Bsg Bak

promoted to primary (bp spill. PIC

funded TARP?

2 nodes too clever $

cf omg house bubble 2 w/ rent

many PNC on bd

===

Laurence D. Fink is the chairman and CEO of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/BlackRock" title="BlackRock">BlackRock</a>.Blackrock is "far and away the largest money manager on the planet" with $3.3 trillion in assets and $9 trillion of clients' money for which the firm provides services.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Larry_Fink#cite_note-1">[1]</a> According to Vanity Fair, "Fink watches funds equal to a little less than four times the current U.S. budget."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Larry_Fink#cite_note-2">[2]</a> At the time of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Deepwater_Horizon" title="Deepwater Horizon">Deepwater Horizon</a> blowout, Blackrock was the single largest shareholder of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/BP" title="BP">BP</a>.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Larry_Fink#cite_note-3">[3]</a>

Larry Fink and BlackRock both gained from the 2008 financial crisis and the bailouts that followed. According to Vanity Fair:<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Larry_Fink#cite_note-4">[4]</a> "Indeed, it is hard to argue that anyone, or any firm on Wall Street, gained as much stature from the economic crisis as did Fink and BlackRock. At the height of the disaster, when the American economy was on the brink, it was to Fink that Wall Street’s C.E.O.’s—including <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/J.P.Morgan_Chase" title="J. P. Morgan Chase" class="mw-redirect">J. P. Morgan Chase</a>’s <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Jamie_Dimon" title="Jamie Dimon" class="mw-redirect">Jamie Dimon</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Morgan_Stanley" title="Morgan Stanley">Morgan Stanley</a>’s <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_Mack" title="John Mack">John Mack</a>, and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/A.I.G." title="A.I.G." class="mw-redirect">A.I.G.</a>’s <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Robert_Willumstad&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Robert Willumstad (page does not exist)">Robert Willumstad</a>—turned for help and counsel. As did the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S._Treasury" title="U.S. Treasury" class="mw-redirect">U.S. Treasury</a> and the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Federal_Reserve_Bank_of_New_York" title="Federal Reserve Bank of New York">Federal Reserve Bank of New York</a>, whose top officials turned to Fink for advice on the financial markets and assistance on the $30 billion financing of the sale of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bear_Stearns" title="Bear Stearns" class="mw-redirect">Bear Stearns</a> to J. P. Morgan, the $180 billion bailout of A.I.G., the $45 billion rescue of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Citigroup" title="Citigroup">Citigroup</a>, and those of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Fannie_Mae" title="Fannie Mae">Fannie Mae</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Freddie_Mac" title="Freddie Mac">Freddie Mac</a> at $112 billion and growing."

<ul>

<li>Trustee, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/New_York_University" title="New York University">New York University</a></li>

<li>Director (2003), <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/New_York_Stock_Exchange" title="New York Stock Exchange">New York Stock Exchange</a></li>

</ul>

<h2>Contents</h2>

</div>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Larry_Fink#Articles_and_resources">1 Articles and resources</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Larry_Fink#Related_SourceWatch_articles">1.1 Related SourceWatch articles</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Larry_Fink#References">1.2 References</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Larry_Fink#External_resources">1.3 External resources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Larry_Fink#External_articles">1.4 External articles</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

</div>

<h2>Articles and resources</h2>

<h3>Related SourceWatch articles</h3>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/BlackRock" title="BlackRock">BlackRock</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Deepwater_Horizon" title="Deepwater Horizon">Deepwater Horizon</a></li>

</ul>

<h3>References</h3>

</li>

</ol>

<ul>

<li id="cite_note-1">Graydon Carter, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2010/04/graydon-201004">"Wild on the Street"</a>, Vanity Fair, April 2010, Accessed August 8, 2010.</li>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-2">Graydon Carter, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2010/04/graydon-201004">"Wild on the Street"</a>, Vanity Fair, April 2010, Accessed August 8, 2010.</li>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-3">John Collins Rudolf, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/just-how-british-is-bp/">"Just How British is BP?"</a>, New York Times, June 14, 2010, Accessed August 8, 2010</li>

<li value="4" id="cite_note-4">Suzanna Andrews, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/04/fink-201004">"Larry Fink’s $12 Trillion Shadow"</a>, Vanity Fair, April 2010, Accessed August 8, 2010</li>

</ol>

</li>

<h3>External resources</h3>

<h3>External articles</h3>

<ul>

<li>Graydon Carter, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2010/04/graydon-201004">"Wild on the Street"</a>, Vanity Fair, April 2010.</li>

<li>Suzanna Andrews, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/04/fink-201004">"Larry Fink’s $12 Trillion Shadow"</a>, Vanity Fair, April 2010</li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

</div>

===

BlackRock, founded in 1988 as Blackstone Financial Management, is "an independent, global investment manager" providing services to "many of the world's largest pension funds and insurance companies."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/BlackRock#cite_note-1">[1]</a><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/BlackRock#cite_note-2">[2]</a>

In 2011 the company reported $9,081,000,000 in revenues.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/BlackRock#cite_note-3">[3]</a>

<h2>Ties to Pete Peterson's "Fix the Debt"</h2>

The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:Fix_the_Debt" title="Portal:Fix the Debt">Campaign to Fix the Debt</a> is the latest incarnation of a decades-long effort by former Nixon man turned Wall Street billionaire <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Peterson" title="Pete Peterson" class="mw-redirect">Pete Peterson</a> to slash earned benefit programs such as <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Social_Security" title="Social Security" class="mw-redirect">Social Security</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Medicare" title="Medicare">Medicare</a> under the guise of fixing the nation's "debt problem." BlackRock is part of the Campaign to Fix the Debt as of February 2013.

This article is part of the Center for Media and Democracy's investigation of Pete Peterson's Campaign to "Fix the Debt." Please visit our main SourceWatch page on <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:Fix_the_Debt" title="Portal:Fix the Debt">Fix the Debt</a>.

<h2>Financial Crisis</h2>

According to Vanity Fair, BlackRock is "far and away the largest money manager on the planet," a distinction it earned in December 2009 following the finalization of a $13.5 billion acquisition of Barclays Global Investors.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/BlackRock#cite_note-4">[4]</a><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/BlackRock#cite_note-5">[5]</a> Blackrock CEO <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Larry_Fink" title="Larry Fink">Larry Fink</a> "watches funds equal to a little less than four times the current U.S. budget."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/BlackRock#cite_note-6">[6]</a>

Additionally, Vanity Fair<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/BlackRock#cite_note-7">[7]</a> comments: "A global colossus—with $3.3 trillion in assets under its direct management and another $9 trillion it supports—BlackRock manages about $1 trillion of pension and retirement funds for millions of Americans and oversees the investments of scores of institutions around the world: from state and local governments to college endowments, from Fortune 500 companies to the sovereign-wealth funds of, among others, Abu Dhabi and Singapore." At the time of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Deepwater_Horizon" title="Deepwater Horizon">Deepwater Horizon</a> blowout, Blackrock was the single largest shareholder of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/BP" title="BP">BP</a>.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/BlackRock#cite_note-8">[8]</a>

BlackRock and its CEO, Fink, both gained from the 2008 financial crisis and the bailouts that followed. Vanity Fair continues, saying:<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/BlackRock#cite_note-9">[9]</a> "Today, through an array of government contracts, BlackRock has effectively become the leading manager of Washington’s bailout of Wall Street." BlackRock oversees $130 billion in toxic assets for the U.S. government (assets the U.S. government "took on" in the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bear_Stearns" title="Bear Stearns" class="mw-redirect">Bear Stearns</a> sale and the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/A.I.G." title="A.I.G." class="mw-redirect">A.I.G.</a> rescue). Additionally, BlackRock provides services to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Fannie_Mae" title="Fannie Mae">Fannie Mae</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Freddie_Mac" title="Freddie Mac">Freddie Mac</a>, and the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=New_York_Fed&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="New York Fed (page does not exist)">New York Fed</a>.

<h2>Personnel</h2>

<h3>Global Executive Committee</h3>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Laurence_D._Fink" title="Laurence D. Fink" class="mw-redirect">Laurence D. Fink</a>, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer</li>

<li>Robert S. Kapito, President</li>

<li>Barbara Novick, Vice Chairman</li>

<li>Kendrick R. Wilson III , Vice Chairman</li>

<li>Philipp Hildebrand, Vice Chairman</li>

<li>N. J. Charrington, Senior Managing Director - Chairman of Europe, Middle East & Africa</li>

<li>Robert W. Fairbairn, Senior Managing Director</li>

<li>Peter R. Fisher, Senior Managing Director</li>

<li>Rob Goldstein, Senior Managing Director</li>

<li>Bennett W. Golub, Ph.D.. Senior Managing Director - Chief Risk Officer</li>

<li>Charles S. Hallac, Senior Managing Director - Chief Operating Officer</li>

<li>Ken Kroner, Senior Managing Director</li>

<li>J. Richard Kushel, Deputy Chief Operating Officer</li>

<li>Matthew Mallow. Senior Managing Director - General Counsel</li>

<li>Mark McCombe. Senior Managing Director - Chairman of Asia-Pacific</li>

<li>Patrick Olson, Senior Managing Director - GEC Secretary</li>

<li>Ann Marie Petach, Senior Managing Director - Chief Financial Officer</li>

<li>Quintin Price, Senior Managing Director</li>

<li>Linda Gosden Robinson, Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Marketing and Communications</li>

<li>Amy Schioldager, Senior Managing Director</li>

<li>Jeffrey A. Smith, Ph.D., Senior Managing Director - Head of Human Resources</li>

<li>Derek Stein, Senior Managing Director</li>

</ul>

<h3>Board of Directors</h3>

As of January 2013<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/BlackRock#cite_note-10">[10]</a>

<ul>

<li>Abdlatif Y. Al-Hamad, Director General/Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development</li>

<li>Mathis Cabiallavetta, Vice Chairman of Swiss Re</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dennis_D._Dammerman" title="Dennis D. Dammerman">Dennis D. Dammerman</a>, Former Vice Chairman of the Board and Executive Officer, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/General_Electric" title="General Electric">General Electric</a> Company and Chairman and CEO, General Electric Capital Services, Inc.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/William_S._Demchak" title="William S. Demchak">William S. Demchak</a>, Senior Vice Chairman, The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. and PNC Bank</li>

<li>Jessica Einhorn, Former Dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University</li>

<li>Fabrizio Freda, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Estée Lauder Companies</li>

<li>Murry S. Gerber, Executive Chairman, EQT Corporation</li>

<li>James Grosfeld, Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pulte Homes, Inc.</li>

<li>Robert S. Kapito, President, BlackRock, Inc.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/David_H._Komansky" title="David H. Komansky">David H. Komansky</a>, Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Merrill_Lynch" title="Merrill Lynch">Merrill Lynch</a> & Co., Inc.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sir_Deryck_Maughan" title="Sir Deryck Maughan" class="mw-redirect">Sir Deryck Maughan</a>, Partner and Head of Financial Institutions Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Thomas_K._Montag" title="Thomas K. Montag">Thomas K. Montag</a>, Co-Chief Operating Officer, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bank_of_America" title="Bank of America" class="mw-redirect">Bank of America</a></li>

<li>Thomas H. O’Brien, Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/James_E._Rohr" title="James E. Rohr">James E. Rohr</a>, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Ivan_G._Seidenberg" title="Ivan G. Seidenberg" class="mw-redirect">Ivan G. Seidenberg</a>, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Verizon Communications</li>

<li>Marco Antonio Slim Domit, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Grupo Financiero Inbursa</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_Varley" title="John Varley">John Varley</a>, Former Chief Executive, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Barclays" title="Barclays" class="mw-redirect">Barclays</a> PLC</li>

<li>Susan L. Wagner, Former Vice Chairman of BlackRock</li>

</ul>

Former directors include<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/BlackRock#cite_note-11">[11]</a>

<ul>

<li>Kenneth B. Dunn</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Robert_E.Diamond,Jr." title="Robert E. Diamond, Jr.">Robert E. Diamond, Jr.</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Linda_Gosden_Robinson" title="Linda Gosden Robinson" class="mw-redirect">Linda Gosden Robinson</a></li>

</ul>

<h2>Contact Information</h2>

US Office

BlackRock

Park Avenue Plaza

55 East 52nd Street

New York, NY 10055

<h2>Articles and resources</h2>

<h3>Related SourceWatch articles</h3>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/BlackRock_Investment_Management" title="BlackRock Investment Management">BlackRock Investment Management</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Blackrock_World_Mining_Trust_plc" title="Blackrock World Mining Trust plc">Blackrock World Mining Trust plc</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Deepwater_Horizon" title="Deepwater Horizon">Deepwater Horizon</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Larry_Fink" title="Larry Fink">Larry Fink</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Ralph_Schlosstein" title="Ralph Schlosstein">Ralph Schlosstein</a> - former president</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Keith_Anderson" title="Keith Anderson">Keith Anderson</a> - cofounder - went on to work for Soros</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michelle_Edkins" title="Michelle Edkins">Michelle Edkins</a> - MD</li>

</ul>

<h3>Featured SourceWatch Articles on Fix the Debt</h3>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:Fix_the_Debt" title="Portal:Fix the Debt">Fix the Debt Portal Page</a>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Fix_the_Debt%27s_Leadership" title="Fix the Debt's Leadership">Fix the Debt's Leadership</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Fix_the_Debt%27s_Partner_Groups" title="Fix the Debt's Partner Groups">Fix the Debt's Partner Groups</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Fix_the_Debt%27s_State_Chapters" title="Fix the Debt's State Chapters">Fix the Debt's State Chapters</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Fix_the_Debt%27s_Lobbyists" title="Fix the Debt's Lobbyists">Fix the Debt's Lobbyists</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Committee_for_a_Responsible_Federal_Budget" title="Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget">Fix the Debt's Parent Group</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Fix_the_Debt_Corporations">Fix the Debt's Corporations</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Peterson" title="Pete Peterson" class="mw-redirect">Pete Peterson</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Peter_G._Peterson_Foundation" title="Peter G. Peterson Foundation">Peter G. Peterson Foundation</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/America_Speaks" title="America Speaks">America Speaks</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Simpson-Bowles_Commission" title="Simpson-Bowles Commission">Simpson-Bowles Commission</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Erskine_Bowles" title="Erskine Bowles" class="mw-redirect">Erskine Bowles</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Alan_Simpson" title="Alan Simpson">Alan Simpson</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Social_Security" title="Social Security" class="mw-redirect">Social Security</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Medicare" title="Medicare">Medicare</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Medicaid" title="Medicaid">Medicaid</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

<h3>References</h3>

</li>

</ol>

<ul>

<li id="cite_note-1">BlackRock, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www2.blackrock.com/global/home/AboutUs/History/index.htm">"History"</a> organizational website, accessed January 2013</li>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-2">BlackRock, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www2.blackrock.com/global/home/AboutUs/index.htm,">"Who is BlackRock?"</a>, organizational website, accessed January 2013</li>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-3">BlackRock, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/11/119943/2011AR/financial-highlights/">"2011 Annual Report: Financial Highlights"</a>, organizational document.</li>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-4">Graydon Carter, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2010/04/graydon-201004">"Wild on the Street"</a>, Vanity Fair, April 2010, Accessed August 8, 2010.</li>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-5">Suzanna Andrews, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/04/fink-201004">"Larry Fink’s $12 Trillion Shadow"</a>, Vanity Fair, April 2010, Accessed August 8, 2010</li>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-6">Graydon Carter, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2010/04/graydon-201004">"Wild on the Street"</a>, Vanity Fair, April 2010, Accessed August 8, 2010.</li>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-7">Suzanna Andrews, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/04/fink-201004">"Larry Fink’s $12 Trillion Shadow"</a>, Vanity Fair, April 2010, Accessed August 8, 2010</li>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-8">John Collins Rudolf, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/just-how-british-is-bp/">"Just How British is BP?"</a>, New York Times, June 14, 2010, Accessed August 8, 2010</li>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-9">Suzanna Andrews, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/04/fink-201004">"Larry Fink’s $12 Trillion Shadow"</a>, Vanity Fair, April 2010, Accessed August 8, 2010</li>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-10">BlackRock, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=119943&p=irol-govboard">Corporate Governance - Management & Directors</a>, organizational website, accessed January 2013</li>

<li value="11" id="cite_note-11">Peter Phillips and Kimberly Soeiro, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/08/exposing-the-transnational-ruling-class/">Exposing the Transnational Ruling Class: The Global 1%</a>", Dissident Voice, August 16th, 2012.</li>

</ol>

</li>

<h3>External resources</h3>

<h3>External articles</h3>

<ul>

<li>Graydon Carter, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2010/04/graydon-201004">"Wild on the Street"</a>, Vanity Fair, April 2010.</li>

<li>Suzanna Andrews, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/04/fink-201004">"Larry Fink’s $12 Trillion Shadow"</a>, Vanity Fair, April 2010</li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

</div>

==

CDS2 last round based on mortgages, this round based on rent from ppl who lost houses in crash kpfa 12/27/13

mojo: <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/print/239991">http://www.motherjones.com/print/239991</a>

<div id="primary-terms" style=" font-size: 0.83em; color: rgb(94, 113, 133);">→ <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/topics/corporations" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none;">Corporations</a>, <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/topics/economy" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none;">Economy</a>, <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/topics/tom-dispatch" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none;">Tom Dispatch</a>, <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/topics/top-stories" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none;">Top Stories</a></div>

</div>

<h1 class="title" style=" line-height: 1em; margin: 0px 0px 0.2em; font-weight: normal;">How Wall Street Has Turned Housing Into a Dangerous Get-Rich-Quick Scheme—Again</h1>

</div>

<h3 class="dek" style=" font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; color: rgb(94, 113, 133); padding-bottom: 0.3em;">Hedge funds and private equity firms have quietly bought 200,000 cheap, mostly foreclosed houses in cities hardest hit by the economic meltdown.</h3>

<div>

You can hardly turn on the television or open a newspaper without hearing about the nation's impressive, much celebrated housing recovery. Home prices are rising! New construction has started! The crisis is over! Yet beneath the fanfare, a whole new get-rich-quick scheme is brewing.

<a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/" target="_blank"><img brain="false" alt="" class="image image-preview" src="http://motherjones.com/files/images/tdispatch-notch.jpg" title="" height="33" width="100" style=" border: 0px; text-align: center;" /></a>[3]Over the last year and a half, Wall Street hedge funds and private equity firms have quietly amassed an unprecedented rental empire, snapping up Queen Anne Victorians in Atlanta, brick-faced bungalows in Chicago, Spanish revivals in Phoenix. In total, these deep-pocketed investors have bought more than <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-23/blackstone-creating-rental-home-bonds-after-buying-spree.html">200,000</a> [4] cheap, mostly foreclosed houses in cities hardest hit by the economic meltdown.

<a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec08/econtrouble_08-20.html">Wall Street's foreclosure crisis</a> [5], which began in late 2007 and forced <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Foreclosed-America-Occupied-Pamphlet/dp/1884519210/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1379444396&sr=1-1">more than 10 million people</a> [6] from their homes, has created a paradoxical problem. Millions of evicted Americans need a safe place to live, even as millions of vacant, bank-owned houses are blighting neighborhoods and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/20/us/in-neighborhoods-like-north-st-louis-gunfire-still-rules-the-night.html?pagewanted=all">spurring a rise in crime</a> [7]. Lucky for us, Wall Street has devised a solution: It's going to rent these foreclosed houses back to us. In the process, it's devised a new form of securitization that could cause this whole plan to blow up—again.

Since the buying frenzy began, no company has picked up more houses than the Blackstone Group, the largest private equity firm in the world. Using a subsidiary company, Invitation Homes, Blackstone has grabbed houses at foreclosure auctions, through local brokers, and in bulk purchases directly from banks the same way a regular person might stock up on toilet paper from Costco.

In one move, it bought <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-25/blacktone-buys-atlanta-homes-in-largest-bulk-rental-trade.html">1,400 houses in Atlanta</a> [8] in a single day. As of November, Blackstone had spent <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-23/blackstone-creating-rental-home-bonds-after-buying-spree.html">$7.5 billion</a> [4] to buy 40,000 mostly foreclosed houses across the country. That's a spending rate of<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-09/blackstone-steps-up-home-buying-as-prices-jump-mortgages.html">$100 million a week</a> [9] since October 2012. It recently <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-07/blackstone-begins-rental-housing-empire-in-spain">announced</a> [10] plans to take the business international, beginning in foreclosure-ravaged Spain.

Few outside the finance industry have heard of Blackstone. Yet today, it's the largest owner of single-family rental homes in the nation—and of a whole lot of other things, too. It owns part or all of the Hilton Hotel chain, Southern Cross Healthcare, Houghton Mifflin publishing house, the Weather Channel, Sea World, the arts and crafts chain Michael's, Orangina, and dozens of other companies.

Blackstone manages <a href="http://quote.morningstar.com/stock-filing/Annual-Report/2012/12/31/t.aspx?t=XNYS:BX&ft=10-K&d=650df38e3f2e5b3666dc8957ab1f2e00">more than $210 billion</a> [11] in assets, according to its 2012 Securities and Exchange Commission annual filing. It's also a public company with a<a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/bx/institutional-holdings"> list of institutional owners</a> [12] that reads like a who's who of companies recently implicated in lawsuits over the mortgage crisis, including Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, UBS, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and of course JP Morgan Chase, which just settled a lawsuit with the Department of Justice over its risky and often illegal mortgage practices, agreeing to pay an unprecedented $13 billion fine.

In other words, if Blackstone makes money by capitalizing on the housing crisis, all these other Wall Street banks—generally regarded as the main culprits in creating the conditions that led to the foreclosure crisis in the first place—make money too.

An All-Cash Goliath

In neighborhoods across the country, many residents didn't have to know what Blackstone was to realize that things were going seriously wrong.

Last year, Mark Alston, a real estate broker in Los Angeles, began noticing something strange happening. Home prices were rising. And they were rising fast—up 20% between October 2012 and the same month this year. In a normal market, rising home prices would mean increased demand from homebuyers. But here was the unnerving thing: the homeownership rate <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2013/apr/30/business/la-fi-case-shiller-20130501">was dropping</a> [13], the first sign for Alston that the market was somehow out of whack.

The second sign was the buyers themselves.

<a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/images/managed/charlotteblackstoneorig.jpg" target="_blank">Click here to see a larger version</a> [14] [maps]

t two years without selling to a black family, and that wasn't for lack of trying," says Alston, whose business is concentrated in inner-city neighborhoods where the majority of residents are African American and Hispanic. Instead, all his buyers—every last one of them—were besuited businessmen. And weirder yet, they were all paying in cash.

Between 2005 and 2009, the mortgage crisis, fueled by <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/us/07baltimore.html?pagewanted=all">racially discriminatory</a> [15] lending practices, <a href="http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/07/26/wealth-gaps-rise-to-record-highs-between-whites-blacks-hispanics/">destroyed</a> [16] 53% of African American wealth and 66% of Hispanic wealth, figures that stagger the imagination. As a result, it's safe to say that few blacks or Hispanics today are buying homes outright, in cash. Blackstone, on the other hand, doesn't have a problem fronting the money, given its <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-23/blackstone-creating-rental-home-bonds-after-buying-spree.html">$3.6 billion credit line</a> [4] arranged by Deutsche Bank. This money has allowed it to outbid families who have to secure traditional financing. It's also paved the way for the company to purchase a lot of homes very quickly, shocking local markets and driving prices up in a way that pushes even more families out of the game.

"You can't compete with a company that's betting on speculative future value when they're playing with cash," says Alston. "It's almost like they planned this."

In hindsight, it's clear that the Great Recession fueled a terrific wealth and asset transfer away from ordinary Americans and to financial institutions. During that crisis, Americans lost <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505123_162-57587033/">trillions of dollars</a> [17] of household wealth when housing prices crashed, while banks seized about five million homes. But what's just beginning to emerge is how, as in the recession years, the recovery itself continues to drive the process of transferring wealth and power from the bottom to the top.

[18]From 2009-2012, the top 1% of Americans captured <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/09/10/some-95-of-2009-2012-income-gains-went-to-wealthiest-1/">95% of income gains</a> [19]. Now, as the housing market rebounds, billions of dollars in recovered housing wealth are flowing straight to Wall Street instead of to families and communities. Since spring 2012, just at the time when Blackstone began buying foreclosed homes in bulk, an estimated $88 billion of housing wealth accumulation has gone straight to banks or institutional investors as a result of their residential property holdings, according to an analysis by TomDispatch. And it's a number that's likely to just keep growing.

"Institutional investors are siphoning the wealth and the ability for wealth accumulation out of underserved communities," says Henry Wade, founder of the Arizona Association of Real Estate Brokers.

But buying homes cheap and then waiting for them to appreciate in value isn't the only way Blackstone is making money on this deal. It wants your rental payment, too.

Securitizing Rentals

Wall Street's rental empire is entirely new. The single-family rental industry used to be the bailiwick of small-time mom-and-pop operations. But what makes this moment unprecedented is the financial alchemy that Blackstone added. In November, after many months of hype, Blackstone released history's first <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303843104579170020082914900">rated bond backed by securitized rental payments</a> [20]. And once investors <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20131104-712296.html">tripped</a> [21] over themselves in a rush to get it, Blackstone's competitors <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/101183647">announced</a> [22] that they, too, would develop similar securities as soon as possible.

Depending on whom you ask, the idea of bundling rental payments and selling them off to investors is either a natural evolution of the finance industry or a fire-breathing chimera.

"This is a new frontier," comments Ted Weinstein, a consultant in the real-estate-owned homes industry for 30 years. "It's something I never really would have dreamt of."

However, to anyone who went through the 2008 mortgage-backed-security crisis, this new territory will sound strangely familiar.

"It's just like a residential mortgage-backed security," said one hedge-fund investor whose company does business with Blackstone. When asked why the public should expect these securities to be safe, given the fact that risky mortgage-backed securities caused the 2008 collapse, he responded, "Trust me."

For Blackstone, at least, the logic is simple. The company wants money upfront to purchase more cheap, foreclosed homes before prices rise. So it's joined forces with JP Morgan, Credit Suisse, and Deutsche Bank to bundle the rental payments of 3,207 single-family houses and sell this bond to investors with mortgages on the underlying houses offered as collateral. This is, of course, just a test case for what could become a whole new industry of rental-backed securities.

Many major Wall Street banks are involved in the deal, according to a copy of the private pitch documents Blackstone sent to potential investors on October 31st, which was reviewed by TomDispatch. Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, and Credit Suisse are helping market the bond. Wells Fargo is the certificate administrator. Midland Loan Services, a subsidiary of PNC Bank, is the loan servicer. (By the way, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and PNC Bank are all members of another clique: <a href="http://247wallst.com/special-report/2013/03/12/banks-foreclosing-on-the-most-homes/2/">the list</a> [23] of banks foreclosing on the most families in 2013.)

According to interviews with economists, industry insiders, and housing activists, people are more or less holding their collective breath, hoping that what looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck won't crash the economy the same way the last flock of ducks did.

"You kind of just hope they know what they're doing," says Dean Baker, an economist with the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "That they have provisions for turnover and vacancies. But have they done that? Have they taken the appropriate care? I certainly wouldn't count on it." The cash flow analysis in the documents sent to investors assumes that 95% of these homes will be rented at all times, at an average monthly rent of $1,312. It's an occupancy rate that real estate professionals describe as ambitious.

There's one significant way, however, in which this kind of security differs from its mortgage-backed counterpart. When banks repossess mortgaged homes as collateral, there is at least the assumption (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/business/federal-report-cites-bank-officials-in-foreclosure-surge.html?pagewanted=all">often incorrect</a> [24] due to botched or falsified paperwork from the banks) that the homeowner has, indeed, defaulted on her mortgage. In this case, however, if a single home-rental bond blows up, thousands of families could be evicted, whether or not they ever missed a single rental payment.

"We could well end up in that situation where you get a lot of people getting evicted... not because the tenants have fallen behind but because the landlords have fallen behind," says Baker.

Bugs in Blackstone's Housing Dreams

Whether these new securities are safe may boil down to the simple question of whether Blackstone proves to be a good property manager. Decent management practices will ensure high occupancy rates, predictable turnover, and increased investor confidence. Bad management will create complaints, investigations, and vacancies, all of which will increase the likelihood that Blackstone won't have the cash flow to pay investors back.

If you ask CaDonna Porter, a tenant in one of Blackstone's Invitation Homes properties in a suburb outside Atlanta, property management is exactly the skill that Blackstone lacks. "If I could shorten my lease—I signed a two-year lease—I definitely would," says Porter.

The cockroaches and fat water bugs were the first problem in the Invitation Homes rental that she and her children moved into in September. Porter repeatedly filed online maintenance requests that were canceled without anyone coming to investigate the infestation. She called the company's repairs hotline. No one answered.

The second problem arrived in an email with the subject line marked "URGENT." Invitation Homes had failed to withdraw part of Porter's November payment from her bank account, prompting the company to demand that she deliver the remaining payment in person, via certified funds, by five p.m. the following day or incur "the additional legal fee of $200 and dispossessory," according to email correspondences reviewed by TomDispatch.

Porter took off from work to deliver the money order in person, only to receive an email saying that the payment had been rejected because it didn't include the $200 late fee and an additional $75 insufficient funds fee. What followed were a maddening string of emails that recall the <a href="http://www.responsiblelending.org/mortgage-lending/tools-resources/top-ten-mortgage-servicing-abuses.html">fraught and often fraudulent</a> [25] interactions between homeowners and mortgage-servicing companies. Invitation Homes repeatedly threatened to file for eviction unless Porter paid various penalty fees. She repeatedly asked the company to simply accept her month's payment and leave her alone.

"I felt really harassed. I felt it was very unjust," says Porter. She ultimately wrote that she would seek legal counsel, which caused Invitation Homes to immediately agree to accept the payment as "a one-time courtesy."

Porter is still frustrated by the experience—and by the continued presence of the cockroaches. ("I put in another request today about the bugs, which will probably be canceled again.")

A recent <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/25/wall-street-landlords_n_4151345.html">Huffington Post</a> [26] investigation and <a href="http://www.zillow.com/advice-thread/Invitation-Homes/477329/">dozens</a> [27] of <a href="http://www.trulia.com/voices/Rentals/I_am_looking_for_reviews_on_Riverstone_Residential-513905">online reviews</a> [28] written by Invitation Homes tenants echo Porter's frustrations. Many said maintenance requests went unanswered, while others complained that their spiffed-up houses actually had underlying structural issues.

There's also at least one documented case of Blackstone moving into murkier legal territory. This fall, the Orlando, Florida, branch of Invitation Homes appeared to mail forged eviction notices to a homeowner named Francisco Molina, <a href="http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-10-09/news/os-phantom-eviction-20131008_1_blackstone-group-orange-county-clerk-courts">according to</a> [29] the Orlando Sentinel. Delivered in letter-sized manila envelopes, the fake notices claimed that an eviction had been filed against Molina in court, although the city confirmed otherwise. The kicker is that Invitation Homes didn't even have the right to evict Molina, legally or otherwise. Blackstone's purchase of the house had been reversed months earlier, but the company had lost track of that information.

The Great Recession of 2016?

These anecdotal stories about Invitation Homes being quick to evict tenants may prove to be the trend rather than the exception, given Blackstone's underlying business model. Securitizing rental payments creates an intense pressure on the company to ensure that the monthly checks keep flowing. For renters, that may mean you either pay on the first of the month every month, or you're out.

Although Blackstone has issued only one rental-payment security so far, it already seems to be putting this strict protocol into place. In Charlotte, North Carolina, for example, the company has filed eviction proceedings against a full <a href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/11/10/4452995/charlottes-wall-street-landlords.html#.UowiBZTk-kQ">10% of its renters</a> [30], according to a report by the Charlotte Observer.....

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<a topic_url="http://topics.bloomberg.com/blackstone-group-lp/" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/BX:US" density="sparse" title="Get Quote" ticker="BX:US" class="web_ticker" style=" box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); text-decoration: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700;">Blackstone Group LP (BX)</a>, the private-equity firm that has spent $5 billion on more than 30,000 distressed houses, is preparing to expand its bet on the housing recovery by lending to other landlords.

The firm, which already owns more rental homes than any other investor, has set up B2R Finance LP to offer loans starting at $10 million, according to four people who reviewed the terms. B2R is reaching out to landlords with portfolios of properties seeking to grow in the burgeoning industry for single-family homes to rent, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.

The world’s largest private-equity firm said last month that it was entering the later stages of its buying spree after leading a group of institutional investors who’ve spent at least $17 billion on more than 100,000 homes over two years, helping fuel the fastest <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/SPCS20:IND" class="web_ticker" title="Get Quote" density="full" style=" box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); text-decoration: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700;">price</a> gains since 2006. By increasing its stake in the rebound through lending, New York-based Blackstone could benefit from smaller landlords already investing in what Goldman Sachs Group Inc. estimates to be a $2.8 trillion market.  bloomberg

===

<a href="http://www.prwatch.org/node/9622">http://www.prwatch.org/node/9622</a>

The <a href="http://www.blackstone.com/company/core_benefits.html" class="external text" title="http://www.blackstone.com/company/core_benefits.html" rel="nofollow">Blackstone Group</a> is a private investment banking firm and describes itself as a "leading global investment and advisory firm." The Blackstone Group was founded in 1985 by a group of four, including <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Peter_G.Peterson" title="Peter G. Peterson" class="mw-redirect">Peter G. Peterson</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Stephen_A.Schwarzman" title="Stephen A. Schwarzman">Stephen A. Schwarzman</a>.

The Blackstone Group has ties to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_International_Group" title="American International Group">American International Group</a>, Inc. (AIG) and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Kissinger_Associates,_Inc." title="Kissinger Associates, Inc.">Kissinger Associates, Inc.</a>/<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Henry_Kissinger" title="Henry Kissinger">Henry Kissinger</a>. According to the Blackstone website, AIG acquired a 7% non-voting interest in the company in 1998 for $150 million "and committed to invest $1.2 billion in future Blackstone-sponsored funds".

"Blackstone has developed strategic alliances with some of the largest and most sophisticated international financial institutions. In addition to AIG, they include Kissinger Associates, Roland Berger & Partner, GmbH, and Scandinaviska Enskilda Banken," the website states. <a href="http://www.blackstone.com/company/bst_group.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.blackstone.com/company/bst_group.html" rel="nofollow">[1]</a>

The company's Blackstone Alternative Asset Management unit handles $1 billion in hedge funds for pension giant <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=CalPERS&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="CalPERS (page does not exist)">CalPERS</a>.

<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Forbes_Kerry" title="John Forbes Kerry">John Forbes Kerry</a> 2004 campaign 'adviser' <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Roger_C._Altman" title="Roger C. Altman">Roger C. Altman</a> was Vice Chairman of The Blackstone Group from 1987 through 1992 "where he led that firm's merger advisory business". <a href="http://www.stonebridge-international.com/advisors.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.stonebridge-international.com/advisors.html" rel="nofollow">[2]</a>

In December 2001, The Blackstone Group was appointed as <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Enron" title="Enron" class="mw-redirect">Enron</a>'s principal financial advisor with regard to its financial restructuring.<a href="http://www.enron.com/corp/pressroom/releases/2001/ene/PressRelease11-12-02-01letterhead.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.enron.com/corp/pressroom/releases/2001/ene/PressRelease11-12-02-01letterhead.html" rel="nofollow">[3]</a> The company also advised Enron on "the Sale of its North American Power and Gas Trading Business to UBS". <a href="http://www.blackstone.com/mergers/index.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.blackstone.com/mergers/index.html" rel="nofollow">[4]</a><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Template:Deadlink&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Template:Deadlink (page does not exist)">Template:Deadlink</a>

The Blackstone Group is also handling the restructuring of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Global_Crossing" title="Global Crossing" class="mw-redirect">Global Crossing</a>. <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0B10F9395C0C738EDDAA0894DA404482" class="external autonumber" title="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0B10F9395C0C738EDDAA0894DA404482" rel="nofollow">[5]</a>

<tr>

<td>

<h2>Contents</h2>

[<a href="javascript:toggleToc()" class="internal" id="togglelink">hide</a>]</div>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Blackstone_Group#Political_contributions">1 Political contributions</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Blackstone_Group#Lobbying">2 Lobbying</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Blackstone_Group#Personnel">3 Personnel</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Blackstone_Group#Contact_information">4 Contact information</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Blackstone_Group#Resources_and_articles">5 Resources and articles</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Blackstone_Group#Related_Sourcewatch_articles">5.1 Related Sourcewatch articles</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Blackstone_Group#References">5.2 References</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Blackstone_Group#External_links">6 External links</a></li>

</ul>

</td>

</tr>

</tbody></table>

<h2>Political contributions</h2>

<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Stephen_A.Schwarzman" title="Stephen A. Schwarzman">Stephen A. Schwarzman</a>, the Chairman, CEO, and Co-founder of Blackstone Group, is a Bush Pioneer (see <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bush%27s_Rangers" title="Bush's Rangers">Bush's Rangers</a>) having raised at least $100,000 for <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_Walker_Bush" title="George Walker Bush">Bush</a> in the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=U.S.presidential_election,_2004" title="U.S. presidential election, 2004">2004 presidential election</a>. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Blackstone_Group#cite_note-0" title="">[1]</a>

<h2>Lobbying</h2>

Blackstone Group spent $940,000 for <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Lobbying" title="Lobbying">lobbying</a> in 2006. Five <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Lobbying_firms" title="Lobbying firms">lobbying firms</a> were used. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Blackstone_Group#cite_note-1" title="">[2]</a>

<h2>Personnel</h2>

Key executives: <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Blackstone_Group#cite_note-2" title="">[3]</a>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Stephen_A._Schwarzman" title="Stephen A. Schwarzman">Stephen A. Schwarzman</a>, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Peter_G._Peterson" title="Peter G. Peterson" class="mw-redirect">Peter G. Peterson</a>, Senior Chairman</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Hamilton_E._James" title="Hamilton E. James">Hamilton E. James</a>, President, Chief Operating Officer</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Michael_A._Puglisi&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Michael A. Puglisi (page does not exist)">Michael A. Puglisi</a>, Chief Financial Officer</li>

</ul>

Selected board members: <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Blackstone_Group#cite_note-3" title="">[4]</a>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=J._Tomilson_Hill&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="J. Tomilson Hill (page does not exist)">J. Tomilson Hill</a>, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Funds of Hedge Funds group</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Brian_Mulroney" title="Brian Mulroney">Brian Mulroney</a>, Member of the Board of Directors of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Archer_Daniels_Midland" title="Archer Daniels Midland">Archer Daniels Midland</a> Company</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Lord_Nathaniel_Charles_Jacob_Rothschild&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Lord Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild (page does not exist)">Lord Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild</a>, Deputy Chairman of British Sky Broadcasting Group</li>

</ul>

<h2>Contact information</h2>

New York

The Blackstone Group

345 Park Avenue

New York, NY 10154

USA

Phone: +1 212 583 5000 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              +1 212 583 5000      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Fax: +1 212 583 5712

London

The Blackstone Group International Limited

Stirling Square

5-7 Carlton Gardens

4th Floor

London, SW1Y 5AD

U.K.

Phone: +44 20 7451 4000 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              +44 20 7451 4000      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Fax: +44 20 7451 4038

Web: <a href="http://www.blackstone.com" class="external free" title="http://www.blackstone.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.blackstone.com</a>

<h2>Resources and articles</h2>

<h3>Related Sourcewatch articles</h3>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Thomas_S._Middleton" title="Thomas S. Middleton">Thomas S. Middleton</a></li>

</ul>

<h3>References</h3>

<li id="cite_note-0"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Blackstone_Group#cite_ref-0" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://www.tpj.org/docs/pioneers/pioneers_table.jsp" class="external text" title="http://www.tpj.org/docs/pioneers/pioneers_table.jsp" rel="nofollow">Pioneers and Rangers</a>, Texans for Public Justice, accessed July 2007.</li>

<li id="cite_note-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Blackstone_Group#cite_ref-1" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/clientsum.asp?txtname=Blackstone+Group&year=2006" class="external text" title="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/clientsum.asp?txtname=Blackstone+Group&year=2006" rel="nofollow">Blackstone Group lobbying expenses</a>, Open Secrets.</li>

<li id="cite_note-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Blackstone_Group#cite_ref-2" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://ir.blackstone.com/management.cfm" class="external text" title="http://ir.blackstone.com/management.cfm" rel="nofollow">Blackstone Group Officers</a>, Blackstone Group, accessed July 2007.</li>

<li id="cite_note-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Blackstone_Group#cite_ref-3" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://ir.blackstone.com/committees.cfm" class="external text" title="http://ir.blackstone.com/committees.cfm" rel="nofollow">Board and Committees</a>, Blackstone Group, accessed July 2007.</li>

</ol>

<h2>External links</h2>

<ul>

<li>Enron, "<a href="http://www.enron.com/corp/pressroom/releases/2001/ene/PressRelease11-12-02-01letterhead.html" class="external text" title="http://www.enron.com/corp/pressroom/releases/2001/ene/PressRelease11-12-02-01letterhead.html" rel="nofollow">Enron files voluntary petitions for Chapter 11 re-organizations; sues Dynegy for breach of contract, seeking damages of at least $10 billion</a>", Press Release, December 2, 2001.</li>

<li>Simon Romera, "<a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0B10F9395C0C738EDDAA0894DA404482" class="external text" title="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0B10F9395C0C738EDDAA0894DA404482" rel="nofollow">Global's Filings Failed to Note Business Link To Its Adviser</a>", New York Times, March 20, 2002.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Stonebridge_International&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Stonebridge International (page does not exist)">Stonebridge International</a>, "<a href="http://www.stonebridge-international.com/advisors.html" class="external text" title="http://www.stonebridge-international.com/advisors.html" rel="nofollow">Board of Advisers: Roger C. Altman</a>", undated, accessed February 25, 2004.</li>

<li>Interactive <a href="http://www.namebase.org/cgi-bin/nb06?BLACKSTONE_GROUP" class="external text" title="http://www.namebase.org/cgi-bin/nb06?BLACKSTONE_GROUP" rel="nofollow">Social Network Diagram!!!</a></li>

</ul>

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<h1 class="title">OweNo! Pete Peterson is at it Again</h1>

<div class="content">Source: <a href="http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/11/09/pete-petersons-long-game-culminates-with-month-long-austerity-push/">Firedoglake, November 9, 2010</a>

<a href="http://vimeo.com/16889911">Borrow Like There’s No Tomorrow</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user5124146">Peterson Foundation</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.

<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Peter_G.Peterson" title="reference on Pete Peterson" target="self">Pete Peterson</a>, multimillionaire investor, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Blackstone_Group" title="reference on Blackstone Group" target="self">Blackstone Group</a> founder and ex-Commerce Department Secretary, last week launched a $20 million <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=public_relations" title="reference on public relations" target="self">public relations</a> campaign the goal of which is to convince the public that government spending is the biggest threat to the nation’s economic stability and prosperity. With a press conference at the Newseum, flanked by Senators <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Kent_Conrad" title="reference on Kent Conrad" target="self">Kent Conrad</a> (D-North Dakota) and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Evan_Bayh" title="reference on Evan Bayh" target="self">Evan Bayh</a> (D-Indiana), he launched the <a href="http://wwww.oweno.com/launch/" title="reference on OweNo" target="blank">OweNo</a> website and TV ads to “start a discussion” about deficit reduction. The ads feature a mock, presidential candidate name <a href="http://oweno.com/multimedia/%E2%80%9C" title="reference on Hugh Jidette.”" target="blank">Hugh Jidette.”</a> (Say it slowly, get it?) Jidette encourages voters to “Borrow like there’s no tomorrow!” and “Let our kids pay!” The Peter G. Peterson Foundation has spent $50 million in the past two years in an anti-deficit crusade. While deficits have grown recently due to two unfunded wars and collapse of an $8 trillion dollar housing bubble, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/16/300-economists-warn-congr_n_719469.html" title="reference on 300 economists" target="_blank">300 economists</a> recently signed a letter to the President arguing that this time of continuing economic crisis and high unemployment is not the time for fiscal austerity. Not surprisingly, Peterson never advocates policy prescriptions such as a tax on Wall Street derivatives trading to raise revenue. Instead he favors a pillage-and-plunder approach to critical programs that aid the middle class, including Social Security and Medicare. Peterson prescriptions will radically increase economic inequality and uncertainty -- a bitter pill for the middle class but a great relief to the Wall Street elite.

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http://www.prwatch.org/node/9622

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