This Week in ESG and Impact Investing

The U.S. economy improved in the second quarter of 2022. Real GDP fell by 0.9% (REVISED TO -0.6%) in Q2 after falling 1.6% in the first. Real gross domestic product (GDP) decreased at an annual rate of 0.6 percent in the second quarter of 2022, following a decrease of 1.6 percent in the first quarter. The second-quarter decrease was revised up 0.3 percentage point from the "advance" estimate released in July. The smaller decrease in the second quarter, compared to the first quarter, primarily reflected an upturn in exports and a smaller decrease in federal government spending. Profits increased 6.1 percent at a quarterly rate in the second quarter after decreasing 2.2 percent in the first quarter. Despite the negativity in the media, this is an even more positive indicator. Whether it remains a good sign depends on future economic policy. The Fed may get its "soft landing" after all.

The Federal Reserve’s move to increase interest rates by 75 basis points will not only impose significant costs on the economy, it will do so needlessly. It won't reduce inflation, but it will add to political and social instability. The key skill of a central bank in the current environment is identifying inflation generating sectors and providing targeted, anti-inflationary support to the rest. There are a number of ways to do so, but, given the capture of the Fed by financial institutions, we do not expect them to be familiar with these techniques. (We suggest they review our Maternal Mortality Reparation Facility for Black Women at https://www.prlog.org/12876083-maternal-mortality-reparation-facility-for-black-women.html and our proposal to create a $50 billion-dollar Black Bank financing facility, outlined in Black Enterprise Magazine on October 21, 2019, online at https://www.blackenterprise.com/black-banking-crisis-economist-offers-50-billion-solution/ ). We continue to bel

The number of minority banks in the US held steady at between 168 and 174 in the second quarter of 2022. Assets for minority banks shifted to the Asian sector starting in 2006, probably the result of the Bush Administration restrictions on immigration. Black bank assets as a percentage of total minority bank assets have been on the decline from 2001 onward. Download summary report at  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lgemlAcjif9rGYGb2tcWpR8L_2wzqFJH/view?usp=sharing   To purchase this report, email info@creativeinvest.com Research assistant: Nishanth Gaddam, Impact Investing Intern.

Recent Supreme Court decisions damage the international reputation of the US. On June 24, the Court, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization , upheld a Mississippi law that banned abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with no exception for rape or incest. The decision strikes down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.  In West Virginia v. US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA ) prevents the agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions, a core mission and task of the EPA. The regulation questioned concerns carbon dioxide generated by power plants — in the middle of increased global efforts to reduce these emissions. This case was based on the Clean Power Plan, a plan to cut emissions from coal-fired power plants that was never implemented. Biden tried to have the case dismissed since the policy at issue was not operational nor was it being resurrected. The Court ruled anyway. The EPA decision will have the added impact of limiting the ability of the US government to address