Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The Global 1%: Exposing the Transnational Ruling Class

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

The Global 1%: Exposing the Transnational Ruling Class

Click here to access article by Peter Phillips and Kimberly Soeiro from Project Censored. (Both are associated with Sonoma State University in northern California.

I consider this a key document to be used for reference on the study of a critically important subject that is often hidden from view for obvious reasons: who are the One Percent, their inter-relationships, and how do they wield so much power. The authors bring together numerous and important studies on the ruling One Percents of the world. Together they paint a picture of governance that is in sharp contrast to what the capitalist organs of indoctrination--schools and media--portray as the way important social, political, and economic decisions are actually made. This study of studies represents an important contribution to the ongoing effort to reveal the hidden masters of the planet so that we can more effectively combat their perilous power over our lives.

Abstract: This study asks Who are the the world’s 1 percent power elite? And to what extent do they operate in unison for their own private gains over benefits for the 99 percent? We examine a sample of the 1 percent: the extractor sector, whose companies are on the ground extracting material from the global commons, and using low-cost labor to amass wealth. These companies include oil, gas, and various mineral extraction organizations, whereby the value of the material removed far exceeds the actual cost of removal.We also examine the investment sector of the global 1 percent: companies whose primary activity is the amassing and reinvesting of capital. This sector includes global central banks, major investment money management firms, and other companies whose primary efforts are the concentration and expansion of money, such as insurance companies. Finally, we analyze how global networks of centralized power—the elite 1 percent, their companies, and various governments in their service—plan, manipulate, and enforce policies that benefit their continued concentration of wealth and power. We demonstrate how the US/NATO military-industrial-media empire operates in service to the transnational corporate class for the protection of international capital in the world.