Fink said that his\u00a0New York company<\/a>, with more than $14 trillion under management, has deep investments in hyperscalers\u2014companies such as Google and Amazon that operate massive data centers\u2014that will pay off.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a great return for a pension fund, for a 401(k) for a sovereign wealth fund, for an insurance company. Much of it is going to be financed by debt, and that\u2019s going to be a big role of private credit in financing of this build out of America,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Fink was joined on the panel by Bruce Flatt, chief executive of\u00a0Brookfield Corp.<\/a>, an alternative asset manager based in Toronto that host Michael Milken described as the world\u2019s largest clean energy investor.<\/p>\n Flatt compared AI to other historic economic disruptions.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will be rewiring the global economy to lay the networks that we laid before, which were highways, utilities, railways. And now we\u2019re laying cloud, artificial intelligence, factories and data centers\u2014that\u2019s what\u2019s happening,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The two asset managers and Milken also highlighted how the AI investments would be played out over decades, providing a big payoff for investors willing to wait for compounded returns.<\/p>\n The idea of long-term investments providing secure and large returns\u2014as well as minimizing the country\u2019s growing wealth gap\u2014also was the subject of a Monday panel featuring\u00a0White House economic chief Kevin Hassett.<\/a><\/p>\n He was joined by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and\u00a0tech investor Brad Gerstner<\/a>, the chief promoter of Cruz-authored legislation signed into law last year creating so-called \u201cTrump accounts\u201d<\/a>\u00a0for newborns.<\/p>\n \u201cThe battle over wealth taxes is deeply connected to this, because this is a battle for the soul of America,\u201d Gerstner said. \u201c You can\u2019t leave 70% of the people out of the upside of compounding and capital, and to think we\u2019re going to get anything different.\u201d<\/p>\n The pilot program establishes investment accounts seeded with $1,000 in federal money for babies born between Dec. 31, 2024, and Jan. 1, 2029. Parents and others can deposit $5,000 annually until the child turns 18, when it converts into a traditional IRA.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to see something grow up into an enormous amount of money, then, you know, that\u2019s the way to do it,\u201d said Hassett, director of the White House\u2019s National Economic Council.<\/p>\n The program has been criticized by some for not assisting newborns when they are young and most vulnerable, while potentially exacerbating the wealth gap since higher-income parents would be most able to make contributions.<\/p>\n Also speaking Monday was another Trump administration official, Paul Atkins, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission,\u00a0which is proposing<\/a>\u00a0allowing public companies, to make semiannual, instead of quarterly, reports.<\/p>\n He laid out the administration\u2019s agenda for regulating Wall Street, including the streamlining of financial disclosures, allowing companies with mandatory arbitration clauses in their corporate bylaws to go public and ending the \u201cweaponization of corporate governance\u201d through shareholder proposals.<\/p>\n \u201cThat sort of thing to get away from special interest groups having an ax to grind then and then, abusing the corporate governance process for their ends,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The SEC\u2019s proposals to limit such proposals have been criticized as a way to silence shareholders voices on environmental, social and governance issues, including diversity, equity and inclusion.<\/p>\n Photo caption: Larry Fink, chairman and chief executive of BlackRock, spoke during a panel discussion at the\u00a0Milkin Institute Global Conference on May 5, 2026. (Milkin Institute\/YouTube)<\/p>\n _______<\/p>\n \u00a92026 Los Angeles Times. Visit at\u00a0latimes.com<\/a>. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.<\/p>\n Sign in to get access to this free resource, and all of our whitepapers and reports.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\tDownload this content today!<\/p>\n Register to get free access to this content, as well as newsletters, continuing education, podcasts, and more\u2026<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"](\"https:\/\/www.cpapracticeadvisor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/CPAPA-Logo.svg\"){kind=logo}
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