July 7, 2016 12:00pm by David Farrar

Now they want to ban investing in companies they don’t like

More than $260 million of taxpayers’ money is invested in fast-food brands and soft drink giants.

Obesity campaigners say they’re appalled at the investments by bodies such as the Super Fund and ACC and are calling for junk food investments to be banned.

Another good reminder that there are two sorts of public health activists. They are:

Those who want to reduce harm from certain products
Those who hate the companies that make products they disapprove of, and just want to damage those companies

The obesity campaigners in this article are obviously the 2nd. Having the NZ Super Fund sell its shares in say Coke will do nothing at all to reduce obesity.

Figures obtained by RNZ News show as of 31 May, New Zealand Superannuation Fund and ACC had $110 million invested in The Coca-Cola Company and its global subsidiaries and $70m in its main rival Pepsico.

A further $38m was invested in McDonalds in America and Japan, and $17m in Domino’s Pizza in Britain and Australia. Closer to home, Super Fund has $27m invested the NZX-listed Restaurant Brands, which owns KFC, Pizza Hut, Carl’s Junior and Starbucks in New Zealand – including $5m in shares.

All up, more than $260m of taxpayers’ money was invested in global soft drink and fast food chains.

So what? I drink a lot of Coke’s products – but none with sugar in them. And none of the food produced by these companies is bad for people in moderation. It is when you eat too much of one type of food. A burger a fortnight o so is fine – one per day not necessarily a great idea.

What this shows is the dangers of having any areas of investment ruled out. It starts small, and eventually the leftish activists want it to include everything they don’t like.

At first it was just don’t invest in nuclear weapon manufacturers. Then it was all armaments. Then it was tobacco. Then it was any fossil fuel company (never mind that tens of millions would die within months if they all closed up shop). Then it was alcohol. Then Coke. Then Starbucks. Hell Pizza must go also.

People with their own money can decide what to invest in. When Government bodies are investing money on behalf of taxpayers, then their obligation is to get the best return on investment – not to play politics.