BlackRock: The Devil's Banker. Do as I say, not as I do.

Larry Fink is one of the most influential people on the planet. His firm BlackRock mints money. Billions of dollars a year. Their risk management platform handles more than $10 trillion a year. He helped guide the country out of the financial crisis in 2009 and positioned his company to grow unfettered by the very regulatory authorities he advised at the time. He’s by all accounts funny, affable, competitive and compassionate. BlackRock is at the center of a storm in conservative media for pushing companies too hard toward sustainability. That he’s too “woke.” Liberals think he’s behind the housing crisis. Conspiracy theorists believe he’s in the pocket of the Chinese government. The real story of BlackRock is bigger, more mundane and just as terrifying.  Visit the episode's accompanying site page. Chapters BlackRock Disclaimer: 00:00:05 Intro: 00:02:24 Chapter One: Bank or no bank? You decide. 00:05:31 Chapter Two: Birth of a giant. 00:13:12 Chapter Three: Just how big is BlackRock? 00:24:20 Chapter Four: The ESG Hullabaloo. 00:31:46 Chapter Five: Bring it home, Max. 00:40:11 Post Show Musings: 00:50:48 Outro: 01:09:20 Resources Vanity Fair: Larry Fink’s $12 Trillion Shadow BlackRock: 2021 Annual Report Policy Tensor: Seeing Like BlackRock Insider: Here are 9 fascinating facts to know about BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager Bloomberg: Biden Ties to BlackRock Deepen With Latest Treasury Hire Wall Street Journal: One Firm Getting What It Wants in Washington: BlackRock OpenSecrets: BlackRock Inc Office of Financial Research: Asset Management and Financial Stability, September 2013 Bloomberg: In Fink We Trust: BlackRock Is Now ‘Fourth Branch of Government’ BlackRock: Sustainable investing at BlackRock Banking On Climate Change: The Worst Banks Since the Paris Agreement The Bureau of Investigative Journalism: BlackRock Tells Oil Regulator: Ignore Our CEO’s Climate Pledges Florida State Board of Administration: August 23, 2022 Meeting Politico: Wall Street opens its checkbook for Ron DeSantis Sierra Club: Maine becomes the first state to pass law to divest from fossil fuels Morgan Stanley Institute For Sustainable Investing: Sustainable Reality BlackRock: BlackRock and housing: Setting the record straight The Atlantic: BlackRock Is Not Ruining the U.S. Housing Market Securities and Exchange Commission: Sallie Mae Proxy Statement Pensions & Investments: Nestle moves pension assets to BlackRock as it reorganizes internal management unit CNN Business: Nestle SA Investopedia: The Top 5 British Petroleum (BP) Shareholders CNN Business: Walmart Inc Fintel: BlackRock Inc. ownership in MCD / Mcdonald's Corp Bloomberg Markets and Finance: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink on Inflation, ESG Investing UNFTR Episode Resources Student Debt. The Problem with Conscious Capitalism. Book Love David Carey and John E. Morris: King of Capital: The Remarkable Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Steve Schwarzman and Blackstone -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Join the Unf*cker-run Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/2051537518349565 Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written by BlackRock. Or is it Blackstone? And hosted by Blackstone. Or is it BlackRock? Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic."Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.