New York Times columnist Ron Lieber does an excellent job applying some reportorial skepticism to "environmental, social, and governance" funds that purport to offer more ethical investments. He interviews two ESG professionals:
LIEBER: Defining justice seems messy these days. On one hand, some investors don't want to invest in weapons manufacturers. On the other, many of them would very much like to put more weapons in the hands of the Ukrainians.
ROBASCIOTTI: In the world our investors want to live in, the government is responsible for weapons and defense, and that is not a private activity.
LIEBER: Wait, so the government should be producing weapons?
DOMINI: Capitalism is great at distributing goods and services broadly and cheaply. Weapons shouldn't be distributed broadly and cheaply.
The idea that the defense industry is somehow inherently unethical is heard increasingly on the left these days. I had a column pushing back against it in the Algemeiner the other day.