Top Ten Assets by Market Capitalisation

[johnwalker]

The Infinite Market Cap Web site ranks more than 13,000 assets by market capitalisation, which is defined for various assets as follows.

• For precious metals the Market Cap is calculated by multiplying the its price with an estimation of the quantity of metal that has been mined so far. These estimations are updated annually.
• For stocks it is calculated by multiplying the amount of outstanding shares with the current share price.
• The Market Cap of cryptocurrencies is calculated by multiplying the circulating supply with the coin's price.

One can quibble with these definitions: for example, silver, ranked as the 7th largest asset, is an industrial metal which is consumed in many of its applications, so there is a large gap between the total amount mined over history and the existing above-ground supply. For cryptocurrencies, estimates are based upon circulating supply in public hands, excluding funds believed to be lost, some of which might reappear in the future. Obviously, all of these asset prices are volatile and this ranking represents their valuation as of the date of this post.

A few observations: it is stunning to observe that, among companies in the top ten, only Saudi Aramco is not a technology company, and is the only one founded prior to 1975. We often think of Big Oil and Big Banking as archetypes of corporate wealth and power, but only one oil company and no bank made the top ten. The highest ranked bank, JPMorgan Chase, came in at 16th, just before the Ethereum cryptocurrency at 17th. The largest traditional industrial company (but with a strong presence in technology as well) was Samsung at 22, and brick and mortar retailing leader Walmart ranked 23.

The total valuation of the top ten assets combined was US$ 25.7 trillion, which is less than the U.S. national debt of US$ 28 trillion and change.

Autodesk ranks number 306, with market cap US$ 64 billion, beating out Northrop Grumman at 307 and US$ 63.3 billion and Ford Motor Company in 312th place at US$ 62.7 billion. Also in the cheap seats are Federal Express (322), UBS (324), General Dynamics (341), and Honda (381).

Dogecoin is hanging in there at 705th with market cap US$ 31.5 billion.

[CTLaw]

@johnwalker

Dogecoin is hanging in there at 705th with market cap US$ 31.5 billion.

Suit against Musk re. Dogecoin:
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/63388702/johnson-v-musk/

Dogecoin investor sues Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX

[jabowery]

@johnwalker

We often think of Big Oil and Big Banking as archetypes of corporate wealth and power, but only one oil company and no bank made the top ten.

The biggest of the Big Banks is the $ as world reserve currency. Its backing value can be estimated in terms of the risk adjusted net present value implied by the global velocity of USD using the interest rate on the national debt as the time discount. All assets under it are thereby assumed within the “monopoly on force” implied by the bricolage of military powers upholding its monopoly position as the MSDOS of monetary regimes: You think you have a better monetary policy than the FR? Yeah, go ahead and try to compete, you anarcho capitalist you.

If I had the time, which I don’t, among the novel series I would write would be one in which we had an inside look at a Maoist think tank, circa 1926, with expository dialogue something like this:

The Chairman’s countenance hardens to stern resolve. He looks to his chief intelligence officer, asking, “The Great Humiliation began with opium. What is the capitalist’s opium according to Marx?”

“Religion,” replies the CIO confidently.

“AND MARX WAS AN IDIOT!” bellows The Chairman. “We know from our own malignant Water Lords what their opium is: Private capture of civilization’s positive network externalities.”

The CIO, “Of course, Chairman, but you asked…”

The Chairman interrupts, “Then what are you doing about Sun Yat-sen’s movement, threatening our plan to flood the round eye capitalist running dogs with opium?”

The CIO, “We have identified those in his retinue that have been encouraging interest in Henry George.”

The Chairman, “And?..”

The CIO, “We have identified those who oppose them.”

The Chairman, “And?..”

The CIO, “Our agents posing as servants to the advocates of Henry George have been slipping slow acting brain toxins to them. The land rentiers have reigned in Sun Yat-sen’s dangerous legacy.”

The Chairman, “And what of the emerging threat from The United States?”

The CIO, “At first, we saw Jewish immigrant support for Henry George’s mayoral candidacy in New York City as indicating they must be similarly neutralized, lest these dangerous ideas take root in that influential hub. However, in the subsequent decades, as their mercantile gifts have elevated their status, we now see them as the emerging aristocracy of the West. So we are now focused on identifying Jews that might seek to restrain the worst tendencies among the aristocracy. We don’t have sufficient infiltration to slip slow acting toxins to them, and we don’t have sufficient financial power to buy media outlets. What we have instead focused on is gifted and charismatic young immigrant named Alisa Rosenbaum. We are cultivating her to reaction to the Soviets to become a movement. Then all that will be necessary is a similar low-level program of dirty tricks to hobble those in that movement that might seek to interject American pioneer culture notions from Lysander Spooner and Henry George that would treat government as a mutual insurance company with shares distributed to those who defend property rights.”

The Chairman, smiling, “There is no rush… just make sure that movement becomes dominated by raving addicts.”

[jabowery]

“George’s Bass Less Theories”

Am I the only one who noticed the recent media saturation with the word “Baseless” as in “Baseless Conspiracy Theory”?

[johnwalker]

This topic was originally posted on 2021-10-16. Here’s an updated top 10 by market capitalisation as of 2023-03-10.

Meta (Facebook) is now in 11th place, TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor) is 13th, and Bitcoin has fallen to 19th, just ahead of JP Morgan Chase, the top ranked bank.