BlackRock’s China Blunder
Pouring billions into the country now is a bad investment and imperils U.S. national security.
By George Soros
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has begun a major initiative in China. On Aug. 30 it launched a set of mutual funds and other investment products for Chinese consumers. The New York-based firm is the first foreign-owned company allowed to do so. The launch came just weeks after BlackRock recommended that investors triple their allocations in Chinese assets. This will push billions of dollars into China. “The Chinese market represents a significant opportunity to help meet the long-term goals of investors in China and internationally,” BlackRock Chairman Larry Fink wrote in a letter to shareholders.
BlackRock takes its responsibilities for its clients’ money seriously and is a leader in the environmental, social and governance movement. But it appears to misunderstand President Xi Jinping’s China.
The firm seems to have taken the statements of Mr. Xi’s regime at face value. It has drawn a distinction between state-owned enterprises and privately owned companies, but that is far from reality. The regime regards all Chinese companies as instruments of the one-party state.
This possible misunderstanding could explain BlackRock’s decision, but there may be another explanation. The profits to be earned from entering China’s hitherto closed financial markets may have influenced their decision. The BlackRock managers must be aware that there is an enormous crisis brewing in China’s real-estate market. They may believe that investment funds flowing into China will help Mr. Xi handle the situation, but the president’s problems go much deeper. China’s birthrate is much lower than official statistics indicate and Mr. Xi’s attempts to increase it have made matters worse. The president recently launched his “Common Prosperity” program, which is a fundamental change in direction. It seeks to reduce inequality by distributing the wealth of the rich to the general population. That does not augur well for foreign investors.
Pouring billions of dollars into China now is a tragic mistake. It is likely to lose money for BlackRock’s clients and, more important, will damage the national security interests of the U.S. and other democracies. Mr. Xi faces an important hurdle in 2022. Many believe he intends to overstep the term limits established by Deng Xiaoping and make himself ruler for life. He is bound to have enemies, whom he must prevent from uniting against him. Thus, he needs to bring to heel any entity rich enough to exercise independent power.
This process has been unfolding in the past year and reached a crescendo in recent weeks. It began with the abrupt cancellation of a new issue by Alibaba’s Ant Group in November 2020. Then came the disciplinary measures against Didi Chuxing after it floated an issue in New York in June. Things culminated with the banishment of U.S.-financed tutoring companies from China. This had a profoundly negative effect on offshore markets, hammering New York-listed Chinese companies and shell companies. Chinese financial authorities have tried to reassure markets ever since.
The leaders of Western asset-management firms, such as Stephen Schwarzman, co-founder of investment firm Blackstone, and former Goldman Sachs President John L. Thornton, have long been interested in the Chinese consumer market—and in the prospect of business opportunities dangled by Mr. Xi.
BlackRock is only the latest company trying to engage with China. Earlier efforts could have been morally justified by claims that they were building bridges to bring the countries closer, but the situation now is totally different. Today, the U.S. and China are engaged in a life and death conflict between two systems of governance: repressive and democratic.
The BlackRock initiative imperils the national security interests of the U.S. and other democracies because the money invested in China will help prop up President Xi’s regime, which is repressive at home and aggressive abroad. Congress should pass legislation empowering the Securities and Exchange Commission to limit the flow of funds to China. The effort ought to enjoy bipartisan support.
+++
George Soros Is Funneling Money to Prop Up Gavin Newsom
(RightWing.org) – California’s governor is in deep trouble, with around half his state’s voters wanting him removed from office. He does have one powerful friend, though. Billionaire financier George Soros is using his cash and influence in an attempt to swing this month’s recall election.
California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) is facing a special recall election on September 14. As polls show that up to 50% of Californians are fed up with his bungled handling of the COVID pandemic, Democrats are getting nervous. Inevitably, groups have sprung up to channel money into Newsom’s campaign; equally inevitably, George Soros is contributing much of that money.
On August 30, with just over two weeks to go until the vote, Soros donated $500,000 to a group with the imaginative name of “Stop the Republican Recall of Governor Newsom.” Interestingly that was the 91-year-old Hungarian’s third donation to the PAC and brings his total contribution to a full million dollars.
Soros is exploiting a loophole in California election funding rules that place strict limits on how much a candidate in a recall election can spend – except for the incumbent, who can burn through all the cash they can get their hands on. With Soros supplying funds from the estimated $15 billion held by his Open Society foundation, Newsom has a huge and unfair advantage. But will it be enough
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
When Democrats do not get their way they turn against the founding fathers and start tearing down the house. Durbin needs to be aborted.
In Wake Of Decision On Abortion Law Democrats Decide To Probe The Supreme Court
United Press International
Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin announced Friday that the chamber’s judiciary committee will hold a hearing to review the Supreme Court’s decision to allow Texas’ restrictive abortion ban to stand.
Durbin, who is chairman of the committee, accused the high court of abusing its so-called “shadow docket,” a term used to describe expedited decisions made outside the regular docket and without oral arguments.
The Supreme Court voted 5-4 late Wednesday against an emergency application for relief filed by abortion providers in Texas who sought to halt Texas’ new law.
Texas Senate Bill 8, signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in May, outlaws abortions when a heartbeat is detectable, which is about six weeks into a pregnancy. It will deny the procedure to about 85% of patients who seek it in the state
The ban is enforced by members of the public who are able to sue anyone who provides or is involved in aiding and performing abortions barred by SB8, including anyone who drives a patient to the procedure.
Durbin decried the decision, along with another shadow docket decision last week in which the court overturned the Biden administration’s pandemic-related eviction moratorium. He said such rulings can leave lower courts in the dark about how to apply Supreme Court precedent going forward.
“The Supreme Court must operate with the highest regard for judicial integrity in order to earn the public’s trust,” Durbin said. “This anti-choice law is a devastating blow to Americans’ constitutional rights — and the court allowed it to see the light of day without public deliberation or transparency. At a time when public confidence in government institutions has greatly eroded, we must examine not just the constitutional impact of allowing the Texas law to take effect, but also the conservative court’s abuse of the shadow docket.”
President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also vowed to fight Texas’ new abortion law.
The House’s top Democrat said she plans to bring up Rep. Judy Chu’s Women’s Health Protection Act, which will codify the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision on abortion into law. Biden said he’s instructed his administration to launch a “whole-of-government effort” to respond to the law and see what the executive branch can do to ensure access to abortion for Texas women.
Copyright 2021 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
We have much to be thankful for, especially for those that have chosen to protect us.
We can do this small but important act for them, especially today.
God bless you and our United States of America
No words or comment, but please respond to the message at the end.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prayer request
ACLU has filed a suit to end prayer from the military completely. They're making Great progress. The Navy Chaplains can no longer mention Jesus' name in Prayer thanks to the ACLU and others.
I'm not breaking this One.
If I get it a 1000 times, I'll forward it a 1000 times! Let us Pray.
I THINK THAT I AM A TOUGH PERSON, BUT I CRY EVERY TIME I SEE THIS PICTURE. I CAN'T HELP IT.
Prayer chain For our Military... Don't break it! We owe them Sooo Much!
Pray for our soldiers, Don't break it! Please send this on after a short prayer
Dear Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us.
Bless them & their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. In Jesus name,
..'
Prayer Request:
When you receive this, please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our troops around the world and our Nation. There is nothing attached. Just send this to people in your address book. Don’t let it stop with you.
Why we as a Nation have given so much power to such a small Percentage of our population; letting them destroy our traditions, families, values, has always baffled me.
Well, it’s time to fight back!
Of all the gifts you could give a Marine, Soldier, Sailor, Airman, & others deployed in harm's way, prayer is the very best one.
MAY GOD BLESS YOU FOR PASSING THIS ON!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No comments:
Post a Comment