A few weeks ago, a WSJ op/ed [can't find a link] accused Al Gore of having conflicts of interest because he promotes green policies at the same time as he has (widely-disclosed) investments in "green" firms.
I don't know why the WSJ has their knickers in a knot. Gore's investments are public information, and he's not in the position to steer public money towards one company as opposed to another. (This NYT article says the same thing: he' putting his money where his mouth is, but he's making a killing. Although it makes sense to try to "shadow" Gore's investments, his inside access -- via venture capital firms -- makes it hard for ordinary investors to do that.)
If, for example, he had secret investments in certain companies and earmarked legislation to benefit those companies, THEN I would join them in condemning Gore for conflict of interest. (I am guessing that a non-trivial number of congressmen DO have these conflicts, but they are either undiscovered or "unimportant" to the WSJ.)
Am I missing something here, or is the WSJ just blowing hot air?
Bottom Line: It's not a problem to invest in something you believe in, it's a problem to use steal other people's money to make those investments more valuable.
Thursday, November 5
Al Gore's Green Investments
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4 comments:
Gore has fallen to second place behind Obama in the Right Wing's beastiary of bête noir, which is displayed on Fox News and WSJ editorial page frequently. David seems to expect objectivity of these operations, which is pretty quaint.
Like Fixed Carbon, I see the matter as one of media bias. How would you expect CNN or MSNBC to react if a Republican were engaging in similar fear mongering while standing to make a profit?
Plus, Gore has been extensively questioned on these investments by Republican Congressmen when appearing before committees and he does not pocket any of the money, it is all donated back into the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The investments only stand to make a profit due to tax dollars being steered in their direction. He's a lobbyist trying to affect policy to make money. By the way, tax dollars are stolen funds.
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