Do you own Evil Corp. stock? Maybe you should give some thought to that! Every day, I read tens of articles pertaining to the stock market, and investments in general. I read a lot about the increase in market volatility, the bond market, ETFs, changing dollar flows, precious metals manipulation, the plunge protection team, the petroyuan, US Debt ... and ALL SORTS more. It's a never-ending information extravaganza.
One thing I don't read much about is morality, specifically as it pertains to being (a) IN the stock market, and (B) investing in particular stocks.
We all know, well and truly, that a lot of the corporations out there are immoral in their business practices; heck, BY LAW, they have to be, as their primary duty is to the shareholders, everything else be damned. The technology companies are receiving the bulk of coverage these days, though there is no shortage of bad deeds to go around. Food companies feed us poison. Arms manufacturers create all sorts of nasties. Chemical companies poison our water. Nestle steals our water. Facebook sells our personal data. Media companies lie to us.
By owning stock in these corporations, we are giving our energy to entities (in this case, corporations) who are ultimately working against us, against the interests of the common man. In effect, in exchange for possible profits, we provide fuel for "the bad guys." We have to stop doing this.
The Worship of Mammon
Recently, I helped a relative go through her stocks: she was quite shocked to learn that the mutual funds she held were owners of stocks in companies she disagreed with vehemently. She had NO IDEA what she owned. She sold those mutual funds, but not before having a conversation with her broker in which he expressed his stupefaction that she had gone to the trouble to look up the holdings of the mutual funds she owned. It was extremely rare, he said. I take this to mean that a LOT of people have investments in corporations they don't even know of. Scary.
Please take this post as a reminder that we need to be careful to support institutions we believe in, and expressly NOT support those we don't. There are many ways we can do this:
- Boycotting products from bad companies
- Not investing in bad companies
- Drawing attention to misdeeds of bad companies
Take great care what you do with your energy: your human energy, your financial energy .. all of it, for the things you contribute to will grow, and will expand. I am reminded of this parable:
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life:
“A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.
”It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil–he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”
He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you–and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf will win?”
The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
Feed the right wolf!
Good luck out there!
[ @xwalkran ]
Seeking truth, meaning and enlightenment.
Philosophy, Technology, News, Conspiracy, Homesteading, Fiction, $$ and more.
Check out my news/conspiracy aggregation site @ http://walkran.com
Good point, @xwalkran. It shouldn't need saying that it's a good idea to know what you are supporting, but it's getting easier and easier to disguise it.
Another perspective I've thought of with this is that if you support a company financially, but with your money protected, it seems a timid, even cowardly form of support.
If your friend owns a fishing business, and you invest, then they die on the sea, you still know. Their kids know. Their partner knows. The consequences of such a thing SHOULD suck, but when investment has so many obscuring steps between money and consequences, investors get to pretend their purses don't reek of fish or death.
I read something recently, where this really wealthy guy realized he was investing his money in nameless, faceless organizations .. rather than his kids, and grandkids. He started doing what you suggest .. investing closer to home .. and was much happier for it. As were, I'm sure, his heirs!
It's an interesting perspective. The Husband likes to play around a little with the stock market and mutual funds, and until I met him all I did was sock all my money away in savings...I do know he avoids investing in companies he dislikes, but actual morality is a different angle!
Yes, with a bit of introspection we can all probably find many ways in which our underlying spiritual intent diverges from our real world actions. I certainly struggle with it sometimes. But as they say, awareness is 1/2 the battle.
The two wolves is one of my favorite stories. I had a discussion with my investment guy about ethical investing. I am researching as well.
Me too.. I also like this one.
A beautiful girl in the village was pregnant. Her angry parents demanded to know who was the father. At first resistant to confess, the anxious and embarrassed girl finally pointed to Hakuin, the Zen master whom everyone previously revered for living such a pure life. When the outraged parents confronted Hakuin with their daughter's accusation, he simply replied "Is that so?"
When the child was born, the parents brought it to the Hakuin, who now was viewed as a pariah by the whole village. They demanded that he take care of the child since it was his responsibility. "Is that so?" Hakuin said calmly as he accepted the child.
For many months he took very good care of the child until the daughter could no longer withstand the lie she had told. She confessed that the real father was a young man in the village whom she had tried to protect. The parents immediately went to Hakuin to see if he would return the baby. With profuse apologies they explained what had happened. "Is that so?" Hakuin said as he handed them the child.
Taken from:
http://truecenterpublishing.com/zenstory/isthatso.html
Interesting, a while back I bought a bunch of Royal Dutch Shell stocks. Myself I think Shell is an evil company when it comes to a lot of things, but mostly the environment! I think they should invest way more funds into improving their footprint and transition to better energy sources.
So why buying stocks you might ask? Well, I donated the stocks to an organization called Follow This. By donating them, I gave them my vote for the shareholder meetings. During these meetings Follow This will then push the company to change towards a more sustainable direction.
Actually, I didn't really donate the stocks. I only gave Follow This my vote. I still own the stock.
I'm not sure if there are other initiatives like this, but if so, one could always consider donating the shareholder's vote towards a better future.
Definitely one of the bad guys.
The stock thing seems kinda cool in theory. I wonder how far away they are away from having enough voting stock to make a difference.