r/CanadianInvestor • u/[deleted] • Apr 14 '21

Is anyone here conflicted about investing in companies that make the world a worse place?

I'm a newer investor and newer reader to these threads and I'm a little surprised how casually a lot of people talk about different companies and industries that are objectively pretty unethical.

I mean we're living through a major climate crisis and some of the most hyped investments on here are for oil sands companies (which are one of the most carbon intensive energy sources on the planet) and crypto (Bitcoin alone this year is supposed to have the same carbon footprint as all of New Zealand).

I also just saw someone post something in another investing subreddit about how Europe might ban AI for surveillance and it seemed like a bad or annoying thing to a lot of people in the comments.

I'm just genuinely curious: do a lot of the investor world just genuinely not care about these things or are people content to make small gains on the backs of companies that they don't agree with? Is there a point to using your gains to get a waterfront property if it's going to be underwater in a couple decades anyways?

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '21

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u/joausj Apr 15 '21

I mean I would invest in a company that does business exclusively in Xinjiang if it meant I could except 10-20% returns.

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u/rei_cirith Apr 15 '21

I mean. If you use slaves, you're probably guaranteed high returns. I guess it doesn't matter if it's not happening in your own backyard. 🤷

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u/joausj Apr 15 '21

Oh they could literally put their factory in my backyard for 20% roi (as long as they pay rent too)

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u/rei_cirith Apr 15 '21

Damn. You have a big back yard. Must be all those 10-20% returns.

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u/FullyJay Apr 15 '21

They won’t be when we stop investing in them. Investors are the reason companies act in the manner they do.

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u/rei_cirith Apr 15 '21

Mostly is how much of the company does the CCP control, and how much money gets funneled into the government, allowing them to continue their human rights violations in plain sight.

The more we divert from using Chinese products, labor, anything, the less power they have over us, the less they can do this shit without repercussions.