BlackRock says no to climate change

January 13th, 2025

Author

SGT
January 13, 2025

Salty Ginger Talk Newsletter

January 13th, 2025

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CURRENT EVENTS

BlackRock says no to climate change

 Our take: BlackRock, one of the largest asset management companies in the world with over $11 trillion in assets under management, has backed down from several previous commitments to DEI and ESG initiatives. A company spokesman and Vice Chairman, Phillipp Hildebrand, said, “Our memberships in some of these organizations have caused confusion regarding BlackRock’s practices and subjected us to legal inquiries from various public officials.”

Translation: These commitments were causing risk and costing money, so it was time for them to go. Asset management companies have a fiduciary responsibility to their customers to make the most prudent financial decisions on their behalf, so this really should not be big news.

BlackRock, due to its sheer size, has a loud voice in the investment community. This announcement by them is sure to cause other companies that were flying the woke flag loud and proud to return to their roots as investors and stop caring about anything but shareholder value.

The truth about ESG initiatives is they will take hold when they make financial sense. The cost to produce an hour of energy using wind, solar, or hydro power remains much higher than the cost to produce an hour of energy using fossil fuels. Until that changes, fossil fuels will continue to be the best choice.

When we look around the world, this is both the best financial and humanitarian decision. Fossil fuels make it affordable to develop third world countries. Most people in developed countries are unaware that most people in the world live on the same amount of electricity that it takes to run your refrigerator all day. People should think about that when they are charging their cell phone to go out to the next climate protest.

COURTESY: MSN

LA millionaires hire private fire crews to protect their houses

Our take: As the LA wildfires continue to burn, some rich residents are turning to the market to hire private fire crews to help them where the government has failed.

Private fire protection companies often contract with state and local governments to help battle wildfires, but in recent years California’s fire firms have begun offering “on call” services, ready to show up with their own water supplies, trucks, hoses, fire-quenching chemicals, and other industrial-grade equipment.

While some have taken to social media to criticize these rich residents for selfishly diverting resources from the LA Fire Department, we see this differently on 2 fronts.

First, it would shock us if any of these “social critics” would not do the same thing if they had the means. If we had a fortune and we could either stand and watch our home burn helplessly or write a big check and save it, we would have our checkbook out ASAP.

Second, one has to ask: If these private fire companies can come in and save these homes after a simple phone call, what are they doing differently than the government-run fire department? Why can they have water and people onsite on demand, as brave LA firefighters stand helplessly with no water coming from hydrants?

In our view, this underscores how badly this whole situation has been handled by the current and past leadership in LA County and the State of California. We hope they are able to get these fires under control soon, so no more human lives are lost. At that point, some hard conversations and accountability are in order.

COURTESY: NEW YORK POST

Fake job postings continue to be a problem for job seekers

Our take: Lots of job seekers have a story about the postings that linger online but never seem to get filled. Those so-called ghost jobs—the roles that companies advertise but have no intention of filling—may account for as much as one in five jobs advertised online.

Yikes. While no companies have come out and said why they would post a job they have no intention of filling, several HR executives speculate that these companies may want to look like they are growing to attract talent or posture towards competitors, or perhaps continue to vet talent in the event they find candidates too good to pass up.

With these fake roles estimated to represent as much as 20% of all jobs posted, this is having a demoralizing effect on already flustered job seekers. The application process for finding a job has been criticized by job seekers, hiring companies, and anyone involved in the process. Endless online forms to fill out, many times with zero response other than an automated system that scans your answers with an algorithm and immediately eliminates you if you are not a perfect match, and the lack of humanity in the whole process make it soul crushing to find work.

The article we included describes several candidates’ experiences looking for roles. It is worth the read if you have not looked for a job lately.

COURTESY: MSN

TIP OF THE DAY

If you always tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Communication is the real work of leadership.”

SOURCES: