Covid-19, climate change, and China: the shared focus of the World Economic Forum’s “Great Reset” and BlackRock’s “economic restart.”
ABOUT THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM (WEF):
- The World Economic Forum (WEF) is the self-described “International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation” aiming to “[engage] the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.”
- The WEF claims to be “independent, impartial and not tied to any special interests,” but insists “[i]t’s high time we stopped debating whether stakeholder capitalism makes sense,” meaning today’s free-market capitalism “must be transformed” without discussion.
- “[T]he world must act jointly and swiftly to revamp all aspects of our societies and economies, from education to social contracts and working conditions,” writes WEF founder Klaus Schwab. “Every country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed.
- The WEF says in the future, “You’ll own nothing. And you’ll be happy.”
- Schwab calls this the “‘Great Reset‘ of capitalism” and “The Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
- The WEF’s Great Reset agenda is promoted by world leaders such as Joe Biden, John Kerry, the U.K.’s Prince Charles, Canada’s Justin Trudeau, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Angela Merkel, and China’s Xi Jinping.
- WEF is partnered with Amazon, State Grid Corporation of China, Apple, Google, Facebook, CVS Health, IBM, IKEA, Goldman Sachs, Toyota, Volkswagon, BP, Shell, Bank of America, Citi, Airbus, European Investment Bank, Visa, S&P Global, Walmart, Workday, TIME Magazine, PayPal, and hundreds more.
WEF FOCUSED ON COVID, NET-ZERO, & CHINA:
- Schwab says Covid-19 “represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world… .”
- The WEF embraces what it calls “The Net-Zero Challenge,” which Schwab says “set[s] a target to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner” by spurring on “global climate action.”
- The WEF emphasizes its cooperation with China. Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke at a WEF virtual meeting calling for “major transformation” and taking advantage of “cooperation opportunities to other countries,” after which Schwab “thanked China for taking an active part in global efforts to combat COVID-19 and to implement the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.”
ABOUT BLACKROCK INC.:
- The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that BlackRock Inc. is closing in on an “unthinkable” $10 trillion in world assets.
- “Its assets under management rose 30% to $9.5 trillion, from $7.3 trillion a year earlier, cementing its dominance as the world’s largest money manager,” reports WSJ.
- Investopedia notes that “by some measures the biggest investment management company across the globe.”
- BlackRock holds major shares in Amazon, Apple, Twitter, Walmart, CVS Health, UnitedHealth Group, Berkshire Hathaway, BP, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, Facebook, Alphabet, Tesla, Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Allstate, HP, Ebay, Ford, Blackstone, Nvidia, JP Morgan Chase, Visa, PayPal, Home Depot, Disney, Intel, Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, Pepsi, Coca Cola, Merck, Netflix, Chevron, Costco, McDonald’s, and thousands more.
- “BlackRock is trusted to manage more money than any other investment firm in the world,” according to the WEF.
- BlackRock’s Chief Executive Larry Fink joined the World Economic Forum Board of Trustees in 2019 (also here), serving as “a member of the Forum’s International Business Council.”
- The WEF is officially partnered with BlackRock, according to the WEF’s “Partners” webpage.
BLACKROCK FOCUSED ON COVID, NET-ZERO, CHINA:
- BlackRock’s Investment Institute published its “2021 midyear outlook” with the subheadline “Looking beyond the restart,” using the term ‘restart’ in the same manner the WEF uses the term ‘reset.’ “The restart of economic activity is real,” the document says, and is “broadening globally.”
- This restart will be driven by a “revolution” in “historic fiscal and monitary policy,” the document reveals, and will be Covid-19 “vaccine-led.”
- “The powerful restart of economic activity after the Covid-19 shock is broadening,” reads the document. “A restart is not a traditional business cycle recovery. You can only turn the lights back on once, so to speak. Fiscal stimulus and easy monetary policy have provided a bridge through the pandemic.”
- BlackRock’s “third theme” is “the journey to net zero,” according to the document. “The path to net-zero carbon emissions has a starting point and potential destination—but there is no clear roadmap yet for getting there,” the document goes on to say. “Some of the coming changes may be abrupt—and add to supply and demand disruptions among commodities. We see opportunities along the way, with private market financing playing a key role.”
- The BlackRock document also says that one of its major themes is “China stands out,” meaning that the organization believes that “Chinese assets play a key role in our strategic views in an increasingly bifurcated U.S.- China world.” “For the first time, we break out Chinese assets from emerging markets (EM) as distinct tactical allocations,” the document goes on to say. “We believe Beijing’s focus on quality growth should bear fruit, keeping us tactically neutral on Chinese equities but heavily overweight strategically.”
- “Much is changing in China, and the cost of ignoring this emerging opportunity might prove high, especially over the longer term,” reads BlackRock’s website. “We believe the onshore Chinese equity market is becoming increasingly hard to ignore for investors.”
Jon Fleetwood is Managing Editor for American Faith and author of “An American Revival: Why American Christianity Is Failing & How to Fix It.“
