Al Gore’s Green Investments
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
A few weeks ago, a WSJ op/ed [can't find a link] accused Al Gore of having conflicts of interest because he promotes green policies at the same time as he has (widely-disclosed) investments in “green” firms.
I don’t know why the WSJ has their knickers in a knot. Gore’s investments are public information, and he’s not in the position to steer public money towards one company as opposed to another. (This NYT article says the same thing: he’ putting his money where his mouth is, but he’s making a killing. Although it makes sense to try to “shadow” Gore’s investments, his inside access — via venture capital firms — makes it hard for ordinary investors to do that.)
If, for example, he had secret investments in certain companies and earmarked legislation to benefit those companies, THEN I would join them in condemning Gore for conflict of interest. (I am guessing that a non-trivial number of congressmen DO have these conflicts, but they are either undiscovered or “unimportant” to the WSJ.)
Am I missing something here, or is the WSJ just blowing hot air?
Bottom Line: It’s not a problem to invest in something you believe in, it’s a problem to use steal other people’s money to make those investments more valuable.
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