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News :: Miscellaneous |
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New Report Details Top 200 Corporate Dominance of World Economy |
Current rating: 0 |
by Mike Lehman
(No verified email address) |
03 Feb 2001
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A new report from the Institute for Policy Studies by Sarah Anderson and John Cavanagh details the dominance of the Top 200 corporations of the world economy. According to the study, the profits of the Top 200 firms grew 362.4 percent, while the number of people they employ grew by only 14.4 percent between 1983 and 1999. |
Here a a few details from the introduction to the report. Disgustingly, while these corporations reap the benefits from governments controlled by politicians they have bought, they often don't pay their fair share into the system that works to their advantage. Go to the link for more information on the complete report.
KEY FINDINGS
1. Of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are corporations;
only 49 are countries (based on a comparison of corporate sales
and country GDPs).
2. The Top 200 corporations' sales are growing at a faster rate than
overall global economic activity. Between 1983 and 1999, their
combined sales grew from the equivalent of 25.0 percent to 27.5
percent of World GDP.
3. The Top 200 corporations' combined sales are bigger than the
combined economies of all countries minus the biggest 10.
4. The Top 200s' combined sales are 18 times the size of the combined
annual income of the 1.2 billion people (24 percent of the total
world population) living in severe poverty.
5. While the sales of the Top 200 are the equivalent of 27.5 percent
of world economic activity, they employ only 0.78 percent of the
world's workforce.
6. Between 1983 and 1999, the profits of the Top 200 firms grew
362.4 percent, while the number of people they employ grew by
only 14.4 percent.
7. A full 5 percent of the Top 200s' combined workforce is employed
by Wal-Mart, a company notorious for union-busting and widespread
use of part-time workers to avoid paying benefits. The discount
retail giant is the top private employer in the world, with
1,140,000 workers, more than twice as many as No. 2,
DaimlerChrysler, which employs 466,938.
* Note: I assume the report was written before Daimler-Chrysler's recent announcement that they would lay-off 20% of their workforce.
8. U.S. corporations dominate the Top 200, with 82 slots (41 percent
of the total). Japanese firms are second, with only 41 slots.
9. Of the U.S. corporations on the list, 44 did not pay the full
standard 35 percent federal corpo-rate tax rate during the period
1996-1998. Seven of the firms actually paid less than zero in
federal income taxes in 1998 (because of rebates). These include:
Texaco, Chevron, PepsiCo, Enron, Worldcom, McKesson and the
world's biggest corporation-- General Motors.
10. Between 1983 and 1999, the share of total sales of the Top 200
made up by service sector corporations increased from 33.8
percent to 46.7 percent. Gains were particularly evident in
financial services and telecommunications sectors, in which
most countries have pursued deregulation.
Top 200 vs. Countries
Of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are corporations;
only 49 are countries (based on a comparison of corporate sales
and country GDPs). To put this in perspective,
General Motors is now bigger than Denmark; DaimlerChrysler is
bigger than Poland; Royal Dutch/Shell is bigger than Venezuela;
IBM is bigger than Singapore; and Sony is bigger than Pakistan.
The 1999 sales of each of the top five corporations (General
Motors, Wal-Mart, Exxon Mobil, Ford Motor, and DaimlerChrysler)
are bigger than the GDP's of 182 countries.
The Top 200 corporations' combined sales are bigger than the
combined economies of all countries minus the biggest 10. |
See also:
http://www.ips-dc.org/top200.htm
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