This Week in ESG and Impact Investing

Fiscal Forum: “The Political Economy of High Debt” IMF, April 19, 2015. L to R: David Wessel, Maria Luís Albuquerque, Christine Lagarde, Helen Clark, Joaquim Levy. I was at the IMF yesterday with a bunch of rich white people ( @ Lagarde @ HelenClarkUNDP   @ davidmwessel ) when the subject of poor people came up. Of course, as they do with Black people, rich white people claim to know everything there is to know about the poor. I think their main fear is that poor people will want the same deal that Goldman Sachs got, or the deal JP Morgan got, or the deal the " London Whale " or the LIBOR manipulators got. This fear is borne of a certain selfishness and greed. It is, also, completely wrong, so I took the time to tell them what I think. Here is what we want: 1. Water. Not privatized water systems. Access to clean water. 2. Food. Not GMO degraded, just clean food. 3. Shelter. Not subprime loans, but shelter. 4. Peace. Not the opportunity to be shot in the

We coined the term " Effective Investing " to reflect a style of investing that does several things. First, it minimizes fees and costs. Your money should go toward your future, not to a broker or mutual fund company. There are only two ways to accomplish this, one in stock investing and the other in bond investing. Your money should be safe and  effective investing  means being able to sleep at night. This means managing and minimizing risk. There are a limited number of ways to accomplish this, too. Risk is a feature of investing. It is how you get to return. Still, you can rationally minimize risk by taking a few constructive steps.  In the bond or fixed income world, investing in US Government securities is the only way to accomplish this.  In the stock market, the strategy is the polar opposite and can be summarized as "don't put all of your eggs in one basket," in fact, put them in the biggest basket you can find. This means investing

We quickly and completely cover the basics of investing in only about 40 minutes. If you want honest, objective information about investing, this is your course. It's also geared to people who want to start investing now! We define what stocks, bonds and mutual funds are. In addition, we cover risk and return, two key investing concepts. We cover ethical/social/environmental investing, providing expert-level instruction on these topics. We show returns generated by various types of investments from 1801 to 2011. We show you how to use various techniques to invest in stocks and bonds at low or no cost. Finally, we describe some of the best mutual funds in the marketplace. Our lecture provides the rationale for both investing and for social investing. https://www.udemy.com/stock-bond-mutualfund-investing  

Recently, "the Norwegian Ministry of Finance circulated (a) report from the Expert Group on the Government Pension Fund Global investments in coal and petroleum companies for a public hearing amongst Norwegian stakeholders. The Expert Group has evaluated whether the exclusion of coal and petroleum companies is a more effective strategy for addressing climate issues than the exercise of ownership and exertion of influence."  While not a citizen of Norway, in my comments , I respectfully reminded the Ministry that "All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."  Our research strongly suggests that investors and publicly traded companies must recognize the impact environmental incidents and issues have on a given firm's ability to use company assets and therefore generate revenue and profits. See: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx3S91AlzNJ4TlJ1VHIwRkZaODVrM

Our economic research reveals the following:  there is not a single city in the United States of America where the majority of Black people resident before gentrification have been better off post-gentrification. Not one. In every single case, Black income and wealth are lower, significantly so. I mention this because of a comment I made to DC Mayor Bowser at a Forum on Development in Anacostia, Washington, DC. Here is my original comment before the DC City Council:  https:// youtu.be/rlr_DomOais The Mayor appears to believe that this is simply not an issue. My comment and the Mayor's response can be heard at minute 42:00 here: http://thekojonnamdishow.org/audio/#/shows/2015-04-02/d-c-mayor-muriel-bowser-a-forum-in-anacostia/87938/@0:00

The U . S . Employment Situation report will be released on Friday at 8:30 am. According to the Department of Labor, "Based on the Household Survey, the unemployment rate measures the number of unemployed as a percentage of the labor force." Our Fully Adjusted Return (TM) Model, combining social and financial data, predicts a 5.4% rate for March. Unemployment has been trending down since the beginning of 2009. The long term trend is declining, as the chart below shows. We see no reason for this to change. The only risk is that we may be a little early. On November 2, 2012 , we noted that "As is often the case, the Fully Adjusted Return (TM) methodology is early. (On December 22, 2003 and February 6, 2006, we warned the S.E.C. and other regulators that statistical models created by the firm using the Fully Adjusted Return (TM) Methodology signaled the probability of system-wide economic and market failure )."