Foreign investment bankers *Really* want Australia to meet Net Zero Targets

Dark Money, power, retirement funds,

By Jo Nova

Shh! The Monster Banker Funds are secretly saving the World

By sheer coincidence the same day the Australian Treasurer said we’d have to pump up the subsidies on climate targets, a group of largely foreign bankers called for the Australian government to “hurry up with emissions reduction plans “.

IGCC LogoThe foreign investment bankers market themselves as “Australian and New Zealand investors” but boast they have $30 trillion in assets, which is a bit of a red flag when the GDP of both nations together is $2 trillion USD.  It turns out the blandly named Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC) is only 10% Australasian:

IGCC represents investors with total funds under management of more than $3 trillion in Australia and New Zealand and $30 trillion around the world. Investors welcome the development of internationally aligned climate risk disclosure requirements in Australia.  IGCC  Submission to the Australian Treasury Feb 2023

But being 90% foreign doesn’t stop them putting in submissions to Parliament or pretending to be locals. Even The Australian thinks they are Australian:

An Australian investor group representing members with more than $30 trillion in assets says plans being developed by the Albanese government to decarbonise sectors like energy and agriculture must align to the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5C.

The fund includes Australia’s largest retirement funds, but quietly also includes our old friends, Vanguard and BlackRock, which together make up $17 trillion of the $30 trillion dollar collective of climate concern.  So it’s the two supergiants, plus 100 extras. Who controls this group? It’s not the minnows.

Bankers use your pension funds to make your electricity bill higher

The IGCC says it’s just worried about their clients best returns, as indeed they should be. But given the S&P Global Clean Energy Index is down by 36% this year, their clients best returns would have been in the real Energy Sector which hasn’t gone down at all. If they were serving their clients they would invest in oil and gas. But instead the bankers apparently want the government to rescue their bad investments. Here’s their joint plea for “certainty” which means certain subsidies:

Rose Lewis, The Australian

In a new report released by the Investor Group on Climate Change – which represents Australia’s largest superannuation and retail funds, specialist investors and advisory groups – investors outline their priorities for the government’s decarbonisation plans to ensure the country remains a competitive place to direct capital during the net-zero transition.

“Unless Australia’s economy decarbonises in a manner that is rapid, orderly, and fair, the long-term retirement savings of millions of its citizens will be negatively impacted. [Not to mention all the foreign investors too, says Jo].

“The more orderly the transition to net zero, the better able investors will be to protect and preserve the value of their investments in the best interest of their beneficiaries.”

Given that “profits” from unreliable energy transitions depend entirely on government subsidies and laws, these giant funds are colluding together to lobby for better returns. But if they didn’t ask their 7.5 million Australian and New Zealand customers whether they want smaller retirement funds in order to save the world — then are they really serving them, or screwing them?

$30 trillion dollars is a lot of money to use to threaten and influence a $2 trillion dollar economy. Are the foreign bankers using the threat of withdrawing investments in order to bully more subsidies out of patsy Australian taxpayers and hapless Australian electricity consumers? They could feed the “profits” back to their own retirement funds overseas, while they boost wind and solar manufacturers in China, say, to get more favours with President Xi — the possibilities are endless. One arm of a supergiant fund can rake in the money created through predatory behaviour in another arm.

Or perhaps I’m wrong, and the saintly bankers genuinely lie in bed at night worrying about a half a degree of global warming.

These are the groups concerned about koalas and corals

Members of IGCC:

IGCC -- Investor Group on Climate ChangeFollow the money — the Greens do.

 

 

9.9 out of 10 based on 100 ratings

71 comments to Foreign investment bankers *Really* want Australia to meet Net Zero Targets

  • #
    robert rosicka

    Thankfully my superannuation company has zero $$$$ invested in trying to save the climate , I can see it all ending in tears when reality bites and blackouts begin .

    480

    • #
      David Maddison

      Just as there are rankings or lists of “green” (sic) ESG funds, in Australia, there should be a rating scheme for companies or lists of funds that specifically avoid such nonsense.

      In fact, such funds exist in the US.

      https://www.etf.com/sections/features/what-is-anti-esg-etf

      Anti-ESG ETFs have been around since the early 2000s but have recently gained attention, as some investors believe that ESG investing does not align with shareholder interests. Vivek Ramaswamy’s popularity has also helped to shine a brighter light on the politically charged investment movement.

      What Is an Anti-ESG ETF?
      An anti-ESG ETF is an exchange-traded fund that excludes companies that meet certain environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. These criteria can vary from fund to fund but generally focus on companies that are not typically found in the typical sustainable ETF. Some anti-ESG funds differentiate themselves primarily by their approach to shareholder voting.

      For example, the largest anti-ESG ETF, Strive U.S. Energy ETF (DRLL), has similar holdings as a typical energy sector ETF, but its differentiating factor is that the fund has an anti-ESG proxy-voting policy, which means it votes against ESG proposals at shareholder meetings. Other anti-ESG funds may invest in companies that align with politically conservative values.

      https://www.trackinsight.com/en/etf-news/anti-woke-etf-year-date-edge-over-sp500

      Anti-woke ETF has the year-to-date edge over the S&P500

      The fund is an actively managed diversified large-cap core ETF that dodges investing in companies that are most “hostile” to conservative values.

      https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-12/maga-etf-anti-woke-investing-targets-trump-loving-conservative-traders

      Anti-Woke ETFs Are Pitching to Conservatives Mad at Corporate America

      Dan Grant is fed up with “wokeness.” He’s sick of such companies as Nike Inc. and Coca-Cola Co. taking liberal positions on social justice issues. “People are tired of woke companies, tired of wokeness overall, and tired of companies putting their social justice activism ahead of generating profits for their shareholders,” Grant says, sitting in a small Nashville office festooned with dinosaur fossils and a pet Australian snake-necked turtle named Melvin.

      Join the anti-woke movement.

      490

      • #
        Graham Richards

        It’s time I forwarded this article to Australian Retirement Trust and ask for an explanation!

        I bet they won’t reply!!

        300

      • #
        Rupert Ashford

        Are these ETF funds open to foreign (i.e. from outside the US) investors?

        00

    • #
      Ronin

      Unfortunately my fund is on that list.

      150

      • #
        PeterPetrum

        Yes! So is mine that I have been with for 49 years and receiving a monthly payment from for 20 years. Last year was the first time that my invested capital dropped below the arbitrary level I had set for those 20 years. I wondered if they were investing in ruinables, now I know. Not sure what to do about it.

        110

      • #
        Hivemind

        Me too. I really need a list of anti-ESG funds available in Australia so I can choose a replacement.

        90

      • #
        Rupert Ashford

        Mine too, and just about all the alternatives I was thinking of…

        00

  • #
    Penguinite

    The usual Suspects Blackrock and Vanguard are supported by an array of Australian names all dependent on government subsidies. You can bet that “Blackout Bowen” is a prime mover in this charade that will all collapse were we able to reinstate coal and gas as energy providers. The latest from UK news is that the RAF is concerned that offshore wind farms disrupt their defence radars.

    410

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      The RAF might be a bit less concerned by the news.
      Denmark’s Ørsted has cancelled two big offshore windfarm projects in the US at a cost of more than £3bn amid surging costs facing the global wind industry.
      Shares in the world’s biggest wind power company fell 25% on Wednesday after it told investors it had no choice but to take a 28.4bn Danish kroner (£3.3bn) impairment charge and stop the developments off the New Jersey coast.
      Ørsted said it had cancelled the Ocean Wind I and II schemes because of high inflation, rising interest rates and supply chain bottlenecks.
      It has also cast doubt on Ørsted’s plans to develop a third phase of the Hornsea project in British waters, which would be the single largest windfarm in the world and would play a large role in the UK’s ambition to grow its offshore wind capacity
      And to paraphrase Oliver Twist “I want more”
      Oersted, Denmark, Sunrise wind, contracted at $110.37/MWh, contractor needs $139.99/MWh, a 27% increase
      
Equinor, Norway, Empire 1 wind, contracted at $118.38/MWh, contractor needs $159.64/MWh, a 35% increase
      
Equinor, Norway, Empire 2 wind, contracted at $107.50/MWh, contractor needs $177.84/MWh, a 66% increase
      
Equinor, Norway, Beacon Wind, contracted at $118.00/MWh, contractor needs $190.82/MWh, a 62% increase
      And recently a spokesman for the windfraud industry in the UK said that the Government needed to raise the supply from them to £95 ($183 ) a MWh. Is that what they meant about renewables being cheaper?

      310

  • #
    David Maddison

    The two most important questions to ask in relation to any scheme promoting expensive, unreliable electricity or related matters are:

    1) Is the person or organisation profiting from what they are promoting? I.e. follow the money trail.

    If not (1), then:

    2) Are they a “useful idiot”? I.e. a member of the slave army of useful idiots of (1).

    380

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      David:
      Surely you gon’t think that Chris Bowen is useful?

      290

    • #
      Dave of Gold Coast, Qld.

      David, it’s always about MONEY+power+control. Every leftist/communist/green person or organisation is geared that way. The lies, cover ups and utter rubbish we are bombarded with daily is almost unbelievable. It may be climate change, racism, Covid, vaccines or politics but it all heading in same direction. Their goal: we loose, they win, they think!

      310

  • #
    Peter C

    The IGCC (Investor Group on Climate Change) should be renamed the Invested Group in Climate Change)!
    It was disturbing to look at the company list and see quite a few large Investment funds and Insurance Companies and The University of Melbourne.

    All of them have analysts with sufficient direct access to data to know that it is all rubbish.

    310

  • #
    ianl

    Simon Michaux, Aus geologist/engineer and now Assoc Professor with the Geological Survey of Finland, delivered another tour de force yesterday (Friday) in a UQ webinar he called “The Green Transition Will Not Work As Planned; What Might We Do Instead ?”

    This is a tightened, peer-reviewed, world-wide critiqued and extremely informative analysis of the resources and requirements for the nuttiness of Net Zero. It is an advance on his ground-breaking, eye-opening (for non geologists) initial paper on this topic about two years ago.

    He has presented to various audiences across the globe now, including Aus politicians (although sadly he didn’t list who of these actually attended). As one would expect, everyone in the arm-waving group, especially the finance and political groups, were:

    1) totally ignorant of the actual requirements and state-of-play

    2) totally aghast when they finally grasped even a smidgin of the truth

    3) then immediately demanding of “Who’s going to pay for this ?” (yes, seriously, these groups are demanding decarbonisation and insisting someone else must pay for it)

    4) finally pushing the issues into the too-hard box and reverting to arm waving.

    If you have the interest, you will find a recording of this webinar on the smi[dot]uq[dot]edu[dot]au/ website sometime next week. It is over an hour long and full of hard, factual analyses that most will find absolutely confronting.

    Sadly, I do expect most people to slot into category 4) above, with any number of straw men rationalities. For those who actually want to know, you will be treated to world-class information. And yes, it is peer-reviewed: Harvard, Princeton, MIT, a slew of British Unis, the ANU in Canberra, politicians world over, a never-ending list of fearful bureaucracies, even the White House, have had a go at it. The result of all that has been to firm up the analyses in the best traditions of science.

    310

    • #
      another ian

      Any chance a link available?

      70

      • #
        skepticynic

        It’s in the text, smi[dot]uq[dot]edu[dot]au/

        61

      • #
        David Maddison

        Here’s a link to a 2021 1000 page report by Michaux. In English.

        https://tupa.gtk.fi/raportti/arkisto/42_2021.pdf

        Geological Survey of Finland
        Circular Economy Solutions KTR
        Espoo 20.8.2021 GTK Open File Work
        Report 42/2021

        Geologian tutkimuskeskus | Geologiska forskningscentralen | Geological Survey of Finland
        Espoo • Kokkola • Kuopio • Loppi • Outokumpu • Rovaniemi

        http://www.gtk.fi • Puh/Tel +358 29 503 0000 • Y-tunnus / FO-nummer / Business ID: 0244680-7

        Assessment of the Extra Capacity Required of Alternative Energy Electrical Power Systems to Completely Replace Fossil Fuels

        Simon P. Michaux

        160

  • #
    wokebuster

    My super scheme is in the CSC and once they starting sprouting Climate BS a few years back I switched my funds to 100% Cash.

    170

  • #
    David Maddison

    I sense to some extent a few people are waking up to woke insanity.

    E.g. begging for forgiveness for covid errors: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/10/covid-response-forgiveness/671879/

    In the following link there are the beginnings of doubt on the strategy adopted by climate catastrophists:

    https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/opinion/columns/2023/08/24/the-observer-what-if-weve-got-it-wrong-about-climate-change/70667785007/

    I for one will not be forgiving anyone who asks for forgiveness about the lies they told about covid and their promotion of dangerous, ineffective vaccines and banning of safe treatments and removal of human rights (especially in Australia, one of the most fanatical followers of the covid lies and anti-science).

    Similarly, I will not be forgiving anyone who admits their belief in climate catastrophism waa wrong and their subsequent economy and civilisation-destroying policies.

    In both cases they were told the truth by the thinking community but in both cases they were too financially committed to profiting from the lies. Alternatively, they had some thinking or behavioural defect that made them loyal members of the slave army of useful idiots who just followed along and refused to think for themselves.

    They could only possibly earn my forgiveness if they did something to correct the harm they contributed to, but at this point correcting that harm is impossible. The damage done is too great. So, no forgiveness from me.

    341

    • #
      Jojodogfacedboy

      Bankers…Banks and Financial institutions can do their own versions of a ‘margin call’…where they at anytime call in their loans…read your fine print.

      https://www.howestreet.com/…

      With Canadian homeowners in Financial troubles…
      If you can’t cover the loan in a timely specification…confiscation could be arranged.

      40

  • #
    MrGrimNasty

    “NatWest accused of ‘intrusion’ after starting new function that combs customers’ accounts to track their carbon footprint.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12705155/NatWest-accused-intrusion-starting-new-function-combs-customers-accounts-track-carbon-footprint.html

    150

    • #
      David Maddison

      It will be linked to your forthcoming social credit score (if conservatives remain silent and allow it).

      130

  • #
    Ronin

    ‘Intrusion’, that’s being kind.

    120

  • #

    A ‘Major Surprise’ Nature Study Finds Phasing Out Fossil Fuels Will Lead To Decades Of Warming

    We would expect from a 100% switchover from fossil fuels to zero-emission renewables…net radiative heating would increase drastically.” – Nair et al., 2023

    Nice comment to that:

    One of the reasons given for the warm temperatures seen last summer is the cleaning up of bunker fuel used by ships. The skies over the busy Atlantic route were clearer of clouds due to the lack of seeding aerosols.

    😀

    140

  • #
    David Maddison

    Part of the problem is that many of the people involved in “managing” these funds are in their late twenties and thirties and have been fully indoctrinated at “school” and “university” into fully woke, anti-science, anti-reason, anti-freedom “thinking”. Similarly such people are also in other “leadership” positions.

    This is a good part of the reason Western Civilisation is collapsing while we simultaneously blog our observations as it collapses around us.

    Another issue is that younger women especially are promoted way beyond their level of competence due to the requirement to tick gender, racial or other quota boxes. Bud Light was a classic example with 39 year old Alissa Heinerscheid who permanently destroyed that brand with wokeness. But she was a woman in that position and that’s all that mattered. Her competence was irrelevant. She cost shareholders billions.

    Not surprisingly Anheuser-Busch has an Excellent AA ESG score. https://www.knowesg.com/esg-ratings/anheuser-busch-inbev-sa-nv

    As Donald Trump said, “everything woke turns to sh-t“.

    290

  • #
    Neville

    AGAIN here’s the difference between the OECD and NON OECD countries co2 emissions since 1988.
    The developed OECD countries co2 emissions have barely changed over that time.

    OECD 1988 – 11.54 billion tonnes per year

    OECD 2021 – 11.7 billion tonnes per year. A difference of 0.16 billion tonnes over 33 years.

    But the NON OECD developing countries have soared by an EXTRA 14.38 billion tonnes per year from 1988 to 2021.

    1988- 10.02 billion tonnes per year.

    2021- 24.4 billion tonnes per year.

    And China, India, Africa, Asia etc will continue to build 100 s of NEW Coal power stations for decades into the future.
    These are very simple sums that any child should understand and yet all these clueless fools continue to lie to us, just like they’ve lied to us for decades.
    IOW any fool can see that the OECD countries will be much weaker as we go forward and then have to negotiate with the likes of China, Russia, Iran and Nth Korea etc.
    AGAIN ask yourselves why do they want to severely weaken our position and strengthen the despots?

    https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-co2-emissions-per-country?country=Non-OECD+%28GCP%29~OECD+%28GCP%29

    190

  • #
    David Cole

    I have never heard of people complaining about cheap electricity !.Have you?

    170

    • #
      wal1957

      If electricity keeps getting “cheaper” in Australia some families might have to choose between keeping the lights on or eating.

      220

    • #
      Philip

      Yes I have. IN the 2000’s Phillip Adams had a scientist on his radio show complaining that electricity was too cheap so made replacing coal and oil hard, and wished for something to be done about it. He got his wish. Phillip agreed of course.

      90

  • #
    Dsystem

    Note all the Union super funds are paid up members.

    190

  • #
    Neville

    Here’s a talk by Simon Michaux in Oct 2023 and it seems that hardly anyone understands how TOXIC W & S could ever take over from fossil fuels.
    But a lot more on you tube and probably best to choose his most recent talks during 2023.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42b5jgE9rsY

    70

  • #
    David Maddison

    What happens when your proposed woke wind plantation happens to need to be located right in the middle of a koala habitat?

    Why, you kill the koalas, of course!

    https://www.2gb.com/killing-koalas-wind-farm-has-euthanasia-plan-for-animals/

    ‘Killing koalas’ – Wind farm has euthanasia plan for animals

    03/11/2023

    Disturbing new revelations regarding the plans to address Koala habitats affected by wind farm projects have come to light, leaving Nationals MP Keith Pitt, who discussed the matter with Ben Fordham, shocked.

    Even worse, they propose to kill the animals by a hammer blow to the skull, not shooting or lethal injection.

    It’s like a sacrifice to the green god Gaia.

    180

    • #
      Lee

      That’s known as killing the environment to “save” it!

      Like mowing downing vast forests and its inhabitants to build massive wind farms.

      And building wind turbines at sea which kill and badly disrupt sea life, such as whales.

      130

    • #
      Philip

      Sounds like they’ve come to their senses. They now realise Koalas stand zero chance of extinction so it doesnt matter if you kill some off. Correct!

      60

  • #
    David Maddison

    Meanwhile in Kenya, don’t worry about indigenous people.

    The sacrifice to Gaia is more important.

    Don’t the woke/Left pretend to care for the rights of indigenous peoples?

    https://www.thecanary.co/global/2023/11/03/kenyan-indigenous-community-raise-concerns-over-wind-mega-project/

    Kenyan Indigenous community raise concerns over wind mega-project

    An Indigenous community in Kenya has raised concerns over a planned gargantuan wind power project. The 1000 MW proposal is nearly three times the size of Kenya’s largest existing wind farm – a project which itself violated the rights of multiple nearby Indigenous communities.

    120

    • #

      I recently went chasing all the information I needed to update the Chart I made for the Africa power availability Post here at Joanne’s site back in 2014.

      During that process I came across a site promoting Net Zero for Africa, and the need for renewable power on that Continent with 48 Countries and six Island Nations part of Africa.

      Okay, typical stuff.

      However there was an image which really intrigued me.

      Here is a link to that image, and on the image I have added an arrow at the top right, showing that 42% of people in Africa have ….. ZERO ACCESS to electrical power

      That’s 42% of 1.4 Billion people, so that’s ….. 588 MILLION people.

      No power whatsoever.

      Hey! No worries. Renewables will solve all that, eh!

      Tony.

      310

      • #

        Tony
        Thank you for sharing.

        I note that the solution for lack of electricity for some Africans, at least, is to move to where there are connections.
        That is not always to the U.K., despite the numbers crossing the Channel in small – often dangerously overloaded – boats

        Auto

        40

  • #
    Lance

    whenever a Government is desperately trying the “Help You”, hang on to your wallet and savings.

    Your own costs for energy and everything that flows from it, are the benchmark of economic stability. Everything else is a political illusion designed to enslave you or steal you blind.

    Woke is Broke. There are no free rides. The investment firms are simply manipulating your own savings to profit themselves. It is a pity that so many do not see this.

    Whether you live in 1850 lifestyles or modern lifestyles, is entirely dependent upon reliable, dispatchable, affordable, energy.

    140

  • #
    Ronin

    “Whenever a Government is desperately trying the Help You, hang on to your wallet and savings.”

    Always remember, before the govt can ‘give’ you any money, they first have to take it from someone.

    And any govt that robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on Pauls’ vote.

    110

  • #
    Lawrie

    I suspect the real reason these SH companies are demanding that Albo and the Idiot do more toward renewables is that they are heavily invested in wind, solar and transmission. If, heaven forbid, a decent Coalition returned to government it might drop subsidies and build some reliable power stations instead and then who would have the stranded assets?

    140

  • #
    John Hultquist

    As near as I can determine, the big firms are involved in this simply because they are so big their sub-entities, co-advisers, and many clients are following a herd-leader. For example, Vanguard has 430 funds, 50 Million investors, and 20,000 employees.
    I won’t be surprised to find a few in the many that I disagree with.

    80

  • #
    Serge Wright

    “Unless Australia’s economy decarbonises in a manner that is rapid, orderly, and fair, the long-term retirement savings of millions of its citizens will be negatively impacted”

    This should be a Babylon Bee headline. The idea that killing our economy to remove 1% of global emissions will save the world and our retirement savings, whilst China and the developing world add another 20-30% is crazier than claiming you’ve been abducted by aliens. God help us all !!!

    180

    • #
      Lawrie

      Or do they mean they are so heavily invested in renewables that slowdown in that sector would seriously impact investor incomes. They may be counting on subsidies rather than real income to repay their lending into wind and solar. Be a real shame if some funds had negative returns and big questions of their boards.

      80

    • #
      Hivemind

      “the long-term retirement savings of millions of its citizens will be negatively impacted”

      That’s code to say that they messed up and pumped billions into this crazy scheme & now need to be rescued by the Government.

      110

    • #
      Hivemind

      A small clarification: Australia produce 1.3% of global human emissions, which are themselves only 5% of natural emissions, in other words 0.065% of global emissions.

      50

  • #
    Simon

    These are investors playing the long game. They realise that net zero isn’t an option, it’s a necessity because temperatures will continue to rise unless net zero is achieved. Most large multinationals and many governments have committed to net zero by 2050, unfortunately most have very little credible planning to show for it. Almost every country has made Paris Agreement commitments that they are required to meet and the Australian government is lagging.

    028

    • #
      David of Cooyal in Oz

      Agree, with just one modification.
      In place of:
      ” They realise that net zero isn’t an option,…” put:
      ” They realise that net zero is an impossibility. ”
      Cheers

      150

    • #
      skepticynic

      temperatures will continue to rise

      Hallelujah! Thank God for that!

      unless net zero is achieved

      That worn-out baseless claim is demonstrably false and relies on fraudulent data and unwarranted assumptions.

      Most large multinationals and many governments have committed to net zero by 2050, unfortunately most have very little credible planning to show for it.

      Because it’s a hoax and a fraud. How can you effectively plan for the impossible and why would you want a plan which will put you out of business?

      Almost every country has made Paris Agreement commitments that they are required to meet

      Except the biggest polluter by far, which curiously is not required to reduce pollution at all.

      and the Australian government is lagging

      No we’re right up there with the leaders in suicidal stupidity.

      170

    • #

      Simon, here are no credible plans because there is no credible way to do it.

      The investors with $10,000 billion dollars “under management” are playing the long game, but it’s not the game you think. They make trillions from creating booms and busts and wars and conflict. The arbitrage on that volatility is sweet. Peacetime stability is tough for profiteers.

      They crush competition by capturing government regulators. They silence their critics by buying the media.

      You are a mere pawn lying to yourself about “saving the world” to justify following the robber barons.

      310

      • #
        Honk R Smith

        Net Zero.
        Two State Solution.
        Human Gender Neutrality.
        The Exorcism and Purification of Information.
        (It should be noted that once these are achieved, the glaciers will return to their 1850 status, and remain still forever and ever.)

        Obviously it’s the doubters that stand in the way of The Dream.
        And Trump.

        80

      • #
        Geoff Sherrington

        Jo,
        The observation that these money managers create issues that bring benefits to them (and from you) has been known forever.
        It is surprising that so few people have made this mental discovery. One explanation comes from the large presence of advertising. People need to understand that they are affected by the vast volume of advertising they are exposed to every day. It does not all go in one ear and out the other. Some sticks. If it did not, the advertising industry would have died by now. But, it has grown.
        The whole alarmist story of climate change lives on because of the billions pumped into advertising. Most advertising is a lie (designed to turn a dud product into an expensive must-have). Maybe advertising should be given a grilling? I mean, how twisted, wrong and dangerous is the currently popular commercial “gamble responsibly”? Geoff S

        30

  • #
    David of Cooyal in Oz

    The chart Jo reproduced above, labelled ” Full members”, has the two names BlackRock and Vanguard beautifully and innocuously placed in alphabetical order, deceptively implying equality with all the others.
    Surely the depiction should have shown them as two big spiders with all others as small insects caught in their overlapping webs?
    Cheers
    Dave B

    170

  • #
    Sean

    Gotta love that term “certainty” when it comes to renewable energy investment and the rules the government imposes. It’s simply a euphemism for guaranteed profitability but it’s so hard to sell to the public when it’s put that way.

    40

  • #
    DLK

    “BlackRock seems to be less an entity of the free market and more of an expression of the merger between Big Business and Big Government.

    BlackRock is actually Mussolini’s wet dream, given reality on a grand scale.

    The dominant economic and political philosophy in the world is fascism—and this includes the US.

    Fascism has nothing to do with jackboots, spiffy-looking uniforms, and midnight knocks on the door.

    Fascism is an economic system. The word was coined by Mussolini. Its symbol is the fasces, which is an ax representing the State, surrounded by rods which represent corporations. They reinforce each other.

    In socialism, the means of production are owned directly by the State. Fascism retains large corporations, however. The State and Big Business support each other. It’s a more efficient arrangement than socialism. Corporations still make profits, so the economy can still grow. There’s more money to steal than with pure socialism. The rich in business and the powerful in government keep each other’s nests feathered.

    This is true everywhere. China, the US, Europe, and Russia have essentially similar economic systems. Fascism now rules the world. Terms like communism, socialism, democracy, and capitalism are really just meaningless and confusing anachronisms.”

    https://internationalman.com/articles/doug-casey-on-the-rise-of-blackrock-and-fascism-in-the-us/

    100

  • #
    Old Goat

    At last the great counteroffensive against carbon has arrived . “With enough money we can destroy it once and for all” . Stupid actions will bring stupid results . The worst part is that we will see it coming.

    20

  • #
    STJOHNOFGRAFTON

    Stuff the koalas, build more wind turbines:
    Evidently it’s OK to bulldose koala habitat when wind farms need to be established in order to satisfy inane NetZero targets:https://www.skynews.com.au/opinion/peta-credlin/plibersek-called-out-on-hypocrisy-threatening-koalas-with-wind-projects/video/d04a879a6f724fc84c3ead322837bbf4

    30

  • #
    garry b

    Would love to see either the UAP or One Nation adopt a very nationalistic policy in terms of management of Australian resources, and companies. Foreigners should have NO votes in Aussie companies, unless wholly owned, and the wholly owned ones should be subject to constant audit. My experience was that if allowed to fix the price that they import (or export) goods at, Australia will be ripped off every time, by prices being “fixed”. Many countries, to protect their own industries, impose restrictions on foreign control.
    Make all foreign owned shares “non-voting” for say 10 years (so it does not cause a sudden market fall), and tell Blackrock to “take a hike”. Local shareholders can do little to help with mega American funds running our industry for THEIR benefit.

    60

    • #
      NoFixedAddress

      We need Independent Parties and Individual Politicians to unite enough to form Common Sense Government for Common Sense Australians.

      30

  • #
    STJOHNOFGRAFTON

    More Climate-Industrial-Complex blather…

    Whale-Sized Denial: The Latest Casualties Of The Climate Industrial Complex
    https://climatechangedispatch.com/in-denial-the-latest-casualties-of-the-climate-industrial-complex/

    30

  • #
    NoFixedAddress

    Joanne,

    I took the liberty of cross posting your article at The Monster Banker Funds are Secretly Saving The World.

    It may have already been posted but you may be interested in Andrew Quin’s column, more from WA, which I have also cross posted but his direct link is to an October 19, 2023 article titled – Should You take your money out of the bank?

    20

  • #
    Rupert Ashford

    Things are starting to go sour in some of the “first frontier” markets where these people meddled, sorry I mean “invested” so they’re now targeting Aus where it looks like the current government is enthusiastic about having a go at these failed policies in “a uniquely Australian way” per Bowen and “The Dr”. Time to harvest some easy subsidy bucks again…

    00

  • #
    Tina

    In 2015, in Brussels, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of U.N.’s Framework Convention on Climate Change, admitted that the goal of environmental activists is not to save the world from ecological calamity but to destroy capitalism. (https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/climate-change-scare-tool-to-destroy-capitalism/) There you have the answer to this ‘climate change’ in a nutshell. Its to destroy our way of life and they’re doing a pretty good job of sending the middle class broke with higher prices of food, energy, petrol etc. I guess the WEF ‘great reset’ is well on its way where ‘we will own nothing’ by 2030. This is all by design by the trillionaire cabal.

    20