[dorkwagon]

There's something to this, but it's also possible for shareholders to divest from companies that don't share their political views (in the same way that you can refuse to work for or buy from a company whose views you hate.)

[ars]

Not if you buy index funds you can't. And index funds are the best way to invest.

[bilbo0s]

To be fair...

That's an opportunity for an ideology based index fund.

Of course, having said that...

I'm not sanguine about the relative performance of such an instrument.

[MereInterest]

I would be surprised if it did as well monetarily standard index funds, though that would be rather beside the point. The set of companies in which a morally aligned index fund may invest is, by design, smaller than the set of companies in which an amoral index fund may invest, and so they may be intentionally passing over profitable companies.

One of my favorite quotations is from A Man for All Seasons, with Paul Scofield as Sir Thomas More. "If we lived in a state where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us saintly. But since we see that avarice, anger, pride and stupidity commonly profit far beyond charity, modesty, justice and thought, perhaps we must stand fast a little, even at the risk of being heroes."

[likpok]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11743305

These already exist, they're just expensive.

[CurtMonash]

Then if you have a big enough problem, forego the benefits of index funds.

A liberal, globalist politics really IS best for Google, Apple, Microsoft and many others, and thus it is correct for their leaders to say so. If you on the other hand dislike liberal globalism, then you have the choice to divest from/not profit from those companies. (Alternatively, you could invest in them as a kind of personal diversification.)

[dragonwriter]

Yes, you can't optimally serve the interest of narrow financial profit while optimally serving other, conflicting interests.

You have to make choices, and those choices have costs.

[khedoros1]

Why not? It would just mean getting out of those funds, and taking a hit putting your money somewhere less friendly to your wallet but more friendly to your ideology.