Looking Beyond the Great Reset and World Economic Forum

by Lee Justo of RISK

Is the World Economic Forum really running the world economy, as so many people suspect? Well, the answer is yes, no, and sort of. The World Economic Forum is one group that does, and undeniably so, steer the global economy and wield tremendous leverage over many countries' economic policies and a whole multitude of international businesses. But, on the other hand, they are not the only group involved, and more importantly, they work in concert with layer after layer of NGOs, Corporations, and world governments. These control layers are somewhat overwhelming and vast; we will only touch on a few in this article.

On the 23rd of April in 1992, the United Nations published their infamous Agenda 21 / Sustainable Development, and the world has been different since. While most dismiss the United Nations as a bunch of feckless diplomats, who can't tie their shoes, quite the opposite is true. The role they play in the world economy is pretty astounding, evident and well-documented for those open-minded enough to do a little research, as all the groups mentioned in this article are directly tied to both the United Nations and this Sustainable Development Agenda.

It is at the heart of everything happening in the world and has been for some time. Arguably the most significant player in this agenda, besides the United Nations, is the World Economic Forum.

Everyone reading this article must be familiar with Klaus Schwab, his World Economic Forum and of course, their infamous "Great Reset". But do you know that Klaus Schwab was one of the key architects behind "Sustainable Development"?

Klaus was not only a member of the United Nations High Level Advisory Board on Sustainable Development from 1993-1995, he was also Vice-Chairman of the United Nations Committee for Development Planning from 1996-1998. More recently, the United Nations formed an official strategic partnership with the World Economic Forum in June of 2019 to "deepen institutional engagement and jointly accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development"? Fortunately, they ended this partnership "officially" in the press a few months later. However, from the WEF website, there is no doubt that they are still pushing Agenda 2030.

This article is too short to go into the broad scope, voluminous nature, and tremendous power that "Sustainable Development" / Agenda 21, Agenda 2030 / Future Earth, and all its incarnations have. However, no person reading this article has not seen the word sustainability used by their national, state or local government or heard it mentioned in some financial context (ESGs anyone?).

Why is it so important that everyone learn more about this subject and are there any specific examples to show how influential this United Nations initiative is in the world of finance? Of course, there are, and they are also too numerous to cover in this brief article. Nevertheless, I will give you several specific examples, and hopefully, you will dig deeper and let this information guide your individual investing decisions.

With the UK much in the economic press this fall, it is essential to look at sovereign debt within this context, as it most certainly plays a roll. The United Kingdom is one of the 193 countries that have "volunteered" to comply with this agenda and to meet the 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). Why is this important? Well, these goals are driving so much of each one of these countries' fiscal and monetary policies, so much so that if you don't understand exactly what is being implemented and how these policies will impact each of these countries, you probably should not be purchasing their bonds.

The first consideration is the cost of these initiatives, which according to UN official estimates will be between $3.3 trillion to $4.5 trillion per year in developing countries alone.

Sovereign debt is also inextricably linked to this through the way the system of bailouts to countries operates. While most people think of the International Monetary Fund when it comes to countries being bailed out, multiple parties are involved in this process. It mirrors a syndicated finance deal that a corporation or private equity fund would put together for a merger or acquisition. There are two key organizations/syndicates of creditors involved, one being what is called the London Club the other is the Paris Club, but it does include other entities. The London Club is comprised of private financial institutions and the Paris Club is comprised of creditor nations such as the United States, the UK, etc.

Discussing the systemic risk this introduces to the broader financial system is beyond the scope of this article. That said, what is essential is how inextricably linked this global financial system is to UN Agenda 21 / Sustainable Development. For example, according to the IMF's own website, "In 2005, to help accelerate progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs), the HIPC Initiative was supplemented by the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI)". They sure love their acronyms, don't they? While one may argue on either side of the benefits or pitfalls of implementing the Sustainable Development Goals, doesn't it seem very counterproductive to saddle so much additional expense onto already "heavily indebted countries," especially given the extreme cost?

Lastly, most of you are familiar with ESG (Environmental Social Governance) ratings. These come directly from the United Nations and now have the support of all major financial institutions and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Let's not even mention mega-firms such as BlackRock, which not only runs funds specifically designed around ESGs, such as iShares MSCI USA ESG Select ETF, but is also heavily involved in the World Economic Forum. Apart from the fact that people from BlackRock and associated companies actively participate in WEF meetings, Larry Fink even has an article on the WEF website. In fact, BlackRock is so heavily involved in the Sustainable Development Agenda, they have web pages dedicated to "Integrating the UN SDGs in investments". More broadly, most major financial institutions are knee deep in this agenda and according to the LSTA, "the global loan markets hit a record with over $680 billion of green and sustainability-linked lending last year..."

So now that we are all familiar with Klaus Schwab, the World Economic Forum, and its "Great Reset", I suggest everyone start learning about Agenda 21, 2030, Sustainable Development and all its other various names, as it is now ubiquitous. Suppose you are analyzing the financial world in any manner for others. In that case, it is a dereliction of your duty to remain ignorant of something so intertwined with our global financial system. Look at any publicly traded corporation's annual report and see sections paying homage to Sustainable Development. Ask yourself, what is the actual cost-benefit of these initiatives?

Are there compliance issues with these SDG goals that are a little more than they imply on the surface? Is it all about the environment, or is more happening here? I leave the investigation to the rest of you.