Two Biden aides will recuse on BlackRock issues as past ties pose questions

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Economy

Two Biden aides will recuse on BlackRock issues as past ties pose questions

By Yeganeh Torbati
Jan. 2, 2021 at 4:35 p.m. EST

In 2013, the asset management firm BlackRock unleashed a lobbying blitz to carpet-bomb a new Treasury Department agency, pushing federal regulators away from tightening requirements on its massive business lines.

In 2019, the company won again when the Trump administration cemented an approach that would essentially exempt large companies such as BlackRock from more scrutiny.

Now, however, the New York firm — with $7.8 trillion in assets under management — could face its biggest threat yet, with Democratic control of the White House and influential figures on the left bent on breaking Wall Street apart.

But BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is entering this era in a unique position: Two of President-elect Joe Biden’s senior economic advisers worked there in the years after they left the Obama administration.

{snip}

Yeganeh Torbati
Yeganeh Torbati joined The Washington Post in 2020 as a reporter investigating the tax, budget, trade and regulatory decisions made by Washington’s power brokers. She previously covered the federal government for ProPublica, and she wrote about immigration, national security and Iran for Reuters. Follow https://twitter.com/yjtorbati

[elleng]

1. 'Brian Deese, who until Dec. 18 led sustainable investing at BlackRock,

is Biden’s pick to lead the White House National Economic Council. And Wally Adeyemo, who worked at BlackRock for just over two years, including as an interim chief of staff to founder Larry Fink, is slated to be deputy treasury secretary, with a direct hand in shaping the Biden administration’s approach to financial regulation. Adeyemo left the firm in 2019 to lead the Obama Foundation. . .

BlackRock has a lot at stake. Janet L. Yellen, Biden’s nominee to run the Treasury Department, has been sharply critical of moves by the Trump administration to ease oversight of companies such as BlackRock. If Yellen tightens restrictions, the company could find itself in a much different regulatory environment, potentially forcing it to set aside more reserves and hire more compliance officials.'

[abqtommy]

2. I think that investing in popcorn futures is a good move right now...

[Celerity]

3. $7.8 trillion in assets, and that's only what is under direct management, it supports another

$15-18 trillion (11 years ago it was 9 trillion USD, when assets were in a post financial crisis trough, so I am being conservative in my valuations), at least, in global assets, via indirect and/or non majority-control holdings.) It quite possibly it casts a 26, 27 trillion USD systemic financial shadow in toto, which is close to the direct US national debt, which has exploded to 27 trillion USD, and counting.)

No one private firm should accrue such fiscal power (it has more than doubled from the 12 trillion USD shadow it had almost 11 years ago), it is madness.