We’ve written a lot about the Wall Street Cartel and how companies like Blackrock use their power over America’s largest companies to promote foolish ESG policies and divisive social engineering initiatives. We’ve also written about how America’s largest companies have thrown their lot in with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), all while practicing soulless capitalism and ruthlessly pursuing market dominance. 

We know. It’s a lot to take in. 

The good news is that you have the power to change all this. Now. 

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Without waiting for political elections to come around. Without waiting for your leaders to actually do something positive. You can harness the power of your money. That is your most powerful vote. It’s the vote you use every day. And it’s the vote that actually gets the elites to stand up and take notice. 

As Kevin Freeman mentioned in podcast episode #5, we vote with our money through investing, spending, and giving.

Today, we’ll talk specifically about investing. It’s a tangible and immediate way for Main Streeters to become the real power brokers in America.

Main Street Should Call The Shots – Not Wall Street or Global Elites 

The progressive left has marched through our institutions over the last 50 years. First through academia, then through news and entertainment, the legal system, and even once trusted organizations like the American Medical Association and AARP. 

The business community was the lone holdout of fairly traditional and conservative principles. It was simple. Bring value to customers, treat employees well, and make a profit for owners. Until it went woke. Quickly. 

It’s time for Main Streeters to make their voice heard and for Main Street values to drive our economy again. We’ll explain how in a moment. But first, what do we mean by “Main Street values?”  

Most of the largest US companies were started in America, are headquartered in America, and get the majority of their revenue from Americans. Main Streeters simply ask these companies to promote prosperity, security, and freedom for the country that made their success possible in the first place.

Examples:  

1. Prioritize high-paying American jobs instead of exploiting the lowest cost labor they can find.  

2. Secure their supply chains instead of allowing a hostile regime like China to dominate key sources of materials and manufacturing. Bringing those factories back to America is a good place to start. 

3. Eliminate dependence on Chinese markets for revenue growth. The Communist Chinese Party (CCP) is a repressive and brutal regime. Doing business in China puts money in the CCP’s pocket.  

4. Protect data security and privacy instead of depending on a surveillance capitalism model to manipulate consumers and drive overconsumption. 

5. Protect the free speech and liberty of employees, customers, and suppliers.  

6. Reject "woke" policies and trainings that segregate and divide.  

The goal is not to flip companies from progressive to conservative. It’s for companies to generally be politically neutral, except for issues directly related to their core business or industry. 

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These are common sense values that benefit all Americans and enrich shareholders over the long term.  

US companies committed to excellence - instead of wokeness or unbridled market dominance - would be living by these values already.  

Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson

Hey Disney shareholders - was it worth it?

May 7th 2022

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Together, Main Streeters Are The Real Power Players 

The key to turning the tide is for you to use your investments to make your voice heard in corporate America and on Wall Street.  

Over ½ of households own stock either directly or through a pension or retirement plan. The rest can gain access to some of America’s largest companies for just a few hundred bucks.  

There are three key ways you can get involved now.  

1. Vote Your Shares, Vote Your Values 

Each year, companies hold an annual shareholders meeting. Shareholders get to elect board members and vote on various shareholder proposals. The problem is that only 30% of retail shareholders (i.e. individual Main Streeters) vote their shares.

In contrast, over 90% of shares held by institutions (i.e. Blackrock and State Street) are voted.  

We’ve got to close that gap.  

You can be assured that Blackrock, Vanguard, and State Street will be voting their shares at the upcoming annual meetings of just about every public company in America. But those votes will be for woke policies and ESG mania.

Promote your Main Street American values by voting your shares or having your financial advisor vote them for you. Just make sure your financial advisor understands your values and will vote accordingly.  

Squawk Box @SquawkCNBC

"The question is how you apply these ESG standards unilaterally in the west without applying them at all to Chinese companies? This is a tale of two standards," says @VivekGRamaswamy. "What we're seeing is asset management firms doing what's in their financial best interest."

August 19th 2022

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2. Engage With Company Leadership 

Even if you own just one share, you can attend the annual shareholder meeting and ask the leadership team where they stand on important issues like creating American jobs, ending divisive “equity” initiatives, and addressing human rights abuses in their supply chains. 

Several weeks before the annual meeting, you’ll receive a proxy statement from companies you own with instructions for how to submit questions to management and the board before the meeting. You can ask them about company priorities, policies, and much more. This is your chance to speak directly to the leaders of the largest companies. 

Your proxy materials will provide instructions for how you can attend the actual shareholder meeting. Most meetings can be attended virtually these days, so you can ask a question from the comfort of your own home...although watching the board members squirm in person might be more fun (once more companies go back to in-person meetings).  

Vivek Ramaswamy @VivekGRamaswamy

Drop the S and the G, change the E to Excellence, and we’re good to go.

August 20th 2022

54 Retweets386 Likes

The left is already well-represented by shareholder activists, while Main Street Americans have largely sat on the sidelines for the last couple decades. If you aren’t a part of the conversation, it will be driven by those who support woke social policies and destructive environmental goals.  

Just your presence and question at these meetings can entirely change the dynamic of the conversation.  

3. Submit Shareholder Proposals 

Certain shareholders are qualified to submit proposals that must be considered by management and voted on by shareholders. You can use proposals to influence companies to put American families first, secure critical supply chains, stop the ESG madness, and more.  

To submit a shareholder proposal, you must own a certain amount of the company’s stock for a certain period of time. But the thresholds aren’t as big as you’d think. The SEC defines the thresholds here. Take a look to see if you qualify. If you don’t qualify, try connecting with other investors that do and encourage them to submit a proposal.  

If you qualify, the next step is to determine the submission deadline. You can find those submission deadlines for the 100 biggest companies here. Then, visit the investor relations website for your target companies to review previous proxy statements. This will help you better understand proposals from previous years and refine ideas for your proposal.

Proposals are less than 500 words. And there’s no fee to submit them. However, there are important guidelines to follow since most companies will try to exclude proposals using SEC guidelines. An attorney with experience in corporate law can help you draft a proposal that’s more likely to be accepted into the proxy statement and make it to a vote.  

If your proposal is accepted into the proxy statement, your next step will be to present the proposal at the company’s annual shareholder meeting. That’s right - you’ll be presenting to the board, company leadership, and the other shareholders in attendance. That’s corporate democracy in action. 

Here's an example of a proposal presentation given this year by our friends at Freedom Enterprise Project, an organization on the front lines of this movement. It’s time for the Main Street calvary to ride in and help them.

What If I Have A Pension or 401(k)? 

You can get involved, but it will look different since you don’t own the shares directly. When you own shares directly, you can engage directly with companies. But when you have indirect ownership - such as in a pension or 401k - then you engage with the money managers who actually own the shares on your behalf.  

If you have a pension, find out who your pension trustees are (a call to your HR department is a good place to start). If you have a 401k, find out what funds you are invested in.  

Then call the managers of these funds and ask how they are voting on various ESG and “equity” initiatives. If they are voting an agenda you don’t agree with, let them know about it. Also, ask if they vote the shares themselves or farm it out to another money manager like Blackrock or State Street? Trust us, they aren’t used to hearing from beneficiaries like you. If you and a group of co-workers make these calls, it will make an impact.  

Are You Ready To Make Main Street’s Voice Heard?  

We’ve covered a lot, but these are tangible ways that Main Streeters can get involved using the resources you have now. 

To help you navigate this process, be sure to contact your financial advisor. We’ve also created a dedicated site called Main Street Proxy to help you get organized. There you can get the annual meeting dates, shareholder proposal deadlines, and investor relations contact information for 100 of America’s largest companies.  

Our goal is to see one million Main Street investors spend one hour per year making their voice heard on Wall Street. When that happens, Main Street will thrive like never before.  

This is the way.  

God bless and God bless America,

-Jeff and Luke