While more recent politicians have popularized the term “fake news,” it is a concept that in many ways is as old as America itself.  For example, in the election of 1800, Thomas Jefferson paid off a journalist to say fellow Founding Father John Adams had “a hideous hermaphroditical character which has neither the force and firmness of a man, not the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.” Note the phrasing: then-President Adams had a hermaphroditical character, not explicitly saying Adams was himself a hermaphrodite.

But the attack stuck. Instead of talking about policy, people were talking about if the president was a hermaphrodite. That may not be the reason Adams lost, but it certainly didn’t help him win.

And the same kind of tactics are being used today.

The political action group Consumers’ Research recently claimed housing unaffordability and rising mortgage rates were the fault of New York-based asset manager BlackRock, Inc.

The misstated attack has created some measure of bipartisanship in the country, with politicians of all stripes uniting in their criticisms and calling to regulate the industry. For example in Arizona, Republicans Blake Masters, Paul Gosar, and Wendy Rogers, and the Democrats of Pima County have weighed in against the so-called BlackRock housing grab. While there are certainly times that the criticisms of various policy proposals are warranted, in this instance there is one big problem.

BlackRock isn’t the one doing this.

The company these politicians appear to be looking for is Blackstone, an easy mistake to make. While BlackRock is a multi-national investment company based in New York City, Blackstone is an alternative investment management company based in New York City. It’s so easy to confuse the two that Wikipedia had to label it:

Blackstone recently “agreed to buy a company that buys and rents single-family homes in a $6 billion deal,” as The Wall Street Journal has reported.  That company, Home Partners of America Inc., owns more than 17,000 houses throughout the U.S. Blackstone also owns Invitation Homes Inc, which buys and then rents out tens of thousands of single-family homes.

Housing as an asset class is not that unusual, with other financial companies making investments in single-family rental operators, like J.P. Morgan. But BlackRock – whatever criticisms someone may have – does not buy individual homes. Rather the company provides financing for mortgages for homeownership or new construction.

The housing market has been through the wringer. The demand for homes skyrocketed during the pandemic because interest rates collapsed, the stock market tanked, and many Americans started working more regularly from home. Home prices exploded at the top of the year, then contracted for a variety of reasons – including rate hikes and oversaturation. Last week, home sales unexpectedly surged again as a way for people to shield their wealth from recession and hyperinflation.

None of this volatility helps anyone trying to get on or climb up the property ladder. Neither does mislabeling one company as a bad guy in this instance.

It’s probably helpful for Consumers’ Research’s campaign narrative to call out BlackRock. But it doesn’t make their claims true. And beyond the campaign of Consumers’ Research, our political leaders, such as those in Arizona, would also be well-served to learn some elementary facts about an issue before launching misguided criticisms about who is actually engaged in the practices that they disfavor.

That kind of behavior lacks both the force and firmness of a man and the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.