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Let’s hear it for the great American war machine!

Dwight D. Eisenhower got it right. In his 1956 farewell Presidential address, the former 3-star General warned of the growing power of the “Military Industrial Complex”, and some new numbers bear him out.

Following is a list of the top ten corporations (entities) by the number of current employees, published by the Economist of London:

1. U.S. Department of Defense, 3.2 mil

2. Chinese People’s Liberation Army, 2.3 mil

3. Walmart, 2.1 mil

4. McDonalds, 1.7 mil serving

5. China National Petroleum, 1.7 mil (notice Shell and Chevron didn’t make the list)

6. State Grid Corporation of China, 1.6 (the Asian Enron)

7. National Health Service (of England), 1.4 mil

8. Indian Railways, 1.4 mil

9. China Post Group, 0.9 mil (notice USPS didn’t make the list)

10. Hon Hai Precision Industries, 0.8 mil (Hey, they actually make stuff!)

A few basic observations are in order. With the exceptions of Walmart and McDonalds, public institutions dominated the list, giving credence to the notion that government jobs guarantee job security, and if you are lucky enough to find one, the inherent dullness of duties will be counterbalanced by a life of relative financial stability.

The second main observation is that Asian companies now dominate the hiring scene. This comes as no real surprise, but it is worthy to note that, of the top ten, Asia employs 8.7 mil, while the U.S. employs 7.0 mil. Two years ago, those numbers would have been reversed.

So, governments create jobs, and not just socialst ones, either. The U.S. Department of Defense has hired the equivalent of 1% of the U.S. population. Granted, most of those hired have enlisted to become slave-wage canon fodder because employment elsewhere is not as lucrative, if it is available at all.

Much as we socialists would kick and scream about it, most of the entities owe their hiring strength to the fact that they have gone global.  Ross Perot’s allusion to a “giant sucking sound” as jobs are shifted oversees seems compatible with the hiring figures. That U.S. companies have killed the job market at home by hiring abroad (and for cheap) speaks to their success and growth in hiring.

The U.S. is still king of the service industry, with Walmart and McDonalds leading the way based on strong (global) brand recognition and crafty supply chain strategies.

Hon Hai is now the leader in manufacturing, not because they went global (they didn’t), but because China is home to the largest low-paid worker pool on the planet. It’s hard these days for the U.S. to compete for a share in manufacturing because China has more or less cornered the market on the mistreatment and underpayment of its workers.

That said, note that India and China are both emerging markets, and unless the U.S. can turn things around to remain competitive, Asia R Us.

So, give three cheers  to our bloated defense department and to all the clinically obese consumers around the globe dining at McDonalds, most of whom are forced to dine on cheap, empty calories because they can’t afford the escalating prices of foods that might enable them to live longer and healthier lives.

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