if guy fawkes was alive last night he'd have blown up goldman sachs...

occupy protests, starting in wall street, have been sweeping the globe, with protesters in london now looking to stay on until christmas to question western capitalism and financial power (whether or not they are also occupying their tents throughout the night is however, a different question).

the idea that a tight network of banks and corporations control the world may have the whiff of a conspiracy theory, however, a recent study has revealed that infact a small group of companies do indeed have a disproportionate influence on the global economy.

a trio of systems analysts at the swiss federal institute of technology in zurich mapped the ownership between 43,000 transnational companies, revealing a tight-knit group of 147 companies, predominantly banks, controlling 40% of the wealth of the entire network.

perhaps maverick financial trader alessio rastani wasn’t so far off the mark when he proclaimed that “governments don't rule the world, Goldman Sachs rules the world” in his almost comical interview on the BBC earlier this year.

to read more, visit: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228354.500-revealed--the-capitalist-network-that-runs-the-world.html

[callum dickson]