Bulletin for May 23, 2023

Schroder, is an active real estate developer and a former special agent in the US Army’s Criminal Investigation Division before elected as Louisiana State Treasurer in 2017 and re-elected in 2019. He serves as Chair of the State Bond Commission and oversees cash management of $45.6 billion dollars on behalf of Louisiana citizens.

Being number one in the nation for receiving the most federal funds, per capita, is an indicator that Louisiana the poorest state in the U.S. Schroder is working on what has been called Environmental Social Government (ESG) -  investing, which refers to a set of standards for potential investments based on ESG factors. Such investing is often at odds with Louisiana’s fossil fuels industry. Corporate America is not always investing in America and in some ways tries to avoid going through the legislative process.  Corporations, while trying to force Americans to buy things like electric cars, are investing in fossil fuels or a coal plant in other countries and not investing in the U.S.  A resolution calling for the retirement systems, with $55 billion in retirement funding in Louisiana alone, to report annually where the money is being invested. The report must include: the amount invested in Louisiana, in the U.S. and lastly what is invested outside of the U.S.  This information would be provided to the taxpayer so that they know where their dollars are being invested. Less than one percent of the $55 billion is invested in Louisiana.

Schroder touched on limits to spending with all the recent Federal dollars received. He suggested conservative spending and instead paying down debt in preparation for a “rainy day” and to avoid future cuts. The Bill to eliminate the state income tax did not pass and he explained that by eliminating the tax, means that money lost would have to be replaced with forty-two cents on the dollar or find a way to get $4 billion to sustain what we have now. Citizens would likely either pay more in property tax or increase sales tax to offset some of the money lost. Raising the sales tax would have everyone contributing. He added that Louisiana has lost 67 thousand people in two years and that 2 million of Louisianans are on Medicaid and 900,000 (65% total) are on Medicare with little economic growth generated from this group.

Bond Commission – in order to borrow money a company has to go to the state bond commission of which Schroder is chairman, and show the project is financially viable and will create new economic development or new business in Louisiana. Access to these funds should be available to all and rules should be enforced across the board.

Louisiana has the largest number of people per capita that doesn’t have a bank account, therefore, there is a push for financial literacy in high school.

In closing, Schroder encouraged all to get involved on a local level.