In a move to curb left-wing attack on big business, a new investment group has launched the Free Enterprise Action Fund. The mutual fund, which officially launched on March 1, plans to promote free enterprise.
Steve Milloy, the fund's advisor, told Cybercast News Service that the organization was formed because of the "dismay at how corporations were attacked and doing a lousy job defending themselves" against socially responsible funds.
Pointing out the negative impact of socially responsible funds on big businesses, Milloy said that "corporations have no business acting as the U.N. or government or charity. They are engines of economic vitality. If we want to change the laws to improve human rights, or animal rights, or environmental protection, that's fine, but that is not a business' job."
Milloy said the Free Enterprise Action Fund will invest in the common stock of companies generally found in the Fortune 500 and S&P 500.
"What we're trying to create is a grassroots, investor-based movement to pressure corporations to resist the activists," Milloy said. He also said that the Free Enterprise Action Fund is "the first and only" of its kind and "definitely the first to be doing this as shareholders."
The fund already owns shares in about 400 companies, Milloy said. Although he did not disclose the names of specific companies, he did say that the tobacco industry was included.
Milloy also said Free Enterprise Action will encourage corporations not to bow down to pressure from the left and to hire people with the same philosophy. "If you're going to hire these people that can't stand the heat, they shouldn't be in the kitchen. What I can stop is corporate management trying to appease these [activist groups], thinking that it will make the problem go away," he added.
