Markets. The oldest will remember Bill Crist, iconic chairman of the pension fund of the employees of California CalPERS. It was in the mid-1990s, the minority shareholders are invited in the boards of directors to force the leaders to manage their companies in the best interest of the shareholders. Over the years, pension funds were in the habit of making policy, pledging to force companies to be more social, respectful of the environment. And then, in the month of October, the pensioners of California have said this is enough.
“My only job is to secure our pensions,” declared the sergeant of police Jason Perez. And he has reversed with almost 57 % of the votes the outgoing president Priya Mathur, in which he had fought the policy. “Mathur has put at risk the security of our pensions, because she has set investment priorities on environmental, social and governance without taking into account the other risks “, had accused the sergeant, accusing his opponent of being ” disconnected, convinced that its role is to make the tour of the world, to ring the bell of the London stock Exchange, and to discuss with the leaders of the united Nations “.
CalPERS, which manages 360 billion dollars, has suffered terribly from the financial crisis, and his faith in capitalism, in the belief that its shares would yield 8 % per year. Today, the pensions of the officials in California are funded at only 70 % – the “hole” is greater than $ 100 billion.
Result, the fund is resistant now to the injunctions and legal entities. Sell your shares in the tobacco, guns, and coal, and asked him there. This policy, initiated in the 1980s with the withdrawal of South Africa during the apartheid era, had caused him to lose $ 7.9 billion (€6.9 billion) to mid-2017.
All the world…
