On Thursday, a group of pro-Palestine demonstrators rallied outside and inside the Manhattan headquarters of the investment management company BlackRock.
Protesters carrying banners that said, “Shut down genocide profiteers, free Palestine,” chanted as they made their way into the lobby of BlackRock’s offices.
The protest is part of a global wave of pro-Palestine demonstrations that have been happening since the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
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“Pro-Palestine activists are occupying the lobby of BlackRock headquarters in NYC, a major investor in Israeli apartheid,” tweeted BreakThrough News.
In December, Florida announced that it was divesting itself from BlackRock, the multi-trillion-dollar Manhattan-based money trust that has gone ‘woke.’
In the words of Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, Jimmy Patronis, “BlackRock CEO Larry Fink is on a campaign to change the world.”
To that end, Patronis continued, the company “has leaned heavily into Environmental, Social, and Governance standards — known as ESG — to help police who should, and who should not gain access to capital.”
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“ESG, of course, is the corporate form of wokeness, and red states — and red-state-minded Americans wherever they might live — should fear it,” said James P. Pinkerton, a former White House domestic policy aide to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.
Florida pulled over $2 billion in assets from BlackRock because of the firm’s environmentally and socially (ESG) motivated investing standards.
CFO Jimmy Patronis’ announcement came a day after participating in a panel discussion on the “efforts to combat Environmental, Social, and Governance policies” during an event held by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council in Washington, D.C.
According to a press release, Patronis said that BlackRock is using its money to pursue “ideology” rather than secure profits for its clients.
Florida’s State Treasury in December of 2022 began to remove roughly $1.43 billion worth of long-term securities from BlackRock’s control as well as approximately $600 million worth of short-term investments managed by the firm.
“As Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, it’s my responsibility to get the best returns possible for taxpayers. The more effective we are in investing dollars to generate a return, the more effective we’ll be in funding priorities like schools, hospitals, and roads. As major banking institutions and economists predict a recession in the coming year, and as the Fed increases interest rates to combat the inflation crisis, I need partners within the financial services industry who are as committed to the bottom line as we are – and I don’t trust BlackRock’s ability to deliver,” said Patronis.
“BlackRock CEO Larry Fink is on a campaign to change the world. In an open letter to CEOs, he’s championed ‘stakeholder capitalism’ and believes that ‘capitalism has the power to shape society.’ To meet this end, the asset management company has leaned heavily into Environmental, Social, and Governance standards – known as ESG – to help police who should, and who should not gain access to capital.
“Whether stakeholder capitalism, or ESG standards, are being pushed by BlackRock for ideological reasons, or to develop social credit ratings, the effect is to avoid dealing with the messiness of democracy. I think it’s undemocratic of major asset managers to use their power to influence societal outcomes. If Larry, or his friends on Wall Street, want to change the world – run for office. Start a non-profit. Donate to the causes you care about.
“Using our cash, however, to fund BlackRock’s social-engineering project isn’t something Florida ever signed up for. It’s got nothing to do with maximizing returns and is the opposite of what an asset manager is paid to do. Florida’s Treasury Division is divesting from BlackRock because they have openly stated they’ve got other goals than producing returns. As Larry Fink stated to CEOs ‘[A]ccess to capital is not a right. It is a privilege.’ As Florida’s CFO I agree wholeheartedly, so we’ll be taking Larry up on his offer. There’s no lack of companies who will invest on our behalf, so the Florida Treasury will be taking its business elsewhere.”
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