Funke Jayson J wrote:
For people on this list fortunate enough to have some personal financial considerations to think about (retirement funds etc), how do you handle planning for your financial future while reconciling those actions with your personal convictions? How do (fortunate?) Marxist living in a capitalist society plan for their own financial welfare? Do folks find socially responsible funds (I mean they still contribute to capitalism, right?) as an answer? Municipal bonds? Money markets? How are any of these better than the other?
You can't reconcile principles and investments, esp if you have a Marxist view of the origins of profit as originating in the uncompensated labor of others. Most of the big "socially responsible" funds have very loose standards, admitting about half of the S&P 500 (I haven't checked in a while, but a few years ago the biggies had Microsoft and Wal-Mart in their portfolios). Money market funds invest in U.S. Treasury securities - is it ethical to lend money to Washington? There are things like community land trusts and community development credit unions, but they generally pay very low returns. I'd say it comes down to investing prudently but conventionally and doing the right thing with the rest of your life.
Doug
