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Investigative journalism looking at the financial corporation that's turning into the evil shadow mastermind of our times. BlackRock, the world's largest investment manager, controls around 10% of the world's wealth. It controls so many mutual funds and retirement portfolios, that BlackRock has an important voice on most shareholder meetings. If countries go bankrupt, they hire BlackRock to analyse their books. Their super software Aladdin calculates investment risks and advises clients on investment decisions. Those clients are banks, countries, insurance companies, pension funds. And because BlackRock is ubiquitous, their investment propositions are usually for stock they also co-own. No matter the financial transaction, BlackRock gets a cut.
They manage to amasses more and more power in this financial luftschloss that's full of loopholes and ripe for a systemic overhaul. Because they operate outside of clear regulations somehow, they seem to get away with it so far.
I don't understand an iota of what's going on in the financial industry, so this was my foray into trying to scratch at the surface. The book is well researched and also easy to follow, but sometimes it became too dense for me, with too much name-calling and too many numbers.