Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Most Powerful People in the World 2012


Last week Forbes Magazine released its annual list of the world’s most powerful people.  Whether or not the people on the list care one way or another about the list is irrelevant to the fact that the subscribers to the magazine are fascinated with the results. 

Each year they analyze who is up, who is down, who is new, and who is no longer worthy of the list.  Ironically we have a tendency to take the list as fact.  The list is put together by highly informed and educated individuals registering their opinions.  There is not a mathematical formula or any other tool used to measure personal power and influence.  It is based on the educated opinion of the lists contributors. 

There was little movement in the top ten this year.  The President of the United States is still #1.  President Obama is followed by the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel.  Below are the top ten.

1.       Barrack Obama, President of the United States
2.       Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
3.       Vladimir Putin, President of Russia
4.       Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
5.       Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Roman Catholic Church
6.       Ben Bernanke,  Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve
7.       Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, King of Saudi Arabia
8.       Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank
9.       Xi Jinping, General Secretary Communist Party, China
10.     David Cameron, Prime Minister, United Kingdom

The complete list can be found at:  http://www.forbes.com/powerful-people/list/

What are your impressions of the list?  What criteria would you use to judge people’s power in the world?  Given your criteria, who should be included on your list and why?  

19 comments:

  1. Emile- I would judge peoples power by who is the leaders in a country where the country leeds in economics and technology that the country has. i would include David Petraeus the head of the CIA a very powerful man due to his know abouts about all of the countries in the world

    link URL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Petraeus

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  2. Robert-My impressions on the list would be that I think those names are placed well. The criteria that I would use to grade a persons power in the world would probably be on what did they change, what they can change, and how high is their position of authority. Honestly, I think that everyone on the list would be on my list because based of my criteria they all poses high authority and they have all changed a lot of things in the world with there power.

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  3. victoria-My impression is that i think that the names on the list are correctly placed for the right reason.My criteria on how i grade peoples power would be on who makes a difference and who does the right things for our country. i think on my list i would put everyone that is listed because they all seem like good leaders that can make a difference.

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  4. Grace- My impressions on the list are that those people seem to be reasonably listed. The Presidents and other leaders of countries listed on that list are very powerful and deserve to be on that list. Even though some leaders are more powerful than others, they still lead their countries and help support them. The criteria I would use to judge people's power in the world is if they have done something to help or save their country and if they fully support their people no matter what. I think the royal Queen Elizabeth the Second should be listed on that list. She has helped, supported, and led The United Kingdom with such responsibility, careness and love because she wants her people to live happily in a safe home without worry.

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  5. Henry- My impression of these people are that I had no idea who these people were. I only knew Barrack Obama and Bill Gates and all of the other names were new to me. They would have to be good speakers, have a college degree, and they would have to be a good listener, if they were in a Democratic economy.

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  6. Claire- My impressions of the list are that whoever put the list together made the right decisions, and I do agree that these people are indeed some of the most powerful people. Some criteria I would use to judge people's power in the world would be if they have had an impact on their community, and if they had a reason to be powerful. Some people that I would include on my list would be Steve Jobs (when he was still alive), but other than that, I would keep the list the same.

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  7. Isaiah- My impressions of the list are the people who made it are pretty true. For my criteria i would measure it on what trade and industrial things they could stop if wanted to. Since we have the largest economy and trade the most i think we should still be at the top. I dont know about any other countries though.

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  8. -Sam- My impression on the list is that the list represents the many opinions of well-educated men and women of today’s society. I think that the list is somewhat in the fact that it is the opinions of different people and opinions aren’t necessarily fact. Since the list is made up of opinions and not facts then it is somewhat inaccurate, many of us believe that this list is cold, hard facts. This is not only false but it is misleading. Although I am sure this list was made using some form of numbers but this doesn’t make this 100% fool proof. So if they used a computer program to factor in to their decision then it would make the list more accurate. What I would use to judge the most powerful people in the world is some computer formatting to organize the data and make some sense of the numbers that the editors have come up with. I am not asking that the computers do all of the work, I am only suggesting that computers make the decisions and the operators make sure that the results are reasonable. The results also have to be correct with humans not making the ultimate choice but making sure that it is what the list should be, and then it is fact rather than opinion. Some of the factors that that my system would use is what they can control on a global scale, not just what their influence on the world. Also, what are they in charge of in the global scale. I think that Bill Gates shouldn’t be on the list because he is just a very successful business man, that doesn’t make him more powerful. The word power means the capacity to do something, not what you have or own.

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  9. Margaret- My impression of the list is that everyone is placed well and they deserve it. Some criteria I would use to judge them is how much they inspire everyone and how much they help our community. One person I would include Opra because she has inspired many people and has helped so many people.

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  10. Madeline- My impressions on the list are that these are people who are very powerful and have a lot of say in things. These people make a lot of decisions that influence your life, your beliefs, and your values. How I would decide on who are the most powerful people in the world, is by looking at people who have made big decisions, or are at a high rank in society. I think that President Obama deserves to be included on the list, because the United States is the most powerful country in the world. It has the largest economy and military. President Obama has a say in all of this, so his is very powerful.

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  11. Mckai- I think this list is real and very true. Some criteria I would judge them on is home much Nucular and other warfare they have. I think that list is my list.

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  12. Charlie- My impressions on the list is that it takes time and hard work to become number 1. The criteria that I would use to judge the most powerful people would be to see how far they are willing to go to make a difference and change in this world, and to see if they hit hard times they try to make it better. I think that the guy from Kony 2012 should be included because of his effort for young kids.

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  13. Graci- My impressions on the list is that it makes sense of all who is on there. All the people who are on the list are the right people to be the top 10 most powerful people. My criteria to judge the most powerful people would be do they impact and help our community, and do they change the way we work and act in our community. I don't think I would include anyone on the list. Everybody on the list I think are powerful and do make a difference in our world.

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  14. Jack-My impressions on the list is that it makes sense. These people are high in the rankings of the government. These people are very smart. People like these are rich smart and successful. lets start of with bill gates. Richest man in the world, windows creator. Obama, President of the most succeeded country in the world. These are people with strong minds and the room to achive in what they do. These people make changes in the community. These people are the 10 most powerful in the world.

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  15. Elizabeth- My impressipons on this list that it is well placed. My criteria to judge the powerful people would be to how well they stand as leaders and how they lead communitys or even countrys. Some stuff that should be on the list is how much power over countrys they have or over religons, goverments, and more

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  16. Emily- my impressions on this list is that the people who are on there must be strong leaders. My criteria to judges the people's power would be to see if they make good impact on the community. I don't know if there's anyone else i would put in the list.

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  17. Kylee-My immpressions are that the list is the people that have worked there way to the top.The criteria would be the people that would make a huge impact on the world also like Charlie said the people that would help the world when it is struggleing.I would not change the list I really do think it is perfect the way it is.

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  18. Austin- My impression of the list is that the people were placed well. The criteria I would use to judge the peoples power would be to see what they have done. I would see if they are good role models and what they have to say. On my list I would have me of course because I really want to be at the top and I would choose my parents because they are great role models.

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  19. welles- my impressinon of the list is that the people worked hard to make it to the list. the criteria i would use to judge them would be the people who do lots of charity, are good role modles and kind people who help others. i would not change the list because the people on it have earned their spot on it.

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