Larry Fink Urges Biden, Trump to Pursue ‘Economic Boom’ Agenda

(Bloomberg) — BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink urged US presidential candidates to overcome divisions in the country following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, seeking to persuade them to grow capital markets, reduce the burden of regulations and expand the economy.

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“Growth is not going to come from tax cuts — that’s too short term,” Fink said in a CNBC interview after BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager with $10.6 trillion in client assets, reported second-quarter earnings. “We need to be building America,” he said, including by streamlining the process for obtaining permits in the country.

Fink said political discourse in the US is “sometimes frightening,” but that such conversations are important to find common ground and drive growth.

“I remember what Ronald Reagan did, and he created this economic boom by providing that hope,” Fink, 71, said.

“We need unfettered businesses right now,” Fink said. “We’re going to get growth from the private sector.”

Fink said that without economic growth, rising deficits — which are at an “unsustainable level” — will become a major burden to future generations.

BlackRock said on July 14 that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old gunman who shot and injured former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally, briefly appeared in a 2022 advertisement for the company. The company said in a statement that it has removed the video from circulation and condemned the attack.

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