Creating Nothing & Taking Everything
A trillion-dollar landlord empire built from foreclosures and debt.
You’ve probably never heard of Stephen Schwarzman, but you should. He’s one of the richest and most powerful men in the world. His company, Blackstone, is a Wall Street giant that controls trillions of dollars—that’s more money than most countries have.
They like to call themselves “captains of industry.” But what do they actually do with all that power?
They don’t build new companies. They don’t invent new products. Their real business is much simpler: they’re professional takers. They buy up huge pieces of our world—our homes, our jobs, our favorite stores—and then squeeze them for every last drop of cash, no matter who gets hurt in the process.
YOUR MISSION: 🗡️ ARM YOUR MIND 🧠
The enemy wins by burying you in bullshit. They make the world seem so complicated that you give up trying to understand it. We win by being sharp, simple, and clear.
That’s why each ‘Verdict’—the sections I’ve marked with a 💥—is more than just a summary. It’s a Pocket Razor.
A Pocket Razor is a single, devastating sentence designed to cut a specific lie to ribbons. Your mission is to memorize them. Burn them into your brain. The next time you hear the talking point, you won’t get angry or confused. You’ll have the razor ready. You’ll have the exact words to dismantle their entire argument in a single, clean cut.
This is how we fight back. Not with long, messy arguments, but with an arsenal of sharp, simple truths. Arm yourself.
This isn’t a success story. It’s a crime scene. Here are three exhibits that show you exactly how their business model works, and why we’re the ones paying the price.
The Exhibits 🔍
TRUTH BULLET 💣 // Exhibit 1:
The Landlord From Hell
The Scam: Remember the 2008 housing crash? When millions of families lost their homes? Blackstone swept in with billions of dollars and bought up those foreclosed houses for pennies on the dollar. They became America’s biggest landlord.
The Reality: Once they owned your neighborhood, they started acting like it. Tenants reported massive rent hikes they couldn’t afford and slumlord-level service. They turned the simple need for a roof over your head into a Wall Street casino game, and the house always wins. The UN even called them out for causing a global housing crisis.
💥 The Verdict 💥: Blackstone “helping” the housing market is like an arsonist claiming he helps the fire department by giving them something to do.
TRUTH BULLET 💣 // Exhibit 2:
How to Kill a Toy Store
The Scam: Blackstone and its partners bought Toys “R” Us. But instead of using their own money, they forced the company itself to take on billions in debt to pay for its own purchase. It’s like forcing someone to buy the gun you’re going to shoot them with.
The Reality: While Toys “R” Us was drowning in that debt, Blackstone paid themselves hundreds of millions in “fees.” When the company finally died, 30,000 people lost their jobs. Their severance checks bounced. Blackstone, of course, kept all the money.
💥 The Verdict 💥: This isn’t an investment. It’s an autopsy on a living patient, where the surgeons get rich by killing the guy on the table and selling his organs for parts.
TRUTH BULLET 💣 // Exhibit 3:
Burning the Planet for Cash
The Scam: On their website, Blackstone talks a big game about being “green” and “sustainable.”
The Reality: It’s a lie. They’ve poured billions into dirty fossil fuel projects. They even funded a company tearing down the Amazon rainforest to build a highway for shipping grain. To Blackstone, the Amazon isn’t the lungs of the world; it’s just another line on a spreadsheet they can squeeze for cash.
💥 The Verdict 💥: Blackstone claiming to care about the environment is like a serial killer claiming to care about public safety.
The Bottom Line ✊
This isn’t a string of bad luck. It’s a pattern.
A business model that gets rich off foreclosures, mass layoffs, and environmental destruction isn’t contributing to society. It’s a parasite feeding on it. They are vultures who have gotten fat by showing up after the battle is over and picking the bones of the dead.
They didn’t build a thing. They just own it. And we’re the ones paying the rent.
A Note From the Forge:
If you saw through the parasitic logic exposed in this indictment—the way entire industries profit from hollowing out creation itself—then you’re ready for the next step.
This piece was the “what”: the evidence of how our culture’s engine was hijacked, how value was inverted, and how art became a hostage.
But to truly dismantle that system, you have to understand the “why.” The facts expose the theft; the story teaches the resistance.
That story is The Living Storybook—the mythos of how we rebuild the will to create in a world designed to drain it. It’s not analysis. It’s rebellion in narrative form—a blueprint for those who still believe in miracles forged by hand.
Start here: The Living Storybook, Part 1: A Hundred Years of Rust
To my allies who have already subscribed, thank you. Your steadfast support is the bedrock of this rebellion.
For those who prefer to make a one-time contribution to our War Chest, you can do so here. Every act of support is a blow against The Rust.
What ‘purchasing model’ is capable of preventing them from making purchases and allowing them to exploit making even more victims from the original business failures? Sounds like the failed businesses need professional advice on how not to enter into repurchase agreements with bad terms plus how can cities/ counties be encouraged to repurchase homes to ensure citizens are not grifted by greedy outside stakeholders?
Thank you. Brilliant work.