by frog
Four months have passed since the Government made a commitment to divest the New Zealand Superfund from companies involved in manufacturing nuclear weapons and cluster bombs. This wise old toad notices that we’re still sitting on a $25 million investment in these multinational baddies: BAE Systems ($10.9M), Boeing ($3.6M), United Technologies ($7.0M), European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) ($1.1M), and Thales SA. ($1.9M).
But it doesn’t end there. The Superfund is a signatory to a set of ethical investment principles set out by the UN. Under these principles, countries like Norway have divested from these companies and a few more. Companies like Rio Tinto, Barrick Gold, and Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold have been cited for causing severe environmental damage through their mining activities. For example, Rio Tinto’s Grasberg mine in Indonesia pours 230,000 tonnes of tailings into the Aikwa riverine system and Arafura Sea every day. Some 130-230 square kilometres of lowland areas along the river are saturated with copper and sediment, leading to a near total collapse of the marine ecosystem.
And then there is Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer. An extensive body of material indicates that there is a high cost to Wal-Mart’s low prices. Wal-Mart consistently and systematically violate labour and human rights law. For example, they employ minors, provide working conditions at many of its suppliers that are dangerous, pressure their workers into working overtime without compensation, discriminate against women in pay, and block any attempts by the company’s employees to unionise.
All up, we have $52 million invested unethically by this frog’s reckoning. Of course, this figure is dropping daily…but not because of a conscious effort from Superfund CEO Adrian Orr to do the right thing and divest. No, the value of our unethical investments is spiralling rapidly downward from the speculative and unethical behaviour of another group of men in suits. What irony.
Published in Economy, Work, & Welfare | Environment & Resource Management | Justice & Democracy | THE GAME by frog on Tue, March 10th, 2009
Tags: Adrian Orr, BAE, Barrick Gold, Boeing, cluster bomb, divest, EADS, ethical investment, Freeport McMoRan, nuclear weapon manufacture, Rio Tinto, Superfund, Thales, United Technologies, Wal-Mart
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
“Wal-Mart consistently and systematically violate labour and human rights law. For example, they employ minors, provide working conditions at many of its suppliers that are dangerous, pressure their workers into working overtime without compensation, discriminate against women in pay, and block any attempts by the company’s employees to unionise.”
Presumably though, Walmart offers a better package than the competition, otherwise its job vacancies would not be so heavily over-subscribed.
In which case, surely it’s that worse-paying competition you should be complaining about, rather than Walmart.
And, for the record, can you please detail how many thousands or tens-of-thousands of people you employ, and their conditions of employment.
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On the wider issue of the Cullen Fund
Bill English has replied (February) to my 2008 letter on funding the Super Fund.
He says that to sustain the present level of NZ Super in the future we need to establish a reserve now to mitigate the rising cost to taxpayers. He says the government is committed to continuation of the Fund as an effective vehicle for pre-funding NZS costs. All very bi-partisan in tone.
As to my idea of transferring state assets into the Fund rather than cash, he says the government will not sell state assets and says the Fund would need to be able continue trading in its assets to maximise profits – so they must reject the option of passing on state assets into the Fund (I suggested the Fund only off-load them in the longer term to Kiwi Saver funds so they stayed in local ownership).
Given todays news the most interesting thing to note is this
“Indeed, the Funds liquidity in a time of economic downturn is one of its advantages in the marketplace, as it is able to exploit opportunities to acquire assets while company stock prices are low relative to future potential earnings”.
Which is an argument to use ones ability to borrow money and maximise opportunities now – not to reduce ones financing of the Fund … . Which makes one wonder what changed at Treasury or in the government between then and now?
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“Presumably though, Walmart offers a better package than the competition”
no they’ve simply destroyed the competition by undercutting their prices with the lower prices enabled by scale and treating your employees as described.
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One of Wal-Mart’s tactics is to open several stores in a region, even though some will not be in viable locations, just to ensure all the ma and pa and other shops close. Then they only keep open those stores in the best locations, forcing many people to travel further as well. wat will no doubt point out that these people are reaping what they sowed by patronising Wal-Mart in the first place, which is certainly true, but no justification for investing in Wal-Mart either.
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Wat
Unemployment in the USA is officially over 8%, realistically it is closer to twice that number. Wal-Mart is a very well managed capitalist firm and it succeeds well in the wage-slavery environment that the pseudo-capitalists so enjoy.
I am not sure I blame them as much as Frog does. I tend to blame the people who make that environment possible through their blind adherence to their infallible god “the market”.
The matter however, is what sort of investments we should be making with the fund. We would have done better to invest in NZ IMHO, as recent events have shown us. The easy-money of the foreign sharemarkets has been proven quite ephemeral and “easy-come-easy-go” is the rule.
Moreover, it isn’t reasonable to say we are “borrowing to invest” in this. The government is borrowing overall, as a result of tax cuts and tax inequities, as well as the perceived need to stimulate the NZ economy in Keynesian terms. Whether that last is the best of ideas is debatable, I’d rather we fixed our currency and let it work itself out, but if one is investing in such a manner and the fund can be a tool to do it.
respectfully
BJ
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