Buhlmann's Corner
One year like that is enough!
It’s a a very strange 2011 we are about to leave. Just a few weeks or months come between gilt-edged and a 50-percent haircut; legislative, executive and judiciary, provided with questionable expertise and under stressful time pressure, huddle together at a European banking-supervision desk. That most sacred sword of democratic parliaments, budgetary sovereignty, is defended nationally with blood, and no one wants to admit it has long been undermined: either the executive assents, without power of attorney, or the judiciary buys papers for euros until the same end is finally reached. In practice, the numbers are rising, and life on the periphery of the continent can continue as it has since the eurosummits in Maastricht and Lisbon. In America, the whole Greeks-versus-France-and-Merkel game takes place within the parliament. Don’t we trust anyone at all any more: no bank, no government, no justice, not even rationality?
We at VIP have not (yet) reached that point. We like proxy advisors – even if there are only two of nationwide significance. We “compete” with them only in the eyes of the blinkered. Trust cannot be sustainably generated if shareholder voting happens on a screen. At VIP, the shareholders get a voting receipt, and on request a report – after the AGM. More and more sustainability-minded funds and shareholders want it that way, and so very slowly economies of scale are starting, with a volume of assets under voting reaching 9.9 billion euros. It’s fun to watch VIPsight.EU grow. It’s encouraging that we could now go global with AGMagenda.com – though it’s not all rounded off yet. It is interesting how the different national cultures react to this step. 30,000 hits per month is an incentive for the whole team. I thank you all for your support in 2011, and trust that we will remain friends for this good cause in 2012 too. For confidence in healthy checks and balances and owners acting responsibly is the basis, and not just when driving a car at night.