I’m happy to announce that my co-blogger-in-arms, Bruce Gust, will be filling in for me over the next two weeks while I’m traveling. He’s done this for me the past couple of years, and I appreciate the different but like-minded voice contributing to this blog. We’ve talked and he’s got a treat in store for you! I’ll be reading with great interest from afar as I tear myself away for a little R&R.
In response to yesterday’s post, long time reader Dick Campbell asked a great question: “Would it be possible to do a piece identifying strategies to avoid the Vanguards, Blackrocks etc. when it comes to where your 401K’s, IRA, etc. are invested? I’m all for the ban/boycotts but get more nervous if it involves what I live on.”
Isn’t that the rub? How do you resist the entanglements that the world has created around us, much less try to be a counter-revolutionary? He raises a particularly tough point: if you’re retirement account is part of the investment portfolio of one of these multi-trillion dollar companies, and you want to reduce your profile with them or exit altogether, but they’re managing the money you’re using to support yourself — what do you do?
I gave Dick the video link below in response to his comment and thought all of us would be served by listening to it. It’s short, but host Jesse Kelly speaks with James Lindsay, who offers some additional insight into why corporations are willing to destroy themselves on LBGTQWACK promos and how the scheme works. Click the image, watch the video, and I’ll follow with a couple of thoughts.
The key exchange starts at 2:52 with Kelly’s question: How do we stop it? What do we do about that?
James Lindsay: It’s a racketeering hustle, so we bust it the same way you break any other racketeering scam. Some of this might actually be in violation of RICO [Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 1970], of racketeering law. So, what you need to do is take people like the executives at Anheuser-Busch, who are now on notice, and take people — and they’ve had this just happen to them — or […] the executives at Target who are flailing around having emergency meetings or, you name the corporation. Any of these big corporations that’s getting put on this boycott notice or even other ones — you haul them in front of a House oversight committee, you hound the House Oversight Committee to start bringing these people in, you hound your senators, you hound your state attorneys general to start pushing, to expose, why is this happening.
Because what you have to do if you want to get a cartel to break or if you want to break a racketeering operation, is that you’ve got to get people in the middle to realize that their best deal is to make a bargain with you and to tell all they know, tell what’s going on and get themselves off the hook for participating in it.
And then what you just do is start chasing it up the chain and eventually you get to the place where you can start doing some prosecutions, lawsuits, etcetera. If I were a stock owner in Disney, I would be very interested, for example, in pushing for fiduciary responsibility violation lawsuits.
The “Normie Norm,” what he does, is he’s got to keep the pressure on, he’s got to keep Bud Light in between a rock and a hard place so that it keeps being shown that there’s a reason that we need to investigate deeply and get the law involved. And then, slowly but surely, we get a couple of corporations to flip, then you’re going to get ten to flip, then you’re going to start breaking up the whole scam.
What I’m taking away from that short conversation is that the average citizen’s contribution is twofold: 1) keep the pressure on these organizations. Keep the boycotts going; refuse to shop at these retailers. As their stock price crashes, they make news. Making news calls attention to the situation. The situation seems like a crisis, and crises demand intervention. 2) Demand that your state Senators in D.C. do something. Demand that the House investigate. Put the pressure on your representatives to act. Call them. Write them. Be persistent. Ask others to join you.
Note that earlier in the conversation Lindsay said, “These mechanisms [ESG scores, loans, etc.] are being run through these gigantic financial institutions, which don’t use their own money, they manage other people’s money, trillions of dollars of people’s retirement funds, and they’re betting them on what’s called ‘impact investing’ — environmental impact, social justice impact, and the ‘G’ stands for governance, how you run your corporation.” If you don’t run your company according to the standards they demand you meet, you can be denied loans.
They’re using YOUR money and MY money to coerce these corporations into compliance. That’s Dick’s question: how do you avoid being part of it?
As far as your investments go, I am definitely not a financial advisor, nor do I play one on TV or on this blog. My suggestion is that, if you have a financial advisor, you talk with them about what companies your money is invested in and how you can reduce the number of “woke” corporations you’re supporting with your funds. Maybe there’s a way to do it, maybe there isn’t.
Trying to take on Vanguard, Blackrock or State Street isn’t something that the average citizen can do; that’s why Lindsay suggests that Congress step in. Which leads me to my final thought. Knowing what we do about Congress, do we really think they’re going to “step in”?
LOL.
Not without a lot of pressure from We the People. But even if we got them to investigate, there’s no guarantee that anything would come of it. Have you seen the Durham Report?
At the end of the day, as I’ve written before, when almost every institution, corporation and public service is infested with Marxist ideology, there’s only so much you can divest yourself from. For sure you can kick some of the larger retailers to the curb and buy from small, local businesses. You can stop watching Faux News when it’s clear they’re just better at hiding their progressive cred than CNN or MSNBC. You can abandon products like Bud Light or Gillette razors. You can make noise on Capitol Hill.
However, there are limits. For instance, living in a mobile, technologically advanced society does require that we use the digital networks available to us, the choices are few (Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, Xfinity, etc.) and they are all probably woke. In that case, we don’t really have much of a practical choice.
It reminds me of the situation Naaman the Aramean found himself in after he was healed during his encounter with Elisha. He pledges to only sacrifice to the Lord from then on, but there is one thing he can’t avoid.
“But may the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I have to bow there also—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant for this.”
“Go in peace,” Elisha said.
2 Kings 5:18-19
The Lord knows the heart and knows our circumstances. There may be situations where you can’t avoid “bowing down” and supporting a woke company with your purchases. So be it; let God work out the details. Go in peace.
Have a good weekend.
Thank you for your continued commitment to your blog. I really appreciate it. I hope you and Barb have a wonderful well-deserved vacation.
Thanks for reading and for the encouragement Nancy!
There actually IS a remedy to “Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, Xfinity, etc.” and that is Patriot Mobile. We switched from Sprint over a year ago. Bills are lower, cell service is reliable, and I have peace of mind that I’m supporting a company that supports my values. I highly recommend it!
Christine thanks for the suggestion!