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Black Rock is putting its money where it's mouth is and getting behind the blue-collar boom. Wall Street giant pledging a hundred million to train the next generation of skilled trade workers to support America's massive infrastructure build-out. Where we believe a huge job growth is going to be is it going to be in the build-out of our infrastructure.
Now, what that means is going to be creating huge amount of jobs in construction, in building out our grid, in building out data centers, making sure that we have energy resilience. And so it's going to create a huge amount of jobs. We don't have enough skilled workers to meet the needs of these jobs.
We're not ready for it and we have to win. If we don't win this, China's going to win. And so to me this is imperative. Okay, so we we've got that that theme is is common now. We don't have the skilled trades to to kind of fund the future or to build the future. BlackRock putting a lot of money into it.
What do you think about that? Well, listen, I I think my own opinion is that a lot of elites looked down on people that were in the skilled trades less than 5 years ago. And now that there's some trouble and there's been some political upheaval, they're now trying to get on board. I very much support what they're doing.
Mike Rowe, in my opinion, is the real deal on this and has been talking about it, made congressional testimony really more than 10 years. And so it is true, but I I have to say I'm a little circumspect with some of the Johnny-come-latelies on this issue. So these guys might be a Johnny-come-lately in your view.
We talked about greenwashing in the old days. credit washing. or blue-collar? What do you think, Taylor? Um look, it is it is self-serving. I was reading a note here that private infrastructure investing on behalf of institutional clients by BlackRock um that has grown to almost $14 trillion for that company.
So, it's been a good movement for them. It is self-serving, but charity is charity um and I like it and I am even though these are elites now coming to the table, I need to hear that if I have a 3-year-old daughter who is going to be okay with doing that in the future. I really I sometimes I have a hard time when I'm like I'm not going to invest in a college fund, she won't go to college, but then I get that part of me that's like ah, but I did and am I making the right decision?
So, I need everyone to get on board with equalizing trade, with not talking down to it the way we have been in the last 30 years so that parents like me can really like internalize that it is a good thing. All right, so let let me add a layer into this and let let's talk about kind of the idea of the substance of what you're doing versus the messaging of what you're doing.
Remember when BlackRock uh dove headfirst into woke activism? Well, Larry Fink, who you just heard from a second ago, may have some regrets. Listen. Gets you to look in the rearview mirror here. Do you believe the woke era a failed experiment? The ESG, the DEI, the kind of push for that. Society moves The pendulum moves all the time.
Um if in BlackRock's cases, you know, we are responsible for managing money for everybody. Do I believe the pendulum 5 years ago was too far? Yes. Uh Dagan, it's a pendulum. The pendulum is here now. You have to go to Jackie on this cuz I really have nothing but hand gestures for Larry Fink. Pendulum good to you, Dagan.
Well, I'm looking at the the pendulum hand gestures that he was using and I'm thinking to myself, he's acting like he was some victim in some way or somebody that didn't have choice when this was happening that he just was riding this pendulum that happens and then Just riding it. you know, and so now he's come back the other way and well, that's what happens.
That's not just what happens. You know, he's not a normal person. He's talking about managing money for everybody. He is at the top CEOs, um, leaders, they they have the opportunity to set the way that the pendulum goes and and he rode that wave and he rode it hard and now he has to kind of live with that and I'm shocked personally.
I mean, I know that he'd come on the business channel, um, from time to time, but that he goes, you know, goes on the news channel and he is, um, sort of very Mark Zuckerberg, very Jeff Bezos. All of a sudden they're at the inauguration and they're changing their tune after, especially with Zuckerberg and Facebook and suppressing, um, information that voters needed before an election.
So, you know, all these people like it's really easy to say I just I changed my mind. I've come the other way on the pendulum and, you know, I'm allowed to be wrong. Well, you're not, you know, there's some accountability there when you're at the top. Brian, can I just jump in quickly and I don't want to use up too much time and Jackie, I agree with you.
You said the opportunity, but Jason, I'm wondering if it's the opportunity, but also the responsibility. When I'm thinking about a company which to invest, I need a CEO who is unemotional, who is the opportunity, but also the responsibility to guide my company not away from the pendulums, to stay in the middle, to guide my company to do what is best.
Is that gone? Are CEOs Is it better if we're emotional and going with the whims? How do you see through for a company and pick a CEO and think about the future of a company when you can't figure out if the CEO is going to be left or right four years from now? Yeah, listen, I think I would say now it tells us, right?
And yes, she and DEI. But, um, listen, I think there was a business opportunity for for BlackRock to to make significant investments in this because the the the economy was moving there. But, of course, um, you have to stand for something. Right? And and there is a certain sense of which we're all part of the same hypocrisy.
We all have to make uh, changes. We all have to change things a bit. By the same token, you want someone that has, uh, very structured ideals, uh, that will stay in place over time. Uh, because I will and Lloyd Blankfein came out recently. Of course, I don't know if you saw that interview in the Wall Street Journal where he was saying, "These guys have their yachts and their He's talking about as if he's some man of the people and that he's he's shocked at the private credit blowups." And I'm saying, "You know, you're right.
Part of that. You're all part of that." So, you you want Wall Street in particular used to be better when it was driven by partnerships as opposed to public companies. Public companies, it just makes it very hard not to be swayed by emotion. Um, look, why do I dislike Larry Fink so much? I won't go to into it.
Well, one reason is, uh, he helped inflict Maroon 5 on the universe. Um, he was a supporter of backer of the band. You mentioned private credit. The what's been buried in the news of the Iran conflict is BlackRock limited withdrawals from its $26 billion private credit fund. It's HPS Corporate Lending, one of the largest non-traded business development companies.
It basically shareholders requested more than 9% of their shares. Management decided to cap that repurchase at 5%. Again, can you smell the trouble from where you're sitting? That stock's down 12% in the last month. BlackRock is The S&P is down, mm, single digits. So, it's massively underperforming.
And on a final note, BlackRock's donating What is it? $100 million to trade worker training? Yep. That is less than 2% of what the company earned. That's less than 2% of the company's net income last year. Where I come from, that is not proper tithing. Ah, you want the 10%. Okay. Well, I don't know what church you go to.
You better be coughing up more than 10. Well, this is okay. All right. Um Well, you better be coughing up more than 1.8%. That I think I can say I do. You don't like Payphone? You don't like Maroon 5's Payphone? I'm at a pay You know I love that. Louder. Louder, Brian. I can't hear you. I'm just seeing how much Louder.
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