Consumers’ Research is alerting investors, states like Florida as well as individuals, that BlackRock's investment strategy could ultimately hurt the average U.S. consumer.
BlackRock Chairman and CEO Larry Fink's actions "are betraying the American consumer,” Consumers' Research Executive Director Will Hild told The Hill in an interview last week.
“At the same time, he's not doing anything like that to the Chinese Communist Party,” Held said in the interview available on YouTube. “They’re invested in PetroChina there and don't mess with any of their assets.”
Consumers' Research earlier published a warning to the public and to states that have their pension funds invested with BlackRock. It alerted investors to the firm’s Chinese connection. The Sunshine Sentinel has reported on the matter.
In the Feb. 18 interview, Hild further discussed his concerns with BlackRock's deep investment in China and the hypocrisy showed in the way it manipulates U.S. energy companies while leaving PetroChina alone.
Many U.S. public pension funds use BlackRock's investment products, according to SWFI fund transaction data. Competitors include State Street, Northern Trust, Invesco, Vanguard and Wellington Management Co.
Florida is one of the states most heavily invested with BlackRock, The Daily Signal reports. It has about $10 billion under BlackRock’s control. Only Washington state has more money with the company.
In a letter that Fink sent to the heads of the companies in which BlackRock invests in 2022, Fink said businesses that are not planning for a carbon-free future risk being left behind. With that, he said BlackRock’s goal is to help lead the transition to “net zero,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
"BlackRock has maintained a bullish approach to investing billions in Chinese firms, supporting their economy, and helping fuel the rise of their military, which barely a month ago tested a hypersonic missile," Hild wrote in a letter to several governors. "Investment in Chinese companies could also make U.S. investors unwitting accomplices in the expansion of the [Chinese Communist Party's] surveillance and intelligence gathering apparatus, or worse yet, make them party to human rights abuses like the ongoing genocide against Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China.”
Some states have rethought their position, given the revelations. West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore, for example, recently announced that the Board of Treasury Investments, which manages the state's $8 billion in operating funds, will no longer use BlackRock. SWFI says the investment firm’s net-zero focus would harm the coal, oil and natural gas industries that West Virginia heavily relies on.
In his interview with The Hill, Hild discussed his organization's recent advisory warning against BlackRock, a firm with roughly $10 trillion under management worldwide.
"We think that it's high time that American consumers be educated on the actions of this company [BlackRock],” Hild said in the YouTube video. “They float under the radar, especially when you think of how big they are. They're the nation's largest investment management company, they invest tens of billions of dollars of United States pension funds and yet they are cozying up to the Chinese Communist Party.”