From an article published at The New Scientist:
“As protest against financial power sweep the world this week, science may have confirmed the protesters’ worst fears … The work … revealed a core of 1318 companies with interlocking ownerships … 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 … that controlled 40 per cent of the total wealth in the network … The top 20 included Barclays Bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and The Goldman Sachs Group … It’s disconcerting to see how connected things really are … the super-entity is unlikely to be the intentional result of a conspiracy to rule the world … Such structures are common in nature.”
My thoughts:
- Funny how science is proud of itself for proving what is already common knowledge.
- Funny how scientists are disconcerted by the notion that things really are connected.
- If the top 20 players in this field include names that have that have come close to collapse … does that mean we can look forward to a collapse of “the capitalist network that runs the world” … and the birth of something better?
- Sad how scientists have very little understanding of how things work in nature.