----- Original Message ----- From: Michael Eisenscher <meisenscher at igc.org> Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2000 11:48 PM Subject: Study: Big Companies Threaten Democracy
> Page 5B
> Think tank study assails globalization
> By James Cox
> USA TODAY
>
> The anti-corporate movement that burst on the scene at last year's Seattle
> trade summit is sponsor of a study out today that says big companies
> threaten democracy.
>
> Of the world's largest economies, 51 are now companies and 49 are
> countries, says the Institute for Policy Studies, an anti-globalization
> think tank in Washington.
>
> Trade and investment liberalization have given corporations ''increasing
> levels of economic and political clout that are out of balance with the
> tangible benefits they provide society,'' it says.
>
> The study argues that:
>
> * Sales of the world's 200 biggest companies -- from No. 1 General Motors
> to No. 200 Sanwa Bank -- are growing faster than overall economic growth
> and together top the combined economies of all but the 10 largest
countries.
>
> * Big companies employ fewer than 1% of all workers and pay
proportionately
> little in U.S. taxes, while racking up sales that account for 27.5% of
GDP.
>
> But Murray Weidenbaum, former economic adviser to President Reagan, says
> the study overstates corporations' economic clout and understates their
tax
> burdens. The study also ignores that half to two-thirds of corporate
> revenue goes to wages, salaries and other worker compensation, he says.
>
> The institute is at the center of a liberal coalition warning of threats
> posed as the world's economies have become more integrated by technology,
> trade and investment.
>
> Coalition members clashed with Seattle police during four days of protests
> aimed at shutting down the 1999 World Trade Organization summit.
>
> Critics complain that legitimate debate about globalization has been
> drowned out by the campaign to demonize corporations.
>
> Globalization's effects have been uneven, but free trade and investment
> generally have benefited both rich and poor countries, says Michael
> Santoro, who teaches ethics at Rutgers University School of Business.
>
> ''It's not right to say that profits are a measure of the damage a
> corporation is doing to society. Companies are producing products people
> want, employing people in good jobs, paying wages and in general using the
> resources of the world in a positive way,'' he says.
>
> © Copyright 2000 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
>
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