Your opinions on "Socially responsible investing" and "Divestment from fossil fuels"

[butterfacetrader]

I know a few of the socially responsible crowd. And believe me, you sound just as dumb to them as they sound to you. They do have some legitimate points. As I buy oil stocks, I'm helping to put $$ into the pockets of those who rape the earth and take advantage of people in less fortunate locations. I know the companies do some good in those places, too, but there is still the raping and ripping off going on.

I'm on the same side as you, for the record. I'm buying oils right now. My preference is to make money however I can. Then I can use some of my profits for charitable purposes. In my mind, since I'm too small to rock the price of anything, and the raping will go on with or without me and my little few thousand shares, I figure I might as well profit from it.

However, I do see the point that the SR crowd is trying to make. It's not retarded, it's just another way of looking at things. Maybe the idea that the world can really change if we all band together is more positive than my jaded belief that money makes the world go round and always will, because greed is a staple of human nature.

The student activism thing has always puzzled me, even when I was a student. Students have no power. I don't think the schools even care about their tuition dollars that much. It's all about big donors. Student government always seemed like such a farce to me. The schools don't care what the students think. I always figured I was better off to stay away from all that, study instead, grow up, get a good job, make some money, buy some oil stocks, and so forth.

But people with these agendas often also have such a narrow and ignorant view of the world.

The reality is many oil and gas companies are investing in other means of producing energy. Oil and gas is only the thing that got them started and keeping the business going. Afterall, its a matter of survival for them as well as a corporation, to change and adapt. Some of them have investments in solar and wind and all that stuff but when it comes down to it, gasoline is just superior and more ideal in many applications as fuel.

Its also about investing your own money, not somebody else's. I have no problem with people wanting to divest their own money, but when it comes to student activists, they are advocating others to do with other people's money. Thats just wrong. Don't tell people how to use their money. Go risk your own money if you're got such a big mouth.

Finally, I don't see how staying invested in oil and gas is in any way some how "propping up unclean resources" as it is so claimed. Its just a very ignorant view of reality here. Oil and gas companies are mostly fully developed companies and well capitalized. Most of them are at a stage where they are merely giving back to shareholders via dividends. There is no need for them to do secondary offerings to raise money. So all this "buying oil stocks to prop up the price" does not affect anything. The oil companies arn't even looking to use their stock to raise cash. All they are doing is giving cash back to shareholders from their earnings, because the industry is so established. So it is ignorant to saying "staying invested is helping oil and gas companies". Oil and gas companies don't look at or care what the secondary market is doing by way of share price (other than keeping shareholders happy of course). So selling your shares and maybe depressing prices by selling pressure does not impact anything tangible. It only affects financial markets that O&G isn't looking to tap into. Those are the kind of ridiculous statements people make and it shows a lack of understanding at a fundamental level.

Lets flip this around. Suppose those hippies buy green stocks. But suppose the world isn't ready for it and their profit margins are low to nonexistant. So they've just made a terrible investment decision because of a stupid environmental agenda.

Money always comes first. I don't care if I"m buying Herbalife shares. As an investor I only care that the stock price goes up and I get my dividends. All that yapping about MLM... talk to the hand!

 

[newwurldmn]

Socially responsible investing is not for tree hugging retail hippies. It's for organizations like green peace. It would be odd for green peace to invest their excess funds into a fund manager who is buying oil stocks. Or it would be odd for a health insurance pension plan to invest in a tobacco company.