Green Money Journal – The years between 2000 and 2012 were difficult ones for investors and posed special challenges for the responsible investor. We suffered through two market collapses of roughly 50 percent. The period has been marked by the distortions that war creates and by the distortions that an under-regulated investment community creates. For much of the period the forces of extreme voices dominated public discourse, whether in their calls on our government to wage war, or in their hatred of government actions (oxymoronic as that statement is).
During the first half of that period the investor ran from oil stocks to weapons stocks to gambling stocks to gold stocks and then began the cycle all over. None of these ‘hot’ industries were appealing to responsible investors and markets that witness narrow industry movements without broad market trends joining are hard markets to do well in. For many in the industry, these were the most challenging years we have ever faced.