Scientist may have verified "worst fears" of OWS - the capitalist network that runs the world

[ehrnst]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228354.500-revealed--the-capitalist-network-that-runs-the-world.html

"AS PROTESTS against financial power sweep the world this week, science may have confirmed the protesters' worst fears. An analysis of the relationships between 43,000 transnational corporations has identified a relatively small group of companies, mainly banks, with disproportionate power over the global economy.

....

The idea that a few bankers control a large chunk of the global economy might not seem like news to New York's Occupy Wall Street movement and protesters elsewhere (see photo). But the study, by a trio of complex systems theorists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, is the first to go beyond ideology to empirically identify such a network of power. It combines the mathematics long used to model natural systems with comprehensive corporate data to map ownership among the world's transnational corporations (TNCs)."

"Reality is so complex, we must move away from dogma, whether it's conspiracy theories or free-market," says James Glattfelder. "Our analysis is reality-based."

[annabanana]

1. I love me some empirical, facty facts!

Pity that so many people in this country will have no truck with 'em...

[Owlet]

2. Then you'll love this

Here's the full study. Pretty heavy stuff, but worth the read.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/67435351/The-network-of-global-corporate-control

[annabanana]

13. Thanks.

Will forward to people more fluent in the language...

[The Doctor.]

23. What language?

If it's English, I'm pretty good. French, German, and Enochian... not so good.

[annabanana]

33. finance and statistics. . . . .n/t

[Scuba]

3. We are the 99.999999923%

[w0nderer]

4. k&r for reading later n/t

[cachukis]

5. Thanks, good stuff.

[Douglas Carpenter]

6. that's amazing

The 1318 transnational corporations that form the core of the economy. Superconnected companies are red, very connected companies are yellow. The size of the dot represents revenue (Image: PLoS One)

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228354.500-revealed--the-capitalist-network-that-runs-the-world.html

[woo me with science]

7. K&R nt

[mdmc]

8. ..

[dkf]

9. This is actually kind of a no brainer but deceptive.

They are counting mutual funds and hedged funds, and maybe even managed money in the total so yes, financials are the professionals who provide that service.

This guy has it right: " Bar-Yam, head of the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI), warns that the analysis assumes ownership equates to control, which is not always true. Most company shares are held by fund managers who may or may not control what the companies they part-own actually do. The impact of this on the system's behaviour, he says, requires more analysis."

I guess the equivalent would be that if you buy a mutual fund then you are letting some financial entity "control" your shares whereas if you bought it yourself through etrade, then you "control" it.

But most stock owners know how much influence they have over the stock they own...Practically nil.

[izquierdista]

10. 144 people

If you narrow it down to people whose will can effect what a corporation does, which weeds out heirs who are spending their inheritance, me-too sycophants, wallpaper type board members, ambitious suck-ups who haven't attained power yet, you end up with a lot less people. Remember that at Enron, Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling set the tone and "the smartest people in the room" did what Lay and Skilling wanted.

[dkf]

11. And one analyst brought them down.

I love that it's the women that ferret these things out. :)

[rhett o rick]

18. These few must have a bible they are following, or something. nm

[The Doctor.]

26. Yes. That is far more explicit than my comment. I'll go with it.

[The Doctor.]

25. It traces the lines.

The dots in between may not be of much influence, but they sure the hell help paint the picture.

Connaître?

[yardwork]

12. k&r

[Quantess]

14. I shared this on facebook.

[dreamnightwind]

15. G.H.W. Bush's thousand points of light

That's what the picture is, aka his "new world order".

[snot]

16. V. useful! K&R'd.

[rhett o rick]

17. Is there a way to fight this? nm

[WillyT]

19. K & R !!! - Bookmarked !!!

And thanks!!!

:hi:

:kick:

[tcaudilllg]

20. Massive boycott is the only solution.

The Blue Fund was one of the best mobilization ideas I've ever heard of. It's a pity it was shut down. Greed overcame responsibility. We need a movement that empowers left-wing causes and depotentiates the right wing at the financial level.

Time was, Microsoft seemed invincible. Then came Firefox. Today, MS retains only half the browser market. We need to do the same thing against this network. We need a network of virulently anti-establishment companies -- a hundred Googles -- that are not only divergent from this network, but actively antagonistic to it.

[bvar22]

21. This handful of Banks had enough POWER..

..to have the US Military annex Libya for them.

[bongbong]

22. Hmmmm....

Are you talking about Operation Independent Libya (O.I.L)? :-)

[The Doctor.]

29. Without becoming more obvious...

Are you suggesting that the PTB have figured out how to profit from a truncated engagement rather than a protracted one such as in Iraq?

Or are you suggesting that there are oil interests, just as there were at Cheney's 'Energy Task Force' meetings in Spring of '01, that have guided, ummm... the UN on Libya where they couldn't manage to to so without the US OSP puppet show that took us into Iraq? I'd love to know how they have evolved.

Somehow I think you're in deeper waters than you can tread, but please do try.

You should come out here a bit and explain yourself. You seem to know what you're talking about, right?

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bongbong]

35. History

What do you mean by "deeper waters than I can tread"? I have no idea what you're implying.

Libya has oil. It was under control of Gaddafi. It's now liberated. You can't get too much more out of what I said than that. You DID see the smiley, right?

But it sounds like you have some theories - your first two paragraphs - that you somehow implied that I suggested. I don't need to "come out here and explain myself". But I bet your two theories would be fun to hear!

[Raster]

32. Once again The Lords of Money, the Military Industrial Complex and...

...The Texas Petroleum Mafia flex their control muscles.

[Zorra]

24. Scientists finally discover what my dog figured out years ago.

Granted, Maggie is a little smarter than your average canine; but still, it ain't rocket science.

But it is validating to know that science has proven ol' Maggie right again.

[1776Forever]

27. FarCenter shared with me about a little known financial group - BlackRock - check this out....

This is FarCenter's post:

Barclays probably appears on the list because of the iShares ETF business
Lots of stock would be held by the iShares Exchange Traded Funds, but the beneficial owners of the stock would actually be the owners of the ETF shares.

Barclays sold iShares to BlackRock in 2009, later than the data used in the study. BlackRock should certainly appear on a current list.

They must be using data which just identifies the "street name" holders of shares, not actual owners. For example, Depository Trust Company doesn't own shares, it just serves as an electronic repository and holder of securities for other companies, and this replaces the shuffling of paper documents from firm to firm.


And my reply:

Your post shows how amazingly intertwined these financial institutions are and how much they can change their chameleon names in a very short time. It is no wonder that they can manipulate the market the way they do and get away with so much without being caught! I have never heard of them but wikipedia says they are the world's largest asset manager corporation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackRock

BlackRock, Inc. is an American multinational investment management corporation and the world's largest asset manager.<3> BlackRock is headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States and is the leading provider of investment, advisory, and risk management solutions. The company acquired Barclays Global Investors in December 2009, solidifying BlackRock's position as the largest investment manager in the world.<4>

Founded in 1988, initially offering fixed income products, BlackRock has become a financial powerhouse while remaining out of the public eye. According to Ralph Schlosstein, CEO of Evercore Partners, a NY-based investment bank: “BlackRock today is one of, if not the, most influential financial institutions in the world.”<5>

[Electric Monk]

28. K&R

[rasputinkhlyst]

30. One of my professors at the University of NV @ Reno

Completed a study around 40 years ago about the "Kinship System in American Banking". I wish I had a copy or could find one. Perhaps someone on DU knows of it?c

[RainDog]

31. k&r n/t