TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — Florida is divesting from “woke” investment fund Blackrock, the state’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis announced today in a statement.
The State Treasury is immediately ordering Florida’s custody bank to freeze $1.43 billion worth of long-term securities managed by Blackrock and remove them as the manager of approximately $600 million worth of short-term overnight investments. By 2023, Florida will have completely severed any financial ties with Blackrock.
DOESN’T TRUST BLACKROCK
Jimmy Patronis states that he doesn’t trust the investment firm – with its push for ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance standards) – to deliver value for the Sunshine State’s citizens. He is also critical of the ideological manner in which the financial giant attempts to change society and interferes with what should be transparent political processes.
“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,” Patronis writes in the statement.
Patronis adds that Florida never signed up for funding Blackrock’s social engineering experiments.
“UNDEMOCRATIC”
“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,” Patronis explains.
Governor Ron DeSantis has been one of the nation’s most outspoken critics of ESG and “woke capital.”
“Do we govern ourselves through our Constitution and through our elections, or do we have these ‘Masters of the Universe’ occupying these commanding heights of society – are they able to use their economic power to impose policies on the country that they could not do at the ballot box?” DeSantis said at a press conference in July.
Blackrock is one of the world’s largest and most powerful investment firms, managing over $8.5 trillion in assets.
