Thread by @WillHild

The arguments made by @BlackRock in their letter attacking the Texas Permanent School Fund's divestment of $8.5 billion are complete nonsense...

Let's break them down 🧵

Quick review:

Last week, the Texas Permanent School Fund divested $8.5 billion from @BlackRock index funds over their continued prioritization of ESG over fiduciary duty.

In response, BlackRock sent a letter attacking their former client (how classy of them). The letter is full of lies, inaccuracies and intentionally misleading omissions.

Their first and primary point is how much money they've made over and above the pension funds benchmark. This sounds nice, but, in truth, it’s irrelevant.

The fund’s benchmark is simply a conservative prediction of how the market will perform, so they can plan their spending accordingly.

It tells us nothing about how @BlackRock funds performed *against similar alternatives*.

Which I can say, without hesitation, is a $0 difference.

How do I know?

Because the $8.5 billion that the Texas Permanent School Fund had invested with @BlackRock was in INDEX funds.

For non-wall street watchers, an index fund is an investment vehicle that simply takes the money you give them and buys the shares of companies on a set, public list — like the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, or the Russel 1000.

Not only does BlackRock not make these lists, but there are dozens of alternative index funds making EXACTLY the same investments.

@BlackRock The only differentiation between funds is the tiny differences in the fees they charge... AND, in the case of @BlackRock, whether or not they use the shares they buy *with YOUR money* to push a political agenda.

So lie #1 is that BlackRock funds “outperformed." They didn't.

Next comes lie #2, and it’s a classic misdirection by BlackRock.

They claim it’s a false accusation that they “discriminate” against oil and gas. They then list their litany of investments in fossil fuels companies as “proof” they are being falsely accused.

Here’s the thing: no one has ever accused them of outright boycotting fossil fuel investments.

In fact, it would be much better for Texas, the United States and the world more broadly, if they did. Because then it would make their misdeeds crystal clear.

Instead, what they are doing (and rightfully attacked for) is buying shares in companies — using your retirement dollars — and leveraging them to force companies to comply with CEO Larry Fink's political will.

They throw out this red herring that they don’t boycott to distract. It’s like being accused of murder and saying “whoa, whoa, whoa judge, I can prove I’ve never stolen anything!”

This isn’t the first time they’ve tried this. After we launched our first ads against them in 2021, they hired Rent-A-Republican Dalia Blass to quietly sent a letter to Texas state officials bragging about how many shares of companies, like Exxon, that they owned.

What BlackRock CAN’T deny is that they use the assets they managed for Texas Permanent School Fund and others to push companies to push destructive, counterproductive, inflation-creating net zero targets.

They can’t deny it because, up until we started sounding the alarm, they bragged about it publicly on their website.

And to be clear, its not just the oil & gas industry that @BlackRock uses your money to destroy...

Through their membership and significant participation in the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) they are forcing "net zero" targets onto dozens of industries.

They virtually admit as much as they continue into making lie #4: “Senate Bill 13 makes clear divestment is not required when a government entity determines divestment is inconsistent with its fiduciary responsibilities.”

This is them acknowledging that they are knowingly in violation of Senate Bill 13, they just think that Texas Permanent School Fund should keep them anyway.

@BlackRock But, here’s the thing, the supposed loophole they demand Texas Permanent School Fund utilize is specifically for when there are no feasible alternatives in the market.

As I’ve just noted, there are *dozens* of index fund alternatives.

And finally, last but not least, lie #5: the claim that the process by which this decision was reached remains unclear to the public.

The “process” was the Texas legislature passing a law, the governor signing it, the comptroller generating a list of companies in violation of the law, and the pension fund abiding by the law.

Nothing could have been less “unclear” to the public. What’s truly unclear is why @BlackRock would think anyone would fall for this.