Bernie Sanders on wall street: what the evidence says · JRE #2341
SUBJECT: WALL STREET
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
You got three Wall Street investment firms. Blackrock, you're familiar with Blackrock, their child. Vanguard and Sage Street. Exactly. Yeah. Check it out on Google. They are combined, the three of them combined, are the major stockholders of 95% of American
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
The widely cited academic and financial research on the "Big Three" index-fund managers (BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street) finds that together they are the largest single shareholder in about 88 percent of S&P 500 companies, not 95 percent, and that figure applies specifically to the S&P 500 rather than to American corporations generally. Across all publicly traded U.S. firms, the same research puts the share where the Big Three are the combined largest shareholder at roughly 40 percent, far below 95 percent. Sanders also overstates the nature of this holding: these positions are largely aggregated custodial shares held in index funds and ETFs on behalf of millions of ordinary investors, not direct corporate ownership by the firms. The core point that a small number of asset managers hold dominant stakes across the S&P 500 is well supported, but the specific 95 percent of American corporations figure is exaggerated.