Saturday, March 29, 2008

vote for genocide

Every once in a while I get something in the mail asking me to submit a vote for my holdings in some mutual fund or stock. This happens the most with my 401(k) holdings, and I would assume this is the way it is for most people.

A few days ago I got a packet from one of the mutual funds that are in my 401(k) with following thing to vote on. Since the proposal is written vaguely, it is not clear what counts as substantially contributing to genocide. Even so, it's hard not to be a bit cynical about the mutual fund company when I read this.
The Board of Trustees Recommends a Vote AGAINST the Following:

Shareholder proposal for [list of mutual funds] concerning Board oversight procedures to screen out investments in companies that substantially contribute to genocide.
I will assume at this point that the reason the board of trustees is asking for the vote to not go through is they they believe that such screening procedures will not actually reduce genocide and will noticeably reduce earnings for those funds. Who in good conscience could actually vote against it, though? I am voting my miniscule number of shares for it.

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