Posted on 11/08/2010 6:30:14 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The new Forbes list of the world's most powerful people is out — and Chinese President Hu Jintao is in the top spot, just ahead of President Obama. The move reflects China's growing influence on world events.
To make that more intriguing, a Forbes blogger in Beijing runs down the similarities, and differences, between positions of power in China and the U.S.
The rest of the top 10 comprises people who run, in order: Saudi Arabia; Russia; the Roman Catholic Church; Germany; the United Kingdom; the U.S. Federal Reserve; the Indian National Congress; and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
There aren't many people under 50 on the Forbes list — I guess it takes a while to amass power that can register on the global scale.
And since this is all subjective, Forbes asked some influential people to name their top seven picks for the world's most influential people. Gotta say, that's a pretty interesting list.
From the main list, here are some other entries that stick out:
Double-deuce: Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, both 37, tied for No. 22.
Name qua title: The Dalai Lama came in at No. 39. His occupation was listed as Dalai Lama.
No. 40: Mark Zuckerberg, 26. The Facebook founder clocks in one spot ahead of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and two ahead of Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein.
Three baddies around 60: Osama bin Laden is No. 57; Joaquin Guzman Loera, head of Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel, slipped to No. 60 from No. 41; and India's Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, head of the violent crime syndicate D-Company, is No. 63.
No. 64: Oprah Winfrey. At the risk of sounding like Andy Rooney, you can't have a list about powerful or wealthy people without putting Oprah Winfrey on it.
No. 65: Joseph "Sepp" Blatter. Perhaps this summer's successful World Cup boosted the FIFA president two spots ahead of IOC President Jacques Rogge.
No. 68: Julian Assange of WikiLeaks.
Bragging rights: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi came in at No. 14, while French President Nicolas Sarkozy is at No. 19 — three slots behind Dilma Rousseff, Brazil's newly anointed president.
“Hu’s on first?”
And WTF is on second...
I heard Obama dropped to 5,000th place between Carrot Top and Scooby Doo.... 300 slots lower than Spongebob Squarepants.
Gady Epstein of Forbes’ Beijing Dispatch gives his reasons as to why Hu Jintao is more powerful than Barack Obama here :
EXCERPTS:
... As long as the U.S. economy and most of the developed economies are mired in stagnancy, the perceived power of China is all the greater. And that is the key clue to the makeup of this list.
.....
One argument for suggesting Hu is more powerful than Obama is that Hu doesn’t have to contend with those annoying artifacts of democracy like Congress, an independent judiciary, an uncensored media and voting by common citizens. But in contrast to Obama’s vast executive powers, Hu (whose title that matters most is not president but general secretary of the Communist Party of China) cannot decide the important matters of state and party on his own. He has to contend with other powerful factions as one of nine members of the Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee, one of whom, propaganda chief Li Changchun, is ranked 32nd on our list.
The banker and the bankee!
Asian Joke when Dubya was still President....
**********************************************************************************************
George Bush: “Condoleeza! Nice to see you. What’s happening?”
Condoleeza Rice: “Sir, I have the report here about the new leader of China.”
George: “Great. Lay it on me.”
Condoleeza: “’Hu’ is the new leader of China.”
George: “That’s what I want to know.”
Condoleeza: “That’s what I’m telling you.”
George: “That’s what I’m asking you. Who is the new leader of China?”
Condoleeza: “Yes.”
George: “I mean the fellow’s name.”
Condoleeza: “Hu.”
George: “The guy in China.”
Condoleeza: “Hu.”
George: “The new leader of China.”
Condoleeza: “Hu.”
George: “Yes, who is it?!”
Condoleeza: “Hu is leading China.”
George: “Now whaddya’ asking me for?”
Condoleeza: “I’m telling you Hu is leading China.”
George: “Well, I’m asking you. Who is leading China?”
Condoleeza: “That’s the man’s name.”
George: “That’s whose name?”
Condoleeza: “Yes.”
George: “Will you or will you not tell me the name of the new leader of China?”
Condoleeza: “Yes, sir.”
George: “Yassir? Yassir Arafat is in China? I thought he was in the Middle East.”
Condoleeza: “That’s correct.”
George: “Then who is in China?”
Condoleeza: “Yes, sir.”
George: “Yassir is in China?”
Condoleeza: “No, sir.”
George: “Then who is?”
Condoleeza: “Yes, sir.”
George: “Yassir?”
Condoleeza: “No, sir.”
George: “Look, Condoleeza. I need to know the name of the new leader of China. Get me the Secretary General of the U.N. on the phone.”
Condoleeza: “Kofi?”
George: “No, thanks.”
Condoleeza: “You want Kofi?”
George: “No.”
Condoleeza: “You don’t want Kofi.”
George: “No. But now that you mention it, I could use a glass of milk. And then get me the U.N.”
Condoleeza: “Yes, sir.”
George: “Not Yassir! The guy at the U.N.”
Condoleeza: “Kofi?”
George: “Milk! Will you please make the call?”
Condoleeza: “And call who?”
George: “Who is the guy at the U.N?”
Condoleeza: “Hu is the guy in China.”
George: “Will you stay out of China?!”
Condoleeza: “Yes, sir.”
George: “And stay out of the Middle East! Just get me the guy at the U.N.”
Condoleeza: “Kofi.”
George: “All right! With cream and two sugars. Now get on the phone.”
The top 10 most powerful people, according to the magazine:
1. Hu Jintao, president of China
2. Barack Obama, president of the United States
3. Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, the king of Saudi Arabia
4. Vladimir Putin, the prime minister of Russia
5. Pope Benedict XVI
6. Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany
7. David Cameron, prime minister of the United Kingdom
8. Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve
9. Sonia Gandhi, president of the Indian National Congress
10. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
lol...well done!
8. Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve
Be afraid, be very afraid...
LOL!!
Not yet, but that's the point of this horrible fiasco we're observing.
to be really serious about it, there used to be a time when the US President routinely is #1 on the most powerful list.
This time, it’s different.
Tells us a lot about how times have changed.
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