Originally posted by Tim
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Kamban
You are right that refusing to buy the stock of a company will have a tiny negative effect on the stock price. If lowering the stock price is the goal then boycotting the stock will have a minimal effect, lost in the noise, but in the desired direction.
Lowering the stock price will not make for fewer guns or cleaner air.
If the goal is to reduce the number of guns on the street, reduce climate change, or otherwise counteract what you believe to be harmful effects of the products, then boycott the products, not the stock.
Being a stockholder you can at least vote on shareholder resolutions. You may not have much influence but if you don't own the stock you have zero.
Lowering the stock price will not curtail lobbying. The companies could well conclude that they need to lobby more.
Just as lowering the stock price does not reduce production, reducing lobbying spending also does not reduce production.
Avoiding the stocks by holding an index fund that does not buy them but continuing to consume the products makes the situation worse.
Refusing to own the stock is popular because it is easy and makes one feel as if they have done something. In fact, it accomplishes nothing.
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