{"id":27266,"date":"2021-08-03T16:28:29","date_gmt":"2021-08-03T20:28:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/?p=27266"},"modified":"2021-08-03T16:32:25","modified_gmt":"2021-08-03T20:32:25","slug":"biden-administrations-new-woke-corporate-disclosure-rules-will-cost-companies-billions-experts-warn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2021\/08\/03\/biden-administrations-new-woke-corporate-disclosure-rules-will-cost-companies-billions-experts-warn\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Administration\u2019s New \u2018Woke\u2019 Corporate Disclosure Rules Will Cost Companies Billions, Experts Warn"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Under the Biden administration\u2019s leadership, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed new \u201cwoke\u201d corporate disclosure rules. A new form of social-justice-based financial regulation<\/a>, the federal agency\u2019s rules would mandate that companies track, report, and disclose a wide array of data on issues such as climate change emissions and diversity.<\/span><\/p>\n

This might poll well or look nice at first glance. But like any complex federal regulation, the woke reporting rules will have many unintended consequences\u2014namely, they\u2019ll cost businesses billions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Business groups are trying to calculate just how much money public companies might have to shell out to comply with the Securities and Exchange Commission\u2019s planned new \u2018woke\u2019 corporate disclosure rules, and initial estimates aren\u2019t pretty,\u201d <\/span>Fox Business<\/em> <\/span>reports<\/span><\/a>.<\/span> \u201c<\/span>While no exact estimate can be determined, the SEC\u2019s new disclosure mandates involving everything from the environment to board diversity is likely to cost U.S. public companies well into the billions of dollars.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The goal of the SEC regulation is to promote environmentalism and racial equality, with regulators likely having good intentions. But they are either unable or unwilling to foresee the adverse consequences that could accompany this virtue-signaling effort.<\/span><\/p>\n

Heritage Foundation senior fellow David R. Burton, a specialist in tax and financial regulation, laid out the many ways these rules will likely backfire in a <\/span>letter to the SEC<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

He agreed that \u201crequiring all public companies to develop climate modeling expertise, the ability to make macroeconomic projections based on these models and then make firm-specific economic assessments based on these climate and economic models will be expensive,\u201d likely costing billions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The result?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese expenses would harm investors by reducing shareholder returns,\u201d Burton explained. This means it\u2019s not just Big Business, but the millions of Americans who invest in the stock market or rely on it for their retirement, who could bear the costs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Burton further warns that these woke disclosure rules would result in \u201cthe creation of a new compliance eco-system and pro-complexity lobby composed of the economists, accountants, attorneys and compliance officers that live off of [regulatory compliance].\u201d Simply put, they would even further entrap firms into wasting money on red tape compliance costs.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Heritage expert also added that the rules would fuel a huge rise in costly litigation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, it\u2019s unclear what, if anything, the SEC\u2019s woke disclosure mandates would accomplish\u2014beyond merely virtue-signaling, of course.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“This whole ESG thing is just one giant waste of time and money,” <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> Chris Whalen, chief of Whalen Global Advisors. “It\u2019s just a big show that only benefits the consultants and the lawyers who are making money off of this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Like this story? Click\u00a0<\/span>here<\/a>\u00a0to sign up for the FEE Daily and get free-market news and analysis like this from Policy Correspondent Brad Polumbo in your inbox every weekday.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\"Brad\n<\/div>\n

\n

\nBrad Polumbo
\n<\/a><\/h5>\n

\n

Brad Polumbo (@Brad_Polumbo<\/a>) is a libertarian-conservative journalist and Policy Correspondent at the Foundation for Economic Education.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"