美国国家公共电台 NPR--Biden vetoes his first bill. The White House said it would have been bad for retirees

Biden vetoes his first bill. The White House said it would have been bad for retirees

Transcript¹

NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Jeffrey Sonnenfield, professor of management at Yale University, about investment decisions taking into consideration environmental, social and corporate³ governance factors.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

President Biden has vetoed his first bill.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Legislation passed by the Congress would put at risk the retirement⁴ savings⁵ of individuals across the country.

FADEL: The bill would stop retirement fund managers from considering environmental, social and governance factors, or ESG. To help us understand why ESG-conscious investments are now political, we'll turn to Jeffrey Sonnenfeld. He's a professor of management at Yale University. Good morning.

JEFFREY SONNENFELD: Good morning. Thanks for the invitation.

FADEL: Thanks for being here. So first, Jeffrey, if you could just briefly⁶ define what it means to consider environmental, social and governance factors around finances.

SONNENFELD: Well, thanks, Leila. I've been studying corporate social impact work for about, oh, almost 50 years, and it's grouped together different types of corporate social performance. The environmental has to do with sustainability, of course, and what we used to call conservation. Social has to do with dealings with race and gender⁷ and other factors such as that in the community. And then governance has to do with who's in control and the transparency and the independence and the integrity of the leadership, the oversight⁸ of the company.

FADEL: So why has this become a political issue? I mean, this is a rule at the Department of Labor⁹, and now something - it's something lawmakers, mostly Republican, want to change.

SONNENFELD: It's bewildering. It catches our attention today just because this is Biden's first veto, and his three predecessors¹⁰ each vetoed about perhaps 12 bills during their terms. And Ronald Reagan was the high watermark, almost 80 that he vetoed. But it was unusual 'cause this is Biden's first. But the idea of - it's also called stakeholder capitalism¹¹, considering others in addition to shareholders¹² - that's not new. In fact, 50 years ago, the Business Roundtable was created of business leaders just to focus on the fact that doing good is not antithetical to doing well. What's new is the backlash against it. And there's a lot of GOP political grandstanding trying to use this term of woke, or being, you know, awakened¹³ to social impact. And that's how this has become kind of a rallying cry. Even in tortured use into the Silicon¹⁴ Valley Bank collapse¹⁵, where it has zero relationship, they try to invoke¹⁶ it. And right now it's been trying to invoke it in how pension money is invested.

FADEL: So how does ESG affect the financial performance of companies or investments?

SONNENFELD: Well, doing good, as I said, is - often corresponds with doing well. There's a great deal of research that shows there's no trade-off. And in fact, many times the environmentally responsible or the ESG, the - oriented firms have performed better. Some of the hard part is there's been a confusion of terms and definitions, so I'm so glad you asked for it. But there are about 836 registered investment companies claiming ESG missions. It has become a bit of a fad². And some of it's legitimate¹⁷, and some of it's a little bit confusing. But it's - we're approaching $53 trillion of - you know, almost a third of all global assets are coming under this term. And it has a lot of GOP legislators concerned because of what they argue is political overtones and issues they don't like on race, gender, environment and the like. But, you know, we have shown that of the 1,500 companies pulling out of Russia - that those who pulling out did actually much better. And you see that in a lot of dimensions.

FADEL: Professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld at Yale University, thank you so much.

SONNENFELD: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 fad   

n.时尚；一时流行的狂热；一时的爱好

参考例句：

• His interest in photography is only a passing fad.他对摄影的兴趣只是一时的爱好罢了。
• A hot business opportunity is based on a long-term trend not a short-lived fad.一个热门的商机指的是长期的趋势而非一时的流行。

3 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

4 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

5 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

6 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

7 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

8 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

9 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

10 predecessors   

n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Will new plan be any more acceptable than its predecessors? 新计划比原先的计划更能令人满意吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 capitalism   

n.资本主义

参考例句：

• The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。
• Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。

12 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

13 awakened   

v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到

参考例句：

• She awakened to the sound of birds singing. 她醒来听到鸟的叫声。
• The public has been awakened to the full horror of the situation. 公众完全意识到了这一状况的可怕程度。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

15 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

16 invoke   

v.求助于(神、法律)；恳求，乞求

参考例句：

• Let us invoke the blessings of peace.让我们祈求和平之福。
• I hope I'll never have to invoke this clause and lodge a claim with you.我希望我永远不会使用这个条款向你们索赔。

17 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。