Who owns the world?

Fact or fiction? And does it matter? I'm not endorsing anything in this video. Feel free to agree or dispute it. Or don't care.

Quote: rxwine

Fact or fiction? And does it matter? I'm not endorsing anything in this video. Feel free to agree or dispute it. Or don't care.

Which company is it she's talking about, I'm not going to listen to a 14 minute video to find out. This is almost clickbait. Probably is clickbait.

Quote: Evenbob

Which company is it she's talking about, I'm not going to listen to a 14 minute video to find out. This is almost clickbait. Probably is clickbait.

It rhymes with "Black" and "Rock".

For the purposes of this evaluation, I will do no fact checking and just assume that everything she says is true.

Part 1 "The Problem

"First and foremost, BlackRock is the largest asset management company on the planet."

Okay, we already know where she is coming from, but this isn't a great start. If we first agree that there are asset management companies, at all, then it stands t reason that one of them will be the largest. If there is always a, 'Problem,' inherent in being the world's largest asset management company, then at least one asset management company will be, 'A problem,' unless asset management companies cease to exist.

In other words, she is defining her terms in such a way that no possible conclusion can be reached other than BlackRock is a problem. If BlackRock ceased to be a problem, then some other company would replace them as a problem.

So, the question becomes whether or not the concept of an asset management company is a problem.

Paraphrase: Blackrock owns some part of the seven largest banks in the world. If you think you have a way of doing your banking without dealing with Blackrock, you don't."

Okay, what BlackRock does is called, 'Diversification,' which is related to their stock portfolio as pertains their banking interests. If a person thinks that, "Diversification," is inherently bad, then this is a problem; if not, then no problem. They are worth a lot of money, so they can diversify in a lot of different things.

I said I wouldn't fact-check in an argumentative way, so I won't look up how many total banks there are just in the United States, but I am quite confident that BlackRock doesn't have a piece of every single one of them, so it's probably quite possible to specifically avoid a bank in which BlackRock owns shares, if that is your goal.

"...In the developed world, there is a very, very, very, very high chance that your money, in your pension fund, is being invested with BlackRock..."

Umm...good? They certainly seem to know what they are doing with money. After all, the premise of the video is they effectively have a piece of everything in the world. That certainly didn't become the state of affairs because they manage money poorly.

"...and, in turn, massively driving up the prices of real estate..."

That's good if you own real estate.

"...business structures are designed to make it a little more confusing as to who owns what..."

You just showed me the percentages. This is all publicly viewable information.

Paraphrase: BlackRock is one of the largest owners of Coca-Cola and of Pepsi

Again, diversification. Also, they don't have anything near a controlling interest in either.

"in one way or another, BlackRock owns a part of almost every news organization or major media outlet on the planet."

Well, they're publicly-traded, so BlackRock has the right to do that. Also, many of the outlets she cited fundamentally disagree with one another as to most issues, so I doubt that BlackRock is using these news sources to push singular narratives...because they don't, in fact, push unified narratives.

"Nine trillion is more than the GDP of every single country on the planet, except for two..."

Okay, I'd be much more afraid of that nine trillion all being concentrated in one place as opposed to all sorts of different assets and holdings. Also, the GDP comparison was based on one year---and BlackRock has been around since 1988---misleading.


SUMMARY: They're big, so they must be bad.

You either agree, or not, with the above statement.

Part 2: "The Solution"

Paraphrase: Find a different bank or financial institution with no ties to BlackRock.

I already said that. Besides, these financial institutions could be bought out by BlackRock, or invest in BlackRock, in the future. Finally, BlackRock is a publicly-traded company, so by her definition (and the stock market definition) of, "Ownership," a person could simply choose to own a part of BlackRock and...from what I can tell...would generally do well to do.

Paraphrase: Free market solutions to avoid BlackRock.

I can't imagine that BlackRock would have a problem with that. If I had to guess, my guess would be they are pretty big fans of the free market. It seems to have done well for them so far.

I was curious what her background was. She became a millionaire in her 30s through investing according to another video.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047849/

Blackrock has nearly twice as much assets under management as GS and JPM combined. Enough assets to buy Amazon four times over. At least two of their former execs are now planted in the Biden administration. BLK is the safest investment on the planet.

Quote: Tanko

Blackrock has nearly twice as much assets under management as GS and JPM combined. Enough assets to buy Amazon four times over. At least two of their former execs are now planted in the Biden administration. BLK is the safest investment on the planet.

TBTF, To big to fail.

Quote: rxwine

I was curious what her background was. She became a millionaire in her 30s through investing according to another video.

I guess she sells planning lessons (one of the lessons is how to become a citizen of multiple countries) and classes on how to take, "Advanced selfies," online. I guess she did well in Crypto...so savvy investor or just getting lucky and catching a trend? I don't know, maybe she had some inkling ahead of time that an alternative currency would be popular.

Overall, I'd have to say that I would be inclined to neither trust nor distrust her investing advice...though Blackrock moves as the market moves, mostly...so it might as well be an index fund.