Protecting American Investors From Foreign Owned and Politically Motivated Proxy Advisors
Honest Title:
Mandated Negligence: Insulating Corporate Boards by Suppressing Material Risk Disclosure
The order mandates SEC, FTC, and DOL to curb the influence of proxy advisors ISS and Glass Lewis. By targeting DEI and ESG advice, it aims to force a focus on pecuniary returns. This risks government interference in private fiduciary judgment while tightening federal oversight of market oligopolies. This order uses federal oversight to dismantle the ESG/DEI influence of the proxy advisor duopoly. While Republicans frame this as protecting returns, they overlook the contradiction of using state power to dictate private investment research. Democrats ignore the systemic risk of a 90% market oligopoly, yet this mandate risks chilling long-term risk assessment. Ultimately, it shifts the regulatory burden from corporate social goals to aggressive federal policing of private advice.