Economics: ESG - The Curse Of Woke Investing

 (Drivebycuriosity) - It seems there is a curse on the economy. It is called ESG: Environmental, Social & (corporate) Governance investing. Big activist funds - including BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street (the Big Three) - force companies to invest and manage their business following woke targets like environment, racial equality and other social topics. According to Morningstar, assets committed to ESG strategies grew by 53 percent, year over year, to $2.7 trillion in 2021 (thehill ). The ESG cult include funds, consultants, rating agencies and government authorities.

ESG already changed the global energy markets. Oil companies like ExxonMobil and Chevron are facing mounting pressure from funds controlled by climate activists to reduce their investments in the exploration of fossil energies ( forbes). As a result the reduced energy investments are already slowing today´s production of oil & gas and lead to scarcity of energy and record high oil, gas and electricity prices. The increased costs of oil, gas & electricity are curbing consumer spending for other goods and contribute to the current recession.

Unfortunately ESG does not only target energy production. The ESG activists try to enforce vague issues like supporting human rights, diversity, employee compensation and more social issues. The ESG activists want to force companies to give up the profit motive and to pursue social goals instead, like social equality, race and so on. Even the almighty SEC (Security Exchange Commission), the American government authority who controls the stock market, demands that companies reveal how they deal with the environment and other woke issues, their ESG scores.

ESG is the incarnation of the old stakeholder capitalism idea. The stakeholder promoters propose that companies should ignore profits and investors. They demand that companies focus on the social good instead.

What is wrong with profits? Adam Smith declared “it is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest”. All the nice things we purchase are given to us because someone else makes a profit.

Profit maximizers try either to reach a certain target (for instance number of cars produced) with the least possible cost or to achieve the most with the available means. Profit maximization leads to cost control and efficiency. 

Giving up targets like productivity & efficiency leads to waste. New York City, controlled by woke bureaucrats & politicians, spends $2.6 billion for constructing a mile subway, Spanish capital Madrid builds subways at $65 million per mile ( twitter). The extremely high cost of New York`s subways can partly be explained by the high unionization of the city. A study shows that Labor unions, the darlings of the ESG crowd, reduce product quality (marginalrevolution. ). Unionized firms are more likely to have recalls than non-unionized firms. If companies hire people who are not quite fit for their job and pursue political & other activities instead their assignments they invite idleness, embezzlement, spoiling, nepotism, corruption and other problems. If companies pursue ESG instead of profit maximization they throw sand into their gears. 

If the whole economy would abandon efficiency & productivity it would reduce the GDP. In other words the economy would produce fewer goods & services and would reduce the living standard for the whole population. Especially low income groups, the poor, would suffer.

Stuart Kirk, head of responsible investing at HSBC Asset Management, was suspended by his employer after giving a presentation in which he said that bankers and policymakers were overstating the impact of climate change in an attempt to “out-hyperbole the next guy.” (thehill telegraph ). Kirk declared on LinkedIn that "cancel culture destroys wealth and progress" and there is "no place for virtue signalling in finance. Kirk announced to continue to critizizes the "nonsense, hypocrisy, sloppy logic and group-think inside the mainstream bubble of sustainable finance," adding that "most of what’s out there is bonkers". that "unsubstantiated, shrill, partisan, self-serving, apocalyptic warnings are ALWAYS wrong".

Tesla, producer & developer of electric cars, solar roofs & batteries got kicked out of the S&P 500 index dedicated to companies excelling at environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. Tesla CEO Elon Musk commented the decision with: “ESG is a scam. It has been weaponized by phony social justice warriors" ( fortune).

 

 

Photography: Admiring The Magnificent Teton Range Wyoming

 (Drivebycuriosity) - America`s West has many impressive land marks. The Teton Range in Wyoming belongs to them. 

 

This is a chain of peaks - reaching up to more than 13,000 feet (4000 m) - which has a lot of glaciers ( wikipedia).

 

  

    

My wife and I stayed 4 nights in the neighborhood of Teton to attend "Fire in the Mountains" - a Heavy Metal Festival (my report  ). Last Sunday we drove to the Jackson Lake at the feet of the mountains. The impressive sights inspired me to take some snapshots.

 

  

 
                                               

    

Surprising some people were bathing in the lake which apparently is filled with molted glacier water.

   

 

    

 

We also took a short hike on a forest trail along the beach. Fortunately there were no bears around.

 

But we could spot this cute animal which was just leaving home

  

 

  

    

  

On Monday, when we drove back to to Salt Lake City, we passed the mighty Teton again. Another occasion for taking pictures.

 

Stay tuned

Traveling: A Stay In The Teton Cabins In Wyoming

 (Drivebycuriosity) - My Wife and I are back from our travel to the West. We stayed the last 4 nights of our trip in the Teton Cabins in a remote area in Wyoming. The cabins are named after the majestic Teton Range, a chain of peaks - reaching up to more than 13,000 feet (4000 m) - which has a lot of glaciers ( wikipedia).

 

     

                                          

   

 

The cabins are surrounded by meadows and there are some hills in the neighborhood. But the landscape is ruled by the grandiose Teton Range on the horizon.

 

The wooden cabins are simple but each contains a kitchen and a bed room - so we could cook there and make are own breakfast. We enjoyed the quiet and the fresh air, but we needed a lot of mosquito spray, otherwise the beast would have eaten us.

 

   

 

  

    

I was fascinated by the beauty of this place and took some snapshots there.

 
 

To be continued.

 

 

Heavy Metal: Impressions From "Fire In The Mountains", Wyoming

  (Drivebycuriosity) - I am a connoisseur of heavy metal. I really enjoy atmospheric rock music with very heavy riffs. Fortunately my wife shares this taste. So we like to attend heavy metal fests. Last week we traveled to remote area in Wyoming to attend "Fire in the Mountain". Over 3 days played 22 performers on 2 stages.

 

 

The fest had 4 highlights for me: On Friday Mike Scheidt, the front man of YOB, performed solo and on Sunday he came back with his band (here my .review). On Saturday David Eugene Edwards, the head of Wovenhand, also gave a solo performance. On Sunday the festival ended with a furious show by Wolves in the Throne Room.

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Wovenhand`s Edward delivered his idiosyncratic gospels with the help a mandolin and 2 more stringed instruments, enhanced by an electronic device. The "Wolves" created an intense & hypnotizing atmosphere which suddenly turned into fierce explosions and massive base riffs culminated into annihilating assaults. It seemed like the "Wolves" attacked the civilization and ripped it apart.

There also were some interesting discoveries for me: The Denver quartet Dbuk transformed their ballads with a set of peculiar instruments like scenes in an alternate Post-Western movie. Dreadnought´s cute front woman roared like Gozilla`s sister, thanks to the electronics, accompanied by violent head-banger rock guitars. The instrumental band Ghost of Glaciers combined melodies & massive power play and reminded me of similar bands like Red Sparrow & Pelican.

               

The festival happened on the remote ground of the Heart Six Ranch, a horse ranch catering tourists some miles east of the spectacular Teton Range, a mountain chain who has glaciers and peaks up to 13000 fest. The view of the saw of blue mountains on the horizon created a very special and unique setting.

  

    

 

The grassland, where the festival happened, is usually used for horses and plastered with horse shit, dried or not. Not really inviting to sit in the grass. The whole area is also mosquito infected. The beasts get really aggressive in the evening hours. The paths ways, which where used by cars & trucks, were covered with dust. Every moving vehicle created a kind of dust storm which covered everybody nearby.

   

  

Anyway the crowd had a good time.

 

 

   

   

  

Some were observing the spectacle, some were exercising and somewhere were just relaxing or enjoying the sunsets.

"Fire in the Mountains" was an unique experience. Thank you Yob, Edwards, Wolves and all other performers. Thanks also to the organizers and the many helpers and volunteers who made the fest pleasant, safe & very special.

  

To be continued

 

Heavy Metal: The Two Sides Of YOB

    

   

 (Drivebycuriosity) - I am a connoisseur of heavy metal. I really enjoy atmospheric music with very heavy riffs. YOB belongs to the best of the genre (alongside Amenra, Neurosis & Cough) and I collect their albums and visit their shows.

Last weekend my wife and I attended the 3-day heavy metal open air festival Fire in the Mountains in Wyoming and saw them again. The fest showed 2 sides of YOB. First there was a solo performance by Mike Scheidt, the front man, followed by a gig performed by the complete band.

 

 

Mike Scheidt performed Friday, the first evening of the festival. Mike is a virtuoso on the guitar and he put his audience under the spell of massive and violent riffs blended with melodic and almost symphonic elements. 

Like a singer in a bizarre opera his voice and virtuous guitar technique mesmerized and hypnotized the crowd. Scheidt presented some of his lyric balladesque compositions and crowned his show with the mesmerizing "Marrow," a poem turned into heavy metal (here the lyrics genius.com).

 

  

Scheidt´s presentation of "Marrow"  especially reminded me of a recent visit of Berlin. There I watched a performance of Richard Wagner´s opera "Lohengrin" where a mystical character named Swan Knight appeared and sang about the power of the Holy Grail. Days later I enjoyed YOB @ Berlin´s Desert Fest and Scheidt´s performance showed a similar pathos & beauty.

  

      
       

On Sunday, day 3 of FITM, Mike Scheidt returned, then with the complete band: Aaron Rieseberg – bass guitar & Travis Foster – drums. Instead of opera we got pure mayhem. YOB´s show was hyper explosive & violent. The aggressive riffs & Scheidt`s roars and growls melted into a spell binding experience - pure bliss.

 

 

YOB´s performance was as massive as the impressive Teton range mountain group on the horizon, whose peaks & glaciers define the whole area (in the low left corner of some pics).

   

   

  

   

Thank you Mike Scheidt & YOB.