The biggest antitrust violation in history may be in plain sight. Wall Street banks and money managers are bragging about their coordinated efforts to choke off investment in energy. [bold, links added]
It’s nearly impossible to raise money to explore for oil and gas right now, and we may all be experiencing rising energy costs because of this market manipulation.
Russian and Chinese aggression overseas also is exacerbating inflation.
Here’s what is happening: The biggest banks and money managers seek to implement a political agenda, such as compliance with the Paris Climate Accord.
Then a group mobilizes: Climate Action 100+, for example, comprised of hundreds of big banks and money managers that together manage $60 trillion.
The group uses its coordinated influence to compel companies to shut down coal and natural-gas plants.
The activism can include pushing climate goals at shareholder meetings and voting against directors and proposals that don’t comport with the agenda, even if other decisions may benefit investors.
Firms report their plan to carry out these activities back to Climate Action 100+ headquarters. This helps ensure maximum coordinated effort toward the common goal of overhauling the energy industry.
Money managers wield influence over these companies because they represent investors who are shareholders, often through their 401(k)s or pension plans.
In other words, your retirement funds are likely helping facilitate these political campaigns to advance far-left policy goals, with consumers bearing the costs of increased energy prices.
Climate Action 100+ is one of many activist groups that operate like this, with a significant impact on critical investments in America’s energy infrastructure. Decarbonization of capital expenditures is one of their major goals.
Investment in oil and gas exploration and production in 2021 was nearly 25% below 2019 levels. One private-equity CEO described trying to raise wide-scale capital for drilling oil as almost impossible.
An axiom of economics is that if you produce less, the cost will go up. The price of Brent crude hit $114 a barrel last week, an eight-year high, amid tensions over the Russian-Ukraine war.
This hurts the pocketbook of all Americans, especially lower-wage workers, who spend a greater percentage of income on fuel.
While climate activists believe they know best, the U.S. can’t maintain its security while depending on foreign dictators and oligarchs to supply its energy.
Current economic trends and international tensions heighten the need for domestic companies to maximize efficiency and productivity.
Proper corporate governance is good not only for shareholders but for the stability of America and the world.
As attorney general of Arizona, I have a responsibility to protect consumers from artificial restrictions on production. That’s why I’ve launched an investigation into this potentially unlawful market manipulation.
The resources of hard-working Arizonans should never be compromised in the name of spurious political activism, especially if that activism is a coordinated conspiracy that allocates markets in violation of the law.
Read more at WSJ
Good initiative. Might want to start with the Biden Administration & all the federal agencies & appointments that support the activist agenda. I’m sure they are well connected with numerous activist organizations that seek to eliminate fossil fuels. All that political pressure is affecting the financial markets. Not sound business practice & certainly not in the best interest of the country.
Nail them. This has been a lie and a fraud right from the very beginning. Here’s how coal, oil, and gas are the ONLY GREEN ENERGY. Life is composed entirely of little carbon sacks of water called cells. All life. The green in the environment comes from photosynthesis. Its biochemical formula is sunlight plus CO2 plus H2O with the help of green pigmented chlorophyll produces ALL of life’s carbon. ALL of life’s energy. And ALL of the breathable oxygen required for animal life to exist. And fossil fuels when consumed to make us the best fed, longest-living, most prosperous human beings that have ever existed return the two most important ingredients for life on earth CO2 and H2O back to the environment where they can make life greener, stronger, more drought-tolerant, and more abundant. There are many excellent witnesses available for you. Perhaps ironically Dr. Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace may be the best. And most recently, Biden’s rejection of an energy independent America has FUNDED Putin’s criminal war against Ukraine.