Investing Opinion

Genocide, Investing Cross Paths in Proxy

Stock quotes in this article:GOOG, MSFT, YHOO 

The board goes on to make the case that total divestment from offending countries is inferior to the exerted influence of engagement as the best way to bring about change. And, further, economic suppression of innocent victims can be the counterproductive side effect of punishing despotic governments. Therefore, American Funds prefers company-by-company judgments instead of blacklisting companies for doing business in particular countries.

I am leaning toward a vote against this proposal but will wait to make my decision until I review comments from TheStreet.com readers. For added spice to the discussion, I ask: "Is the only immoral investment one that loses money?"

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Kevin Baker became the senior financial analyst for TSC Ratings upon the August 2006 acquisition of Weiss Ratings by TheStreet.com, covering mutual funds. He joined the Weiss Group in 1997 as a banking and brokerage analyst. In 1999, he created the Weiss Group's first ratings to gauge the level of risk in U.S. equities. Baker received a B.S. degree in management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an M.B.A. with a finance specialization from Nova Southeastern University.

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