SERVING THE BILLIONAIRE CLASS - HOW MUCH OF JOE BIDEN IS OWNED BY BLACKROCK? TRY $30 MILLION WORTH - North Carolina Treasurer Says BlackRock CEO Should ‘Resign or Be Removed’

YOU CAN'T PRY JOE BIDEN AWAY FROM WALL STREET'S BIGGEST CRIMINALS. HE'S SERVED THEM FOR 50 YEARS AND THEY'VE MADE HIM RICH!

American Corporate Community and its major players — BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Bridgewater, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Twitter, and Musk — and, of course, Gates — that draws them to a plutocracy that would never hesitate to betray America for a financial advantage or an opportunity to be a part of a global powerhouse oligarchy complicit with and colluding with malefactor government tyrannies. (avarice, cupidity, and rapaciousness) JOHN DALE DUNN

North Carolina Treasurer Says BlackRock CEO Should ‘Resign or Be Removed’

Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP, Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

JACOB BLISS

9 Dec 2022Washington, DC0

North Carolina Treasurer Dale Folwell sent a bombshell letter to asset manager BlackRock, saying its CEO, Larry Fink, needs to “resign or be removed” from the firm’s leadership team “immediately” over his obsession with pursuing a leftist “political agenda.”

Folwell is the first state treasurer to call for Fink to “resign or be removed,” while others have withdrawn their state’s proxy votes and divested state funds from BlackRock.

As North Carolina’s “sole fiduciary,” Folwell said in the letter that he is “skeptical” Fink “would or could lead the necessary course correction” and has lost confidence in his leadership due to Fink’s driving environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies.

“Larry Fink’s pursuit of a political agenda has gotten in the way of BlackRock’s same fiduciary duty. A focus on ESG is not a focus on returns and potentially could force us to violate our own fiduciary duty,” he wrote in the letter. “There is no blue money or red money at the treasurer’s office, only green.”

“BlackRock needs to be totally focused on returns for their clients, not on the political effort to ‘transform’ the economy to your vision of carbon zero. Fossil fuels will be the engine that drives the world’s economy for the foreseeable future,” he wrote. “The only way that I can see BlackRock refocusing on its fiduciary duty to its clients is for a change at the top.”

Folwell says he wrote this on behalf of North Carolinians and especially the North Carolina Retirement Systems (NCRS), which is one of the country’s largest public pension plans, because he wants to ensure that the retirement benefits and savings for over a million people –“approximately $14 billion invested through BlackRock in various active and passive funds, in addition to around $55 million passively invested in BlackRock stocks or bonds” — are being appropriately managed.

Folwell added:

Unfortunately, Larry Fink’s pursuit of a political agenda has gotten in the way of BlackRock’s same fiduciary duty. A focus on ESG is not a focus on returns and potentially could force us to violate our own fiduciary duty. Ultimately, Fink’s continued ideological pressure could result in using ESG scores against states and local governments, lowering their credit ratings and thus driving up their cost of borrowing at taxpayers’ expense. This not only concerns me as the State Treasurer but as Chair of the North Carolina State Banking Commission and the Local Government Commission.

At Larry Fink’s direction, BlackRock has used the financial power of its clients to force the global warming agenda, using proxy voting authority to push companies to “net zero,” often in conflict with its fiduciary responsibilities. For example, in 2020 he used BlackRock’s clients’ votes against two management-supported board members of ExxonMobil because of “insignificant progress” towards green energy. Yet, ExxonMobil stock rose 60% in the 12 months since the board member election because of an increase in the demand for oil. Berkshire Hathaway’s Charlie Munger had it right when he said we don’t need “emperors” voting shares in index funds based on their social agendas.

With that in mind, I recently signed an agreement that enables NCRS to vote its shares managed by BlackRock. I recognize that you implemented a proxy voting system last year that allows investors in certain pooled vehicles to have some degree of control over their voting. However, the existence of the proxy voting program does not mitigate the need for a new direction at BlackRock.

As mentioned, more Republicans across the United States have started to take aim at BlackRock for its ESG policies. Multiple Republican-led states across the United States have begun pulling money they have invested out of BlackRock due to its leftist activism in financial investing.

Additionally, state treasurers from multiple states attended the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) conference last month, where many from across the country presented a strategy against ESG policies. The group launched a website and a video explainer, hoping to educate Americans on the dangers of ESG policies.

At the conference, multiple state treasurers explained to Breitbart News that ESG policies hurt each state differently, but collectively hurt all American taxpayers financially. Hence, they came together in a joint effort to combat the left-wing policies masquerading as economics.

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.

THERE IS NO ONE ON EARTH WHO HAS TUCKED MORE BRIBES INTO BIDEN'S BREECHES THAN LARRY FINK OF BLACKROCK

The Texas legislature subpoenaed BlackRock and any of its subsidiaries and affiliate entities last month for any documents related to the asset manager’s effort to push Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) policies.

Deese Proclaims Dependence Day

National Economic Council boss confirms the colonization of America.

Lloyd Billingsley

BlackRock is the stomping ground of Obama national security advisor Tom Donilon, who worked in the Carter White House, on the campaign of Walter Mondale, and advised Joe Biden on his first presidential run in 1988. In 2012, it was Donilon who helped Joe Biden “get China.”

 

American Corporate Community and its major players — BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Bridgewater, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Twitter, and Musk — and, of course, Gates — that draws them to a plutocracy that would never hesitate to betray America for a financial advantage or an opportunity to be a part of a global powerhouse oligarchy complicit with and colluding with malefactor government tyrannies. (avarice, cupidity, and rapaciousness) JOHN DALE DUNN John Dale Dunn

  

And that is the case here. The eAs the Times article notes, while practically all of Wall Street benefited from the Fed’s intervention, and other financial firms were “consulted” apart from Blackrock “no other company was as front and center.”

Economic arms of the capitalist state are not some independent authority but function every day in the interests of the corporate and financial oligarchy, servicing its needs and interests above all else.

Most of the media have never given a damn about the Clinton (LAWYER), Obama (LAWYER) or Biden (LAWYER) corruption, which is massive.                                                                                       JACK HELLNER

Big Tech and Big Law dominate Biden transition teams,

tempering progressive hopes Alexander Nazaryan ad

Hauser also didn’t like the prevalence of Big Law

talent on the Department of Justice team, which

signaled to him that the Biden administration could

go soft on corporate malefactors. 

World’s largest asset management firm was “front and center” of Fed’s Wall Street bailout

Nick Beams

The close collaboration between the US Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the multi-billion dollar asset management firm Blackrock in devising the March 2020 rescue operation for Wall Street has been revealed in an article published in the New York Times yesterday.

According to the article, Larry Fink, the CEO of Blackrock, the world’s biggest asset management firm, was “in frequent touch” with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Fed chair Jerome Powell “in the days before and after many of the Fed’s emergency programs were announced in late March.”

 

WH’s Deese on ESG: Companies Should Follow ‘Fiduciary Interests’ — We’re Incentivizing Investment in Green

11

IAN HANCHETT

8 Dec 20220

3:33

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” White House National Economic Council Director Brian Deese weighed in on ESG investment by stating that companies “should” make “business decisions based on what’s in the fiduciary interests of their stakeholders.” And the Biden administration, through the “energy provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act,” has put in place a policy framework “to encourage the production of lower-carbon energy going forward.”

Co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin asked, “Hey Brian, weigh in on this issue around ESG, you worked at BlackRock before you came into the White House. You probably saw the news this morning, there’s a firm out of the U.K. that effectively is asking your former boss, Larry Fink, to step down, arguing that he’s not doing enough when it comes to ESG. Of course, Blackrock’s gotten it on the other side for the last six months to a year from a number of red states that have been pulling their money out of the firm, arguing that they’re doing too much. Where do you land?”

Deese responded, “Well, look, companies will make their own individual business decisions based on what’s in the fiduciary interests of their stakeholders. That’s what they should do. That’s what we expect them to do. As we think about this, we think about it from a policy perspective, and the United States has not had, for years, clear, effective policy when it comes to, for example, decarbonization. And now, we have in place — this is a big part of why we worked on passing the energy provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, is you now have a policy framework of long-term incentives from the government to try to produce more energy domestically, but to encourage the production of lower-carbon energy going forward. That’s the kind of work we need to do on the policy side and then companies need to make their own individual decisions based on the interests of their fiduciary –.”

Sorkin then asked, “But, to that point, those policies, ostensibly, should make it more attractive, and should make there to be the opportunity for greater returns in these spaces. And so, when people look at the investments that a company like BlackRock is making or not around climate, do you think those are economically-driven decisions or do you look at them and say that these are decisions made for other reasons?”

Deese answered, “Well, as I said, any individual company decision, I’m going to leave to the companies. And I assume they’re going to be made in the fiduciary interests of that company. What I will say is that the policy environment in the United States is encouraging investment in the United States, in clean energy capabilities and clean energy technologies at a rate that we have not seen in recent history. I talk to CEOs of operating companies across the board who say, now that we have certainty over the long term of what the tax regime is going to be in the United States, the kinds of incentives you get for investing here in the United States, I find this an attractive place to build out battery capability, to build out hydrogen and carbon capture and sequestration, we’re going to have the largest carbon capture project down…in the world here in the United States. All of those things are companies’ decisions based on their economic interests, but into a policy environment that is trying to encourage that type of investment, that kind of economic opportunity here in the United States.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

Texas Legislature Subpoenas BlackRock for Documents Linked to ESG Effort

1

Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images, Zhou Gukai/VCG via Getty Images

JACOB BLISS

7 Dec 2022Washington, DC0

3:59

The Texas legislature subpoenaed BlackRock and any of its subsidiaries and affiliate entities last month for any documents related to the asset manager’s effort to push Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) policies.

The subpoena, first reported by Fox Business, was from the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs and requested any documents related to “ESG Integration Practices” and “ESG Factor” that BlackRock has in its position.

The subpoena came after the committee wrote a letter to BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) in August for documents related to any ESG decision-making process. Fox Business reported that Vanguard, State Street, and ISS turned over the relevant information the Texas Senate committee requested, while BlackRock failed to do so, leading to the subpoena.

ESG policies are a form of leftist activism in financial investing that has become the latest vector to influence the way Wall Street financial firms and corporations continue to take social and political positions that do not relate to their business, such as stances associated with climate change, as well as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) agenda. Wall Street firms, such as BlackRock and others, sell ESG as a way to invest according to specific criteria that the political left pushes on voters and consumers.

Texas state Senate Committee on State Affairs chairman Bryan Hughes told Fox Business in a statement:

The Committee needs these documents to uncover the extent to which these firms have been playing politics using Texans’ hard-earned money. Next week we will hold a hearing where each firm will appear and give account to the people of Texas. … While each firm has produced documents, some have provided more than others. BlackRock in particular has refused to provide documents it considers internal or confidential.

Accordingly, we have issued a subpoena to BlackRock for the production of additional documents the committee needs to complete its work. … We will not allow these firms to continue to use Texans’ money to force a narrow political agenda. They have a legal duty to put their investors’ interests first, and we intend to make sure they do.

Earlier in the week, the committee chairman announced they would hold a hearing on December 15 to discuss the impact ESG policies from Wall Street financial institutions have on Texans. Reportedly the committee invited officials from the companies to testify, including BlackRock.

Fox Business explained that Texas lawmakers and state comptroller Glenn Hegar started to focus on how such radical left-leaning policies pushed by corporate boardrooms can harm the Texas state pension plans. Many states, like Texas, are concerned about the policies’ negative effects on the oil and gas industry. Additionally, the state comptroller’s office recently published a list of financial institutions — including BlackRock — that have engaged in left-wing policies to boycott energy companies.

Republicans have started aggressively fighting back against the ESG movement being championed by asset managers across the county.

Last month, multiple state treasurers attended the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) conference, where numerous state treasurers from across the country launched their strategy against ESG policies. The group launched a website, along with a video explainer, hoping to educate Americans on the dangers of ESG policies.

At the conference, multiple state treasurers explained to Breitbart News that ESG policies hurt each state differently but collectively financially hurt all American taxpayers. Hence, they came together in a joint effort to combat the left-wing policies masquerading in economics.

GAMER LYING PIG LAWYER JOE BIDEN!

WH on CA Refinery Profit Limits: We’ll Let Them Speak for Themselves, if Companies Make Large Profit, They Should Invest Back

1

IAN HANCHETT

8 Dec 20220

2:22

On Wednesday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “The Close,” Biden energy coordinator Amos Hochstein responded to California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) proposing to limit the profit margins of oil refiners by stating that he’ll let California speak for itself, but if companies are “going to have those kind of profits, the expectation I think of every American is that those profits would be invested back in America.”

After Hochstein stated that, in “the short and medium term, which is long enough, we acknowledge that we’re going to need oil and gas in the American economy and in the global economy. So, it’s going to be with — fossil fuels [are] going to be with us for years to come, and enough, long enough that would justify increased production investment.” Co-host Romaine Bostick asked, [relevant exchange begins around 7:00] “And it’s not just, of course, what you’re doing at the federal level, at least coming out of the White House, a lot of states and municipalities are making their own efforts, including a proposal out of California and the Governor there to actually put certain limits on the refining margins that we see for some of the refiners there. Is that something you would support?”

Hochstein responded, “Well, I think that the states are going to do — every state has a different profile. … California also does a lot of things that other states don’t follow. So, I’ll let them speak for themselves. But, look, we are — when it comes to the refineries, we have worked with the industry to make sure that we have reserves and an injection of more gasoline, diesel, which is so important for heating oil in the winter to make sure we have enough in reserve. We’re working — that’s gone well. Some of the companies have already — Chevron has put more product into reserves on the east coast. So, I think we have — we disagree on certain areas and we work together in other areas. And I think that’s just the nature of the relationship. It’s not personal. But again, if you’re going to have those kind of profits, the expectation I think of every American is that those profits would be invested back in America.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

‘Endangering Our National Security’: Senator Launches Inquiry Into Biden’s $200M Grant to China-Based Battery Company

Sen. John Barrasso (R., Wyo.), the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee

Alana Goodman • December 8, 2022 5:00 am

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The top Republican on the Senate energy committee launched an inquiry on Wednesday into a Biden administration grant to a China-based battery company under scrutiny from U.S. financial regulators. The announcement came in the wake of a Washington Free Beacon report about the Biden administration's attempt to spin the grant as a boon for American-made clean energy.

Sen. John Barrasso (R., Wyo.), the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said the Department of Energy’s grant to Microvast Holding "endangers our national security" and "undermine[s] the United States’ position in its race against China for technological supremacy," in a letter to DOE secretary Jennifer Granholm on Wednesday.

The inquiry comes after the DOE gave the $200 million award to Microvast, a holding company that operates primarily in China, to build a lithium-ion battery separator facility in Tennessee, the Free Beacon reported on Tuesday. Granholm said the funding, which came from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, would help "supercharge the private sector to ensure our clean energy future is American-made."

Barrasso asked Granholm to turn over records detailing the "security review process" for companies receiving DOE funding, and the names of officials who are responsible for approving the payments.

"Microvast’s close relationship with China is no secret," wrote Barrasso. "I remind you that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was ostensibly intended to develop robust domestic manufacturing bases and supply chains free from the predations of the [People’s Republic of China]."

"DOE distributing $200 million in taxpayer funds to a company joined at the hip with China is demonstrably antithetical to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s intent," he added.

Barrasso asked Granholm to provide him with the information by Dec. 21.

The DOE described Microvast as a "majority U.S.-owned company, traded on NASDAQ" and "headquartered in Stafford, Texas." Microvast’s 2021 annual report with the Securities and Exchange Commission said it is a "holding company, and we conduct all of our operations through our subsidiaries, and principally through our subsidiary in China." Microvast said it has received subsidies from the Chinese government and a significant portion of its customers are Chinese state-owned enterprises.

"The PRC government exerts substantial influence over the manner in which we must conduct our business activities and may intervene, at any time and with no notice," said the company’s filing.

Earlier this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission added Microvast to a list of public companies with China-based auditors and whose financial records are subject to restrictions by the Chinese government. Companies that remain on the list for three consecutive years will be delisted from U.S. stock exchanges under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act.

A DOE spokesman defended the grant in a statement to the Free Beacon on Wednesday, saying the company "will use U.S. sourced raw materials in the proposed facility and equipment manufactured within the U.S. or by U.S. allies."

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law states that the DOE should avoid funding projects that "use battery material supplied by or originating from a foreign entity of concern," which includes a "foreign entity … subject to the jurisdiction or direction" of China.

The DOE told the Free Beacon that Microvast "does not meet these criteria." A spokesman did not immediately respond to follow-up questions about how this was determined.

Microvast spokeswoman Sarah Alexander told the Free Beacon that the company is majority U.S.-owned and primarily operates out of Huzhou, China, but has been expanding its manufacturing and research facilities to Germany and the United States.

Investment Giant Vanguard Pulls Out of ‘Net-Zero’ ESG Initiative

Company faces growing pressure from Republicans over environmental focus

FILE PHOTO: The logo for Vanguard is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., June 1, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Reuters • 

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By Noor Zainab Hussain and Ross Kerber

(Reuters)—Vanguard is pulling out of a major investment-industry initiative on tackling climate change in order to show that it acts independently and to provide clarity on its views to investors, the world's top mutual fund manager said on Wednesday.

Top investors, such as Pennsylvania-based Vanguard, have faced growing pressure from Republican U.S. politicians over their use of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in picking and managing securities.

The effort, known as the Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative, was launched in late 2020 to encourage fund firms to reach net zero emission targets by 2050 and limit the rise in global temperatures. As of Nov. 9, NZAM counted 291 signatories representing some $66 trillion in assets under management.

Vanguard had $7.1 trillion under management as of Oct. 31.

As recently as May Vanguard was touting commitments it had made in line with NZAM's goals. But in a statement on its website on Wednesday Vanguard said while industry initiatives like NZAM can be constructive they can also create confusion about the views of individual firms.

"We have decided to withdraw from NZAM so that we can provide the clarity our investors desire about the role of index funds and about how we think about material risks, including climate-related risks—and to make clear that Vanguard speaks independently on matters of importance to our investors," Vanguard said in the statement.

Vanguard said the change "will not affect our commitment to helping our investors navigate the risks that climate change can pose to their long-term returns."

The move is a blow to efforts to organize industries to move away from fossil fuels.

"It is unfortunate that political pressure is impacting this crucial economic imperative and attempting to block companies from effectively managing risks—a crucial part of their fiduciary duty," Kirsten Snow Spalding, a vice president at sustainability nonprofit Ceres, a NZAM founding partner, said in a statement.

Lara Cuvelier, campaigner at Reclaim Finance, said NZAM now can push harder for change. "Vanguard was never serious about implementing its net zero commitment," Cuvelier said in a statement.

Florida Pulls $2 Billion From BlackRock in Largest Anti-ESG Divestment

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R.) / Getty Images

Reuters • December 1, 2022 12:15 pm

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By Ross Kerber

(Reuters)—Florida's Chief Financial Officer said on Thursday his department would pull $2 billion worth of its assets managed by BlackRock Inc, the biggest such divestment by a state opposed to the asset manager's environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) policies.

While the move will hardly dent BlackRock's $8 trillion in assets, it underscores how the backlash among many Republican politicians, such as those in Florida, against ESG investing, which they see as promoting a "woke agenda," is gathering steam.

Republicans are set to assume control of the House of Representatives in January. This will allow them to hold hearings on ESG and grill the chief executives of BlackRock and other major assets managers about their ESG policies, and also pressure regulators to scrutinize them.

In a statement, Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis said the state's Treasury, which he oversees, would remove BlackRock as manager of about $600 million of short-term investments and have its custodian freeze $1.43 billion of long-term securities now with BlackRock, with an eye on reallocating the money to other money managers by the start of 2023.

Patronis accused BlackRock of focusing on ESG rather than higher returns for investors.

"Florida's Treasury Division is divesting from BlackRock because they have openly stated they've got other goals than producing returns," Patronis said in the statement provided by his office.

A BlackRock representative did not immediately comment.

While BlackRock has encouraged portfolio companies to take steps like disclosing more data about their carbon emissions or to add more diverse board members, it has said its efforts are aimed at improving company performance and resisted calls for steps like divesting from oil companies. U.S. Democratic officials have argued BlackRock doesn't press ESG concerns enough.

So far, only Republican-controlled states have made major reallocations away from BlackRock, including $794 million pulled by Louisiana's treasurer and $500 million by Missouri's treasurer, both in October.

Earlier this week, Republican attorneys general from various states asked a federal regulator to limit Vanguard Group Inc's activities over ESG concerns, and asked United Parcel Service Inc and FedEx Corp to clarify their policies on tracking firearms shipments.

(Reporting by Ross Kerber in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Florida Pulls $2 Billion from BlackRock in Largest Anti-ESG Divestment

Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images

JACOB BLISS

1 Dec 2022Washington, DC0

4:56

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis announced on Thursday that the state would start to pull $2 billion in assets away from BlackRock due to the state’s opposition to the company’s major push into Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) policies.

The CFO’s $2 billion divestment is the most significant anti-ESG divestment to date, as Republican states have started to take a stand against this type of leftist activism in financial investing.

Patronis explained in a press release that the state’s treasury would “immediately have Florida’s custody bank freeze approximately $1.43 billion worth of long-term securities and remove them as the manager of approximately $600 million worth of short-term overnight investments.”

The billions of dollars in funds are invested through asset managers as part of Florida’s Treasury Investment Pool, according to the press release. However, Patronis noted that the state would be completely divested y from BlackRock’s management and relocated to other fund management entities by the beginning of 2023.

Patronis said in a statement that, as Florida’s chief financial officer, it is his responsibility to get the best return possible for his state’s taxpayers, noting that 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.”

Acknowledging that the major banking institutions and economists are predicting there will be a recession while the Federal Reserve increases interest rates to combat the inflation crisis, Patronis added, “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.”

Patronis further explained:

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.

As the Sunshine State’s CFO touched on in his statement, ESG policies are a form of leftist activism in financial investing that has become the latest vector to influence the way Wall Street financial firms and corporations continue to take social and political positions that do not relate to their business, such as stances associated with climate change, as well as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) agenda. Wall Street firms, such as BlackRock and others, sell ESG as a way to invest according to specific criteria that the political left pushes on voters and consumers.

Notably, the state’s $2 billion may not significantly impact the asset manager, as BlackRock has $8 trillion in assets. However, it still drew significant criticism from the company, claiming the move was politically motivated.

“We are disturbed by the emerging trend of political initiatives like this that sacrifice access to high-quality investments and thereby jeopardize returns, which will ultimately hurt Florida’s citizens,” BlackRock said in a statement. “Fiduciaries should always value performance over politics.”

In addition to Florida, state treasurers from Republican-controlled states like Louisiana and Missouri reallocated hundreds of millions of dollars away from BlackRock in October.

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.