CYBERSPACE, NOVEMBER 4, 2011 (MSN MONEY) There are seven billion people on
the planet. These are the 10 that matter.
The Most Powerful People ranking takes into account four factors.
First, we measured how many people a person has power over. Then
we looked at the financial resources controlled by each candidate, whether that
is revenues (for a company), GDP (for a country) or net worth (for a
billionaire).
Next we asked: Is a candidate influential in more than one arena,
or sphere? Finally, we gave consideration to how actively the candidates wield
their power. In all, 70 people made the final list, one for every 100 million
people on the planet.
Click through to see the top 10. In reverse order from 10 to 1,
here they are:
10. DAVID CAMERON
Title: Prime Minister, United Kingdom Age: 45.
Once hailed as the second coming of
Margaret Thatcher, the British P.M. now serves as the U.K.'s punching
bag.
Cameron faces a splintering coalition and
rebellion from within as Conservatives balk at his refusal to withdraw
from or renegotiate Britain's relationship with the EU.
2011 lowlight: Phone-hacking scandal engulfs
Cameron, who had hired former News of the World editor Andrew Coulson,
now a criminal suspect, even after revelations of the tabloid's snooping
began emerging.
By Michael Noer and Nicole Perlroth, Forbes.com,
November 3, 2011
9. MARK ZUCKERBER
Title:
Founder, Facebook Age 27
What the CIA
failed to do in 60 years, Zuck
has done in seven: knowing what
800 million people — more than
10 per cent of the world's
population — think, read and
listen to, plus who they know,
what they like and where they
live, travel, vote, shop and
worship. Zuckerberg, a Harvard
dropout, is now creating his own
monetary system, Facebook
Credits, to facilitate
transactions and profits. With a
net worth of $17.5 billion, he
is now America's 14th-richest
man.
2011 highlight:
The movie inspired by his life,
"The Social Network," which
depicts Zuckerberg as a
cold-hearted dweeb, won three
Oscars.
By Michael
Noer and Nicole Perlroth,
Forbes.com, November 3, 2011
8. BEN BERNANKE
Title: Chairman, Federal Reserve Age: 57
After two rounds of quantitative easing, the last of
which injected some $600 billion into the U.S. economy, Bernanke is not
ruling out QE3, yet another round of money creation.
Most recently, Bernanke launched Operation Twist, an
attempt to drive long-term interest rates even lower by manipulating the
Fed's $1.7 trillion portfolio of U.S. government debt.
2011 lowlight: All of the GOP presidential
candidates have vowed that they will fire Bernanke if elected.
By Michael Noer and Nicole Perlroth, Forbes.com,
November 3, 2011
7. POPE BENEDICT XVI
Title: Pope, Roman Catholic Church Age: 84
The spiritual leader to one-sixth of the world's
population — 1.2 billion souls — delivers the final word on matters of
abortion, gay marriage, female priests and, most recently, Occupy Wall
Street. In October the Vatican called for a supranational authority to
oversee the global economy: "To function correctly the economy needs
ethics, and not just of any kind but one that is people-centred."
2011 lowlight: Two victim groups asked the International Criminal
Court to investigate and prosecute Pope Benedict XVI for covering up
instances of sexual abuse.
POPE'S FIRST EVER TWEET-Lord hear our tweets.
Pope joins Twitter: Using an iPAD on June 28, the Pope used his
inaugural tweet to announce a new Vatican website,
By Michael Noer and Nicole Perlroth, Forbes.com,
November 3, 2011
6. Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud
Title: King, Saudi Arabia Age: 87
One of the world's few remaining absolute monarchs,
King Abdullah has continued to pursue an agenda of moderate reform in
the desert kingdom that contains 20 per cent of the world's known oil
reserves and Islam's two holiest sites.
He recently granted women the right to vote in local
elections and has consistently nudged the nation's educational system
out from under clerical control.
Yet al Saud is no liberal:
He opposed the Arab Spring, spending more than $130 billion on social
projects designed to quell any domestic pro-democracy movement.
2011 lowlight: His younger brother, Crown
Prince Sultan, died in October. Half-brother Prince Naif is the likely
successor.
By Michael Noer and Nicole Perlroth, Forbes.com,
November 3, 2011
5. Bill Gates
Title: Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Age: 56
Microsoft's software wizard and the world's
second-richest man is having the most productive midlife crisis in
history.
His focus on creating, promoting and distributing
vaccines is having a massive impact on global health.
Gates' goal is to eliminate infectious disease as a
major cause of death in his lifetime. He may succeed.
2011 highlight: Malaria vaccine he backed recently
passed a key clinical trial. The vaccine has the potential to save
millions of lives.
By Michael Noer and Nicole Perlroth, Forbes.com,
November 3, 2011
4. Angela Merkel
Title: Chancellor, Germany Age: 57
The world's most powerful woman heads Europe's most
vibrant economy and is widely viewed as the de facto leader of the EU. A
recent poll in France showed that the French have more faith in
Germany's leader (46 per cent) than in their own president, Nicolas
Sarkozy (33 per cent). However, many believe that Germany must take
bolder measures toward resolving the euro zone debt crisis, despite the
political risks to Merkel's ruling coalition and that half-measures will
not do.
2011 lowlight: Refused to support NATO air
strikes in Libya.
By Michael Noer and Nicole Perlroth, Forbes.com,
November 3, 2011
3. Hu Jintao
Title: President, People's Republic of China Age: 68
Hu holds all three offices required to be considered
China's Paramount Leader: Communist Party General Secretary, President
and Commander in Chief.
But as part of a well-orchestrated succession plan, he
will gradually give up his titles over the next few years, starting with
the most important one — General Secretary — next year.
His presumed successor, Xi Jinping, will assume the
presidency a year later.
2011 lowlight: Chinese media exposed a
government cover-up of a deadly bullet train crash in July.
By Michael Noer and Nicole Perlroth, Forbes.com,
November 3, 2011
2. Vladimir Putin
Title: Prime Minister, Russia Age: 59
Loyal lapdog Dmitry Medvedev recently announced he
will not be seeking re-election as Russian president, setting up his
mentor, Putin, for the job some would argue he never really gave up.
Assuming that he serves two more terms, the
increasingly autocratic Putin will be in office until 2024. Take that,
Stalin!
2011 highlight: Push for new Eurasian economic
union of Russia and several former Soviet republics, including
Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine, by 2015.
By Michael Noer and Nicole Perlroth, Forbes.com,
November 3, 2011
1.
Barack Obama
Title: President, USA Age: 50
Sure, his jobs bill was gutted, his
debt-ceiling negotiating was derided and his popularity has
plummeted, endangering his re-election, but Obama regains his position
as the most powerful
person on the planet this year. Why?
Despite faddish American declinism, the U.S. remains, indisputably, the
most powerful nation
in the world, with the largest, most innovative economy and the
deadliest military.
Plus, Obama's only legitimate rival for the title, last year's number
one, Chinese President Hu Jintao, is diminishing in influence as he
gives up political office.
2011 highlight: Took out the
world's deadliest terrorist in May.
By Michael Noer and Nicole Perlroth, Forbes.com,
November 3, 2011
Chief News Editor:
Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011
by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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