Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'Activist shareholder'

Religious Activists Push Back Against ‘Blunt Instrument’ of Fossil Fuels Divestment

Your faithful correspondent last week exposed the fossil-fuel divestment endgame of religious shareholder activists. As You Sow President Danielle Fugere sees her group’s activities as awareness-raising exercises for climate change, but AYS’s alignment with environmentalist and divestment firebrand Naomi Klein suggests they’d settle for nothing less than nationalizing oil companies. Continue Reading...

Shutting Down ALEC Stifles Free Speech

The 2014 proxy shareholder season is over, and left-of-center religious investment groups such as the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility and As You Sow are crowing about victories and announcing their plans for next year. Continue Reading...

‘Theological Study’ Masks Progressive Roots

One should always worry when dollar signs replace the letter “S” in discussions related to campaign finance and theology. For example, the title of Auburn Theological Seminary’s inaugural entry in its Applied Theology Series, “Lo$ing Faith in Our Democracy,” leaves little doubt there’s an unhidden agenda lurking within. Continue Reading...

The Years of Living Dishonestly

A bit of honesty, please. The premium network Showtime is airing an original series, The Years of Living Dangerously, which pits such intrepid reporters as Hollywood B-list hotties Jessica Alba, Olivia Munn and America Ferrera against climate-change “deniers.” Continue Reading...

Scarlett Johansson, Oxfam, and ICCR Shareholders

Enough time has passed for this Denver Broncos fan to address a kerfuffle surrounding this year’s Super Bowl. I’m writing, of course, about Hollywood siren and liberal activist Scarlett Johansson, who appeared in a Super Bowl SodaStream commercial to the chagrin of international charity Oxfam for which the otherworldly beauty served nine years as official spokesperson. Continue Reading...

Religious Shareholder Activists: Soros Gets a Free Pass

Reading the 2013 results of proxy shareholder resolutions orchestrated by various leftist organizations affiliated with “religiously” oriented investment groups, a colorfully descriptive phrase came to mind to describe both: Whatever its derivation, useful idiots is employed as “a pejorative term for people perceived as propagandists for a cause whose goals they are not fully aware of, and who are used cynically by the leaders of the cause.” Continue Reading...

Shareholder Activists: ‘We’re No Angels’ Edition

Shareholder activism, according to the headline in the most recent issue of PRWeek, is “rising” and “big companies [are] in crosshairs.” The ensuing article by Brittaney Kiefer, begins: Shareholder activism used to be just a nuisance that arose during proxy season, involving a group of contentious investors who tended to target smaller or less established companies. Continue Reading...

The Immoral Folly of Activist Shareholders

The Aug. 26 edition of the Wall Street Journal features a compelling opinion piece by Susan Combs, the Texas comptroller of public accounts. Ms. Combs correctly assesses the inherent responsibility of public pension funds to the businesses in which they hold shares. Continue Reading...