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How Can You Succeed When Politicians Treat Your Business Like Their Piggy Bank?

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By pterwort @ Shutterstock.com

New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio made official what most business owners in the city have known for a long time, his mission is to redistribute their wealth.

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At The Blaze, Breck Dumas reports on what De Blasio told viewers of a press conference:

The COVID era has taught us that so clearly, and we need to do better and we will,” de Blasio said. “And that means a commitment to fighting disparities and inequality in every part of the life of New York City and that certainly takes us to education where if you’re talking about the problems of disparity, if you’re talking about structural racism, certainly policing is not the only area to talk about. There are many areas to talk about and education must be front and center.”

“There has been so much that needed to be addressed in education in New York City, and from the beginning, what I tried to focus on was a very simple concept: equity and excellence,” he continued. “That we needed to profoundly change the distribution of resources.”

De Blasio emphasized, “I like to say very bluntly, our mission is to redistribute wealth.” He added, “A lot of people bristle at that phrase, that is, in fact, the phrase we need to use.”

De Blasio’s comments echo those he made in August, reported by the NY Post:

“Help me tax the wealthy. Help me redistribute wealth. Help me build affordable housing in white communities if you want desegregation,” de Blasio said on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer” show after a caller asked about integrating public schools.

“If you just talk about it and feel self-satisfied, god bless you,” de Blasio said to the caller who cited a New York Times podcast called ‘Nice White Parents” that argues white parents should do more to bring racial equality to schools.

“That’s not actually going to change things. What changes things is redistribution of wealth. Tax the wealthy at a much higher level,” the mayor said, adding that he’d never heard of the podcast.

Business owners in New York City, already hit hard by COVID-19 and De Blasio’s harsh lockdowns must be imagining life on a different island, one where they are respected. Blue state politicians like De Blasio have gone wild with regulations that purport to protect citizens, but really just end up enriching their wealthy donors.

In New York, those big donors are the same finance executives pushing ESG funds on unsuspecting savers. Like BlackRock’s Larry Fink. The NY Post reports on the hypocritical relationship between De Blasio and the big financial firms in his city, writing:

Mayor de Blasio accepted a $100,000 donation to his official City Hall charity from a financial firm he once blasted for investing in the gun industry — then gave the company a pass when he called on the city’s pension funds to unload their own firearms-related assets.

While serving as the city’s public advocate and eyeing the Mayor’s Office in 2013, de Blasio loudly condemned BlackRock Inc. as No. 2 on a list of “Dirty Dozen” investment firms for holding a $345 million stake in various weapons manufacturers.

“The days of quietly condoning business as usual are over,” he said at the time. “Investors have a choice to make: Profit off an industry that puts military-grade weapons on our streets or become a force for change.”

But then last year, the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City — which is chaired by de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray — accepted a hefty donation from BlackRock, according to records filed with the city Conflicts of Interest Board.

The COIB records put the amount between $100,000 and $249,000, but a source said it was at the lower end of that range.

BlackRock’s cash was dedicated to funding the Center for Youth Employment, a public-private partnership with the city.

Then after the Dec. 2 rampage that killed 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif., de Blasio again pushed his anti-assault-weapons agenda — but he made no mention of BlackRock.

He urged the city’s five pension funds to sell off their firearms-related stock, which City Hall said amounted to $6.5 million out of a total $160 billion invested, Politico New York reported in December.

Yet he said nothing of the pension-fund investments managed by BlackRock, which records show handles at least $10 billion in city retirees’ money.

Teamsters Local 237 President Gregory Floyd, who sits on the board of one pension fund, accused de Blasio of taking “a different view” of the situation since becoming mayor.

“It’s a flip-flop. That’s what it is,” said Floyd, although he acknowledged the difficulty of such a company divesting. “If it’s not hypocritical, he should explain his change of position.”

Action Line: You need to protect your business, and your retirement life by moving to a state and city that respect your hard work. You don’t want to be treated like a piggy bank in support of the social goals of a mayor or a money manager. Look for a better America today.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.