(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Recent decisions by Louisiana and Missouri state officials liquidating their investments in BlackRock, a multi-trillion-dollar asset-management company, may be the start of a turning tide against the interests of globalist financial elites in favor of ordinary Americans.
The state of Louisiana will be taking its $794 million investment out of BlackRock by the end of 2022; Missouri will be right behind, eliminating their $300 million account with the firm, Daily Caller reported.
State-level representatives have started to realize that the political motives of multi-national investment banks such as BlackRock and Vanguard are at odds with their citizens.
Louisiana State Treasurer John Schroder wrote a letter to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink explaining the divestment, stating that Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) investing is actively attacking the state’s economy.
“Your blatant anti-fossil fuel policies would destroy Louisiana’s economy. This divestment is necessary to protect Louisiana from actions and policies that would actively seek to hamstring our fossil-fuel sector,” Schroder wrote.
“Your support of ESG investing is inconsistent with the best economic interests and values of Louisiana,” Schroder continued. “I cannot support an institution that would deny our state the benefits of its most robust assets. Simply put, we cannot be party to the crippling of our own economy.”
Louisiana and Missouri are not the only states to question the investment giant’s motives.
Eighteen different state attorneys general, lead by Texas AG Ken Paxton, sent a letter to BlackRock announcing that their respective states will be eliminating their accounts, specifically pointing to the “quixotic climate agenda” as a reason for leaving.
ESG issues have been coming under scrutiny in arenas outside of investing as well. Bloomberg reported that ESG asset managers are consistently selling products that come up short, failing to deliver on promised “sustainability” while also underperforming for investors hoping to yield maximum gains.
“ESG-style decarbonization is a fraud whereby its proponents design a system to constrain our lives, but not theirs,” says Scott Shepard, director of the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Free Enterprise Project.
“People who live in mansions and fly to Davos in private jets have no business pushing carbon restrictions that will hobble living standards and future prospects for the rest of us,” he added.
