Wed, May 19 2004
Social Responsibility

Ironically, one of the first responses to the prisoner abuse in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, comes from the mutual fund industry which has been recently plagued by it's own ethical problems. The APF News Agency reports that two U.S. contractors, CACI International and Titan Corporation, whose staff allegedly worked in the prison may be removed from the "Calvert Social Index" of socially responsible companies, according to a statement from Calvert mutual funds.

Sadly, it seems now, obesity is not just a "people problem" but may also be having an adverse affect on some of our more popular "fat funds." Clint Willis, a freelance writer who covers mutual funds for Reuters, cites a Morningstar study showing that some of our biggest funds have gotten fat resting on their laurels and have become sluggish performers. The article reviews three younger, slimmer funds, two no-loads, without the weight problem.