VN Boards Archive

[VN Boards Archive]

Welcome to the Vault Network forum archive.

This is not a complete archive, time didn't allot us the opportunity to properly backup the majority of the boards deemed "expendable". Most boards on this list have at least 20-40 pages archived (non-logged in pages, 15 topics per page).

Popular boards may have as many as 250 pages archived at 50 topics per page, while others deemed of historical signifigance may be archived in their entirety.

We may not agree with how the board shutdown was managed, but we've done what we could to preserve some of its history in lieu of that.

Please enjoy the archive.
~ Managers, Moderators, VIP's, and regular posters.

Author

Topic: Revealed â€“ the capitalist network that runs the world

suntzukali2 Posts: 21,648 Registered: Jan 23, '02 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 21,117 User ID: 626,430	Subject: Revealed â€“ the capitalist network that runs the world
	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 study's assumptions have attracted some criticism, but complex systems analysts contacted by New Scientist say it is a unique effort to untangle control in the global economy. Pushing the analysis further, they say, could help to identify ways of making global capitalism more stable. 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." Previous studies have found that a few TNCs own large chunks of the world's economy, but they included only a limited number of companies and omitted indirect ownerships, so could not say how this affected the global economy - whether it made it more or less stable, for instance. The Zurich team can. From Orbis 2007, a database listing 37 million companies and investors worldwide, 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. The work, to be published in PLoS One, revealed a core of 1318 companies with interlocking ownerships (see image). Each of the 1318 had ties to two or more other companies, and on average they were connected to 20. What's more, although they represented 20 per cent of global operating revenues, the 1318 appeared to collectively own through their shares the majority of the world's large blue chip and manufacturing firms - the "real" economy - representing a further 60 per cent of global revenues. 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 top 20 included Barclays Bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and The Goldman Sachs Group. John Driffill of the University of London, a macroeconomics expert, says the value of the analysis is not just to see if a small number of people controls the global economy, but rather its insights into economic stability. Concentration of power is not good or bad in itself, says the Zurich team, but the core's tight interconnections could be. As the world learned in 2008, such networks are unstable. "If one [company] suffers distress," says Glattfelder, "this propagates." "It's disconcerting to see how connected things really are," agrees George Sugihara of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, a complex systems expert who has advised Deutsche Bank. Yaneer 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. Crucially, by identifying the architecture of global economic power, the analysis could help make it more stable. By finding the vulnerable aspects of the system, economists can suggest measures to prevent future collapses spreading through the entire economy. Glattfelder says we may need global anti-trust rules, which now exist only at national level, to limit over-connection among TNCs. Sugihara says the analysis suggests one possible solution: firms should be taxed for excess interconnectivity to discourage this risk. One thing won't chime with some of the protesters' claims: the super-entity is unlikely to be the intentional result of a conspiracy to rule the world. "Such structures are common in nature," says Sugihara. Newcomers to any network connect preferentially to highly connected members. TNCs buy shares in each other for business reasons, not for world domination. If connectedness clusters, so does wealth, says Dan Braha of NECSI: in similar models, money flows towards the most highly connected members. The Zurich study, says Sugihara, "is strong evidence that simple rules governing TNCs give rise spontaneously to highly connected groups". Or as Braha puts it: "The Occupy Wall Street claim that 1 per cent of people have most of the wealth reflects a logical phase of the self-organising economy." So, the super-entity may not result from conspiracy. 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. When this article was first posted, the comment in the final sentence of the paragraph beginning "Crucially, by identifying the architecture of global economic powerâ€¦" was misattributed. 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 * Lehman still existed in the 2007 dataset used Graphic: The 1318 transnational corporations that form the core of the economy -----signature----- The ultimate end of all revolutionary social change is to establish the sanctity of human life, the dignity of man, the right of every human being to liberty and well-being. Emma Goldman self portrait http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/xyzzy11686
	Link to this post
AliHajiSheik Posts: 3,162 Registered: Jan 5, '03 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 3,145 User ID: 755,560	Subject: Revealed â€“ the capitalist network that runs the world
	Actually, it's the water companies. -----signature----- yawn
	Link to this post
Ah-Schoo Title: Fuzzy Caterpillar of Friendliness Posts: 71,317 Registered: Aug 11, '00 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 68,974 User ID: 39,247	Subject: Revealed â€“ the capitalist network that runs the world
	Nuh-uh, it's House Harkonnen. -----signature----- . Opinion = fact. Anecdote = proof. Political label more important than either of those. Welcome to ACF, where debate goes to die. . "fascist totalitarian secular progressive Zionist intellectually challenged Christian puppets." - Aerlinthina
	Link to this post
Brother_Tempus Title: Patriot Posts: 48,624 Registered: Jan 9, '01 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 48,310 User ID: 61,868	Subject: Revealed â€“ the capitalist network that runs the world
	suntzukali2 posted: Revealed â€“ the fascist network that runs the world Fixed for accuracy suntzukali2 posted: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228354.500-revealed--the-capitalist-network-that-runs-the-world.html From the article: " Most were financial institutions." Simple solution top break their hold ....... -----signature----- You win ACF, dude - Osmenthe BT is usually right - Onslaught i think we need more BT on page 1 - FighterUSAF Yep, BT is right - Aerlinthian Got guns & ammo? Food? Precious metals?
	Link to this post
Ah-Schoo Title: Fuzzy Caterpillar of Friendliness Posts: 71,317 Registered: Aug 11, '00 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 68,974 User ID: 39,247	Subject: Revealed â€“ the capitalist network that runs the world
	Brother_Tempus posted: Mmmm delicious urine! Fixed for accuracy. -----signature----- . Opinion = fact. Anecdote = proof. Political label more important than either of those. Welcome to ACF, where debate goes to die. . "fascist totalitarian secular progressive Zionist intellectually challenged Christian puppets." - Aerlinthina
	Link to this post
JD_HOGG Posts: 19,975 Registered: Mar 18, '08 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 19,893 User ID: 1,285,011	Subject: Revealed â€“ the capitalist network that runs the world
	Only one thing to do now. Get a job at one of those places and start running the world! -----signature----- (none)
	Link to this post
Jesus.Christ.. Posts: 212 Registered: May 20, '11 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 212 User ID: 1,420,294	Subject: Revealed â€“ the capitalist network that runs the world
	Brother_Tempus posted: Simple solution top break their hold ....... I think you missed this part Article posted: "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." -----signature----- Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.
	Link to this post
JD_HOGG Posts: 19,975 Registered: Mar 18, '08 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 19,893 User ID: 1,285,011	Subject: Revealed â€“ the capitalist network that runs the world
	Jesus.Christ.. posted: Brother_Tempus posted: Simple solution top break their hold ....... I think you missed this part Article posted: "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." Your Dad says You need to stay out of the free market (will) discussions, Jesus. -----signature----- (none)
	Link to this post
Bat_Avenger Posts: 7,592 Registered: Oct 25, '06 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 7,552 User ID: 1,179,274	Subject: Revealed â€“ the capitalist network that runs the world
	The mere fact Lehman Brothers is no longer in existence shows the fallacy of the article. -----signature----- We are One Nation Under God - Barack "Barry" Obama 1/21/2013 Winning the nobel prize means 8 people in scandanavia liked you - it does not indicate truth, brilliance, or anything else. -dugfromthearth
	Link to this post
Brother_Tempus Title: Patriot Posts: 48,624 Registered: Jan 9, '01 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 48,310 User ID: 61,868	Subject: Revealed â€“ the capitalist network that runs the world
	Bat_Avenger posted: The mere fact Lehman Brothers is no longer in existence shows the fallacy of the article. The study was done in 2007 .. to be fair to the OP -----signature----- You win ACF, dude - Osmenthe BT is usually right - Onslaught i think we need more BT on page 1 - FighterUSAF Yep, BT is right - Aerlinthian Got guns & ammo? Food? Precious metals?
	Link to this post
Bat_Avenger Posts: 7,592 Registered: Oct 25, '06 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 7,552 User ID: 1,179,274	Subject: Revealed â€“ the capitalist network that runs the world
	Brother_Tempus posted: Bat_Avenger posted: The mere fact Lehman Brothers is no longer in existence shows the fallacy of the article. The study was done in 2007 .. to be fair to the OP right ... and if it was any truth to the theory they would still be in business today. -----signature----- We are One Nation Under God - Barack "Barry" Obama 1/21/2013 Winning the nobel prize means 8 people in scandanavia liked you - it does not indicate truth, brilliance, or anything else. -dugfromthearth
	Link to this post
JD_HOGG Posts: 19,975 Registered: Mar 18, '08 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 19,893 User ID: 1,285,011	Subject: Revealed â€“ the capitalist network that runs the world
	Bat_Avenger posted: Brother_Tempus posted: Bat_Avenger posted: The mere fact Lehman Brothers is no longer in existence shows the fallacy of the article. The study was done in 2007 .. to be fair to the OP right ... and if it was any truth to the theory they would still be in business today. Exactly. They'd still be running the world right? Oh wait, they must have angered the other 49, so they took them down. -----signature----- (none)
	Link to this post