Tuesday, October 07, 2008

What a Tangled Web They Weave

When first they practice to decieve.
But now they've practiced up a bit,
They really are quite good at it.

Click for a very large (I mean huge, you'll scroll all directions) and fascinating graphic from the NYT on who is connected to whom in these financial deals.

Two things strike me. One, this is a very small circle of people who are involved in these mega-deals. No doubt there are armies of lawyers and analysts behind them, but, in the end, it is fewer than 30 people who are creating the majority of the conenctions between these firms.

Two, there is only one woman, Ruth Porat of Morgan Stanley, in the mix, having a hand in deals with AIG and the GSEs.

Click here for a timeline of major financial company mergers, also from the NYT. I realized I recognized most of these names and could repeat some of their advertisements from memory, and I have not watched TV advertisement in 20 years. Most of the mergers seem to have occured before 1995, but the massive mashups waited until @ 2000. Hmm, big bank maneuvers ahead of presidential elections in 2000, 2004 and now again in 2008.

I look at this and think there are fewer and fewer people in command of more and more money.

Anglachel

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's always a small core that is at the center. I believe it has been shown mathematically dealing with social network (as very formal and not social objects). I may be wrong on that one; I read the papers about the issue about 5 years ago.

Well, Ruth Porat who has a very Israeli name, I have no knowledge of her actual background, her contributed to Hillary and no other politician.

Anonymous said...

I noticed in the timeline that the Chicago based Bank One merger, with Morgan Stanley, completed in 2004 was not included. It seems an odd thing since it was the sixth largest bank at the time. I wonder if Ms. Porat had something to do with them?