This is truly a wild analysis. It’s entirely plausible that Black rock owns the longs and Citadel owns the shorts and that they collaborate. But just the circular ownership leading to total dominance of the market by a few hundred people is enough to make this worth reading.
I think the author’s politics are liberal and the author’s beliefs about history and politics are the result of propaganda. But the analysis of ownership itself is the thing I found worth examining and considering.
I did not read the article but BlackRock only owns significant shares of most corps. They don’t own everything but they do get a massive say in the corporate world and have led the way in promoting stakeholder capitalism, geenwashing, etc.
Part of the consciousness around BlackRock is that they control the world and it is used to promote conspiracy theories full of half truths. Certain factions weaponize this to manipulate finance. Several state treasuries, for example, have divested from BlackRock to force finance to treat fossil fuels better and to challenge Fink’s vision with something more asthetically fascist, and more explicitly in favor of US nationalism and imperialism (especially in regards to oil investment which is reliant on stable, high oil prices to maintain US energy dominance, with more investment and support, exxon could have basically bought euro energy out). So it is not so simple that they control everything.
The truth is Fink and BlackRock are more like the traffic cops of the global economy or the glue that holds finance together as it is. Very powerful and influencial. Fink has less money than Musk but is arguably more influencial. But they are more like a major part of capitalisms infrastructure than they are its rulers, if that makes sense. Nobody likes having the whistle blown on you, being told to halt or that you won’t get investment you need. No one likes being told your business is untenable because of climate change. Imo this is more why Fink/BlackRock take heat than anything else, far more than concern over power that is more visible.
Fink is, for better or worse, a “true believer” imo, a white savior that keeps the death cult going despite taking heat from many factions. He is basically trying to bring about a communist utopia through finance capitalism lol, or so he tries to portray himself. He really thinks finance will solve all social problems through good corporate governance and so on.
He also has been instrumental in assisting the US government in managing financial disasters, so he is as much of an insider as it gets. There probably is collusion, corruption, and backroom deals, but the fixation on that kind of thing turns it all into a spectecle and turning it into a spectecle makes manipulating the infrastructure easier if you ask me.
I also see BlackRock as a kind of symbol of American/metropolitan core complicity. Everyone that is using their services to ensure their retirement and grow their wealth is complicit in BlackRock’s imperial structure and gives some fuel to every social problem it causes.
On your note about conspiracy theories… Yeah while it’s tempting to think that these large venture capital firms are an evil cabal of string pullers that manage every facet of the economy because they “own” everything, the reality is a lot more “boring” for lack of a better term.
Because they have ownership in everything and are seeking to maximize profit, all they really do is impose pressure on their portfolio companies. They’re likely not directly managing and ordering all the corner-cutting, labor abuse, and other evil shit these companies do. It’s the whole system that incentives profit above all else that has led us here, not one particular club of devils.
Speaking as someone with some friends in the finance world, some would be shocked to know just how ignorant these venture capitalists are of the wrongdoings the companies they own are responsible for. Of course, I’m sure there’s some level of truth to conspiracies impacting markets, but otherwise these capitalists are just buying companies, plugging their eyes and ears, and doing a whole lot of nothing while they wait for returns.
I’m not speaking of Blackrock specifically, just in general about the whole venture capital system.