Says the man who actually widens the wealth divide. One of the biggest global risks right now is Larry Fink being out of prison.

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bad_username 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

This is exactly why Larry Fink makes these statements: to singal the correct virtues and keep himself out of trouble. This is the modus operandi for most people who possess unfairly oversized influence today.

	▲	red-iron-pine 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		he cares because he's worried about the pendulum swinging back and the mob coming at him with pitchforks and guillotines. and he's right.

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nirui 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

BlackRock helped to play one of the instrument, but there are many instruments in the game of finance.

See it this way:

In the old world, people produces actual product to get rich, the landlord, the factory owners etc. It worked out fine overall so the world accepted this game mode as an option, in addition to the old lord/emperor mode.

Then, some smart gamblers discovered that they can gamble on promises and expectations to get rich too, and it worked out good overall so the world again accepted it as a new game mode as an option too.

The wealth divide always exists, and historically can largely/only be destroyed by time and/or large scale disasters. But in the new gambler game mode, most people ain't in it (as in "It's a big club and you ain't in it" from George Carlin) and don't have the power to play it. It's a system don't reward honor, loyalty or labor. That's why most people are left out while the riches steams far ahead (then jets far ahead, then rockets far ahead, you get the idea).

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georgemcbay 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Says the man who actually widens the wealth divide.

Which doesn't make him wrong about the AI boom being a huge risk in making the wealth divide (already beyond gilded age levels) much worse.

Of course, because he is who he is the only solution he talks about is getting people to "invest in stocks", which, yeah that makes a ton of sense if you already have wealth since the current ruling class have shown that they will not, under any circumstances, let number go down even if none of the economics make sense (sure, they'll orchestrate a little dip here and there so they can profit massively off the insider information, but hey crime is legal bro).

But it does nothing for the many people who are really going to get squeezed here who are already living paycheck to paycheck and watching the water rise up to about their necks at this point.

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bigcat12345678 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Isn't this why this statement should be taken seriously? But your statement implies the opposite, which is to ignore Larry Fink's warning. That appears irrational.

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unixhero 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

No logically, it would be that Blackrock did not pursue its business any further.

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jart 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

This is a man who's dedicated his life to enriching passive investors. The people building AI are working hard to push the frontiers of science and technology. They deserve to get rich. Because they're creating new wealth for all of us. Yet for some reason Larry Fink views this as a problem. That tells you all you need to know. His loyalty is to the idle ruling class that's so incompetent they need him to manage their wealth. Blackrock is a business that charges people a fee to take control of their shareholder voting rights basically, which is a power he's abused for years. Financial people don't build anything. Yet somehow the system gives him the authority to dictate decisions for the people who do. That system needs to change.

	▲	bluefirebrand 2 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> Because they're creating new wealth for all of us Let's not give them too much credit here. They are aiming to capture the vast majority of that wealth for themselves, the rest of us are going to be fucked
	▲	crostlybostly 2 days ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		If you believe in AI hype (which you seem to) you should acknowledge the passive investors are the ones funding the massive data center buildouts, infrastructure investment, and paying for R&D that has not yet proven profitable. This may make you sad, but the system exists to allocate capital to projects like this. And without large financial institutions and concentrated wealth, none of that would happen.
	▲	asksomeoneelse 2 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		This is an overly charitable take on the role of AI companies. A more realistic view would be that they shamelessly plundered the work of millions of people, used it to destroy the livelihood of the original creators, while making a profit for themselves out of this collective nightmare.