Public Pensions Review Investments in Sudan

"How could it be possible for them to burn people, children, and for the world to keep silent? No, none of this could be true. It was a nightmare."
Elie Wiesel, Night

While American corporations are forbidden to conduct business with Sudan (except for humanitarian missions) through Bill Clinton's executive order in 1997. Many Americans are tied to Sudan through investments in international stocks. States and Public Pension funds have begun to reconsider their links to Sudan through their portfolios.

Third-party research firms, Institutional Shareholder Services, Conflict Securities Advisory Group, and KLD Research among others compile lists of companies involved in Sudan. KLD's Sudan Compliance Service has isolated 124 companies including eight U.S. businesses linked to Sudan. Inclusion on these lists can be ambiguous at best. 3M was included and claim their association to Sudan is limited to selling Scotchshield Ultra Safety adn Security Film to the UN.

New Jersey, Illinois, and Oregon have passed laws that obligate public pensions to divest from their portfolios any holding of a company with investments, facilities or employees in Sudan. Money managers have responded. Northern Trust has created six index funds that ostracize Sudan-linked stocks for its institutional clients. Illinois has already invested $8 billion across the six funds.

Funds meant to mimic the performance of American indices such as the S&P 500 or the Russell 2000 aren't as likely to be impacted since American business are prohibited from involvement with Sudan. The most vulnerable funds are those meant to parallel foreign indices such as the MSCI EAFE (Morgan Stanley Capital Int'l Europe Australasia Far East). Over 25 companies (+9% of the index's market cap), including Royal Dutch Shell, Toyota, Siemens and Ericsson may be excluded from the fund. Vanguard is still considering if it will create Sudan-Free funds while Fidelity has yet to take the contention under advisory.

Will divesture lead to change? American divesture of Talisman Energy, led the Canadian company to abandon interests in Sudan. PetroChina's IPO in 2000 was largely ignored by college endowments and public pension funds due to oil extraction in Sudan. The larger pension funds, Calpers and the New York City Comptroller view divesture as a last resort and are talking to the Sudan-linked companies directly about their involvement in Sudan.

American Idol: Since I Fell for You

No one will ever sing 'Since I Fell for You' like Nina Simone.

14 February 2006

"Happiness comes more from loving than being loved; and often when our affection seems wounded it is only our vanity bleeding. To love, and to be hurt often, and to love again - this is the brave and happy life." -J.E. Buchrose

Yearly Spending Habits Rich vs. Affluent

The rich are those earning $390,400 on average per annum and have at least $10M in investable assets. The affluent earn $152,000 on average per annum with $1M in investable assets. The rich spend almost 4x as much as the affluent.

Luxury Jewelry & Watches
$17,185 by the Rich vs. $5,163 by the Affluent

Luxury Pet Products
$12,831 vs. $1,316

Luxury Fashion Accessories
$9,931 vs. $2,898

Luxury Wines and Liquors
$7,703 vs. $1,880.

and how does one begin to rack up $12 G's for the pet?
Try an $1,800 Disco Bed for the dog.

making change in your life

"It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things."
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince and the Discourses

5. Ann Packer: The Dive From Clausen's Pier

I've been meaning to read this book for a while now. Carrie seems to be having second thoughts about her engagement. Then, her fiancee becomes immobilized when he injures his spinal cord in a diving accident. She flees Madison, WI where she has lived all her life for NYC without so much as a good luck to anyone even her mother.

A few of my favorite quotes, without context:

Isn't it obvious? You can't leave because you're the person you are, and I can't want you to because that would be wanting you to be someone else when I want you to be you.

People have this idea that what they do changes who they are. A married man had an affair and he thinks, Now I've become a bad person. As if something had changed.. Meaning bad isn't the issue. Meaning you do what you do. Not without consequences for other people, of course, sometimes very grave ones. But it's not helpful to regard your choices as a series of right or wrong moves. They don't define you as much as you define them.. You could just as easily have stayed. But that wouldn't make you a good person any more than leaving makes you a bad one. You're already made, honey. That's what I mean.

I really enjoyed this, and recommend it. Chick lit with an edge. I liked it because it illustrates people making hard choices in their lives, changing things, changing who they are. Only to realize, it's not as simple or as difficult as one may have thought.

a very strange dream, indeed.

we were on the river terrace at the kennedy center.

it was winter. december. maybe my birthday. it was cold. cold enough to see your breath, but not too cold to be outside. it was a clear night, the stars were sparkling like vegas diamonds, making the chill almost bearable. the potomac stretched in front of us, the gurgling fountain silent beside us.

it's been a great night. i'm giddy and bouncy. obviously happy, obviously satisfied. perhaps we've been to the ballet or the opera. maybe even the theatre.

he is telling me something. i can't hear. i'm an observer not the participant. i'm watching his face, looking into his eyes, but i can't see who he is. only a dark wool coat and a brick red scarf. he is excited, nervous, sincere. i am flummoxed, suprised, elated.

he has proposed and i have said yes.

-------------------------

this is quite strange, not only because the fountain is turned off in the winter, but i am decidedly single.

2. bell hooks: all about love

as a society we are embarassed by love. we treat it as if it were an obscenity. we reluctantly admit to it. even saying the word makes us stumble and blush.. love is the most important thing in our lives, a passion for which we would fight or die, and yet we're reluctant to linger over its names. without a supple vocabulary, we can't even talk or think about it directly.

chapter one begins with the above quote from diane ackerman.

this is an achingly beautiful book. it's for those who persist in dreaming of love. differently.

one of the ironies of the culture of greed is that the people who profit the most from earnings they have not worked to attain are the most eager to insist that the poor and working classes can only value material resources attained through hard work. of course, they are merely establishing a belief system that protects their class interests and lessens their accountability to those who are without privilege.

hooks talks about how america has 'privatized' family, "most world citizens do not have, and will never have, the material resources to live in small units segregated from larger family communities."

she illustrates how our culture has elevated the search and seizure of a romantic partner above all other loving relationships.

many of her observations had profound meaning for me - but nothing touched me as her commentary on 'loving into death.' our society encourages isolation in both the process of dying and grieving, "we are taught to feel shame about grief that lingers." she repositions grief as an expression of passionate loving. in a society that resounds with the importance of remaining unfettered in all dealings especially love. she reminds us that our most passionate relationships sometimes portend a commitment beyond life unto death.

sleeplessness

in bed i watch red numbers begging them not to change. it's been another 80 hour work week. i come home, draw a bath, go to sleep, then back to work. tonight i am unable to sleep. is it still a weekend if the week doesn't end? 14 work days in a row. in bed, motionless, my heart races. silently, i repeat my to do list. reprioritize. there isn't enough time. this is crazy.

how do i spend this adrenaline? i cannot sleep. i am dancing on the edge of oblivion, terrified to look down. i have to sleep fast and my window of opportunity for rest is closing, closing, shut.