I promise to read this critical article a bit closer before getting
too frothy at the mouth, but a growing number of us are sounding the
cry that we are entering the Age of Corporate "Nations". These mighty
behemoths are so huge and wealthy that they can ignore what we once
called Nations.
The NAFTA and soon the TPP will drive even more nails into nation's coffins.
How's that sweet old song from the Great Depression Days go? "The
rich get rich and the poor get poorer, but in the meantime and in
between time, ain't we got fun".
Carl Jarvis
On 9/12/16, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> 'Be Afraid': Largest Corporations Wealthier Than Most Countries
> Published on
> Monday, September 12, 2016
> by
> Common Dreams
> 'Be Afraid': Largest Corporations Wealthier Than Most Countries
> 'The power of corporations is so great within our society that they have
> undermined the idea that there is any other way to run society'
> by
> Nika Knight, staff writer
>
> Walmart has more money than the entire economy of Australia. (Photo: Mike
> Mozart/flickr/cc)
> Corporations are running the world, according to new figures released
> Monday
> from the U.K.-based Global Justice Now.
> "As multinationals increasingly dominate areas traditionally considered the
> primary domain of the state, we should be afraid."
> -Aisha Dodwell, Global Justice Now
> The economic and social justice advocacy group discovered (spreadsheet)
> that
> the ten largest corporations are wealthier than most countries in the world
> combined.
> "Today, of the 100 wealthiest economic entities in the world, 69 are now
> corporations and only 31 countries," wrote Global Justice Now campaigns and
> policy officer Aisha Dodwell. "This is up from 63 to 37 a year ago. At this
> rate, within a generation we will be living in a world entirely dominated
> by
> giant corporations."
> Indeed, multinational behemoths Shell, Apple, and Walmart each rake in more
> revenue than the world's 180 "poorest" countries-a list that includes
> Ireland, Greece, Israel, South Africa, Vietnam, and Colombia-combined.
> And the top ten largest companies have a whopping combined value of $2.9
> trillion, which is larger than China's economy.
> "The drive for short-term profits today seems to trump basic human rights
> for millions of people on the planet."
> -Nick Dearden, Global Justice Now
> Walmart, the biggest corporate entity in the world, is valued at over $482
> billion, which makes it wealthier than Spain, Australia, and the
> Netherlands, individually.
> "The vast wealth and power of corporations is at the heart of so many of
> the
> world's problems-like inequality and climate change," said Nick Dearden,
> director of Global Justice Now. "The drive for short-term profits today
> seems to trump basic human rights for millions of people on the planet.
> These figures show the problem is getting worse."
> "As multinationals increasingly dominate areas traditionally considered the
> primary domain of the state, we should be afraid," Dodwell continued:
> While they privatize everything from education and health to border
> controls
> and prisons, they stash their profits away in secret offshore accounts. And
> while they have unrivaled access to decision makers they avoid democratic
> processes by setting up secret courts enabling them to bypass all judicial
> systems applicable to people. Meanwhile their raison d'etre of perpetual
> growth in a finite world is causing environmental destruction and driving
> climate change. From Sports Direct's slave-like working conditions to BP's
> oil spill devastating people's homes, stories of corporations violating
> rights are all too often seen in our daily papers.
> Global Justice Now noted that it "released the figures in order to increase
> pressure on the British government ahead of a UN working group, led by
> Ecuador, established to draw up a binding treaty to ensure transnational
> corporations abide by the full range of human rights responsibilities.
> Campaigners are calling for the treaty to be legally enforceable at a
> national and global level."
> "Britain doesn't support the process, and has repeatedly vetoed and opposed
> such proposal in the past," the group added.
> "The U.K. government has facilitated this rise in corporate power," Dearden
> said, "through tax structures, trade deals, and even aid programs that help
> big business. Their wholehearted support for the U.S.-EU trade deal TTIP is
> just the latest example of government help to big business. Disgracefully
> it
> also routinely opposes the call of developing countries to hold
> corporations
> to account for their human rights impacts at the UN."
> "We must fight back."
> -Aisha DodwellAlongside the latest figures demonstrating the extent to
> which
> corporations dominate the world, Global Justice Now released a petition
> calling on the British government to support a binding UN treaty that would
> force corporations to respect human rights around the world.
> The treaty will be delivered to U.K. and European Union leaders in Geneva
> on
> October 12, the group says.
> "Of course, the battle against corporate power has many fronts and the UN
> treaty is only one part of it," Dodwell observed. "At the same time, we
> need
> to continue to develop alternative ways to produce and distribute the goods
> and services we need. We need to undermine the notion that only massive
> corporations can make the economy and society 'work.'"
> "The alternative is that we continue to rush towards the dystopian vision
> of
> unchallenged corporate power," Dodwell wrote. "We cannot allow this to
> happen. We must fight back."
> This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
> License
> Skip to main content
> //
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> 'Be Afraid': Largest Corporations Wealthier Than Most Countries
> Published on
> Monday, September 12, 2016
> by
> Common Dreams
> 'Be Afraid': Largest Corporations Wealthier Than Most Countries
> 'The power of corporations is so great within our society that they have
> undermined the idea that there is any other way to run society'
> by
> Nika Knight, staff writer
> . 27 Comments
> .
> . Walmart has more money than the entire economy of Australia. (Photo:
> Mike Mozart/flickr/cc)
> . Corporations are running the world, according to new figures
> released Monday from the U.K.-based Global Justice Now.
> . "As multinationals increasingly dominate areas traditionally
> considered the primary domain of the state, we should be afraid."
> -Aisha Dodwell, Global Justice Now
> . The economic and social justice advocacy group discovered
> (spreadsheet) that the ten largest corporations are wealthier than most
> countries in the world combined.
> . "Today, of the 100 wealthiest economic entities in the world, 69 are
> now corporations and only 31 countries," wrote Global Justice Now campaigns
> and policy officer Aisha Dodwell. "This is up from 63 to 37 a year ago. At
> this rate, within a generation we will be living in a world entirely
> dominated by giant corporations."
> Indeed, multinational behemoths Shell, Apple, and Walmart each rake in more
> revenue than the world's 180 "poorest" countries-a list that includes
> Ireland, Greece, Israel, South Africa, Vietnam, and Colombia-combined.
> And the top ten largest companies have a whopping combined value of $2.9
> trillion, which is larger than China's economy.
> "The drive for short-term profits today seems to trump basic human rights
> for millions of people on the planet."
> -Nick Dearden, Global Justice Now
> Walmart, the biggest corporate entity in the world, is valued at over $482
> billion, which makes it wealthier than Spain, Australia, and the
> Netherlands, individually.
> "The vast wealth and power of corporations is at the heart of so many of
> the
> world's problems-like inequality and climate change," said Nick Dearden,
> director of Global Justice Now. "The drive for short-term profits today
> seems to trump basic human rights for millions of people on the planet.
> These figures show the problem is getting worse."
> "As multinationals increasingly dominate areas traditionally considered the
> primary domain of the state, we should be afraid," Dodwell continued:
> While they privatize everything from education and health to border
> controls
> and prisons, they stash their profits away in secret offshore accounts. And
> while they have unrivaled access to decision makers they avoid democratic
> processes by setting up secret courts enabling them to bypass all judicial
> systems applicable to people. Meanwhile their raison d'etre of perpetual
> growth in a finite world is causing environmental destruction and driving
> climate change. From Sports Direct's slave-like working conditions to BP's
> oil spill devastating people's homes, stories of corporations violating
> rights are all too often seen in our daily papers.
> Global Justice Now noted that it "released the figures in order to increase
> pressure on the British government ahead of a UN working group, led by
> Ecuador, established to draw up a binding treaty to ensure transnational
> corporations abide by the full range of human rights responsibilities.
> Campaigners are calling for the treaty to be legally enforceable at a
> national and global level."
> "Britain doesn't support the process, and has repeatedly vetoed and opposed
> such proposal in the past," the group added.
> "The U.K. government has facilitated this rise in corporate power," Dearden
> said, "through tax structures, trade deals, and even aid programs that help
> big business. Their wholehearted support for the U.S.-EU trade deal TTIP is
> just the latest example of government help to big business. Disgracefully
> it
> also routinely opposes the call of developing countries to hold
> corporations
> to account for their human rights impacts at the UN."
> "We must fight back."
> -Aisha DodwellAlongside the latest figures demonstrating the extent to
> which
> corporations dominate the world, Global Justice Now released a petition
> calling on the British government to support a binding UN treaty that would
> force corporations to respect human rights around the world.
> The treaty will be delivered to U.K. and European Union leaders in Geneva
> on
> October 12, the group says.
> "Of course, the battle against corporate power has many fronts and the UN
> treaty is only one part of it," Dodwell observed. "At the same time, we
> need
> to continue to develop alternative ways to produce and distribute the goods
> and services we need. We need to undermine the notion that only massive
> corporations can make the economy and society 'work.'"
> "The alternative is that we continue to rush towards the dystopian vision
> of
> unchallenged corporate power," Dodwell wrote. "We cannot allow this to
> happen. We must fight back."
> This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
> License
>
>
>
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