This is literally insulting to anyone with any understanding of “investments”:
In January 2024, Stein reported having between $250,001 and $500,000 invested in the Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund (VXUS), which invests in TC Energy Corp, owner of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Stein profits from the Keystone XL Pipeline she claims to oppose.
This is a super sketchy way to portray a very normal total market index funds…
And everybody knows that total market includes fossil fuel and arms companies. That is why there are ESG funds, which do exclude the really nasty companies. Those are pretty easy to buy and can also cover a large field of investments. She has lobbied for divestement from fossil fuels, so she should very much be aware that those options are around, while this has been pointed out for nearly a decade. So really no excuse for that.
Surely, if you’re the Green party leader, you would simply not invest in that particular index fund, and probably would not invest at Vanguard either. When people say you should “divest from fossil fuels”, it obviously also means taking your money out of these index funds.
Where are you seeing this?
The article claims that she has total stock market index funds in her retirement account and not individual oil and gas shares…
They even link the full financial disclosure that reveals as much: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/un8w34x8anzochjjik2dw/2024-Stein-PFD.pdf?rlkey=no0vsygaof1096tgm3843kwup&st=10vwoc8x&dl=0
This is literally insulting to anyone with any understanding of “investments”:
This is a super sketchy way to portray a very normal total market index funds…
And everybody knows that total market includes fossil fuel and arms companies. That is why there are ESG funds, which do exclude the really nasty companies. Those are pretty easy to buy and can also cover a large field of investments. She has lobbied for divestement from fossil fuels, so she should very much be aware that those options are around, while this has been pointed out for nearly a decade. So really no excuse for that.
Surely, if you’re the Green party leader, you would simply not invest in that particular index fund, and probably would not invest at Vanguard either. When people say you should “divest from fossil fuels”, it obviously also means taking your money out of these index funds.
It’s funny how easy it is, but no, let’s jump through hoops to justify it.