a firm hold on our government by the powerful, behind the scenes. I think in a perfect world politicians bridge the needs of industry, with the needs of a nation. But it isn't that simple anymore is it? I think we are a military power with a country, rather than a country with a military power. Add to that multi-national corporations, who have no allegiance to any country, and who are we? Check this out from 2000...can you imagine what these behemoths are today?
Top 200: The Rise of Global Corporate Power
By Sarah Anderson and John Cavanagh
Corporate Watch
2000
http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/tncs/top200.htmThere are now 40,000 corporations in the world whose activities cross national boundaries; these firms ply overseas markets through some 250,000 foreign affiliates.1 Yet, new calculations by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) indicate that the top 200 of these global firms account for an alarming and growing share of the world's economic activity.
Two hundred giant corporations, most of them larger than many national economies, now control well over a quarter of the world's economic activity. Philip Morris is larger than New Zealand, and it operates in 170 countries.2 Instead of creating an integrated global village, these firms are weaving webs of production, consumption, and finance that bring economic benefits to, at most, a third of the world's people. Two-thirds of the world (the bottom 20 percent of the rich countries and the bottom 80 percent of the poor countries) are either left out, marginalized, or hurt by these webs of activity
Summary of Findings
1.
Of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are now global corporations; only 49 are countries.2. The combined sales of the world's Top 200 corporations are far greater than a quarter of the world's economic activity.
3. The Top 200 corporations' combined sales are bigger than the combined economies of all countries minus the biggest 9; that is they surpass the combined economies of 182 countries.
4. The Top 200 have almost twice the economic clout of the poorest four-fifths of humanity.
5. The Top 200 have been net job destroyers in recent years. Their combined global employment is only 18.8 million, which is less than a third of one one-hundredth of one percent of the world's people.
6. Not only are the world's largest corporations cutting workers, their CEOs often benefit financially from the job cuts.
7. Japanese corporations have surpassed U.S. corporations in the ranking of the Top 200.
8. Over half of the sales of the Top 200 are in just 5 economic sectors; and corporate concentration in these sectors is high.
9. When General Motors trades with itself, is that free trade?: One-third of world trade is simply transactions among various units of the same corporation.
10. The Top 200 are creating a global economic apartheid, not a global village. The top eight telecommunications firms, for example, have been expanding global sales rapidly, yet over nine-tenths of humanity remains without phones.
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