Permanent Fund investments need to change
Issue date: 3/4/08 Section: Editorial
Alaska legislators need to act fast and pass a bill designed to stop the Alaska Permanent Fund from investing in companies operating in Sudan.
House Bill 287 "mandates targeted divestment and prohibits future investment in the state managed PFD and Pension Funds in targeted companies that do business awith Sudan," according to the House Majority Web site.
Hundreds of thousands of innocent people have been slaughtered in Darfur. According to the House Majority Web site ,this is the first time in history the U.S. government has recognized genocide while it was still occurring.
A recent example of the brutality came from a Feb. 28 United Nations Web article. A town of about 20,000 was reduced to about 300 due to deaths and people fleeing when the town was attacked Feb. 8. Fighting in other areas is so volatile that U.N. assistance cannot reach the locations.
Because of such horrific activity, every state - and citizen - should be ensuring that they are in no way enabling Sudan to continue sponsoring attacks on innocent civilians.
Having American funds, in any way, enter Sudan is a disgrace to humanity. All state investments should reflect this.
Perhaps those who choose where the Permanent Fund is invested did not realize a few of the companies operated in Sudan. If that is the case, more research should be occurring to help decide where to invest the state's money. After an investment choice is made, that company should be researched from time to time to check for problems such as moving shop to Sudan.
The United Nations is not going to stop bloodshed in Darfur. Only when enough funding pulls out of Sudan to impact the area economically will changes be made. When Sudan can't support itself, it will be forced to stop the genocide.
"Alaska has very little invested in Sudan, about 36 million, or 0.1 percent of total assets," said the House Majority Web site.
Though it is nice to know that only a small percentage of investments need to be pulled - which should result in little negative impact to the fund - it is alarming to hear the phrase "very little invested" when $36 million could, in some way, aid in genocide. This number is small when talking about state monies and probably not all of it is going into Sudan, but one cent would be too much.
The state's money is the money of Alaska citizens; it should be invested in only the best. Companies operating in Sudan do not qualify.
Legislators need to act quickly to pass this bill so that these negative investments will be terminated and will never happen again.
House Bill 287 "mandates targeted divestment and prohibits future investment in the state managed PFD and Pension Funds in targeted companies that do business awith Sudan," according to the House Majority Web site.
Hundreds of thousands of innocent people have been slaughtered in Darfur. According to the House Majority Web site ,this is the first time in history the U.S. government has recognized genocide while it was still occurring.
A recent example of the brutality came from a Feb. 28 United Nations Web article. A town of about 20,000 was reduced to about 300 due to deaths and people fleeing when the town was attacked Feb. 8. Fighting in other areas is so volatile that U.N. assistance cannot reach the locations.
Because of such horrific activity, every state - and citizen - should be ensuring that they are in no way enabling Sudan to continue sponsoring attacks on innocent civilians.
Having American funds, in any way, enter Sudan is a disgrace to humanity. All state investments should reflect this.
Perhaps those who choose where the Permanent Fund is invested did not realize a few of the companies operated in Sudan. If that is the case, more research should be occurring to help decide where to invest the state's money. After an investment choice is made, that company should be researched from time to time to check for problems such as moving shop to Sudan.
The United Nations is not going to stop bloodshed in Darfur. Only when enough funding pulls out of Sudan to impact the area economically will changes be made. When Sudan can't support itself, it will be forced to stop the genocide.
"Alaska has very little invested in Sudan, about 36 million, or 0.1 percent of total assets," said the House Majority Web site.
Though it is nice to know that only a small percentage of investments need to be pulled - which should result in little negative impact to the fund - it is alarming to hear the phrase "very little invested" when $36 million could, in some way, aid in genocide. This number is small when talking about state monies and probably not all of it is going into Sudan, but one cent would be too much.
The state's money is the money of Alaska citizens; it should be invested in only the best. Companies operating in Sudan do not qualify.
Legislators need to act quickly to pass this bill so that these negative investments will be terminated and will never happen again.
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