Separate Realities: The Dream and the Iceberg - Scarecrow Press

72 Chapter 2
superclass and of its credentialed-class allies. This agenda is pursued through
privileged-class dominance of the major economic, political, and cultural organizations
of society. 142
Protecting Privilege
Large corporations and corporate-generated wealth are at the heart of conflicting
class interests and privileged-class power. The economic resources controlled
by major U.S. corporations are staggering. Although the total U.S. “corporate
population” consists of 5.2 million firms with total annual receipts of
over $20 trillion, a relatively small number of huge companies dominate the
U.S. economy as well as all major sectors of American business. 143
The five hundred largest firms (the Fortune 500) represent only 0.0001
percent (one-thousandth of 1 percent) of all U.S. corporations. Even so, this
select group received $9.1 trillion in revenues in 2005, an amount that represents
over 40 percent of all annual U.S. corporate revenues. 144 Within specific
business sectors, the economic dominance of large firms is readily apparent.
In manufacturing, for example, only 280 U.S. corporations out of
280,000 active firms have assets exceeding $2.5 billion, but the combined
assets of these firms represent 76 percent of the total assets held by all U.S.
manufacturing companies ($8.2 trillion). The net income received by these
280 firms represents 85 percent of all net income received by all U.S. manufacturing
corporations. 145
Corporate concentration is even more pronounced in banking and insurance.
While the United States has about seventy-six hundred banks, the top
eighteen commercial banks (by revenues received) held $6.4 trillion in assets
in 2005, about 63 percent of all banking assets. 146 The 10 largest U.S. insurance
companies (mutual and stock firms by revenues received) held $1.9 trillion
in assets in 2005, about 52 percent of total assets held by all 1,123 U.S.
insurance firms. 147 It is important to note that large U.S. firms not only dominate
the national economy today but also play increasingly dominant roles in
the global economy since many are multinational companies with subsidiaries
scattered around the globe. 148
Most giant U.S. corporations are largely owned and controlled by a small
number of superclass elites who are assisted by their credentialed-class allies.
In general, the superclass includes the top wealth-owning and income-receiving
groups in the United States, including the four hundred U.S. billionaires
in 2006. 149 (In 2005 there were 793 billionaires in the world. 150 )
Superclass members also hold virtually all of the seats on the boards of directors
of the largest U.S. firms, which in 2005 included approximately
5,350 director positions in S&P 500 firms. 151 The wealthiest 1 percent of U.S.
households is the core of the superclass. Today, this group owns about 40
percent of all common stock (excluding pension funds). The slightly-lesswealthy
own smaller shares. Below the top 1 percent, the next wealthiest