----- Original Message -----
From: info <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2001 1:28 PM
Subject: [mobilize-globally] Global economy: shifting the balance of power
Subject:
Fw: Global economy: shifting the balance of power
Date:
Wed, 31 Jan 2001 18:04:38 -0800
From:
"John H. St. John" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
----- Original Message -----
From: "radman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <Recipient list suppressed>
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2001 2:40 PM
Subject: Global economy: shifting the balance of power
> Global economy: shifting the balance of power
>
> <http://enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/01/01312001/economy_41639.asp>
>
> Wednesday, January 31, 2001
> By Suzanne Elston
>
> The balance of global economic power has shifted from governments to
> corporate boardrooms. According to a new study by the Institute for
Policy
> Studies, 51 of the largest 100 economies in the world are
corporations,
not
> countries.
> This conclusion is based on a comparison of corporate sales and
gross
> domestic product.
> Put in economic terms, this means that General Motors Corp. is now
bigger
> than Denmark, IBM is bigger than Singapore and Sony is bigger than
Pakistan.
> The report, entitled "Top 200: The Rise of Corporate Global Power,"
> cautions that growing corporate power has enormous economic and
political
> consequences. This echoes concerns expressed by protesters at the
World
> Trade Organization's conference in Seattle in 1999 and at the World
Bank
> meeting in Washington, D.C., in April 2000.
> As companies transform economic clout into political power,
democracy is
> undermined,
> the report warns.
> The report showed that 44 of the U.S. corporations in the top 200
list
> failed to pay the full 35 percent standard corporate tax rate from
1996 to
> 1998. In 1998, seven companies General Motors, Texaco, Chevron,
Pepsi,
> Enron, Worldcom and McKesson actually received rebates for taxes
paid.
> The corporations in the top 200 list reflect current global economic
> trends. Reforms made by the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund
> have eroded the dominance of manufacturing and natural
resource-based
> companies.
> Between 1983 and 1999, the share of total sales made up by service
> companies has increased from 33.8% to 46.7%. Gains were particularly
> evident in financial services and telecommunications sectors, thanks
to a
> global trend toward deregulation. In 1999, more than half of the
sales of
> the Top 200 corporations were in one of four economic sectors:
financial
> services (14.5 percent), motor vehicles and parts (12.7 percent),
insurance
> (12.4 percent) and retail (11.3 percent).
> Overall, sales for the top 200 corporations are growing faster than
overall
> economic activity. Between 1983 and 1999, combined corporate sales
grew
> from 25 percent to 27.5 percent of the world's GDP. One corporation,
> Wal-Mart, experienced meteoric growth. Sales went from $4.7 billion
in
1983
> to $166.8 billion in 1999, making it the second largest corporation
in the
> world. Wal-Mart's work force of 1,140,000 employees makes it the
world's
> largest private employer.
> Despite their market share and continuing growth, the top 200
companies
> employ only a fraction of the world's workers. In 1999, they
employed 0.78
> percent of the world's work force, compared with their 27 percent
share of
> world economic activity. And while corporate profits grew 362.4
percent
> between 1983 and 1999, the number of people employed by these same
> companies only increased by 14.4 percent.
> The IPS study concludes that the threat posed by the top 200
corporations
> should become a major political issue in the United States and for
other
> countries throughout the world.
>
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