City Councilor Cathy Galvin — divestment a step in the right direction.
Charlottesville City Council has voted to remove all operating investments in “weapons” and fossil-fuel companies from its $50 million-to-$100 million core investment portfolio, reports WVIR-TV.
Divestment proponents said fossil fuels and weapons do not align with the city’s vision and have negative impacts on community members. In response to calls that the measure does not go far enough, Treasurer Jason Vandever said the city is looking into divesting from fossil-fuel and weapons investments in the retirement fund as well.
Fossil-fuel and weapons companies make up only a small portion of the investment portfolio, so the measure will have a minimal budgetary impact, divestment advocates said.
Bacon’s bottom line: I wish there were some way Virginia could divest itself of Charlottesville, but no mechanism readily comes to mind. As a fall-back position, perhaps Commonwealth should divest itself of the University of Virginia, which sits at the epicenter of the city’s radical-chic culture.
I’ll take these people seriously when they divest themselves of their internal-combustion automobiles, scrap their air conditioners, move into Tiny Homes, stop eating meat from flatulent animals, and forego airplane travel to exotic destinations. Until they align their personal lives with the city’s low-carbon vision by reducing their own carbon footprints, actions like stock divestment are nothing more than cheap virtue signaling.
As far as the stocks of defense companies and fossil-fuel companies, I say, divest away. There’s nothing I’d like better than to pick up some Exxon and Raytheon stock on the cheap.
