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    Default Blackrock violating "sole interest" rule

    Using ESGs to try and rule the world.

    https://news.ballotpedia.org/2022/09...n-against-esg/

    “Nineteen state attorneys general wrote a letter last month to BlackRock CEO Laurence D. Fink. They warned that BlackRock’s environmental, social and governance investment policies appear to involve “rampant violations” of the sole interest rule, a well-established legal principle. The sole interest rule requires investment fiduciaries to act to maximize financial returns, not to promote social or political objectives. Last week Attorneys General Jeff Landry and Todd Rokita of Louisiana and Indiana, respectively, went further. Each issued a letter warning his state pension board that ESG investing is likely a violation of fiduciary duty.

    The Louisiana and Indiana opinions didn’t make headlines but have seismic implications: They suggest that state pension-fund board members, investment staff and investment advisers may be liable if they continue allocating funds to ESG-promoting asset managers such as BlackRock….

    Mr. Landry’s guidance spotlights potentially explosive, undisclosed conflicts of interest in the Big Three’s “selective” promotion of ESG criteria against U.S. companies but not Chinese companies. According to Mr. Landry, in 2021 BlackRock exercised its proxy voting rights as Exxon’s second-largest shareholder to lead “an activist campaign that forced Exxon to cut oil production,” without disclosing that many of the “oil fields dropped by Exxon” are “poised to be acquired by PetroChina” and that BlackRock is “one of PetroChina’s largest investors.”

    Mr. Landry has a point.
    BlackRock has an enormous stake in PetroChina, reporting holdings of between one trillion and two trillion shares, representing between 5% and 10% ownership, from 2018-22. If Mr. Landry’s allegations are correct, BlackRock’s ESG-based promotion of oil production cutbacks at Exxon might have been a staggering conflict of interest.
    Last edited by SassyLady; 09-14-2022 at 08:06 PM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by SassyLady View Post
    Using ESGs to try and rule the world.

    https://news.ballotpedia.org/2022/09...n-against-esg/
    I saw something on this a couple of months ago. Don't recall whether or not I posted it. Blackrock is deep enough into the bureaucracy that it doesn't have to follow any rules. There's no telling how many Dem pockets (probably some Republican ones as well) it is in.
    “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” Edumnd Burke

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gunny View Post
    I saw something on this a couple of months ago. Don't recall whether or not I posted it. Blackrock is deep enough into the bureaucracy that it doesn't have to follow any rules. There's no telling how many Dem pockets (probably some Republican ones as well) it is in.
    Oh, they're not worried about American politicians or laws. They're going for the big bucks ... global influence.
    If the freedom of speech is taken away
    then dumb and silent we may be led,
    like sheep to the slaughter.


    George Washington (1732-1799) First President of the USA.

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    Default

    Here's exerts from another article, not sure if you posted this overview of before.


    BLACKROCK UNREGULATED INVESTMENT FIRM NOW RULES THE WEST
    https://www.theburningplatform.com/2...ules-the-west/
    The firm, BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, invests a staggering $9 trillion in client funds worldwide, a sum more than double the annual GDP of the Federal Republic of Germany.

    This colossus sits atop the pyramid of world corporate ownership, including in China most recently, writes F. William Engdahl, a strategic risk consultant and lecturer, best-selling author on oil and geopolitics, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
    Since 1988 the company has put itself in a position to de facto control the Federal Reserve, most Wall Street mega-banks, including Goldman Sachs, the Davos World Economic Forum Great Reset, the Biden Administration and, if left unchecked, the economic future of our world.

    BlackRock is the epitome of what Mussolini called Corporatism, where an unelected corporate elite dictates top down to the population.

    BlackRock Unregulated Investment Firm: The Herland Report Scandinavian news site, TV channel on YouTube and Podcast has millions of viewers. The level of censorship in social media and search engines is all-time high. Do like thousands of others, subscribe to The Herland Report newsletter here! Thanks so much for reading and supporting our investigative work. Follow the new trends and subscribe!
    BlackRock Unregulated Investment Firm: How the world’s largest “shadow bank” exercises this enormous power over the world ought to concern us. BlackRock since Larry Fink founded it in 1988 has managed to assemble unique financial software and assets that no other entity has.
    BlackRock’s Aladdin risk-management system, a software tool that can track and analyze trading, monitors more than $18 trillion in assets for 200 financial firms including the Federal Reserve and European central banks.
    He who “monitors” also knows, we can imagine. BlackRock has been called a financial “Swiss Army Knife — institutional investor, money manager, private equity firm, and global government partner rolled into one.” Yet mainstream media treats the company as just another Wall Street financial firm.
    There is a seamless interface that ties the UN Agenda 2030 with the Davos World Economic Forum Great Reset and the nascent economic policies of the Biden Administration. That interface is BlackRock.

    TEAM BIDEN AND BLACKROCK
    ......(at article)

    WHAT IS BLACKROCK?
    Never before has a financial company with so much influence over world markets been so hidden from public scrutiny. That’s no accident. As it is technically not a bank making bank loans or taking deposits, it evades the regulation oversight from the Federal Reserve even though it does what most mega banks like HSBC or JP MorganChase do—buy, sell securities for profit.
    When there was a Congressional push to include asset managers such as BlackRock and Vanguard Funds under the post-2008 Dodd-Frank law as “systemically important financial institutions” or SIFIs, a huge lobbying push from BlackRock ended the threat. BlackRock is essentially a law onto itself. And indeed it is “systemically important” as no other, with possible exception of Vanguard, which is said to also be a major shareholder in BlackRock.

    BlackRock founder and CEO Larry Fink is clearly interested in buying influence globally.
    He made former German CDU MP Friederich Merz head of BlackRock Germany when it looked as if he might succeed Chancellor Merkel, and former British Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne as “political consultant.” Fink named former Hillary Clinton Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills to the BlackRock board when it seemed certain Hillary would soon be in the White House.
    He has named former central bankers to his board and gone on to secure lucrative contracts with their former institutions. Stanley Fisher, former head of the Bank of Israel and also later Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve is now Senior Adviser at BlackRock. Philipp Hildebrand, former Swiss National Bank president, is vice chairman at BlackRock, where he oversees the BlackRock Investment Institute. Jean Boivin, the former deputy governor of the Bank of Canada, is the global head of research at BlackRock’s investment institute.

    BLACKROCK AND THE FED
    It was this ex-central bank team at BlackRock that developed an “emergency” bailout plan for Fed chairman Powell in March 2019 as financial markets appeared on the brink of another 2008 “Lehman crisis” meltdown.
    As “thank you,” the Fed chairman Jerome Powell named BlackRock in a no-bid role to manage all of the Fed’s corporate bond purchase programs, including bonds where BlackRock itself invests. Conflict of interest?
    A group of some 30 NGOs wrote to Fed Chairman Powell, “By giving BlackRock full control of this debt buyout program, the Fed… makes BlackRock even more systemically important to the financial system. Yet BlackRock is not subject to the regulatory scrutiny of even smaller systemically important financial institutions.”...

    A VERY BLACKROCK IN MEXICO
    ......more...
    FINK AND MEXICAN PPP
    ......more...

    LARRY FINK AND WEF GREAT RESET
    In 2019 Larry Fink joined the Board of the Davos World Economic Forum, the Swiss-based organization that for some 40 years has advanced economic globalization.
    Fink, who is close to the WEF’s technocrat head, Klaus Schwab, of Great Reset notoriety, now stands positioned to use the huge weight of BlackRock to create what is potentially, if it doesn’t collapse before, the world’s largest Ponzi scam, ESG corporate investing. Fink with $9 trillion to leverage is pushing the greatest shift of capital in history into a scam known as ESG Investing. The UN “sustainable economy” agenda is being realized quietly by the very same global banks which have created the financial crises in 2008.
    It is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties. The freeman of America did not wait till usurped power had strengthened itself by exercise, and entangled the question in precedents. James Madison
    Live as free people, yet without employing your freedom as a pretext for wickedness; but live at all times as servants of God.
    1 Peter 2:16

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    Quote Originally Posted by revelarts View Post
    Here's exerts from another article, not sure if you posted this overview of before.


    BLACKROCK UNREGULATED INVESTMENT FIRM NOW RULES THE WEST
    https://www.theburningplatform.com/2...ules-the-west/
    The firm, BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, invests a staggering $9 trillion in client funds worldwide, a sum more than double the annual GDP of the Federal Republic of Germany.

    This colossus sits atop the pyramid of world corporate ownership, including in China most recently, writes F. William Engdahl, a strategic risk consultant and lecturer, best-selling author on oil and geopolitics, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
    Since 1988 the company has put itself in a position to de facto control the Federal Reserve, most Wall Street mega-banks, including Goldman Sachs, the Davos World Economic Forum Great Reset, the Biden Administration and, if left unchecked, the economic future of our world.

    BlackRock is the epitome of what Mussolini called Corporatism, where an unelected corporate elite dictates top down to the population.

    BlackRock Unregulated Investment Firm: The Herland Report Scandinavian news site, TV channel on YouTube and Podcast has millions of viewers. The level of censorship in social media and search engines is all-time high. Do like thousands of others, subscribe to The Herland Report newsletter here! Thanks so much for reading and supporting our investigative work. Follow the new trends and subscribe!
    BlackRock Unregulated Investment Firm: How the world’s largest “shadow bank” exercises this enormous power over the world ought to concern us. BlackRock since Larry Fink founded it in 1988 has managed to assemble unique financial software and assets that no other entity has.
    BlackRock’s Aladdin risk-management system, a software tool that can track and analyze trading, monitors more than $18 trillion in assets for 200 financial firms including the Federal Reserve and European central banks.
    He who “monitors” also knows, we can imagine. BlackRock has been called a financial “Swiss Army Knife — institutional investor, money manager, private equity firm, and global government partner rolled into one.” Yet mainstream media treats the company as just another Wall Street financial firm.
    There is a seamless interface that ties the UN Agenda 2030 with the Davos World Economic Forum Great Reset and the nascent economic policies of the Biden Administration. That interface is BlackRock.

    TEAM BIDEN AND BLACKROCK
    ......(at article)

    WHAT IS BLACKROCK?
    Never before has a financial company with so much influence over world markets been so hidden from public scrutiny. That’s no accident. As it is technically not a bank making bank loans or taking deposits, it evades the regulation oversight from the Federal Reserve even though it does what most mega banks like HSBC or JP MorganChase do—buy, sell securities for profit.
    When there was a Congressional push to include asset managers such as BlackRock and Vanguard Funds under the post-2008 Dodd-Frank law as “systemically important financial institutions” or SIFIs, a huge lobbying push from BlackRock ended the threat. BlackRock is essentially a law onto itself. And indeed it is “systemically important” as no other, with possible exception of Vanguard, which is said to also be a major shareholder in BlackRock.

    BlackRock founder and CEO Larry Fink is clearly interested in buying influence globally.
    He made former German CDU MP Friederich Merz head of BlackRock Germany when it looked as if he might succeed Chancellor Merkel, and former British Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne as “political consultant.” Fink named former Hillary Clinton Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills to the BlackRock board when it seemed certain Hillary would soon be in the White House.
    He has named former central bankers to his board and gone on to secure lucrative contracts with their former institutions. Stanley Fisher, former head of the Bank of Israel and also later Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve is now Senior Adviser at BlackRock. Philipp Hildebrand, former Swiss National Bank president, is vice chairman at BlackRock, where he oversees the BlackRock Investment Institute. Jean Boivin, the former deputy governor of the Bank of Canada, is the global head of research at BlackRock’s investment institute.

    BLACKROCK AND THE FED
    It was this ex-central bank team at BlackRock that developed an “emergency” bailout plan for Fed chairman Powell in March 2019 as financial markets appeared on the brink of another 2008 “Lehman crisis” meltdown.
    As “thank you,” the Fed chairman Jerome Powell named BlackRock in a no-bid role to manage all of the Fed’s corporate bond purchase programs, including bonds where BlackRock itself invests. Conflict of interest?
    A group of some 30 NGOs wrote to Fed Chairman Powell, “By giving BlackRock full control of this debt buyout program, the Fed… makes BlackRock even more systemically important to the financial system. Yet BlackRock is not subject to the regulatory scrutiny of even smaller systemically important financial institutions.”...

    A VERY BLACKROCK IN MEXICO
    ......more...
    FINK AND MEXICAN PPP
    ......more...

    LARRY FINK AND WEF GREAT RESET
    In 2019 Larry Fink joined the Board of the Davos World Economic Forum, the Swiss-based organization that for some 40 years has advanced economic globalization.
    Fink, who is close to the WEF’s technocrat head, Klaus Schwab, of Great Reset notoriety, now stands positioned to use the huge weight of BlackRock to create what is potentially, if it doesn’t collapse before, the world’s largest Ponzi scam, ESG corporate investing. Fink with $9 trillion to leverage is pushing the greatest shift of capital in history into a scam known as ESG Investing. The UN “sustainable economy” agenda is being realized quietly by the very same global banks which have created the financial crises in 2008.
    Must be nice. "My job is to hold your money for you, invest it how I see fit (which you are not allowed to question/object to), and tell you what you can do with what allowance I give you". Sounds like my Dad

    When you act like children, someone is going to come in and treat you like children. Most AMericans don't even really know what's going on outside their own damned doors.
    “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” Edumnd Burke

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    Quote Originally Posted by revelarts View Post
    Here's exerts from another article, not sure if you posted this overview of before.
    Mere rehash.

    http://www.debatepolicy.com/showthre...k-and-Vanguard

    http://www.debatepolicy.com/showthre...k-and-Vanguard
    "when socialism fails, blame capitalism and demand more socialism." - A friend
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    And ... your point? It's called a "bump" to get topic back to the top for those that missed it first time.
    If the freedom of speech is taken away
    then dumb and silent we may be led,
    like sheep to the slaughter.


    George Washington (1732-1799) First President of the USA.

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    Quote Originally Posted by SassyLady View Post
    And ... your point? It's called a "bump" to get topic back to the top for those that missed it first time.
    I was just pointing to the rebuttal. Save us all some time.
    "when socialism fails, blame capitalism and demand more socialism." - A friend
    "You know the difference between libs and right-wingers? Libs STFU when evidence refutes their false beliefs." - Another friend
    “Don't waste your time with explanations: people only hear what they want to hear.” - Paulo Coelho


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    I worked at BlackRock until I took another job a few months ago, and I can say that the company made a big point to all employees that there were "Four Pillars" of emphasis for everyone to follow, one of which was "We are Fiduciary to our Clients". Recently I heard that BlackRock is facing lawsuits from state pension plans because they are investing the plans money based "ESG" (Environmental, Social and Governance) guidelines. Essentially, BlackRock is investing money in green stocks for political reasons instead of in say, energy stocks which have been performing very well.

    The ESG investing is the exact opposite of "We are Fiduciary to our Clients". Very hypocritical, to the point of being indefensible by BlackRock management. So if they can lie about one thing, they can lie about a thousand.

    Very disappointing to hear about my former employer. Aside from the politics, I can say that they were good in the other areas.
    Ecclesiastes 10:2 - A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but a foolish man's heart directs him to the left.
    Wise men don't need advice, and fools won't take it - Ben Franklin
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    Quote Originally Posted by SassyLady View Post
    And ... your point? It's called a "bump" to get topic back to the top for those that missed it first time.
    If you've already rebutted it and aren't interested in new info no need for you to look in here is there?

    As I said ... people might have missed the info from before. Oh, and just because you put in your 2 cents doesn't mean anyone agrees with you and that the topic and discussion is a done deal.

    I know you think you're the Debate Policy fact checker but your facts are about as reliable as MSM. You think everything is a conspiracy theory because it hasn't been shared by MSM and your standard government agencies.

    Too many "conspiracy theories" have been proven to be valid lately to trust mainstream sources with info only approved for dissemination by the government.
    If the freedom of speech is taken away
    then dumb and silent we may be led,
    like sheep to the slaughter.


    George Washington (1732-1799) First President of the USA.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Russ View Post
    I worked at BlackRock until I took another job a few months ago, and I can say that the company made a big point to all employees that there were "Four Pillars" of emphasis for everyone to follow, one of which was "We are Fiduciary to our Clients". Recently I heard that BlackRock is facing lawsuits from state pension plans because they are investing the plans money based "ESG" (Environmental, Social and Governance) guidelines. Essentially, BlackRock is investing money in green stocks for political reasons instead of in say, energy stocks which have been performing very well.

    The ESG investing is the exact opposite of "We are Fiduciary to our Clients". Very hypocritical, to the point of being indefensible by BlackRock management. So if they can lie about one thing, they can lie about a thousand.

    Very disappointing to hear about my former employer. Aside from the politics, I can say that they were good in the other areas.
    I think one question is what are their investment guidelines in particular funds and are they following those guidelines or not. If they say that they will invest based on ESG and they don't, and vice versa; that is where they would run afoul. Institutional money managers are very particular about their subadvisors and are they following the investment guidelines or not? You don't want your bond advisor to start buying stocks or your value stock advisor buying growth stocks, for example, because it throws off their allocation models. It is not illegal, or counter to their role as a fiduciary necessarily, to invest based on ESG; there have been socially responsible funds out there for decades and they haven't been sued recently. I would that think the AGs are suing because Blackrock might not be investing according to their contracts with the state pension plans.

    Another question IMO would be whether they are giving up investment returns because of those ESG guidelines. If they are then I expect other money managers will earn superior returns and BR would lose market share. Could be risk that they're taking.
    "when socialism fails, blame capitalism and demand more socialism." - A friend
    "You know the difference between libs and right-wingers? Libs STFU when evidence refutes their false beliefs." - Another friend
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    Quote Originally Posted by SassyLady View Post
    If you've already rebutted it and aren't interested in new info no need for you to look in here is there?

    As I said ... people might have missed the info from before. Oh, and just because you put in your 2 cents doesn't mean anyone agrees with you and that the topic and discussion is a done deal.

    I know you think you're the Debate Policy fact checker but your facts are about as reliable as MSM. You think everything is a conspiracy theory because it hasn't been shared by MSM and your standard government agencies.

    Too many "conspiracy theories" have been proven to be valid lately to trust mainstream sources with info only approved for dissemination by the government.
    There wasn't anything new. In fact the weird british gal posted if not the very same link then at the very least one of the very same paragraphs that Rev posted. I don't recall her credibility being particularly stellar.

    The bolded paragraph is ridiculous. Some of your links are polluting your mind.
    "when socialism fails, blame capitalism and demand more socialism." - A friend
    "You know the difference between libs and right-wingers? Libs STFU when evidence refutes their false beliefs." - Another friend
    “Don't waste your time with explanations: people only hear what they want to hear.” - Paulo Coelho


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    I know you're all about unrestricted free trade and let nothing stand in its way and all that, but rehashed or not, if you don't think Blackrock has a little too much power within our government, and everyone else's for that matter, you're not up to date.

    Not saying it's part of some big conspiracy. No bogger a conspiracy than it takes to make Blackrock money and give it more clout. There should be a check on that. Like there is on anything that benefits the country.
    Last edited by Gunny; 09-19-2022 at 07:52 PM.
    “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” Edumnd Burke

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gunny View Post
    I know you're all about unrestricted free trade and let nothing stand in its way and all that, but rehashed or not, if you don't think Blackrock has a little too much power within our government, and everyone else's for that matter, you're not up to date.

    Not saying it's part of some big conspiracy. No bogger a conspiracy than it takes to make Blackrock money and give it more clout. There should be a check on that. Like there is on anything that benefits the country.
    Arguable points. Just not argued very compellingly IMO. BR is a big company that does many things, has done it well, and are now the current bogeyman.
    "when socialism fails, blame capitalism and demand more socialism." - A friend
    "You know the difference between libs and right-wingers? Libs STFU when evidence refutes their false beliefs." - Another friend
    “Don't waste your time with explanations: people only hear what they want to hear.” - Paulo Coelho


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    Seems people have seen Blackrock as a bogeyman for quite sometime.

    BUSINESS
    BlackRock: The secret world power
    By Miriam Braun / pad | 17.08.2015

    The US financial crisis may officially be over, but one specter still spooks regulators: shadow banking. In their struggle to exorcise industry demons, one name looms large, BlackRock. Miriam Braun reports from New York.

    One name has been haunting Wall Street for years. Still, it remains a mystery to most. Even Heike Buchter admits it only began appearing on her radar recently. "Bankers started talking about [it]. They were analyzing central bank portfolios, and the name Larry Fink kept popping up," the German correspondent, who's been covering Wall Street for more than a decade, told DW.

    It stuck with Buchter, who set out to find out all she could about Fink and his financial colossus BlackRock - "one of the world's preeminent asset management firms," as the New York-based corporation boasts on its website.

    "Prior to the financial crisis I was not even familiar with the name. But in the years after the Lehman [Brothers] collapse [in 2008], BlackRock appeared everywhere. Everywhere!," Buchter said. On Monday, her 280-page exposé - the first-ever of its kind - appears in German.

    Lack of transparency

    The author recalls a lunch with an insider. He asked her, only half-jokingly, to speak quietly. He was concerned someone from BlackRock might be hiding in the kitchen, spitting in his soup. Accordingly, she titled the first chapter in her book: "The most powerful company no one's heard about."

    BlackRock manages $4.7 trillion (4.2 trillion euros) worth of assets. All told, their platforms juggle $14 trillion - the equivalent of 5 percent of all financials assets worldwide. But BlackRock's reach goes further than just buying and holding stocks and bonds.

    "BlackRock advises central banks, financial ministries, big investors like state funds, pension funds, insurance companies and foundations," said Buchter. Tapping into these bonds and stocks, they invest in firms around the world. "There is pretty much nothing in the financial market that Blackrock is not somehow involved in."

    The web that spans the globe

    From their unassuming headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, Larry Fink and his managers pull strings all over the world. In addition to holding huge stakes in big US banks, they control significant shares of defense contractors as well as oil- and gas corporations. All funds combined, BlackRock is also the biggest stockholder on the German DAX blue chip market index.

    This is not dangerous per se, said Buchter. But, she added, BlackRock's size of shares does have the potential to tip the scales of power. "These days, owning four, five or six percent of a company's shares means you're a big-wig. You can call anytime and the boss will talk to you. And it's become totally OK to expect that," the journalist said.

    Conflicts of interest

    Whether it's producing cars in Germany, mining for iron ore in South America, developing new drugs in the US or gold-mining in Africa - BlackRock's funds profit. But being involved in so many different industries, and in so many different capacities, poses potential conflicts of interests, warns Buchter.

    Imagine, for instance, that a company wants to issue bonds, but BlackRock is not only a potential buyer, it's also already a shareholder. "Who would want to get in trouble with someone, who is not only your biggest stockholders but also potentially your biggest creditor?," pondered Buchert.

    From outcast to investment emperor

    BlackRock was born in the late 1980s, as a subsidiary of The Blackstone Group, a multinational private equity firm. Larry Fink was made director and CEO, despite having just all but ruined his reputation on Wall Street after costing his previous employer, investment firm First Boston, $100 million making incorrect predictions about interest rates.

    In her new book, Buchter writes the following about Fink: "The most powerful man of the modern financial world appears to double as his own accountant." According to her, Larry Fink accomplished something almost unique: "He created his own Wall Street empire in less than three decades," the Wall Street correspondent told DW. "To do that, you need to have a pretty strong ego and tons of ambition.”

    The Ghostbusters of Wall Street

    The collapse of the Lehman Brothers boosted BlackRock's business. Fink and his managers were known specialists in analyzing portfolios of mortgage backed securities. This came in handy at a moment when investors and bankers were trying their best to do damage-control. In no time, the team, working out of a backroom office, became known as the "Ghostbusters of Wall Street," Heike Buchter writes. Soon, they received calls from the Federal Reserve on a regular basis. Then-Secretary of the US treasury, Timothy Geithner, was on a first-name basis with the BlackRock boss.

    Buchter doesn't fault the US regulators for Fink's stealth iron grip on the financial world. "If you only look at the individual businesses BlackRock is involved in, you don't necessarily realize there's a problem," she said. "But add them all up - all the [company's] lines of business and advisory roles - and you end up looking at a massively complex structure, where you have to wonder: Wow, what kind of monster have they created here."

    Who's doing what?

    Heike Buchter's in-depth account shines a light on BlackRock's vast web of influence and interests: From its shares in German companies to its role in the Greek debt crisis. However, she said, her goal was not to point fingers, but to give the public the opportunity to understand what they're up against. For Buchter, BlackRock serves as an example of how the financial industry at large works.

    "People would like to think that this sector is like most other industries, where you can get a clear picture of who's who, and what's what," Buchert explained. But if there's one thing her research taught her, she added, it's that "the financial system is always changing, it is never in a permanent state. And sometimes it is not quite clear, who is doing what." And that, she reasoned, is what has undermined confidence in the system and made people so angry.
    This was in 2015. I can only imagine how much more powerful they've become in the intervening years.
    Last edited by SassyLady; 09-20-2022 at 10:41 AM.
    If the freedom of speech is taken away
    then dumb and silent we may be led,
    like sheep to the slaughter.


    George Washington (1732-1799) First President of the USA.

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