Mistakes were made

It kind of makes the mind wobble sometimes sorting out who is responsible for the meltdown last year. I don't think it gets discussed enough that we have an economic system set up that almost guarantees corporations and fund managers will throw money into risky investments like mortgage-backed securities, because they've got investors breathing down their neck expecting them to turn out profits quarter after quarter after quarter.

Over the past few months, I and another writer at our student paper have been investigating how much money Trent University has lost out of its endowment and pension funds throughout the recession. And it occurred to me as I was writing this piece that it's kind of ridiculous to be surprised that insurance firms like AIG and big investment banks made the kind of mistakes they did trying to pump out profits. 

See, during the interviews I did, I asked our Vice-President, Administration Don O'Leary, what kind of pressure Trent's Investment and Audit Committee puts on the university's fund managers to make socially, environmentally, and financially responsible decisions. His answer was, essentially, that they don't. He said they trust the fund managers to make good decisions on their behalf. And moreover, he said the university's voting power as a shareholder just wasn't enough in any one company to make a difference. Meaning, to be cynical for a second, that the university either doesn't care or doesn't want to take responsibility for this kind of thing.

If universities, who have millions of dollars invested in these corporations, aren't willing to hold them accountable or put them under scrutiny at all for stupid decisions they make, what's the incentive for them to even bother?

If you're interested, have a look at the article. Sunneva and I are going to be working on a more in-depth version in the next little while.