11.8.4: The Global Superclass

 11.8.4: The Global Superclass The overlapping memberships of the globe’s top multinational companies enfold their leaders into a small circle of wealthy, powerful individuals. For an indication of their wealth, you might want to look again at Figure 7.1. This group, called the global superclass, has access to the top circles of political power around the world. Its members shy away from researchers, but here is your chance to listen to an elite member of the global superclass describe their tight connections: Every country has its large financial institutions that are central to the development of that country, and everyone else in finance knows somebody who will know the head of one of those companies. That person knows a senior person in their government that could be useful in a situation…. the key is the network…. it is twenty, thirty, fifty people worldwide who ultimately drive the decisions. (Rothkopf 2008:129–130) Twenty to fifty individuals who make the world’s major decisions! Could this possibly be true? Who would make such an outlandish claim? This is where the statement becomes more interesting. The person who said this, Stephen Schwarzman, is one of those twenty to fifty insiders. Worth about $10 billion, he is one of the richest people in the world (“Billionaires List” 2019). How does this interconnected global power work? Here is a real-life example: When Schwarzman, a co-founder of Blackstone Group, an investment company, had a problem with some policy of the German government, he called a German friend. The friend arranged for Schwarzman to meet with the Chancellor of Germany. After listening to Schwarzman, the Chancellor agreed to support a change in Germany’s policy. Do you see the power that is concentrated in this small group? The U.S. members can call the U.S. president, the English members can ring up the British prime minister, and so on. They know how to get and give favors, to move vast amounts of capital from country to country, and to open and close doors to investments around the world. This concentration of power is new to the world scene. Working quietly behind the political scenes (as its members prefer), the global superclass affects our present and our future. To close this chapter, let’s look at this aspect of our changing political and economic order.