MAGA GOP Seeing Resistants To "Woke" Banks Worried About Climate Change

Extremist GOP politicians don't want banks to consider
climate change and other like issues in their 
investment decision, but saner minds in the 
GOP are resisting this impulse. 

UPDATE, MARCH 13: 

After I wrote this piece, the far right wing began, predictably, to blame the failure of Silicon Valley Bank in California to their supposed "woke" policies. 

They don't explain  how the "woke" policies, whatever they are, made SVB collapse.

It appears the bank failed for a set of complicated reasons, and I'm absolutely sure bad internal decisions played a major role. 

But the problem had to do with securities, not woke policies. And when depositors started asking for their money back, the instability in SVB became apparent. 

There was a bank run, and that was that. 

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Warning, this is a political post, but sometimes, stuff needs to be said.

The large MAGA wing of the Republican Party think anything that's not 1950s-era thought is verboten. As the Washington Post indicates, so called "woke" policies to combat climate change, even when conservatives banks are the ones getting concerned about the climate crisis.  

Here's how the Washington Post frames it:

"Conservatives have long held that the government should avoid interfering with private business decisions But over the last two years Republican state treasurers and attorneys general in Texas, Florida and other states have sought to blacklist banks that factor climate risks and social concerns into their investment decisions."

That's all a lot of talk among the MAGAs, but cooler heads seem to be prevailing. 

Republican state officials win Texas, Florida and other states have been trying to blacklist banks that factor in climate risks and social concerns when making investment decisions.  

However, Republican legislators in many states are defeating such proposals to blacklist banks. The argument against the blacklist is traditional conservatism, not MAGA stuff. Traditional conservatism holds that businesses should be free to make investment and growth decisions without interference from the government. 

The Washington Post offers the example of North Dakota, in which two proposed laws to sanction banks for factoring in climate change were roundly defeated by the state legislature by a 90-3 margin.  

WaPo quotes this North Dakota banker. 

"'Our biggest concern is the idea of somebody telling our banks who to do business with or who not to do business with,' Rick Clayburgh, chief executive of the North Dakota Bankers Association, said after beating back those proposals. 'We believe our banks should be allowed to do business with customers they know, the people they know and to make those decisions.'"

The right wingers want to use public pension plans and bond offerings to keep out so-called "woke" institutes.

Of course, American banks and other financial institutions aren't exactly cabals of wild-eyed liberal and socialist activists. As all but the worst nutcases understand, U.S. financial institutions are card carrying capitalists to the extreme. They are  there to make money for themselves and their shareholders. 

Climate change and other societal concerns are simply factors that need to go into business decisions. It's all about risks and rewards.  

Pension fund managers don't want to limit bank activities because that would lead to fewer financial institutions, leading to less competition. Less competition means higher costs. Capitalism at work here, too. 

Still, some governors, attorneys general and others insist on shooting themselves in the foot. Texas in 2021 banned state and local government agencies from doing business with financial companies that they accuse of boycotting gun and fossil fuel industries 

Top lenders left Texas as a result, and this cost the state's taxpayers between $300 and $500 million because of extra interest fees, NPR reported.  

Proposals to freeze out banks who take into consideration climate change and other factors are more often than not inspired or guided by an outfit called the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. 

Even ALEC is withdrawing its prototype bill that would have required states to stop doing business with banks and other companies that are 'boycotting loans or investments in fossil fuels and the firearms industry, says WaPo.  ALEC says it wants to tweak its proposed legislation.

Still, MAGA types and extreme right wingers are soldiering on with their efforts to block financial institutions from considering environmental, social and governance policies, known as ESG's.  

As is the case with public discourse these days, especially in parts of the GOP, the rhetoric against ESGs is pretty over the top. 

North Dakota Republican Rep. Bill Tveit says he's going to re-introduce an amended version of the original bill that failed so miserably.  Sustainable governance like considering climate change is part a "worldwide human satanic organized effort. A man-made sabotage of God," Tveit hyperventilated.

No, I don't know what he means by that, either. 

Tveit also said ESG proponents "want to control every inch of our lives while enhancing their fantasy green world."  He did not explain exactly how banking institutions would "control every inch of our lives" via their internal financial decisions.   This dude just really needs to calm down.  

Mr. Anti-Woke himself, Florida Gov. Rhonda Santis Ron DeSantis is tilting at this windmill, too. In February, he proposed legislation to stop "these elites" who he alleged are trying to "inject political ideology into investment decisions, corporate governance, and really just the every day economy."

This being Florida, you'd think you'd want financial institutions to at least consider climate change, since the Sunshine State seems particularly vulnerable to sea level rise.  But maybe DeSantis is so afraid of drag queens and childrens' books that feature two male penguins is such a threat that he has to make sure the banks don't invest in that kind of thing?

I dunno. 

Personally, I don't love every single aspect of American capitalism as it currently operates. But I'd rather have that than ignorant ideologues messing with business for really stupid reasons. I hope that the Washington Post is correct that anti-ESG measures are flailing.