Thursday, March 19, 2026

ESG May Be Eating Away at Your Investments

President Trump recently signed an executive order that aims to end a 20-year experiment in backdoor socialism usurping private wealth to serve special interests. It affirms fiduciary responsibility and extends it to proxy advisers "that prioritize radical political agendas over investor returns." Fiduciary responsibility requires investment managers and advisers to act in "the best interest of the investor," and it applies even when the investor is seeking nonfinancial outcomes such as environmental, social, faith-based or humanitarian gains. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins's recent announcement that the commission is reviewing Biden-era rules governing so-called environmental, social and governance funds affirms this point. Fiduciary duty requires investment managers and advisers to exercise loyalty and care to ensure that investment objectives, whether financial or nonfinancial, are fulfilled

Comments

ESG's are a massive scam. This is a very welcome change.

#1 | Posted by BellRinger at 2026-03-19 09:16 PM

Non-paywalled excerpt ...

cafehayek.com

#2 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-03-19 09:20 PM

@#1 ... ESG's are a massive scam. ...

Why?

#3 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-03-19 09:21 PM

I didn't encounter a paywall.

#4 | Posted by BellRinger at 2026-03-19 09:28 PM

You're a fucking moron.

#5 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2026-03-19 09:29 PM

"Stay Ahead With Unlimited Access to Premium WSJ Content

... choose an option below..."

$2 a week!

That's what I saw. I did not see the article.


#6 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-03-19 09:33 PM

@#5 ... You're a fucking moron. ...

Well, maybe a desperate trolling for replies moron ...


;)

#7 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-03-19 09:35 PM

There's a chevron pointing down in the top right of the pop-up ad for subscription.
Click that and that window should drop down and out of sight.

#8 | Posted by YAV at 2026-03-19 09:36 PM

As I understand it, the gist is that Trump's issued an EO that states Investment Managers have to "prioritize" investor's best interest over advisers. It makes Investment Managers act as fiduciaries when considering investment vehicles/strategies including environmental/social goals (ESGs).

The author says that ESG investing has been pushed without investor consent and doesn't deliver decent returns, often without consent, and doesn't deliver "real world" results.

Younger investors, however, prioritize non-financial outcome over pure financial return on investment (ROI).

#9 | Posted by YAV at 2026-03-19 09:50 PM

@#8

Since I posted #7, I used Firefox's Reader View ( View > Enter Reader View ) to see the entire article and bypass the beggings to subscribe.

It looks like an OpED written by...

... Mr. Gramm, a former chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, is a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Mr. Hensarling, a former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is an economics fellow at the Cato Institute. Mike Solon contributed to this article. ...


The OpEd looks to be tilting at windmills, much like Pres Trump.

Lots of accusations, with little, if any, substantiation of those accusations.

For example, from the cited article ...

... As investors have noticed that ESG constraints produce lower returns while delivering few environmental or social benefits, opposition to ESG has grown. ...

What evidence was provided for that assertion?




#10 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-03-19 09:51 PM

Lots of accusations, with little, if any, substantiation of those accusations.

Exactly.

What evidence was provided for that assertion?

None. It's the way they live. Assert, believe, move on. Never let facts get in the way of the story. The reason seems obvious.

#11 | Posted by YAV at 2026-03-19 10:00 PM

Phil Gramm?

S'riously?

JeffyBell has hit rock bottom in Rwing Asininity... it's what happens to trolls eventually.

#12 | Posted by Corky at 2026-03-19 10:09 PM

Like I said you're scum
Truly truly scum
#46 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-03-12 11:26 PMFlag: (Choose)FunnyNewsworthyOffensiveAbusive
#46. That's a fair point.
#47 | Posted by BellRinger at 2026-03-12 11:28 PM

#13 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-03-19 10:11 PM

@#12 ... S'riously? ...

More seriously... why might investments that are opposed by the Pres of the United States have problems returning a high profit level? This OpEd seems to want to start a self-consuming spiral downward of ESG investments.

Pres Trump has railed against windmills (as he calls them) because he thought the ruined the view of his golf course in Scotland.

How Trump's loathing for wind turbines started with a Scottish court battle (July 2025)
www.bbc.com

... "I am the evidence," was the eyebrow-raising comment made by Donald Trump when he appeared before the Scottish Parliament in 2012.

He was speaking as an "expert" witness on green energy targets, describing how he believed wind turbines were damaging tourism in Scotland.

Five years before he first became US president, it was one of his earliest interventions on renewable energy - but since then his opposition to them has grown to become government policy in the world's biggest economy.

He was objecting to 11 turbines which were planned -- and ultimately constructed -- alongside his Aberdeenshire golf course.

On his latest visit to Scotland, he described those turbines as "some of the ugliest you've ever seen".
PA Media President Trump, a man in dark clothes, white shoes and cap teeing off on a golf coursePA Media
President Trump teeing off on the new course on his Aberdeenshire golf resort

When Trump bought the Menie estate, about eight miles north of Aberdeen, in 2006, he promised to create the "world's greatest" golf course.

But he soon became infuriated at plans to construct an offshore wind farm nearby, arguing that the "windmills" -- as he prefers to call the structures -- would ruin the view. ...

[emphasis mine]


#14 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-03-19 10:19 PM

" As I understand it, the gist is that Trump's issued an EO that states Investment Managers have to "prioritize" investor's best interest over advisers. It makes Investment Managers act as fiduciaries when considering investment vehicles/strategies including environmental/social goals (ESGs)."

Yes, exactly. I would think ANYONE who invests their own money through an investment manager would want said manager to put their best financial interests over other non-related interests.

It's ridiculous we even got to this point.

#15 | Posted by BellRinger at 2026-03-19 10:22 PM

So if the investment manager recommends investing in Israel businesses and the MIC, the investor's non-financial interests should have no value?

interesting.

#16 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-03-19 10:26 PM

As I understand it, the gist is that Trump's issued an EO

Lewzer quotes:

"Why Is @BarackObama constantly issuing executive orders that are major power grabs of authority?"

"The country wasn't based on executive orders,"

"Right now, Obama goes around signing executive orders. He can't even get along with the Democrats, and he goes around signing all these executive orders. It's a basic disaster. You can't do it."

For those keeping score, Lewzer is now up to 455 Executive Orders. I guess he just doesn't know how to negotiate or make a deal.

#17 | Posted by REDIAL at 2026-03-19 10:27 PM

" So if the investment manager recommends investing in Israel businesses and the MIC, the investor's non-financial interests should have no value?"

That's a decision between the investment manager and the investor. No 3rd party mandate involved.

#18 | Posted by BellRinger at 2026-03-19 10:34 PM

@#15 ... It's ridiculous we even got to this point. ...

Oh I agree.

Asked differently...

Is it ridiculous that a President of the United Stated issues investing advice, and then issues Executive Orders that guide the markets in favor of the investment advice he has offered?


#19 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-03-19 11:28 PM


Why?

#3 | POSTED BY GASLIGHTER

Bellringer explains why ...


@#15 ... It's ridiculous we even got to this point. ...

Oh I agree.
~ Gasligther

LOL Gaslighter living up to his alias.

#20 | Posted by oneironaut at 2026-03-19 11:40 PM

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