Historical Coincidence Becomes Interdependence
As the US marks its 250th birthday in 2026, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink notes a parallel: 1776 birthed both American democracy and modern economics via Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations.
What started as coincidence evolved into mutual reliance. Democracy thrives when people hold tangible stakes in their future; capital markets deliver that through investments in dollars, euros, yen.
Democracy depends on people feeling they have a genuine stake in their country's future. And the capital markets are now the mechanism that can make that stake real.
The Civic Miracle of Long-Term Investing
In 1776, no broad markets connected ordinary citizens to growth. Today, $300 trillion in global public and private markets emerged mostly post-1980s.
BlackRock grew with this shift. Long-term savings fuel companies, infrastructure, jobs—binding individual futures to the nation's.
Fink's shoe-store-owning father and teacher mother saved modestly in the 1950s-60s, compounding alongside highways, industry, autos into comfortable retirements past 100.
Key Forces in America's Mid-Century Boom
- Interstate Highway System construction
- Mid-century industrial expansion
- Auto sector reshaping daily life
You help finance its growth. It helps finance ours.
Expanding the Miracle Globally
Much of the world still builds markets letting people own stakes in self-created growth. BlackRock's mission: broaden participation to share rewards and address divides.
