Since Nayib Bukele became president of El Salvador, El Salvador has been in American media and global political discussion more than ever. While much of the attention focuses on Bukele’s mass incarceration of gang members and a decline in homicide of over 70%, Bukele has also drawn attention to his favoritism towards Bitcoin and how he has pushed El Salvador to embrace cryptocurrency.
The Bureau of Land Management is a federal agency that controls 245 million acres of land and controls 30% of the country’s mineral resources. On the East Coast, it manages little land but manages an enormous share of Western states. It owns over two-thirds of Nevada. This gives the federal government enormous sway over the West. Want to go hunting? Want to start a logging company? Want to go hiking? Better make sure it’s okay with the federal government first.
ESG, or “Environment, Social, and Governance,” is the new feel-good buzzword in the halls of global corporations and megabanks. It’s a PR push to cloak morally disastrous firms in a veneer of social and environmental responsibility — lip service — but at the end of the day, I believe the market will speak.
