Revealed – the capitalist network that runs the world

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.

Full article: www.newscientist.com...

reply to post by lucifuge


I wonder how long until these scientists suddenly "resign" or lose their "credibility" because of releasing this kind of research.

reply to post by CasiusIgnoranze


As long as they can continue to sell the myth that capitalism is simply money and markets, and not the private ownership of the means of production, the article may be a threat to the present banking system but no threat to the real problem, the private ownership of the means of production.

Ownership of the means of production does not have to be in the control of a minority group of 'private owners' in order to have free-markets, and a successful economy that we can all benefit from.

reply to post by lucifuge


Thanx for posting the article.

Honestly, do we really need scientist to tell us these companies, mainly banks and insurance companies, rule this world of coporatocracy?

S+F

Wont add much knew some of the founding members of "corporation watch" so am aware of these facts interconnection the following though should be made aware to all esp when people screem its Rockerfeller or Chase (thinking its singular just that one or two organisations)

Here we present the true masters of this universe we live on:

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

Source op.

Kind Regards

Elf

reply to post by lucifuge


Over the years, I've noticed that anything the government gets its fingers into turns sour really fast. Lots of promises and bickering every few years, then they get elected and start backpedalling. Politicians and promises are like the dreams you forget in the morning.

So now we have the Corporatocracy? Hasn't it always been there leading the government by carrots on sticks? What's new? How do we change it and what's the alternative?

So... what do you think, lucifuge? You haven't said anything at all and just copied text from the source.

Originally posted by momoney
reply to post by lucifuge

 

Over the years, I've noticed that anything the government gets its fingers into turns sour really fast. Lots of promises and bickering every few years, then they get elected and start backpedalling. Politicians and promises are like the dreams you forget in the morning.

So now we have the Corporatocracy? Hasn't it always been there leading the government by carrots on sticks? What's new? How do we change it and what's the alternative?

So... what do you think, lucifuge? You haven't said anything at all and just copied text from the source.

What do I think, well after working in both Public & Private sector institutes, sometimes with the top brass and one thing I have learned is these people aren't always the brightest tools in the box. Half of them don't seem able to do there day to day tasks properly let alone run the world. I think we place too much emphasis on just how capable some people are.

You have hit the proverbial nail Lucifuge, but theres more too...the peter principal at wotk assures us that a man will rise in a company to the point where he is incompetant for the job hes doing....
The chances of cronyiscreeping into the system as those up on top cement their relative s and friends into other top positions.....is 100% so chalk up another cause....
Thirdly,and perhaps most important, theres the one that got the tit taken away too soon or whatever and have become self serving megalomaniacs and psychotics.
This elite bunch who have the reigns of power become drunk with it, and loose all perspective of reality for the most of the rest of us.
They feel as if they are entitled to rule us because they are superior to us in some way, or they wouldnt be where they are would they?
this Obssessive compulsive tendancy to accumulate wealth and power is a sickness and a mental health issue...
These people need treat,ment ......

I'm writing a movie script in which the central premise (but not the exciting conclusion) is an artificial intelligence is at the center of the entire economic system, as suggested in the above graphic from the OP's article.

And no one knows where it came from nor when it got there.

reply to post by lucifuge


Ok... I can accept the fact that it isn't normally the intellectual cream that rises to the top of a corporation just as much as popular clowns wind up running governments.

When fools are in charge, what does that say about the rest of us?

Anyways... the question I'd really like to ask is what's the alternative? If governments can't properly look after the needs of the people because corporations get puppets elected and corporations are led by monied fools dependent on hordes of bean counters, then how do we change that and into what?

It's easy to point a finger and say 'shame', but, afaik, the sheep are still just grazing away.

Capitalism is a beast that needs to be put upon a chain. Its proponents follow some blind myth as if the ‘free market’ has always been the way in which the economy functions. This is false, the economy grows out of the people, capitalism instead grows onto the people, and it is a top-down economic approach whereby a few people control vast amounts of wealth at the expense of the community as a whole. When we realize that the economy is the real ‘necessary evil’ then perhaps we can move forward to a more productive and organic economic system.

The peddlers of capitalism are blind to the reality of the beast; it espouses equality but instead creates the most unequal societies in history. Capitalism may advance technology but it does so at such a pace that no man can even find a place of belonging in his own country, what once took 200 years now takes 2, this disorients man and leaves those without wealth, i.e. power, behind. And this is not even mentioning how it dehumanizes and degrades life… nothing has value but everything has a price. You, I, and everyone else are just commodities to be used then discarded when our productivity value is not high enough for the masters.

Are you afraid of Socialism? Then tame capitalism. Are you afraid of inequality? Then tame capitalism. Are you afraid of concentration of wealth? Then tame capitalism. We do not need to abolish private property we just need to ensure that the gap between the rich and poor is not so large that it is as though they are to each other from foreign lands. Multinational corporations must be broken down and capped, essential natural resources which man requires to survive should be de-commoditized, family owned businesses and co-operatives should be invested in, and banks should be busted up, capped, and credit-unions formed as alternatives.

Our elite feed us liberty while they gobble up our sovereignty; they are peddlers of freedom while at the same time destroyers of opposition. The final result is the all-encompassing state with no opposing social apparatuses as they led people to cheer on the death of state opposition. End result, absolutism of the state worshipping the cult of capital.

Originally posted by stirling
the peter principal at wotk assures us that a man will rise in a company to the point where he is incompetant for the job hes doing....

This is so true and I have a good solution to it.
When you find this is what happens to your employee, you downgrade him, but leave his salary.

In fact I believe, if it wasn't for money a lot more people would actually do what they like and what they are good at.

reply to post by Misoir


I loved your post. I think why a lot of people don't want to give up on capitalism because it's the only system that has been pushed for so long, has been over-hyped and seduces people with this idea of freedom.
When in fact it free capitalism has no other choice then to finish in monopoly because money and power simply makes people crazy and out of touch with human priorities.

Corruption from power is the biggest flaw in earth civilization.

Originally posted by User8911
Corruption from power is the biggest flaw in earth civilization.

...which make me believe more and more that our leaders are alien, possessed, reptiles, drink blood, make sacrifices, power mad, influenced by the devil, shape shifters, from another dimension (and/or) know hidden secrets and technology! ( You can subtract all crazy conspiracies from the precedent phrase to your liking ^^)

No lol...but, ahem. I mean, with all the crazy things people do out of greed it makes you wonder where the humanity inside them is now.

Can it really be, only money?

I've met rich people before and they weren't evil...well, maybe this one actor that made me feel weird when I met him, but he's not that popular hehe

reply to post by User8911


People need to give up on the philosophers who peddle this garbage of capitalism, socialism, etc… The economy must grow out organically, attuned to the attitudes, ethics, and tastes of the culture from which it sprung. An economy any other way is foreign, imposed upon people by thinkers who want to experiment on society. We are humans, not lab rats, and I think we are smart enough to know what is for our best interests.

Our best interests definitely do not include a large concentration of wealth and ownership by a distant few, ruling over us as if we live on their plantation. A society with an organic economy would allow for a greater distribution of wealth along with an invigorated culture where more people are the owners of their means of production. Communities of people with similar talents organize with investments into stores for a greater size and return on their investment. And they do not maximize profits by exploiting other people; it becomes a more human experience.

Do not consider me a capitalist, socialist, communist, etc… I prefer to allow each country decide its own destiny based upon the people that create it. No two economies can or should be the same.

reply to post by Misoir


If we don't abolish 'private property', then how do we keep the owners of that property from being overly exploitative of the population? Or creating an oppressive system in order to increase and protect their capital gains, like they have done already? When we allow capitalism we give our power to other people, we become powerless to control anything.

Those who control the state are those who have the economic power, and when that economic power is concentrated in a few hands they will have to exploit the proletariat in order to maintain their economic base.

There is no morality in capitalism, private ownership of the means of production is the root of our economic social problems. The people realised that 200 years ago, and developed alternatives that have had their true meanings twisted in popular thought by those who appose those alternatives, because any threat to their power is viciously apposed.

reply to post by ANOK


I would rather stay with capitalism than ban private property; it is the lesser of two evils in my opinion. The problem alone is not private property; it is too much concentration of wealth and power which comes about by unchecked growth. There are ways to end this such as limits on size of businesses and investments, removing necessary goods such as oil, grain, water, etc… from the commodity market, providing a basic minimum income for all people, and requiring a community vote before a business can open a branch in any particular town.

There are other ways as well but I cannot really concentrate as a disrespectful neighbor down the street is blasting his music obnoxiously loud.

they pulled out all 43,060 TNCs and the share ownerships linking them. Then they constructed a model of which companies controlled others through shareholding networks, coupled with each company's operating revenues, to map the structure of economic power

This is awesome that someone finallly put this into numbers

reply to post by Misoir


As I said private property is the cause of the imbalance of power. It's what allows people to become powerful.

How can the means of production being available to all be an evil?

But I don't believe either are 'evils', it's what we do with them, it's just that 'private ownership' automatically creates an hierarchical system that leads to what we are all complaining about. Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Capitalists will always gain absolute power because they control the means of production, and whether you work or not. They have control over labour and the means required to produce what we need.

reply to post by ANOK


I believe society is naturally hierarchical like an Egyptian pyramid, it is the sum of its parts arranged in a specific order. The pyramid requires every brick to hold itself up just as society requires every individual and class to hold itself up. Hierarchy is not bad to me, it is natural and should not be opposed. My problem arises when too much concentration of wealth is in too few of hands, that is all I seek to stop and in my opinion there are ways of doing just that. One of those ways is to abandon laissez-faire type capitalism and try an organic economy which arises from the culture of the people to meet their needs. If the Spanish people use a system without private property, that is fine, if the British use a system with private property, that is fine too, although I would prefer the latter to the former.

These are the organised gangsters that are responsible for the financial mess the west is in. It was evident in 2008 that these organisations were in cahoots.

They are bringing down our standard of living through controlling inflation, the markets and people's wages. They are investing in the East in order to bring about a New World Order. Maybe not one Global Government (Yet), but simply investing in these countries where wages, standard of living, working conditions and the like are key to BIG profits.

This was reported in the Daily Mail also which considering their stance against anybody who would suggest such a thing was happening, is a surprise.

Link: www.dailymail.co.uk...