Meeting of Minds Podcast

David Bahnsen of The Bahnsen Group has used his authority as an investor to put a resolution on the ballot of JPMorgan Chase’s annual meeting held on Tuesday, which asks the company to be transparent about a troubling apparent pattern of debanking conservatives such as former Ambassador for religious liberty Sam Brownback. Bahnsen explains the difference between shareholder activism (which is host...

Stephen Soukup is the leading intellectual critic of the "Woke Capitalism" movement, including its stakeholder capitalism and ESG investing elements. He talks with Meeting of Minds about his book, The Dictatorship of Woke Capital ( https://www.encounterbooks.com/authors/stephen-r-soukup/ ), and the intellectual and spiritual roots of that movement. Soukup's historical research reveals how intellec...

Paul Chesser of the Corporate Integrity Project talks about why he and others have filed a statement in opposition to a proposal to be voted on by the shareholders of the Coca-Cola company, which would pressure the company to divest from pro-life states. The proposal is being voted on during Coca-Cola's annual meeting tomorrow morning, April 25th, 8:30 AM EDT. See omnystudio.com/listener for priva...

Will Hild is the Executive Director of Consumers’ Research ( Consumers' Research (consumersresearch.org) , America's oldest consumer advocacy group. Hild told Meeting of Minds that "stakeholder capitalism" models of money management hurt the customer by diluting financial return goals in favor of social ones. He also explained the failure of Silicon Valley Bank as an example in which the customers...

The 1792 Exchange is making available to the public, at no charge, a tool which easily allows someone to assess the risk of getting cancelled by businesses with which they have dealings ( Corporate Bias Ratings - 1792 Exchange ). Whether you are simply a citizen using social media, or a business getting web hosting, banking or legal services, or tech support this online app allows you to type in t...

Derek Kreifels of the State Financial Officers Foundation ( https://sfof.com/ ) talks with Meeting of Minds about how state treasurers have been protecting the assets of their retirees and taxpayers by pulling money away from Wall Street firms that use their own money to vote against their interests. He also discusses OurMoneyOurValues , an educational initiative that explains in clear terms just...

Nicholas Stonestreet is the CEO of Ronald Blue Trust, the largest financial services firm built on Biblical principles of wealth management, with roughly 13 billion dollars under management. Stonestreet talked with Meeting of Minds about the recent recession and inflation, and why the economic troubles are not likely over yet. Stonestreet also offers practical solutions to the problem of large wal...

Is it wrong for the government of a coal-producing state such as Kentucky to stop doing business with banks that are committed to shutting down coal and other fossil fuel industries? Kentucky State Treasurer Allison Ball explains why she has put certain banks on notice that they should stop using Kentucky taxpayers' money against them or they will risk losing the state's business. She and Jerry al...

One of the most important and growing trends in finance is state officials who recognize their constitutional role to protect the financial interests of their taxpayers and retirees. We continue our discussion of this phenomenon with Nebraska Treasurer John Murante, who has spoken publicly about how Blackrock and others are not just attacking the energy industry, but attacking our food producers a...

John Tillman of the American Culture Project talks to Meeting of Minds about how the conservative agenda is finding unexpected support among constituencies traditionally associated with the liberal coalition, including black, Latino and working-class white voters. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

America has a wonderful history of ‘civil society’ institutions. Issues that would be addressed by the state in Europe are addressed by ad hoc groups of private citizens in the U.S. However, in recent years many of those private associations have fallen into disrepair. Rick Graber of the Bradley Foundation talks about the sorts of groups that are knitting civil society back together again, especia...

Ambassador Sam Brownback, co-author of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and former United States Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, has been fighting for people who have been persecuted for their faith for his entire career. However, he didn't expect that he himself would become a victim of religious persecution by his own bank. He tells Meeting of Minds how a religious...

The ESG "Socially Responsible Investing" industry is on the defense. Having pushed the ideological edge too far forward, they are reaching a point of resistance, particularly from red state treasurers and attorneys general. As these gatekeepers resist the politicization of finance, they are now being accused by the people who really are politicizing finance. For example, Treasurer Allison Ball of...

Peter Thiel, arguably the most successful tech investor of modern times, also reads widely and thinks deeply about philosophy and theology. In a fascinating follow-up to his previous interview about his mentor, Rene Girard, Thiel discusses how modern ideologies such as fascism and communism "up the dose" from murder to genocide as Christianity weakened the power of human sacrifice.  He also discus...

In my upcoming interview with Peter Thiel, we will really hit the ground running, so you might benefit from re-listening to the one from last year to get you up to speed and ready for Peter's next set of insights, which are coming shortly. No discussion we've ever had has received as many requests by listeners for a follow-up. .... Peter Thiel, the highly successful tech entrepreneur and author, d...

No one has been more involved in fighting for the sanctity of life and marriage in corporate board rooms than Tom Strobhar. In his day job he works as a financial advisor http://www.strobharfinancial.org/ , but since 1989 he has given of his own time, using his financial expertise and authority as a shareholder in major American companies to fight for the moral teachings of his Catholic faith. He...

The ideological capture of large American financial institutions is running into a barrier. State level offices such as Treasurer, Auditor General, and Comptroller are asserting their authority as financial watchdogs protecting the interests of their citizens. One of the leaders in this resurgence of federalism is Marlo Oaks, Treasurer of Utah ( www.marlooaks.com ) who wrote recently in the Wall S...

On this episode of Meeting of Minds, Tom Carter of the American Conservative Values Fund www.investconservative.com talks about his company’s fifth survey of conservatives’ attitude towards various companies, including unfavourability towards large well-known publicly traded corporations. He talks about the shifts in attitudes towards Facebook, Disney and Tesla, as well as problems with the ESG mo...

Rob West is CEO of Kingdom Advisors ( www.kingdomadvisors.org ) which is the world’s largest professional association for Christians in the financial industry. Rob also hosts the most widely-syndicated radio program for ordinary Christians ( www.moneywise.org ). On this episode of Meeting of Minds Podcast, Rob talks about the big topics he sees Christians, from the poor and middle class to the wea...

At various times and places the major cultural battle lines have fallen in different spots. During WWII and the Cold War the conflict was centered in the military. At other times, our conflicts centered in politics or in the fight against biased media. Currently the zone of conflict has moved to the marketplace. The ideological capture of the boardrooms of many large publicly traded companies repr...

Andrew Olivastro, V.P. of Outreach for the Heritage Foundation, talks about how DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion), ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance), and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) are ruining corporate America. Heritage believes people should not be made to feel bad when they buy or use products or invest in companies that deride their beliefs and take controversial stances agai...

The State Financial Officers Foundation ( https://sfof.com/ ) is the public voice of state-level constitutional officers whose job is to safeguard the people’s money and who are committed to small government, free-markets and to fighting the politicization of the financial sector. This includes treasurers and auditors general, which each have oversight roles when it comes to whom a state does busi...

The Great Seal of the United States was commissioned by Congress in order to represent in visual form the foundational principles of the American Republic. In this presentation which I gave in the historic Trinity Cathedral in downtown Pittsburgh for a group of CEOs hosted by the Young President’s Organization, we unpack the meaning of the various images which can be found on the back on any U.S....

Pastor and scholar Jeff Meyers discusses his new commentary on the book of James, Wisdom for Dissidents . Meyers explains how modern commentators have failed to take the actual words of James seriously. When James mentions war, battles, and murder, he's not talking about arguments over the color of the new carpeting. James guided Christians through a time of political strife, assassination, civil...

The Alliance Defending Freedom  ( Alliance Defending Freedom - Protecting Religious Freedom (adflegal.org) ), the top religious freedom litigator in America, is now taking on anti-religious prejudice in public corporations. Having surveyed 50 major companies, ADF found the average score is a miserable 12 out of 100. ADF's head of corporate engagement Jeremy Tedesco talks about ADF's new index...