PES Council: unhealthy investment – no thanks!
Published Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 17:32
Published Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 17:32
by Editor in New Social Europe (36 views and 0 comments)
There are plenty of examples of the negative impact on society of certain kinds of hedge and private equity funds. These funds, many financed with investments from pension funds, are on a hunt for short-term profit – something which too often is at the expense of worker’s rights and the long-term development of the company invested in. Many hedge and private equity funds also pay very little tax and, because they finance company buy outs with huge accumulated debts, they pose a threat to financial stability.
This type of ‘unhealthy investment’ was the topic of today’s second plenary at the PES Council. There was broad agreement among the speakers at the podium that the unregulated behaviour of hedge and private equity funds are a serious problem which urgently needs to be dealt with – for the sake of both workers and companies.
One of the speakers, Democratic Congressman Barney Frank (Chairman of the US House Committee on Financial Services), had taken the trip during the American thanksgiving holiday, across the Atlantic to urge collaboration between the US and Europe.
"If the US and Europe do not coordinate our efforts we will never be able to tackle the problem of hedge and private equity funds. The funds will then move and the problem is the same."
The necessity of coordination across the Atlantic was echoed by the European speakers - among these PES president Poul Nyrup Rasmussen.
Other European speakers were: Pervenche Berès (PS, France), Member of the European Parliament and Ruairi Quinn (LP, Ireland), Gyorgi Kadiev (Bulgaria), Minister of Finance and Hristo Hrishev, Vice-President of ECOSY.
Watch the entire plenary debate and view more photos from the PES Council here.
Tags: council, equality, growth, investment, social model, wages
There are plenty of examples of the negative impact on society of certain kinds of hedge and private equity funds. These funds, many financed with investments from pension funds, are on a hunt for short-term profit – something which too often is at the expense of worker’s rights and the long-term development of the company invested in. Many hedge and private equity funds also pay very little tax and, because they finance company buy outs with huge accumulated debts, they pose a threat to financial stability.
This type of ‘unhealthy investment’ was the topic of today’s second plenary at the PES Council. There was broad agreement among the speakers at the podium that the unregulated behaviour of hedge and private equity funds are a serious problem which urgently needs to be dealt with – for the sake of both workers and companies.
One of the speakers, Democratic Congressman Barney Frank (Chairman of the US House Committee on Financial Services), had taken the trip during the American thanksgiving holiday, across the Atlantic to urge collaboration between the US and Europe.
"If the US and Europe do not coordinate our efforts we will never be able to tackle the problem of hedge and private equity funds. The funds will then move and the problem is the same."
The necessity of coordination across the Atlantic was echoed by the European speakers - among these PES president Poul Nyrup Rasmussen.
Other European speakers were: Pervenche Berès (PS, France), Member of the European Parliament and Ruairi Quinn (LP, Ireland), Gyorgi Kadiev (Bulgaria), Minister of Finance and Hristo Hrishev, Vice-President of ECOSY.
Watch the entire plenary debate and view more photos from the PES Council here.
Tags: council, equality, growth, investment, social model, wages
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