Someone has proposed an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) of corporate welfare recipients:

It stands to reason that tax-shy companies outperform, so why not create an ETF for them?

We’ve had funds for sin stocks (the Vice mutual fund which invests in tobacco, booze and gambling) and those for biblical values (The Inspire Global Hope Large Cap ETF recently launched).

Now PassiveBeat presents a new twist on the vice/not vice idea: the Corporate Welfare ETF. This putative fund is chock full of megacaps that pay no tax and have outperformed the S&P 500. What’s not to like?

We’ve taken our cue from a report released earlier this month by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (Itep) highlighting companies that have benefited from what may charitably be termed corporate welfare – tax loopholes, subsidies and so on.

Is this a joke, or is this an investment strategy.  I really cannot tell.