Playing Politics with Public Employees’ Pensions

Normally, the people making decisions for a company are acting within its best interests, and the interests of the customer. But when gigantic funds own a majority of shares, they call the shots - and now they’re hijacking corporate America in the push for ESG.

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Playing Politics with Public Employees’ Pensions (2025)

State pension funds are powerful investment vehicles with some $6 trillion in stock and bond holdings of nearly 30 million Americans. These are the retirement pensions of our teachers, police officers, fire fighters, public utility staff and ambulance drivers, among many others.

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Proxy Voting:
How They Play With Your Pension

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You work and pay into your pension

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The funds go to investment managers who have the responsibility of growing your pension

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They invest your pension in companies like Disney and McDonald's, becoming a shareholder

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As shareholders, the investment managers get a vote in important company decisions

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Instead of voting for resolutions that would benefit the company, and the customer, many managers support resolutions calling for “climate justice” and “racial equity audits”

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These ESG policies hurt company performance, which means lower returns for your pension

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ESG isn't an investment strategy; It's a political agenda.

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30 Million Americans are represented by state pension funds.

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In 2022, state and local pension funds supported 88% of ESG resolutions.

Who's counting anyway?

(It's us. We're counting.)
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We're holding feet to the fire. Check out the latest rankings.

View the Scorecard

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IEE grades the ERS of Texas a “D”

01.05.2023

Voted in direct conflict with own published proxy voting policy Voted with activists on five out of seven shareholder proposals, but voted against the lone proposal on climate issues. IEE… Read More

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