Scientists release study of the power structure of the world economy

[horsethief]

This is basically a list showing where and how the money/assets are stashed, it doesn't really tell you "who" owns the money since the CEO doesn't own everything in the corporation or anything.

The short version:

"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."

"When the team further untangled the web of ownership, it found much of it tracked back to a "super-entity" of 147 even more tightly knit companies - all of their ownership was held by other members of the super-entity - that controlled 40 per cent of the total wealth in the network. "In effect, less than 1 per cent of the companies were able to control 40 per cent of the entire network," says Glattfelder. Most were financial institutions."

"The real question, says the Zurich team, is whether it can exert concerted political power. Driffill feels 147 is too many to sustain collusion. Braha suspects they will compete in the market but act together on common interests. Resisting changes to the network structure may be one such common interest."

The top 50 of the 147 superconnected companies

1. Barclays plc
2. Capital Group Companies Inc
3. FMR Corporation
4. AXA
5. State Street Corporation
6. JP Morgan Chase & Co
7. Legal & General Group plc
8. Vanguard Group Inc
9. UBS AG
10. Merrill Lynch & Co Inc
11. Wellington Management Co LLP
12. Deutsche Bank AG
13. Franklin Resources Inc
14. Credit Suisse Group
15. Walton Enterprises LLC
16. Bank of New York Mellon Corp
17. Natixis
18. Goldman Sachs Group Inc
19. T Rowe Price Group Inc
20. Legg Mason Inc
21. Morgan Stanley
22. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc
23. Northern Trust Corporation
24. Société Générale
25. Bank of America Corporation
26. Lloyds TSB Group plc
27. Invesco plc
28. Allianz SE 29. TIAA
30. Old Mutual Public Limited Company
31. Aviva plc
32. Schroders plc
33. Dodge & Cox
34. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc*
35. Sun Life Financial Inc
36. Standard Life plc
37. CNCE
38. Nomura Holdings Inc
39. The Depository Trust Company
40. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance
41. ING Groep NV
42. Brandes Investment Partners LP
43. Unicredito Italiano SPA
44. Deposit Insurance Corporation of Japan
45. Vereniging Aegon
46. BNP Paribas
47. Affiliated Managers Group Inc
48. Resona Holdings Inc
49. Capital Group International Inc
50. China Petrochemical Group Company

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

[Pico]

isnt this a good thing for the white man wehrmacht?

[JayDee]

jews know how to get loots

[Ledzepp02]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3bhHYQ7i7w&feature=related

This is everybody's movement. Corporations are defined and found inherently Un-American by definition. Harvard bred business man, and brand consultant David Intrator gives a perfectly clear examination of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Hear him out. He's particularly calling on his conservatively like-minded peers.

[dcapotos]

That's nice but how is this science?

[Tommy_Wiseau]

There's a reason usury was outlawed in the past, and will be again in the future. That list is a case in point.

[SearyxTZ]

The title of the article is pretty sensationalist but it's interesting nonetheless.

Link to the actual study: http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1107/1107.5728v2.pdf

In the methodology they exclude privately-held companies, so you have to keep that in mind.

The 147 companies control about 40% of the global corporate wealth (737 control 80% of it).

It looks like mostly banks and investment groups, which is not that surprising. I don't think this will come as a shock to most people.

There could be some valuable takeaways from this study, but unfortunately I'd bet that it will just be used as kneejerk cannon fodder for people who want to protest without thinking through an actual solution.

[Ledzepp02]

The current system sure as hell is NOT getting any better, so who gives a fuck if every single person that is interviewed at these protests doesn't lay out the perfect solution to solve all of our problems. The list of grievances is endless, however, a banker controlled globe with absolutely no concern for the well being of humans and nature seems to be near the top.

So when you say there will be valuable takeaways from this study, you're right. Knowledge is power, and the people demand power returned to them. If this study causes more people to wake up and realize our soon demise with the support of the status quo, and if they make their voices heard in rejection of the status quo based off the knowledge of this study, then it has proven useful.

[dcapotos]

What did you expect from an institution that inherently encourages disgusting, unsustainable, destructive behaviour and even requires it by law since publicly traded companies are required to work towards turning a profit. These aren't bad people, they are working in a highly competitive institution that requires bad practices to stay alive and thrive. The system sucks, and people have gotten to the point where they internalize the statement that it's "just business" as if that give a waiver toward backwards and immoral behaviour and nobody ever questions it.

We've adopted the paradigm of constant consumption of limited resources and competition amongst eachother to produce the best. We've moved from competing in the wild for food to competing in the corporate jungle for market share. Someday we will have a just, civilized society.

[Peatree]

This is basically a list showing where and how the money/assets are stashed, it doesn't really tell you "who" owns the money since the CEO doesn't own everything in the corporation or anything.

The short version:

"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."

"When the team further untangled the web of ownership, it found much of it tracked back to a "super-entity" of 147 even more tightly knit companies - all of their ownership was held by other members of the super-entity - that controlled 40 per cent of the total wealth in the network. "In effect, less than 1 per cent of the companies were able to control 40 per cent of the entire network," says Glattfelder. Most were financial institutions."

"The real question, says the Zurich team, is whether it can exert concerted political power. Driffill feels 147 is too many to sustain collusion. Braha suspects they will compete in the market but act together on common interests. Resisting changes to the network structure may be one such common interest."

The top 50 of the 147 superconnected companies

1. Barclays plc
2. Capital Group Companies Inc
3. FMR Corporation
4. AXA
5. State Street Corporation
6. JP Morgan Chase & Co
7. Legal & General Group plc
8. Vanguard Group Inc
9. UBS AG
10. Merrill Lynch & Co Inc
11. Wellington Management Co LLP
12. Deutsche Bank AG
13. Franklin Resources Inc
14. Credit Suisse Group
15. Walton Enterprises LLC
16. Bank of New York Mellon Corp
17. Natixis
18. Goldman Sachs Group Inc
19. T Rowe Price Group Inc
20. Legg Mason Inc
21. Morgan Stanley
22. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc
23. Northern Trust Corporation
24. Société Générale
25. Bank of America Corporation
26. Lloyds TSB Group plc
27. Invesco plc
28. Allianz SE 29. TIAA
30. Old Mutual Public Limited Company
31. Aviva plc
32. Schroders plc
33. Dodge & Cox
34. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc*
35. Sun Life Financial Inc
36. Standard Life plc
37. CNCE
38. Nomura Holdings Inc
39. The Depository Trust Company
40. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance
41. ING Groep NV
42. Brandes Investment Partners LP
43. Unicredito Italiano SPA
44. Deposit Insurance Corporation of Japan
45. Vereniging Aegon
46. BNP Paribas
47. Affiliated Managers Group Inc
48. Resona Holdings Inc
49. Capital Group International Inc
50. China Petrochemical Group Company

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

How is my ex-wife not on this list?

[SearyxTZ]

So when you say there will be valuable takeaways from this study, you're right. Knowledge is power, and the people demand power returned to them. If this study causes more people to wake up and realize our soon demise with the support of the status quo, and if they make their voices heard in rejection of the status quo based off the knowledge of this study, then it has proven useful.


No, it requires more than that. The idiots who read 2 paragraphs into an article and decide that "THE RICH PIGS ARE HOLDING US DOWN" are making their voices heard, sure, but they're not saying anything productive.

Real change requires a well thought-out solution in addition to protesting or calling for change.

Just "making your voice heard" by itself when you haven't thought beyond "this [thing] sucks, plz fix" amounts to whining, and it's unfortunately a pretty popular trend. I prefer discussions with people who have real, actionable ideas on how to enact change. It's a lot better than complaining and leaving the driver's keys with the people who landed us in this economic mess to begin with.

[dcapotos]

No, it requires more than that. The idiots who read 2 paragraphs into an article and decide that "THE RICH PIGS ARE HOLDING US DOWN" are making their voices heard, sure, but they're not saying anything productive.

Real change requires a well thought-out solution in addition to protesting or calling for change.

Just "making your voice heard" by itself when you haven't thought beyond "this [thing] sucks, plz fix" amounts to whining, and it's unfortunately a pretty popular trend. I prefer discussions with people who have real, actionable ideas on how to enact change. It's a lot better than complaining and leaving the driver's keys with the people who landed us in this economic mess to begin with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZbNT62aprM

hopefully they will listen to what he said.

[Harrison]

People give all of their money to a bank, and are pissed a bank has all their money?

That's about all the idiocy I can handle from this lmao

[Tommy_Wiseau]

People give all of their money to a bank, and are pissed a bank has all their money?

That's about all the idiocy I can handle from this lmao

chomsky debunked

publish this genius

[Pico]

People give all of their money to a bank, and are pissed a bank has all their money?

That's about all the idiocy I can handle from this lmao

hhahahaaahaaha
hahahashaaaaaaaaaaaeuyhoauhflp;aseufpaseyufp FUCK

[Naez 4.20]

I was surprised Goldman was so low, considering every treasury secretary for the past like 50 years has come from there

[Hoggen]

So, someone that makes 100 k a year looks at someone that makes 1 mill a year and says that person makes too much and forces him to make 100 k. Then someone that makes 50 k a year looks at them both and says they make too much, so they are forced to make 50 k. Then people making 25 k look at the 50 k'ers and say they are making too much, and so on and so on.

Socialists believe in a zero-sum game in which they are the losers and they seek to forcibly extract the belongings of others to make their own lives better. If you ever lived in Cold War era Russia or it's satellites, you'd know everyone was pretty miserable except for people that got their rocks off snitching on their neighbor for growing turnips illegally.

I'd rather live in a "system" where people are allowed to keep what they work for than one where an entity, yet to be determined, decides what belongings and resources are allowed to each person under its control. The tyranny of the meek is a hell of a lot uglier than a tainted meritocracy.

[Nuk3Afr1ca]

There's a reason usury was outlawed in the past, and will be again in the future. That list is a case in point.

There are two reasons all the wealth accumulated in the hands of a few people. Usury lending from local banks to citizens is not one of them.

1. The Federal Reserve - a central, private bank issuing money to the government at interest. Technically you could consider this "usury" as it's a private bank lending money to the government, but it's more of a flat out scam since the government can issue it's own debt free currency.

2. Leveraging - if people are allowed to leverage money, it creates a situation where someone can make exponential profits but not exponential loses since anything below 0 is mostly redundant, especially if the entity is a corporation and any penalties towards it don't apply to any actual human being.