Did you know...
The top two hundred global corporations are now so big that their combined sales surpass the combined economies of 182 countries, and they have almost twice the economic clout of the poorest four-fifths of humanity. Of the hundred largest economies in the world, fifty-two are now transnational corporations.
Wal-Mart is bigger than 163 countries. Mitsubishi is larger than Indonesia. Ford is bigger than South Africa. The new merged Time Warner-America Online colossus has a market value greater than the economy of Australia.
On a more personal front, four hundred and forty-seven billionaires have a combined wealth greater than the income of half of humanity. The three richest people in the world have assets that exceed the combined gross domestic product of forty-eight countries. Eighty-nine countries have lower per capita incomes today than they did a decade or more ago and 200 million more people this year are living in absolute poverty (less than one dollar a day). The world's two hundred richest people have doubled their wealth in the last four years.
From:
Institute for Policy Studies, Washington D.C.,
1999 UN Human Development Index Annual Report.
The top two hundred global corporations are now so big that their combined sales surpass the combined economies of 182 countries, and they have almost twice the economic clout of the poorest four-fifths of humanity. Of the hundred largest economies in the world, fifty-two are now transnational corporations.
Wal-Mart is bigger than 163 countries. Mitsubishi is larger than Indonesia. Ford is bigger than South Africa. The new merged Time Warner-America Online colossus has a market value greater than the economy of Australia.
On a more personal front, four hundred and forty-seven billionaires have a combined wealth greater than the income of half of humanity. The three richest people in the world have assets that exceed the combined gross domestic product of forty-eight countries. Eighty-nine countries have lower per capita incomes today than they did a decade or more ago and 200 million more people this year are living in absolute poverty (less than one dollar a day). The world's two hundred richest people have doubled their wealth in the last four years.
From:
Institute for Policy Studies, Washington D.C.,
1999 UN Human Development Index Annual Report.