Growth 2024 – 37 x 25 x 15cm, plaster, jute, wood
In case you don’t know who Blackstone are, and why Labour’s chancellor Rachel Reeves is happily in the palm of their corporate hand, Blackstone is a private equity company and is one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades.
Blackstone have an atrocious track record of – 1. illegal child labor in a US slaughterhouse cleaning firm owned by Blackstone. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, PSSI was fined $15,138 by the Department of Labor for each minor-aged employee who was employed in breach of the law, totaling $1.5 million in civil money penalties.
2.Ancestry acquisition and data leaks In 2020, Blackstone acquired a majority stake in http://Ancestry.com, which controls access to millions of people’s genetic data, heightening concern about Blackstone’s data privacy practices.
3.Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest The company has invested in companies with links to the commercialization and deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.
4.Warrantless disclosure of Motel 6 occupancies Blackstone handed over guest lists to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without a warrant.
5.United Nations condemnation of the Invitation Homes project and lobbying efforts In 2019, a United Nations report found that Blackstone’s massive purchasing of single-family homes after the 2007–2008 financial crisis had “devastating consequences”. The report alleged that Blackstone had abused tenants with exorbitant fees, rent hikes, and aggressive eviction practices, and that Blackstone’s real estate practices had a disproportionate impact on communities of color. The report also condemned Blackstone for “using its significant resources and political leverage to undermine domestic laws and policies that would in fact improve access to adequate housing”. The above controversies occurred in the US, the idea that Blackstone would be trusted to self-regulate in Brexit UK is for the birds. Rachel Reeves ‘economic growth plans’ are a race to the bottom and tailored for deregulatory libertarian chaos inside the privately protected borders of the UK’s 74 deregulated Special Economic Zones and 12 Freeports. A slew of absolutely despicable corporations have been given the golden handshake by Starmer’s changed Labour Party to set up shop in the free zones. I remind you yet again that Labour MPs, Mayors, councillors, Lords, and Baronesses colluded with the Tories as board members of Rishi Sunak’s nationwide SEZs/Freeports consortia. What’s happening now is the carve up of the UK into patchworks of corporate sovereignties facilitated by Brexit as 1000’s of EU/UK laws are shredded in a deregulation frenzy that is set to continue to 2026, the 3 main areas targeted are employment rights, food safety, and environmental laws. This is an absolute betrayal of British citizens lives and livelihoods as the Brexit sledgehammer demolishes laws and regulations just so foreign corporations can enjoy mega profits from a cruel experiment in kleptocratic corporate governance in free zones turbocharged by Brexit. Guess what? The MSM refuse to cover what is happening to the UK because it would upset those on the right who have stakes in the privatization of an entire country. Rachel Reeves has refused permission for the National Audit Office to investigate England’s SEZ’s and Freeports despite thei House of Commons April 2024 report citing lack of transparency, questions over value for taxpayers money, and ignoring of the Nolan principles. This is insane.