When you see that a conference which claims to be business focussed, as is the PRI In Person jamboree in Singapore, but is in fact "supported by the United Nations" you know that it will be a nest of vipers seeking to enrich the 1% at the expense of the 99%. At this point I quote Ayn Rand
"You may know society is doomed when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing; when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors; when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you; [and] when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice."
That nails the Principles of Responsible Investment conference pretty fairly. I see that a paper is being given on how income inequality makes everyone worse off. In the way that nutty Jew Haters trot out the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and then rehash it in a quasi academic manner to "prove" a global Jewish conspiracy, nutty socialists rehash The Spirit Level to show that folks in places like Cambodia under Pol Pot, Albania and North Korea which have the lowest income inequality on this planet are happy places with dynamic economies. Sure, whatever you say folks. What: do I see hundreds of thousands of Americans seeking refuge in Albania? Whatever, you keep spouting this palpable crap and some folks will believe you.
Naturally investing in a way that fights global warming is high on the agenda. A lot of rich liberals from NGOs, fake - that is to say State subsidised - charities - leafy academia and minor pension funds with less than Buffettesque returns, have burned shed loads of carbon to fly to this junket. There they will press for more legislation which will screw small businesses and for big businesses to adopt measures which either screw shareholders - those who risk capital to create jobs and wealth - via reduced profits or customers via higher prices, or both. They will push Governments to enact legislation and push for subsidies for certain (big) businesses and taxes for we the little people. Thus the folks in the 1% bubble of big business, the ,media and political elite and those in cushy secure academia with their grants from businesses they support and craven Governments will be happy. The 99% will be screwed and all in the name of the bogus religion that is global warming.
I see that PRI is keen to stop the exploitation of poor workers in the third world by evil multinationals. Quite right. Close the factories out East and so make the folks go back to working in snake filled paddy fields earning far less than in those nasty sweat shops and with a far shorter life expectancy. If wages out east shoot up, production will come back to highly automated production lines in the west. Sure that will create a few jobs for white folks in the First World but it will mean that all consumers pay more so once again it is those Westerners with the lowest disposable incomes, poor people, who get screwed. But the 1% won't notice the difference and they will just feel smug and conceited at how they made the world a better place while poor folks in the first and the third world suffer.
Time for another conference chaps - how about we fly to the Gold Coast next time we want to screw poor people across planet earth and make us feel like we are doing such good work?
If God really wanted to make this a better world he'd be ordering a meteorite strike on SRI in Person right now.