“New York City’s teacher pension fund has pulled its money out of publicly traded firearms manufacturers,” reuters.com reports, “becoming the largest U.S. public pension fund to do so in response to the school shootings in Connecticut, the city’s top financial officer said. The $46.6 billion fund divested all its holdings in five companies, for investments valued at $13.5 million as of January 26, a spokesman for New York City Comptroller John Liu said on Friday.”
Teachers Union Pension Fund Dumps Alliant Techsystems, Olin, Taurus, Smith & Wesson and Ruger
Then all of those companys should refuse to do business with NY. What arrogance.
We are working on urging all of the major gun manufacturers to stop doing business with any state that restricts our rights. NY, CA, anyone who has legislation with restrictions.
Go here to find out more: https://www.facebook.com/GunsRightsAcrossAmericaCalifornia
Better add CO to that list. The fhit has truly hit the san here lately.
We are pushing not just for New York but any state so like in CA, you need a magazine lock and 10 round maximum. This is what the LEO’s will get. No special NFA exemptions etc etc….
Berrett already does this and now so does LaRue. We want all the major manufacturers to follow suite.
NOTE: We do not want them to stop funding our military. That is a separate federal contract and we support our troops. We support out law enforcement as well, but we ask for equality. Why should an LEO be able to buy a silencer in CA, when no one else can? This will put pressure on the police unions to pressure the politicians to STOP their unconstitutional legislation.
The pension fund probably made a tidy profit in the process, because these corporations have been making money by the truckload lately.
What’s the downside? Now other investors can get these shares, and we don’t have a bunch of pantywaist antis voting the shares and distorting the corporate policies.
Now we laugh when they invest in companies that don’t perform as well and their pension funds run dry.
Too bad he can’t invest it in ENRON now.
It’s a pity he missed Solyndra too.
Guess who will have to bail them out when their pension runs dry? You and I.
You’re making a lot of assumptions though. After how badly they’ve screwed over their kids and grandchildren, by the time the well runs dry the political playing field might look very different.
They could always ask Marth Stuart for advice. Then we can just pop some popcorn and wait for them to get caught.
They could always let Obama pick their investments. He is really good at it. LOL
Smith and Wesson, is and has stated they are taking advantage of their stock sell off’s by buying it back. They have been making capital hand over fist and have bought a greater share of their own corporation back so they have less share holders to cater to. which now they have more say in what direction the company is moving. Maybe off the east coast and into a more gun friendly climate???
This definitely falls under unintended consequences. Antis get rid of gun stocks, gun companies become more independent, thus insulated from outside influences allowing them to focus on customers (gun owners).
S&W should come to Florida.
Exactly.
If you wish to have greater influence over formulating policy in a corporation, you acquire more common stock. Your influence decreases as your holdings decrease.
I welcome their decision to sell, and hope to increase my own holdings.
FEWER shareholders, less trouble!!! See how it works?
Good. Our biggest problem is that most gun manufacturer’s are public companies – only private companies get the luxury of principles and being able to say “We’re willing to take a financial loss to uphold our values”.
If the gun companies were smart they would buy back their own stock at deflated prices and go private.
The prices aren’t exactly deflated. Ruger and S&W stock are worth about 10 times what they were 5 years ago.
well, those idiots only made 1.4% in fiscal 2012. Keep up the good work. Bloomberg says they need 8% returns to remain a sustainable pension.
Value investors, keep your eyes peeled. One man’s sale is another man’s purchase.
I wonder what they bought the shares for, and if they are seeing a gain. I guess if they were seeing a gain, they would have reported it, correct?
OLN has a nice dividend, but i don’t know jack about Alkali products which is like 75% of their business.
Investing on emotion, or for ethical purposes, is the worst way to go about it. Think Solyndra.
I was thinking the same thing. Let these school house morons do what they do best, make major decisions based on emotions.
Olin is but a shadow of it’s former self. It’s basically been in semi-decline for the last 30+ years. Winchester is long gone after being run into the ground by the MBA types. Euro ammo division also long gone.
The domestic ammo biz is kept afloat by government orders, and they’re in process of closing their East Alton plant and shifting all production down to Mississippi, because the chump workers in MS will show up for gas station wages. Those greedy thieves in IL wanted to keep making their whopping $16-ish dollar per hour rates. Imagine, them wanting to live above the poverty line. The gall…
The chlorine-alkali side of the biz is where the revenue is. Largest chlorine producer in US. Other basic industrial chems include sodium hydroxide, hydrochloric acid, and the like.
May I respectfully suggest to the pension managers – Solar and green energy (and don’t forget the electric vehicle manufacturers)
I repeat: These people understand only one thing: MONEY. We 2A folks can be heard by a lot more of them by “speaking” with out wallets…. As in: “Sorry, you don’t get any of my money!” The impact of our collective statement can be immediate, and would spread over the mainstream media like fire in a sugarcane field…
Preach it. Starve the beast.
These people teach children…I hope not economics. Talk about the dumbing down…now you know where it starts. Always a knee jerk reaction from these folk.
Bingo! This is where the real sedition lies–in the schools. Minions of tyrants indoctrinating the young.
The state of teachers and law enforcement officers are very similar. In both professions there are good individuals, but the structure of the institutions and their relationships to government has each serving the wrong masters.
13.5 mil? Chicken feed. Good riddance.
> Alliant Techsystems, Olin, Taurus, Smith & Wesson and Ruger
How many of those companies’ products were involved in school shootings?
How many police departments use those companies’ products?
In the past I’ve dealt with John Liu when he held a different government position in NYC. He was nice but he was also a vapid moron.
Typical Liberal reaction considering according to most reports, the Newtown shooter used a Bushmaster almost exclusively, and used no guns manufactured by any of the companies the pension fund dropped.
This is nothing more than a political statement.
Political PLOY
13.5 million – I’m sure Walls Street will be impressed.
Liberals’ divestment in firearms companies will have less impact on the stock than the federal AWB will have on crime- and it is hard to be that insignificant.
Poetic Justice
But the sub-text to this move is that these companys are evile. Recall the big push to divest in South Africa and ChrisMathews recent statment that the 2ndA is Racist?
It’s pure Saul Alynsky and they will push this meme as long as possible
If the 46.6 billion and 13.5 million numbers published are correct, then I have to ask: Why is this even worthy of mention here on TTAG? A pension fund reallocates less than 0.03% of holdings… wow.
Has anyone told them about Bloomberg’s money still being in said investments. Hiel Hizzoner the hypocrite.
So these idiots decided to not make money. What is sad is that those geniuses made a financial decision based on emotion and not fact that will cost more taxpayer money in the long run. When the pension doesn’t get the required rate of return, more money will have to feed the fund. It’s just stupid and another abuse of power at the expense of the public.
$13.5M of a $46.6B portfolio! OMG, that’s .028%! Wow, they’re taking a stand by divesting almost .03% of their portfolio! Now, that’s character!
Every time a union pulls a stunt like this, more members
get riled up and leave (or at least start pushing back).
We just need to keep reminding teachers that the NY
Teachers Union is playing chicken with their retirement
money.
If I were a teacher, I’d be communicating my displeasure with the Union’s use of my retirement funds to make political statements. If they’re running a retirement fund, they have a fiduciary duty to keep my economic interests as their foremost operating principle. I would say, “Stop using my future as a political pawn in your little power struggle.” I’d also be asking is it even legal to operate in a manner that is possibly contrary to their responsibilities as retirement fund managers.
CRAP! Mike beat me to the punch while I was procrastinating!
Uh huh, more people who don’t like making money. Should we expect a story about how gun manufacturer executives are having to wear hearing protection from all the weeping and gnashing of teeth?
Has the same Teacher Union Pension Fund sold-off their investment in businesses that are part of the military–industrial–congressional complex? Those investments have for about 70 years financially supported bringing death and destruction to millions of civilians around the world.
Big whoop, .029% of their investments, such a big stand. What s bunch of douches….
Its for the kids, the ones they look at in the mirror every morning, Randy
Plus 100!
And these are the geniuses who are filling children’s heads with mush. If you want to know why Johnnie can’t read, it’s because his teachers can’t think. Oh, well. Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach. Those who can’t teach get union jobs in NYC.
So this really does nothing, but gosh he feels so proud of himself! Smart investors know that this is a great investment. For the next year, the manufacturers are booming. They will continue to boom, until all this dies away.
It would be funny if they invest in green energy and all the teachers pensions die off. Then they sue the union for being stupid!
actually, some teachers need to get together and sue the union and pension leadership for violating their fiduciary duties and tie them up in court for a few years. that will show them and it may even get into the news when people realize that the pension’s little stunt is defeating the purpose of a solvent pension.
And yet invesments connected to oppresive governments are just fine and dandy.
Well….Thumbs up for future victims. Bad guys wont give them up ever so all an honest person can do is arm himself. Simple to the point.
I say cut all ties with CA NY NJ and MA let there gestapo use sling shots for weapons.
They can’t lose financial. They have the cities by the baIIs. Most, if not all pensions are guaranteed by (take a guess) the yous and mes of those cities and/or states. You don’t think the union members will throw the ROL out the window if their pensions are cut? If so, you are far more optimistic than I. The violence on display over “Right to Work” will be a tailgate party compared to trying to reduce pension payments.
OK whats so amusing with this is that the gun manufactures are making record profits and cant fill orders fast enough. In an economy where many companies are struggling to stay afloat, it makes perfect sense to pull your investments out of the one industry making money.
Traitorous, commie, libtard, NY union. Worthless and weak.
Actually from a business perspective, it’s probably a pretty smart move. All these companies have months of backlogged orders. They are at their peak right now, and if some of these bills pass, stock prices will go down unless these guys can come up with other hot selling products to fill the gap.
Also, when the panic buying does subside, the stock prices will go back down as well.
So why not sell the stocks while they’re at their peak??