Should Utah Invest in Terrorist Nations?

As a taxpayer, how would you feel if you knew that your tax dollars were helping fund terrorist activities in Iran?  What if you knew that Iranian terrorists were then helping the insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan wage war against American troops?

That was essentially the questions posed by Rep. Julie Fisher today.  The Retirement and Independent Entities Interim committee met and discussed whether the Utah Retirement System should invest taxpayer money in foreign companies that has certain business operations with Iran.  The ultimate effect, if her legislation is adopted, would be to require URS to divest these investments and would prohibit future investments.  We had very compelling testimony from one of our dedicated state troopers, Trooper Neff, who recently returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan.  He spoke of the threat that Iran poses to our troops currently serving in neighboring countries.

Every member of the committee thought it was a compelling objective.  The majority approved the draft legislation, in preparation for the legislative session, while a couple of members wanted some additional time to better understand the divestiture issues.

Should Utah invest in Iran?  Who should decide?  The legislature on behalf of the taxpayers who fund the retirement system or the employees who will be the recipients of the taxpayer-funded retirement.  Let me know your thoughts.

Comments

[Voice of Utah]

I'm all in favor of socially responsible investing. I would say no investing in foreign or American companies that (in)directly support terrorist-sponsoring governments, including Saudi Arabia and North Korea.

[J-Man]

Like China? Stop doing business with China since they have no regard for our children.

[Pete Ashdown]

Instead of trying to define what they are (does Saudi Arabia qualify with 19 of the 22 9/11 hijackers?), go with what they aren't. If a nation doesn't support basic human rights, then I don't think we should be doing business with them, China included. Democracy is a much harder ideal to push, although I feel strongly about it. Do we not do business with England because it is a monarchy? I don't think so.

One thing is clear, oil profits are propping up tyranny around the world.

[dramos]

The US gave to Iran (the Great Ronald Reagan sold them weapons), Iraq (We gave Saddam weapons), Pakistan (They give support to the Taliban, while cracking down on Democracy), Saudi Arabia (The origin of most of the 9/11 hijackers, we help them militarily), Afganistan (We gave weapons and Tora Bora to Bin Laden). Does that mean we should not invest in America because we support terrorism?

If Ronald Reagan thought Iran was a good investment, shouldn't Utah ;-)

[Obi wan liberali]

I think it is rediculous to legislate to the URS that they make judgments about business relationships and determine which country is defined as supporting terrorism and which are not. Who is going to make the determination who a terrorist is and what a business relationship is? What weight of evidence would be required to label a country a terrorism supporting country? Just because an idiot like our Blunderer and Chief calls them part of some axis of evil?

Of all the priorities our legislature should focus on, this is way down there.

[What a Joke]

The biggest question to ask in this bill is what do we want this bill to accomplish?

My guess is that the sponsor of the legislation wants to "punish" Iran for their support of terror, especially in Iraq. Unfortunately, this bill doesn't do anything like that. The only people that get punished by this bill are the public employees of the state retirement system.

Will the companies that do business in Iran "lose money" (i.e. stock prices decrease) by URs divesting? No. Will URS' potential returns decrease because of divesting of companies on some arbitrary list? Likely.

This is just a feel good piece of legislation, that could be accomplished more effectively through a resolution condemning Iran.

After all, what's next after Iran? Sudan? China? environmental issues? Wyoming (after the Joe Glenn incident?) Where does it end?

Let the professional investors at URS do their job without one hand tied behind their back.

[Cameron]

Iran leads the world in executing children.

Iran stones people for adultery.

Iran won't allow Iranian-Americans to leave the country. Many of them "disappear".

This, according to Human Rights Watch.

But, yeah, it's probably not that big a deal. Utah doesn't need to waste any time thinking about whether it might be a good idea to find a different trading partner.