Beltway Confidential

The SEC should embrace financial principles, not progressive activism

By Mark J. Perry

Published May 5, 2021 5:59pm ET

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The SEC should embrace financial principles, not progressive activism — In this Aug. 22, 2018, file photo a chart on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shows the rise of the S&P 500 index since 2009. Once derided as fads that would force investors to settle for lower returns, funds that take into account environmental, social and corporate-governance issues have held up better than traditional funds this year. It's the latest march forward for what are known as ESG funds, and the industry expects the flow of dollars to accelerate into the field. | (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

In her brief time as acting chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year, Democrat Allison Herren Lee did not play the traditional role of “caretaker.” Initiating a flurry of activity in early March, Lee effectively set the SEC’s trajectory on a new progressive agenda.

This new direction at the SEC is playing out with an initiative to mandate prescriptive environmental, social, and corporate governance disclosures in the annual filings of public companies.

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