Black Eyes For BlackRock
By Barry James Dyke
Few understand what BlackRock is doing with their retirement savings, and how BlackRock wants to gamble even more in alternative assets such as private credit, private equity, cryptocurrencies and other highly speculative assets. For most of the population, BlackRock is another mysterious black box. This book hopes to shine a light on this rather dark area of finance, unveil what is behind the curtain, and reveal its numerous black eyes from its retirement plan blunders.
What you will learn
America’s Last Place in Retirement Planning
Learn about America’s unhappiness and the country’s horrific savings rate. Despite being the top economy in the world, American retirement systems for middle class Americans are ranked one of the worst in the world’s top 30 countries.
Founding of BlackRock at Blackstone
After losing $100 million trading mortgages at First Boston in the mid-1980s, Larry Fink went to work for Blackstone and created BlackRock. BlackRock has become the largest asset manager in the world, and runs the world’s largest 401(k) type savings plan, the U.S. government Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) with more than $1 trillion in assets and 7 million participants.
Stock Market Illusion for the Masses
The top 10 wealthiest percent of Americans own 90 percent of the stock market wealth, and the top 1 percent of the 10 percent own more than 50.2 percent of stock market wealth.
The $5.4B Stuyvesant Town Disaster
BlackRock Blew Up Stuyvesant Town Peter Cooper Village in a $5.4 billion failed leveraged buyout, One Month Prior it purchased Barclays iShares for $13.5 Billion. In December 2009, BlackRock purchased the giant indexing business Barclays iShares for $13.5 billion . In January 2010, Stuyvesant Town Peter Cooper Village, the Manhattan real estate development which BlackRock had acquired in a $5.4 billion leveraged buyout in 2006 defaulted and left a wake of destruction losing billions in public pensions and government backed loans.
ESG Boondoggle
BlackRock’s ESG (environmental, social & governance) marketing campaign which began in 2012 was a boondoggle not just BlackRock, but for asset managers throughout the world.
Flawed Logic of BlackRock Narrative
The case for private equity investing for unsophisticated retail savers made by BlackRock, and others is flawed, erroneous and immoral. The industry maintains that public pensions and endowments have been using private equity for years, and enjoying robust investment returns to fund retirement plans. This book documents how investment metrics the industry uses such as IRR (internal rates of return) are highly suspect and are mathematically impossible. Government pensioners bare no risk of private equity investments. Retail savers bare all economic and investment risks in 401(k) plans.
The numbers don't lie
$1.2T
$29B+
$12T
BlackRock Loses $1.2 Trillion
BlackRock’s $29B Spending Spree
Expanding 401(k) Investment Access
Index investing has its downsides in retirement planning. BlackRock lost $1.2 trillion in customer index retirement funds in 2022.
In search of FRE (fee related income) Larry Fink and BlackRock executives bet the farm and spent more than $29 billion to coral Americans into complex alternative investments such as private credit, private equity, infrastructure, cryptocurrencies and other complex investments which no one understands.
Wall Street and the City of London wants to bail itself out of its frozen private equity investments by getting access to retail savers $12 trillion of assets in 401(k)s and IRAs. Large asset managers are working nonstop to get access to retail savers accounts to liquify their failed frozen investments, pitching diversification and improved investment returns. In August 2025, BlackRock, Partners Group, Apollo Global Management, Blackstone, KKR and others spearheaded Donald Trump’s “Democratizing Access To Alternative Assets For 401(k) Plans”. Martin Small, chief financial officer of BlackRock applauded the US Department of Labor offering a safe harbor for putting complex illiquid alternative investments into 401(k)s. In the March 30, 2026 Financial Times, Small said, “BlackRock supports this and other policy initiatives that thoughtfully expand access to investments historically out of reach, enhance diversification, and improve long-term outcomes.” Regrettably, in the U.K., similar trend of pushing risky private assets into defined contribution plans gained traction in May 2025 with the Mansion House II Accord.
“As you know I have been totally impressed by your books. They are amazing works. Your impact on the financial community has been needed for so many years. Black Eyes for BlackRock is an amazing book. I want to take my money and put it into a safe deposit box. Incredible work.“
Robert Castiglione
Founder, Leap Systems
Unveiling The Depths Of Wall Street's Corruption
Another shocking expose by the author of The Pirates of Manhattan, the author exposes the ongoing destruction of retirement income by Wall Street in general, and BlackRock in particular.
America has lost its way and has forgotten the most important purpose of retirement planning, which is to provide secure lifetime income for retirees and their families.
Bonus Material
By visiting www.BarryJamesDyke.com, you can have free access to highly researched bonus material. This information is extremely valuable for retirement savers, but too large to be published in a book.
Private Equity Glossary
Plain English definitions of the key terms, fees, structures, and strategies used by private equity firms.
Revolving Door of Private Equity, Government and Banking
See how the same players move between Wall Street, government, and regulators-influencing policy and protecting their
own interests.
Everyone into the Pool, More Looting by Wall Street
How policymakers and corporate interests are pushing to put your retirement savings at risk in opaque, high-fee investments.
Private Equity Firms and Financial Darlings Go Out of Business
A look at the firms once hailed as unstoppable - and what happens when the cycle turns against them.
Much More. All Free.
Visit www.BarryJamesDyke.com and explore the full library of research.
Detailed reports, company lists, case studies, and insider analysis you won't find anywhere else.
“I think Black Eyes for BlackRock is your best book yet. Understanding the games that are being played and the way people are being pulled into something they believe is secure is a crime. And they are always careful to make sure that they make their money on the front end and are insulated from what happens once they have their money. The book is a very complete list of all of the companies to avoid and why they should be avoided. It's a horrible list and of course, when it all falls down, our taxes will be there to protect them. It's not good bedtime reading unless you want nightmares. The really daunting part is that it will take down so many viable companies with it as the damage will be impossible to contain."
Kris Stecker
CEO and President of Spa Tech Institute
Contact
For any inquiries, please call or email us:
603-929-7891
Our address
Castle Asset Management, LLC
64 Lafayette Road, Suite 8
North Hampton, NH 03862
Post Office Box 95
Hampton, NH 03843-0095