Selena makes a lot of sense, as usual, though I'm still not convinced. Her argument that every company is flawed is not lost on me, but I'm not one to give up seeking higher ground for my investing money.
Let's say I go on a diet, only to find a chocolate-coated fork on barren dessert dish. I ate it! Mea cocoa culpa! But does that mean I lose sight of the prize and dart to Sizzler? Like the dating process, you can aspire to find the perfect mate, but it's all a matter of ultimately settling for something close enough. No baseball player homers every time, but that doesn't mean Barry Bonds is only as good as the minor leaguer battling the Mendoza line.
"It's just too hard for most companies to meet all criteria," Selena writes. I counter with the lyrical mastery of Meatloaf:
Don't feel bad, 'cause two out of three ain't bad.
Selena also points out that since you're simply buying and selling outstanding shares, you're not exactly giving a company your money. That's true, in the direct sense. However, since shares are priced based on supply and demand, there's more to this argument than meets the cynical eye.
If people refuse to buy into a company they find objectionable, logic dictates that the stock would trade lower. That would put a crimp in most company plans for a secondary offering, and, even if successful, would be at a lower price than it could've been. A stock with a depressed share price also dissuades new competition.
When a sector is hot, venture capitalists and investors will be quick to seed a breed of clones. What if tobacco companies were dot-coms in the late 1990s? What if liquor companies were biotechs? More players. More marketing. More consequences.
Sure, your dollar is just one vote, but as surely as I am a Florida voter, you just never know how important that one vote -- that one voice -- will be.
My fellow Fool is also quick to point out that some sin stocks use philanthropy in an attempt to wash their hands clean of blood-money allegations. I'm sorry -- taking from Peter to buy Paul a new liver gets no sympathy from me, when it was Peter tapping the keg that brought about the cirrhosis.
If peddled decadence is so profitable the company can afford to kick a few token coins into the humanity tip jar, that's laughable. Hey, kids, sorry about the lung cancer that struck down your parents; Joe Camel wants to make it up to you with a new playground.
Is this a complicated issue? You bet. But so's investing and the due diligence that tags along for the ride. The "SRI paralysis" Selena closes with is an interesting image. However, the investor who ignores the consequences and ramifications that belie the investments has truly caved in to gray matter still life.
Wake up. It's a better view.
Rick Aristotle Munarriz believes in the companies he invests in. Don't you? Rick's stock holdings can be viewed online, as can the Fool's disclosure policy.
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