As we knew they would, the Wall Street Journal is whining about the Biden administration’s initiative on private equity’s mistreatment of employees. Their fraudulent argument is based on distorted facts, hysterical, sneering rhetoric, and logical fallacies. See comments in bold.
Biden officials last month launched a campaign to leverage worker retirement savings to promote their union agenda. [The word “agenda” is a giveaway — like the word “union” here, it is an automatically derisive term with no supporting documentation. Insult is not argument. The WSJ editorial board has failed to list a single “agenda” item that is not thoroughly based in assessment of investment risk.]
On the very same day, the Administration finalized a rule that ostensibly seeks to eliminate conflicts of interest in the management of worker retirement savings.
Behold the conflict of policy interests.“State government, public, and labor union pension funds are the savings of hardworking Americans and their economic security in retirement,” the White House said. The Administration “believes that it is critical that their funds, as they maximize risk-adjusted financial returns, emphasize the interests and goals of workers.”
Translation: The Administration wants private and government pension funds to pressure companies to surrender to unions. [That is not a translation. Note the hysterical use of the term “surrender.” An accurate description of the Administration’s policy: Pension funds, invested “for the exclusive benefit of plan participants,” should examine the investment risk associated with below-standard treatment of employees and be sensitive to resolving any conflicts of interest that may come from economic ties to portfolio assets in favor of the plan participants. The attempt to posit this position as contrary to the policy above is sloppy and inapposite.]
The political lever it wants to use is private equity. Government pension funds have piled into private equity as they chase higher returns to cover growing benefit liabilities. They now account for 31% of private-equity investors.
Julie Su’s Fiduciary Double Standard – WSJ
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