THE MORNING RANT: Mounting Setbacks for BlackRock and the Woke Asset Management Cartel

BlackRock, the massive asset management company controlled by Machiavellian CEO Larry Fink, is having a bad go of it recently. Mr. Fink famously tried to use BlackRock’s power and influence as custodial owner of investors’ mutual fund shares to compel corporations to adopt his radical political agenda. Mr. Fink sought to make corporations submit to Net Zero, DEI, ESG, and all the other pathologies of the woke left. With Vanguard and State Street as his obedient political allies, Mr. Fink’s cartel is the largest shareholder of the overwhelming majority of S&P 500 stocks.

Funds invested in a 401k buys shares of stock, but the asset management cartel’s members, as the technical owner of those stocks, were casting proxy votes on your behalf to force corporations to endorse the left’s crazy agenda. The despicable use of your retirement funds to push a political agenda may have just ended, thanks to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, along with AGs from ten other red states.

The Attorney Generals have been suing the three big asset managers, but Vanguard just capitulated, agreeing to settle and stop its woke political practices. But best of all, Vanguard will be providing information to the AGs which may further implicate BlackRock and State Street in collusion and/or other anti-trust crimes.

“Attorney General Paxton Secures Historic, Industry-Changing Agreement with Vanguard to Protect the Coal Industry and Empower Investors” [Office of Ken Paxton, Atty General of Texas – 02/26/2026]

Key agreements include:

• Vanguard will pay a $29.5 million penalty to the 11 states for its role in harming the energy industry.
• Vanguard has committed to not impose ESG goals that affect customers’ profitability.
• Vanguard will no longer attempt to direct its portfolio companies’ business strategies.
• Vanguard will no longer “threaten its portfolio companies that it will withdraw from its holdings unless they agree to act (or not act) in some manner.”
• Vanguard will no longer nominate directors or shareholder proposals to its portfolio companies. The days of imposing green board members and net zero proposals on businesses is over.
• Vanguard will start allowing retail investors (e.g you and me) to have proxy votes for investments in funds of US companies.

Ken Paxton pulled no punches in describing what comes across as mafia-like behavior by the asset management companies. Here are some quotes from that press release from AG Paxton’s office:

Attorney General Paxton’s lawsuit seeks to lower the cost of coal—and, thereby, electricity prices—throughout the United States by combatting a BlackRock-led cartel that sought to drive up the price of coal under the guise of “green energy.”

BlackRock’s efforts produced massive profits for itself and its co-conspirators and raised the prices of electricity on consumers throughout the United States. To further profit on the back of Americans, BlackRock also deceived thousands of its investors who elected to invest in non-ESG funds. The Trump Administration’s Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) have taken legal action to support Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit by filing a joint statement of interest.

“While Vanguard has taken appropriate action to resolve this case, Blackrock and State Street have continued to ignore state laws, engage in anticompetitive schemes that hurt American energy, and undermine those who use their services to invest.

This is a big moment, and what so many of us fighting against woke capital have been seeking. Attorney General Paxton (along with Kansas Atty General Kris Kobach and nine others) deserve abundant praise for this victory against the capture of corporate governance by a small cartel of evil asset managers.

But this is just a start. Now that Vanguard has capitulated, it’s in the position of turning state’s evidence against BlackRock and State Street.

From Will Hild at Twitter/X:

BREAKING: BlackRock is in major trouble. Today, a seismic shift has happened in the antitrust case brought against the ESG asset manager cartel of BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard Group. Vanguard is admitting defeat, agreeing to settle the lawsuit brought by a coalition of State Attorneys General, led by @KenPaxtonTX

As part of the settlement they will pay $30 million in fines, turn over all documents related to their coordinated ESG activism, and end all ESG activism for years to come. This is a massive win. The reckoning is here. This settlement with Vanguard is a major blow to the ESG asset manager cartel that sets the stage for more to come. The Attorneys General sought and got long overdue accountability and a massive course correction from Vanguard. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink should be extremely worried about what could be uncovered next, and who's going to fold next. If State Street folds and admits defeat as well, he will be left on an island on his own.

If it is revealed that there was actual communication among BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street on coordinating their strategies for imposing ESG on corporations, criminal prosecution against those involved is warranted.

The Hotel BlackRock – You Can Never Leave

There’s even more bad news for Larry Fink. BlackRock stock is crashing due to investors who are desperate to pull money out of “private credit” funds. BlackRock has shut the door, not allowing investors to get all their money back.

To be fair, the investors were naive to entrust their money to Larry Fink in a fund that allows you to invest, but not necessarily withdraw your funds. They were seduced into investing in “exclusive” funds that are perceived to be the prestigious investment vehicle of the rich and savvy. Like hedge funds, these private credit funds are fairly illiquid. The effect for investors is that they get statements showing how much their investment is worth, but they are prohibited from withdrawing it all.

Much like a bank run, investors recently started pulling out of BlackRock’s private credit funds, causing a stampede of other investors wanting to get their money out too. BlackRock was forced to tell panicked investors, “No,” they could not pull all their money out of the freefalling fund.

“BlackRock Won’t Let Billionaires Cash Out of Its $26B Fund - That Should Worry Everyone” [24/7 Wall St – 3/09/2026]

BlackRock is blocking investors from fully exiting its $26 billion HPS Corporate Lending Fund after redemption requests hit 9.3% of shares in Q1, well above the fund’s 5% quarterly cap. It marks the first time withdrawal requests have exceeded that limit, and the market is reacting accordingly.

The contagion risk is real. Private credit funds are structurally illiquid by design, and when one high-profile name restricts exits, investors in similar vehicles tend to rush for the door simultaneously. Blackstone, Apollo, and KKR are now under heightened scrutiny as a result.

BlackRock stock is down 15% in the past three weeks, and down about 25% from its high point earlier this year. It may be time for Larry Fink to retire and spend more time with his legal defense team family and let someone without such a tarnished reputation steer BlackRock out of the mess that Mr. Fink put it in.

Other Stuff I’m Writing About

My latest piece at the The American Spectator has been published. “Shipping Interruption in Persian Gulf Is Yet Another Reminder of the Risks of Offshoring” discusses how the major shipping chokepoints (Panama Canal, Suez Canal, Strait of Hormuz) have all had major stoppages or slow-downs in recent years, and how completely reckless it was of the United States to become so dependent on imports.

The utopian ideal of one peaceful, global market does not exist and cannot exist. The various chokepoints that keep getting choked off prove the recklessness of having the U.S. so dependent on foreign imports. This recent shipping interruption in the Strait of Hormuz is another reminder of why economic independence is so necessary. We’d be in a perilous situation if the U.S. hadn’t become energy independent. There is no excuse for the United States to be dependent on anything that can be sourced or manufactured domestically.

This piece is not behind a paywall. I’d be honored if you’d give it a read.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

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