companies published sustainability reports in 2019, up from 20 percent in 2011.v

Additionally, corporations are reconsidering the emphasis on short-term shareholder returns as their central priority. Recently, several organizations, including the Business Roundtable (BRT) and the World Economic Forum, have voiced support for moving from a shareholder-centric company model focused on short-term stock returns to a more inclusive model balancing the interests of workers, customers, communities and the environment with those of shareholders.vi This model is generally referred to as stakeholder capitalism.

While there is significant debate about whether the signatories of the BRT’s Statement on the Purpose of a Corporationvii have started to move to a stakeholder model, the existence of the Statement invites sustainable investors, consumers and, most importantly, government, to insist that these commitments be made real.

In another sign of a shift in the expectations of companies, the number of B Corporations in the United States, which are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers and communities, has grown from 110 to 3,500 over the past decade.

The dramatic growth in sustainable investment and the interest in shifting to stakeholder capitalism creates an opportunity for the next administration to further catalyze these trends and to set new rules of the road.

And while the federal government must lead, the government should also set high expectations for the private sector and advance legislation and regulations that lead to a more sustainable private sector.

Policies that support sustainable investment’s continued growth will help ensure that capital aligns with broader policies aimed to address social and economic inequality and climate change.

US SIF offers the following recommendations to help achieve a more just and sustainable economy.

Read the full article here by US SIF

The post Toward A Just And Sustainable Economy: Policy Recommendations For The Next Presidential Administration – US SIF appeared first on ValueWalk.

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United Airlines adds new flights to faraway destinations

The airline said that it has been working hard to "find hidden gem destinations."

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March 8, 2024

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Since countries started opening up after the pandemic in 2021 and 2022, airlines have been seeing demand soar not just for major global cities and popular routes but also for farther-away destinations.

Numerous reports, including a recent TripAdvisor survey of trending destinations, showed that there has been a rise in U.S. traveler interest in Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea and Vietnam as well as growing tourism traction in off-the-beaten-path European countries such as Slovenia, Estonia and Montenegro.

Related: 'No more flying for you': Travel agency sounds alarm over risk of 'carbon passports'

As a result, airlines have been looking at their networks to include more faraway destinations as well as smaller cities that are growing increasingly popular with tourists and may not be served by their competitors.

The Philippines has been popular among tourists in recent years.

Shutterstock

United brings back more routes, says it is committed to 'finding hidden gems'

This week, United Airlines  (UAL)  announced that it will be launching a new route from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Morocco's Marrakesh. While it is only the country's fourth-largest city, Marrakesh is a particularly popular place for tourists to seek out the sights and experiences that many associate with the country — colorful souks, gardens with ornate architecture and mosques from the Moorish period.

More Travel:

"We have consistently been ahead of the curve in finding hidden gem destinations for our customers to explore and remain committed to providing the most unique slate of travel options for their adventures abroad," United's SVP of Global Network Planning Patrick Quayle, said in a press statement.

The new route will launch on Oct. 24 and take place three times a week on a Boeing 767-300ER  (BA)  plane that is equipped with 46 Polaris business class and 22 Premium Plus seats. The plane choice was a way to reach a luxury customer customer looking to start their holiday in Marrakesh in the plane.

Along with the new Morocco route, United is also launching a flight between Houston (IAH) and Colombia's Medellín on Oct. 27 as well as a route between Tokyo and Cebu in the Philippines on July 31 — the latter is known as a "fifth freedom" flight in which the airline flies to the larger hub from the mainland U.S. and then goes on to smaller Asian city popular with tourists after some travelers get off (and others get on) in Tokyo.

United's network expansion includes new 'fifth freedom' flight

In the fall of 2023, United became the first U.S. airline to fly to the Philippines with a new Manila-San Francisco flight. It has expanded its service to Asia from different U.S. cities earlier last year. Cebu has been on its radar amid growing tourist interest in the region known for marine parks, rainforests and Spanish-style architecture.

With the summer coming up, United also announced that it plans to run its current flights to Hong Kong, Seoul, and Portugal's Porto more frequently at different points of the week and reach four weekly flights between Los Angeles and Shanghai by August 29.

"This is your normal, exciting network planning team back in action," Quayle told travel website The Points Guy of the airline's plans for the new routes.

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Walmart launches clever answer to Target’s new membership program

The retail superstore is adding a new feature to its Walmart+ plan — and customers will be happy.

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March 8, 2024

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It's just been a few days since Target  (TGT)  launched its new Target Circle 360 paid membership plan. 

The plan offers free and fast shipping on many products to customers, initially for $49 a year and then $99 after the initial promotional signup period. It promises to be a success, since many Target customers are loyal to the brand and will go out of their way to shop at one instead of at its two larger peers, Walmart and Amazon.

Related: Walmart makes a major price cut that will delight customers

And stop us if this sounds familiar: Target will rely on its more than 2,000 stores to act as fulfillment hubs. 

This model is a proven winner; Walmart also uses its more than 4,600 stores as fulfillment and shipping locations to get orders to customers as soon as possible.

Sometimes, this means shipping goods from the nearest warehouse. But if a desired product is in-store and closer to a customer, it reduces miles on the road and delivery time. It's a kind of logistical magic that makes any efficiency lover's (or retail nerd's) heart go pitter patter. 

Walmart rolls out answer to Target's new membership tier

Walmart has certainly had more time than Target to develop and work out the kinks in Walmart+. It first launched the paid membership in 2020 during the height of the pandemic, when many shoppers sheltered at home but still required many staples they might ordinarily pick up at a Walmart, like cleaning supplies, personal-care products, pantry goods and, of course, toilet paper. 

It also undercut Amazon  (AMZN)  Prime, which costs customers $139 a year for free and fast shipping (plus several other benefits including access to its streaming service, Amazon Prime Video). 

Walmart+ costs $98 a year, which also gets you free and speedy delivery, plus access to a Paramount+ streaming subscription, fuel savings, and more. 

An employee at a Merida, Mexico, Walmart. (Photo by Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Jeff Greenberg/Getty Images

If that's not enough to tempt you, however, Walmart+ just added a new benefit to its membership program, ostensibly to compete directly with something Target now has: ultrafast delivery. 

Target Circle 360 particularly attracts customers with free same-day delivery for select orders over $35 and as little as one-hour delivery on select items. Target executes this through its Shipt subsidiary.

We've seen this lightning-fast delivery speed only in snippets from Amazon, the king of delivery efficiency. Who better to take on Target, though, than Walmart, which is using a similar store-as-fulfillment-center model? 

"Walmart is stepping up to save our customers even more time with our latest delivery offering: Express On-Demand Early Morning Delivery," Walmart said in a statement, just a day after Target Circle 360 launched. "Starting at 6 a.m., earlier than ever before, customers can enjoy the convenience of On-Demand delivery."

Walmart  (WMT)  clearly sees consumers' desire for near-instant delivery, which obviously saves time and trips to the store. Rather than waiting a day for your order to show up, it might be on your doorstep when you wake up. 

Consumers also tend to spend more money when they shop online, and they remain stickier as paying annual members. So, to a growing number of retail giants, almost instant gratification like this seems like something worth striving for.

Related: Veteran fund manager picks favorite stocks for 2024

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President Biden Delivers The “Darkest, Most Un-American Speech Given By A President”

President Biden Delivers The "Darkest, Most Un-American Speech Given By A President"

Having successfully raged, ranted, lied, and yelled through…

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9 hours ago

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March 8, 2024

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President Biden Delivers The "Darkest, Most Un-American Speech Given By A President"

Having successfully raged, ranted, lied, and yelled through the State of The Union, President Biden can go back to his crypt now.

Whatever 'they' gave Biden, every American man, woman, and the other should be allowed to take it - though it seems the cocktail brings out 'dark Brandon'?

Tl;dw: Biden's Speech tonight ...

  • Fund Ukraine.

  • Trump is threat to democracy and America itself.

  • Abortion is good.

  • American Economy is stronger than ever.

  • Inflation wasn't Biden's fault.

  • Illegals are Americans too.

  • Republicans are responsible for the border crisis.

  • Trump is bad.

  • Biden stands with trans-children.

  • J6 was the worst insurrection since the Civil War.

(h/t @TCDMS99)

Tucker Carlson's response sums it all up perfectly:

"that was possibly the darkest, most un-American speech given by an American president. It wasn't a speech, it was a rant..."

Carlson continued: "The true measure of a nation's greatness lies within its capacity to control borders, yet Bid refuses to do it."

"In a fair election, Joe Biden cannot win"

And concluded:

“There was not a meaningful word for the entire duration about the things that actually matter to people who live here.”

Victor Davis Hanson added some excellent color, but this was probably the best line on Biden:

"he doesn't care... he lives in an alternative reality."

*  *  *

Watch SOTU Live here...

*   *   *

Mises' Connor O'Keeffe, warns: "Be on the Lookout for These Lies in Biden's State of the Union Address." 

On Thursday evening, President Joe Biden is set to give his third State of the Union address. The political press has been buzzing with speculation over what the president will say. That speculation, however, is focused more on how Biden will perform, and which issues he will prioritize. Much of the speech is expected to be familiar.

The story Biden will tell about what he has done as president and where the country finds itself as a result will be the same dishonest story he's been telling since at least the summer.

He'll cite government statistics to say the economy is growing, unemployment is low, and inflation is down.

Something that has been frustrating Biden, his team, and his allies in the media is that the American people do not feel as economically well off as the official data says they are. Despite what the White House and establishment-friendly journalists say, the problem lies with the data, not the American people's ability to perceive their own well-being.

As I wrote back in January, the reason for the discrepancy is the lack of distinction made between private economic activity and government spending in the most frequently cited economic indicators. There is an important difference between the two:

  • Government, unlike any other entity in the economy, can simply take money and resources from others to spend on things and hire people. Whether or not the spending brings people value is irrelevant

  • It's the private sector that's responsible for producing goods and services that actually meet people's needs and wants. So, the private components of the economy have the most significant effect on people's economic well-being.

Recently, government spending and hiring has accounted for a larger than normal share of both economic activity and employment. This means the government is propping up these traditional measures, making the economy appear better than it actually is. Also, many of the jobs Biden and his allies take credit for creating will quickly go away once it becomes clear that consumers don't actually want whatever the government encouraged these companies to produce.

On top of all that, the administration is dealing with the consequences of their chosen inflation rhetoric.

Since its peak in the summer of 2022, the president's team has talked about inflation "coming back down," which can easily give the impression that it's prices that will eventually come back down.

But that's not what that phrase means. It would be more honest to say that price increases are slowing down.

Americans are finally waking up to the fact that the cost of living will not return to prepandemic levels, and they're not happy about it.

The president has made some clumsy attempts at damage control, such as a Super Bowl Sunday video attacking food companies for "shrinkflation"—selling smaller portions at the same price instead of simply raising prices.

In his speech Thursday, Biden is expected to play up his desire to crack down on the "corporate greed" he's blaming for high prices.

In the name of "bringing down costs for Americans," the administration wants to implement targeted price ceilings - something anyone who has taken even a single economics class could tell you does more harm than good. Biden would never place the blame for the dramatic price increases we've experienced during his term where it actually belongs—on all the government spending that he and President Donald Trump oversaw during the pandemic, funded by the creation of $6 trillion out of thin air - because that kind of spending is precisely what he hopes to kick back up in a second term.

If reelected, the president wants to "revive" parts of his so-called Build Back Better agenda, which he tried and failed to pass in his first year. That would bring a significant expansion of domestic spending. And Biden remains committed to the idea that Americans must be forced to continue funding the war in Ukraine. That's another topic Biden is expected to highlight in the State of the Union, likely accompanied by the lie that Ukraine spending is good for the American economy. It isn't.

It's not possible to predict all the ways President Biden will exaggerate, mislead, and outright lie in his speech on Thursday. But we can be sure of two things. The "state of the Union" is not as strong as Biden will say it is. And his policy ambitions risk making it much worse.

*  *  *

The American people will be tuning in on their smartphones, laptops, and televisions on Thursday evening to see if 'sloppy joe' 81-year-old President Joe Biden can coherently put together more than two sentences (even with a teleprompter) as he gives his third State of the Union in front of a divided Congress. 

President Biden will speak on various topics to convince voters why he shouldn't be sent to a retirement home.

According to CNN sources, here are some of the topics Biden will discuss tonight:

  • Economic issues: Biden and his team have been drafting a speech heavy on economic populism, aides said, with calls for higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy – an attempt to draw a sharp contrast with Republicans and their likely presidential nominee, Donald Trump.

  • Health care expenses: Biden will also push for lowering health care costs and discuss his efforts to go after drug manufacturers to lower the cost of prescription medications — all issues his advisers believe can help buoy what have been sagging economic approval ratings.

  • Israel's war with Hamas: Also looming large over Biden's primetime address is the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which has consumed much of the president's time and attention over the past few months. The president's top national security advisers have been working around the clock to try to finalize a ceasefire-hostages release deal by Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that begins next week.

  • An argument for reelection: Aides view Thursday's speech as a critical opportunity for the president to tout his accomplishments in office and lay out his plans for another four years in the nation's top job. Even though viewership has declined over the years, the yearly speech reliably draws tens of millions of households.

Sources provided more color on Biden's SOTU address: 

The speech is expected to be heavy on economic populism. The president will talk about raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy. He'll highlight efforts to cut costs for the American people, including pushing Congress to help make prescription drugs more affordable.

Biden will talk about the need to preserve democracy and freedom, a cornerstone of his re-election bid. That includes protecting and bolstering reproductive rights, an issue Democrats believe will energize voters in November. Biden is also expected to promote his unity agenda, a key feature of each of his addresses to Congress while in office.

Biden is also expected to give remarks on border security while the invasion of illegals has become one of the most heated topics among American voters. A majority of voters are frustrated with radical progressives in the White House facilitating the illegal migrant invasion. 

It is probable that the president will attribute the failure of the Senate border bill to the Republicans, a claim many voters view as unfounded. This is because the White House has the option to issue an executive order to restore border security, yet opts not to do so

Maybe this is why? 

While Biden addresses the nation, the Biden administration will be armed with a social media team to pump propaganda to at least 100 million Americans. 

"The White House hosted about 70 creators, digital publishers, and influencers across three separate events" on Wednesday and Thursday, a White House official told CNN. 

Not a very capable social media team... 

The administration's move to ramp up social media operations comes as users on X are mostly free from government censorship with Elon Musk at the helm. This infuriates Democrats, who can no longer censor their political enemies on X. 

Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers tell Axios that the president's SOTU performance will be critical as he tries to dispel voter concerns about his elderly age. The address reached as many as 27 million people in 2023. 

"We are all nervous," said one House Democrat, citing concerns about the president's "ability to speak without blowing things."

The SOTU address comes as Biden's polling data is in the dumps. 

BetOnline has created several money-making opportunities for gamblers tonight, such as betting on what word Biden mentions the most. 

As well as...

We will update you when Tucker Carlson's live feed of SOTU is published. 

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/08/2024 - 07:44

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