Posted by ESG and the letter gender movement are slowly but surely destroying America’s economy. One wonders though, why long-existing solidly capitalist companies like Anheuser Busch or Target are turning shareholder capitalism into stakeholder capitalism, as described by Klaus Schwab, the prophet of climate change at the World Economic Forum, in his books “COVID 19 – The Great Reset” and “The 4th Industrial Revolution”.
Schwab ordains that, to save the world from climate change, capitalism must no longer be permitted to simply generate profits for its shareholders but must be mandated to produce and invest mainly in consideration of social and environmental, i.e., ideological concerns.
Why is a beer producer who caters to a mainly non-woke consumer base that does not believe that there are more than two natural sexes suddenly pushing a transvestite, a man who is pretending to be a woman, as its identification figurehead? Does the company’s management really not know that they are negating the core values of one of their largest consumer groups?
And why is the company doubling down on this strategy even as it lost over 25% of its stock value and a similar percentage of its market share? I heard a marketing expert on TV say: “It’s because they want to have the entire market.”
Seems to me that a company that wants to have the entire market should simply market its goods or services and abstain from imposing ideological dogma and woke Weltanschauung on its potential consumers. Sell beer, not social engineering, or the new world order. How can you hope to succeed when you piss off about half of your potential customers in order to court a marginal group that makes up less than 3% of your consumer base – if that?
I doubt that Anheuser Busch and Target do not know that their market strategies are economic nonsense. But then, why do they behave like this?
Many businesses that go woke do not do so entirely voluntarily. They are pushed to go woke by mainly two forces. One is government. The other one is investment.
The Federal government has been pushing requirements for environmental and social management and so have several states, e.g., California, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington State – all states run by extreme left Democrat governments.
But even more than by government mandates, ESG has been driven by investment firms. Most influential are The Vanguard Group, which owns 8% of BlackRock, the State Street Corporation, which owns 4.02% of BlackRock, and BlackRock itself, which owns almost 7% of its own stock.
These woke investment companies invest in other businesses and influence them through shareholder pressure and by making capital available – or unavailable. They also influence the legislatures of states by managing state pension funds. Currently, BlackRock manages the state pension funds of Washington ($13 billion), Florida ($10.7 billion), New York ($9.8 billion), Nevada ($9.7 billion), Nebraska ($9.4 billion), South Carolina ($9.3 billion), Oklahoma ($5.8 billion), Pennsylvania ($3.5 billion), Montana ($2.9 billion), and West Virginia ($2.1 billion). These funds are now no longer managed not to achieve the best ROI but to save the world from climate change and to promote social engineering. Seems some folks will have a brutal “wokeup” call come retirement.
BlackRock, founded in 1988, had a net income of $5.2 billion in 2020 and managed $9.5 trillion worth of assets. It seems that this giant company is pushing wokeness and ESG in the USA while supporting the Chinese government and the CCP, the greatest environmental polluters in the world, in any way possible in their pursuit of global economic, financial, and military dominance.
Larry Fink, BlackRock’s CEO, made statements like this:
I continue to firmly believe China will be one of the biggest opportunities for BlackRock over the long term, both for asset managers and investors.
The Financial Times issued this “Consumer Warning”:
“U.S. Consumers should be wary of investments managed by BlackRock Investment Management Company. Seeking profits with no regard for consequences, BlackRock is taking your money and betting on China. BlackRock is knowingly using investments funded by hard-working Americans to support companies directly tied to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). These investments made with Americans’ retirement savings are strengthening the Chinese economy and enhancing the Chinese military.” (Quoted after “Consumers’ Research – Consumer Warning”)
BlackRock’s CEO Fink has concerning ties to China’s leadership, including aiding the CCP in negotiations with the United States during recent trade talks. Ties between BlackRock and the CCP go back many years. In 2008, BlackRock opened an office in Beijing to expand its business into China. The BlackRock office in China was to help establish local contacts. Since then, BlackRock invested into companies like Baidu, Pinduoduo, Xiaomi, and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), which all have ties to the CCP. Baidu and Xiaomi have displayed their allegiance to the CCP by launching internal Communist Party committees within their companies. Pinduoduo has contributed hundreds of millions to Chinese Communist Party initiatives within China and BlackRock investments in CNOOC have helped the CCP’s to expand its influence across the globe.
BlackRock has publicly positioned itself as a socially and environmentally responsible company, but when it comes to China, BlackRock does not apply the same investment principles it enforces in the U.S. BlackRock claims that environmental and social moral principles are guiding its investment strategy, but it continues to prioritize investment in China – which is the world’s largest polluter and has a horrific human rights record.
It is plain obvious that such an investment strategy by the world’s largest investment and asset management company weakens the USA and strengthens China – both of which is in China’s best interest.
Although China is a serious threat to American security, BlackRock has poured large capital investments into companies like Tencent, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), China Telecom, and China SpaceSat that all have extensive ties to the Chinese military. Through their investments in these companies, BlackRock is supporting the Chinese military’s technological buildup as it seeks to rival the United States’ capabilities. In the case of China SpaceSat, BlackRock took a stake in a company that is a key part of the Chinese military’s satellite and space priorities. In my view, BlackRock’s investment choices are not only risking the security of U.S. pensions, but also the security of our nation. Indeed, I wonder if this is still real capitalism or just an extension of the Chinese communists’ global strategy to achieve world-wide dominance.
As American citizens and consumers, we do not have too many weapons left to fight against such overwhelmingly powerful manipulation of our economy and society. But the cases of Anheuser Busch, Target and other companies that were pressured by government agencies and investment firms to adopt a woke management policy and were hit by massive consumer retaliation show that we have still at least one very powerful weapon left: we can refuse to by goods and services from ESG/woke businesses.
Why should we take our business to companies that negate our core values? Why should we buy any goods or services from businesses that are trying to impose their vision of the future on us when their vision is contrary to our own?
Even if this renunciation of consumption may hurt us, as well, in the long run it will hurt these bully ideologues that promote Chinese supremacy even more. If we sustain a long-term consumer boycott of woke businesses, it will affect their bottom line and the bottom line of their woke investors. And I think that even BlackRock may not be big enough to survive a massive long-haul consumer boycott. If the silent majority of US consumers remains unwilling to buy the goods and services from woke businesses and to invest in or via woke investment companies, we may be able to reverse the pernicious ESG trend.
Epilogue
My father was an actor and among actors and opera folks a genre of jokes used to be popular called “tenor jokes”. In the tenor jokes the tenor is always an arrogant bully. Here is one tenor joke my father once told me:
A tenor is auditioning with the director of an opera house. The director: “OK. So, you want a job as a tenor here. Then sing something. Give me a sample of your capabilities.” The tenor: “Hem hem cough cough … Celeeeesteee Aiiiiida … “. He suffers a coughing attack. He tries again: “Hem hem … Celeeeesteee Aiiiiida … cough, cough, cough, croak …” the tenor gives up, winds his yellow scarf around his neck and says to the director: “Oh well I would not have contracted with your miserable opera house anyway. I shit on all opera house directors.” As he gets ready to storm out of the office the director calls him back. “There is one thing though, Monsieur, that I would suggest you should consider.” – “And what would that be?” – “Oh well, if you shit on all opera house directors, very little will fall on each of us, but if all opera house directors shit on you …”
You get the drift.
Maybe, eventually, BlackRock will, too.