Corporations GDP Larger Than U.S. Cities.

Apple’s market cap has eclipsed the city of Chicago’s real GDP

I really don't like the language this implicates:

If Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook wanted to, he could, in a sense, make the Windy City his new corporate headquarters—all of it.

Apple isn't the only player in this growth of their GDP:


The usual suspects on that list. All with ties within the U.S. government as well.

Even if you combine Apple’s and Alphabet’s market values, New York’s GDP figure would stand 2% above.

Thankful for small favors?

a reply to: JinMI

What do we expect from a Western World quickly descending into Facism?

Corporate power given freely to the multinationals to rape and pillage the natural resources and our very society itself.

Lovely.

a reply to: JinMI

Market capitalisation and GDP aren't really comparable measures. Makes an interesting headline but doesn't really tell us anything significant.

i would like to see how these " city revenues "` are calculated

they dont include corporate revenues do they ?

hint - its a rhetorical question

the answer = yes

which begs the question - whats the point ?

seriously - you " compare " the revenue of a municipality with a fixed geographical area , and a dynamic population - to a corporation with global market shares and what ?

it means nothing - unless you are looking for a causus beli for you faux outrage

a reply to: ignorant_ape

The point is that corporations, which have the rights of single individuals, are eclipsing the GDP of large economies made up of many private individuals.

Still, the combined $1.54 trillion value of the two companies is bigger than the financial sectors in Japan and the eurozone, which total $1.31 trillion. B. of A. Merrill called this a “breathtaking valuation stat.” The table below, which doesn’t account for Monday’s market action—both Apple and Alphabet were higher on the day—shows how other companies stack up to U.S. cities in this market caps–vs.–municipal GDPs comparison.

Alphabet is the real-time antagonist in the dystopian future of myriad sci-fi novels.

And just think about it Corporations make all the profit,use the taxpayers/employees to pay the taxes,this is what has happened in Calif,with the liberals in charge,only ones getting rich are Dem's on payroll and big Corp

It's a system the US citizens want. Wall Street rock stars while the generations struggle. Christians and republicans love misery and pray for saviors.

originally posted by: MOMof3
It's a system the US citizens want. Wall Street rock stars while the generations struggle. Christians and republicans love misery and pray for saviors.

All of those businesses on that list are leftist (not sure about Apple off the top of my head). Escpecially the owners.. come on, stop with the partisan crap. It hasn't been working for you.

You are being bigoted towards the right, which makes you part of the problem. Everything is not right vs left. Like in every thread you post.

Like another poster said, the cities have a set location with a finite amount of space for residents. So yes, when they put up liberal cities and compare the with businesses they are going to fall behind at some point to a few larger players. Personally I think it's really interesting. I wonder how many other countries this happens.

a reply to: JinMI

This isn't a really fair comparison. Apple ( ) to oranges. Apple is very popular company that makes products that are sold in every corner of the world. Of course they are going to have huge GDP.

I find it hilarious so many people are criticizing capitalism when they see a headline like this yet they are probably doing so from their Iphone or Mac.

a reply to: Oldtimer2

Only Democrats get rich from corporations? I fully agree that the Democratic Party is beholden to their corporate interests but to suggest that this is an affliction solely attributed to Democrats is ridiculous.

I'll let you in on a little secret: almost all Republicans and Democrats in any kind of political power don't adhere to a party platform. They're essentially the same. Disregarding the partisan hyperbole that those that profit from partisan hyperbole perpetuate, the course of the nation has changed very little in several decades, politically speaking.

People that believe in different social constructs don't have the power to alter the world like corporations that are on the cutting edge of technology and have coffers deeper than many nations, do.

While being overwhelmingly for Hillary, Alphabet donated money to the campaign's of Bernie Sanders, Jill Stein, and Donald Trump. They hedge their bets.

a reply to: GraffikPleasure

I'm pretty sure the proposed huge tax cut for the rich and corporations will go to both left and right. The only business I can identify as a separate entity are the Christian ones that get special protection laws.

a reply to: GraffikPleasure

You can't be bigoted towards a political affiliation.

The fact that these corporations are becoming more valuable than many countries and are becoming so ubiquitous to our lives (Amazon Echo, "Googling" things, the database of your entire life that is FaceBook), transcends capitalism.

There's a stark difference between the control that Alphabet has and using Microsoft software or having phone service through AT&T in the heydays of their monopolies. Alphabet isn't just rich, it can control the free flow of information like never before.

a reply to: JinMI

Geeze.

We need to be starting our own corporations.

originally posted by: PistolPete
a reply to: ignorant_ape

The point is that corporations, which have the rights of single individuals, are eclipsing the GDP of large economies made up of many private individuals.

Corporations are not people. I will accept corporations are people the day Texas executes one.

I would think that it has always been this way. Royalty, the elite and other rulers, have historically been the ones with the most wealth, so if you consider corporations as the modern day royalty, I don't see much of a change.

If this is strictly the people's income vs the corporation's income, it would totally depend on what city we compare with. When the common citizens of a city are poor enough, it wouldn't be too hard for a corporation to surpass the wealth of a city based it's citizen's income.

If we are talking about the city government combined with it's citizens income, then likely the city government would merely be a deficit to the wealth produced by the people living there. City governments provide services but don't produce any actual products or income as they get their operation funds from the tax payers.

How does any of this figure if the majority of a city's population work for a mega-buck corporation? Many towns are dependent on one local business to keep the economy going. Those towns disappear when the supporting business leaves the area.

originally posted by: dfnj2015

originally posted by: PistolPete
a reply to: ignorant_ape

The point is that corporations, which have the rights of single individuals, are eclipsing the GDP of large economies made up of many private individuals.

Corporations are not people. I will accept corporations are people the day Texas executes one.

I agree wholeheartedly.
I am actually of the mind that corporations are actually not even real ... as in they truly don't exist in the real world.
I have heard them referred to as a "legal entity", specifically in a US courtroom ... but then I asked myself what is a corporation ... it is not an animal, a vegetable, nor a mineral ... it's not a solid, a liquid, a gas, or a plasma ... what is the chemical composition, the atomic structure, of a corporation ?
Therefore to me it is a fiction, at best an abstract idea ... but because someone somewhere filled out some form, paid a processing fee, and some other person rubber stamped that form ***BING*** suddenly this entity exists and is allowed to own things and have the rights of an actual human being ?
Believing in fictions doesn't seem to work out very well looking at human history and to me corporations fall into that category.

One big difference is, they mostly don't run giant deficits !!

Interesting how all 4 of those top corporations are data collection farms. I think its very dangerous for corporations to have so much power.

a reply to: JinMI
This is as it should be...cities and states and federal governments should not be the all-powerful Oz.

The GDP of a city, as described in this story, is actually just a measure of the combined GDP of...wait for it...the private companies that call that city home. It's not a reflection of the value of the city itself, nor is it a reflection of the value of all of those companies that produce the GDP.

Basically, all that this notes is that Apple, as a company, makes more money than all of the companies in Chicago combined.

Big deal--that's what happens when you create great products and services in a capitalist society.

Just imagine how much better the GDPs would be if we'd kill some of the over-burdensome corporate taxes in America...

And I know it's a tangential discussion, but we should be more worried about the rate of growth of most politicians in America before and after they hold office than the legitimate earnings of companies that work exceptionally hard to innovate, grow, and produce products and services that people camp out for days in order to willingly spend their hard-earned money on.

originally posted by: eXia7
Interesting how all 4 of those top corporations are data collection farms. I think its very dangerous for corporations to have so much power.

It's up to the consumer to use their products or not. There are some very good ways to stop most of the data from being sent to and collected by these companies if one chooses to use their products.

And that's the point--it's a choice. Would you rather the government have such power (which we all know the NSA does anyhow), or are you saying that nothing should have that much power?