You don’t live in a democracy when every big institution around you is run like a dictatorship

This is a draft for an eye-opening process regarding the scale of democratic to undemocratic forces around us. Parts of the research is supported by ChatGPT who can access data from Statista that I can’t access.

The United States and other Western countries may praise themselves for upholding democratic values, but outside of the political system, most large-scale institutions are hierarchical, with decisions made by a few, lacking any democratic structure. 

I looked at the 22 largest US corporate, financial, educational, healthcare, and media institutions in this research project. While democratic institutions such as cooperatives exist, all of these 22 largest institutions happen to be undemocratic and process $ 9.2 trillion per year. In contrast, the combined US federal and state budgets amounted to $ 8.8 trillion.

Remember, that the above money value reflects only the 22 largest institutions, not all institutions in the United States. Even those few ones process more economic value than the state. I share these two numbers to emphasize the stark reality that the social structures surrounding us process significantly more money undemocratically than democratically. This reality in its own is worth contemplating. This kind of power concentration is quite different from a system where each person has an equal say, which is the core of democracy.

Can we claim to live in a democracy when most social structures around us are defined as non-democratic?

In fact, it is quite reasonable to call most corporations workplace dictatorships because owners have the right to tell their employees what to do without their input (🔮 Wright 2019).

Prestigious universities such as Harvard and Stanford are largely governed by boards of trustees, with limited input from faculty or students. Religious organizations like the Catholic Church follow strict hierarchies, bypassing community decision-making. These institutions—economic, educational, and religious—wield significant influence without broad participatory governance. Thus, while we may live in a political democracy, we do not live in an economic democracy, as economic power remains concentrated and undemocratic.

Let’s contemplate the fact that Apple processes almost $400 billion a year and uses this money to research and produce new products and insights - without any democratic input from the customers or its employees. Apple chooses its priorities for innovative development in a fully authoritarian way even though its products are a modern necessity and touch the lives of hundreds of million people.
Furthermore, Apple’s success is largely based on research that was funded with public money such as voice recognition, GPS, the internet, 5G, micro processors, semiconductors, and plenty more. This clearly shows that public funding has the power to significantly steer innovation. While Apple benefits from democratically steered funding, the public is granted no access to Apple’s innovative decisions.

The path toward ecological justice goes through consensual work environments

I mention all of the above because I see the same essence of disregard of social consensus, cooperation, care, and consent reappearing in the corporate work that has caused climate change. The institutions and systems that have extracted resources from this planet without considering people and the land are not democratic. Capitalism is not democratic. And I do not see any way forward without redefining power relations to build systems that are founded on the intentional consideration of the perspectives of land and people.

The cause of the crisis is in the injustice, so we need to transform relationships of power.

~ Gopal Dayaneni

You don’t get to this place of earth system disruption without an enormous amount of coercion. Mountains don’t blow up by themselves, you need to control labor & capital.

~ Gopal Dayaneni

The data section

This section is rather dry but gives you insights into specific flows of money.

Amounts of money processed by some of the 22 largest institutions in the US

1. Corporate: Major corporations such as Amazon, ExxonMobil, Apple, and Walmart are some of the largest and most influential companies in the U.S. They wield enormous economic power and are structured in ways that prioritize shareholders and executives over worker participation.

   • Amazon: In 2022, Amazon reported revenues of $514 billion.
   • ExxonMobil: In 2022, ExxonMobil generated $413 billion in revenue, with $55 billion in profit.
   • Apple: Apple generated $394.3 billion in revenue in 2022.
   • Walmart: Walmart’s annual revenue in 2022 was approximately $600 billion, maintaining its position as the world’s largest company by revenue.

2. Educational: Prestigious universities like Harvard, Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and University of California, Berkeley are among the most prominent educational institutions. They are governed by boards of trustees with significant financial influence, often limiting democratic input from the broader community.

   • Harvard University: Harvard’s endowment grew to $53.2 billion in fiscal 2024.
   • Stanford University: Stanford held $36.4 billion in endowment assets at the end of 2023.
   • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): MIT’s endowment was valued at $27.4 billion at the end of fiscal year 2021.
   • University of California, Berkeley: UC Berkeley’s endowment was valued at $7.41 billion as of 2022–23.

3. Religious: The Catholic Church is one of the largest and most influential religious institutions, with a highly centralized authority. Other influential religious organizations include The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and major evangelical megachurches like Saddleback Church, which also maintain hierarchical structures with limited community participation.

   • The Catholic Church: Estimates suggest the Holy See’s annual budget is around $300 million, with additional revenue from tourism and donations.
   • The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church): The LDS Church has estimated assets exceeding $100 billion, including investments, real estate, and businesses.
   • Saddleback Church: Saddleback’s annual budget is estimated to be in the tens of millions, primarily funded through congregant donations.

4. Financial: Major financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America are powerful entities that influence both the economy and policy-making. Their governance structures are also top-down, focusing on the interests of shareholders and executives.

   • JPMorgan Chase: In 2022, JPMorgan Chase reported revenues of $123.4 billion.
   • Goldman Sachs: Goldman Sachs reported revenues of $59.3 billion in 2022.
   • Bank of America: Bank of America’s revenues in 2022 were approximately $94.4 billion.

5. Healthcare: Large healthcare systems such as Kaiser Permanente, UnitedHealth Group, and Ascension Health are significant players in the U.S. healthcare landscape. These institutions are often managed by executive boards with little input from patients or frontline healthcare workers.

   • Kaiser Permanente: Kaiser Permanente reported operating revenues of $93.1 billion in 2022.
   • UnitedHealth Group: UnitedHealth Group’s revenues in 2022 were $324.2 billion.
   • Ascension Health: Ascension Health reported operating revenues of $28.4 billion in 2022.

6. Media: Media conglomerates like Comcast, Disney, and News Corp play a crucial role in shaping public opinion. Their ownership and governance structures are concentrated in the hands of a few, limiting the diversity of voices and democratic input in the media landscape.

   • Comcast: Comcast reported revenues of $121.4 billion in 2022.
   • Disney: The Walt Disney Company reported revenues of $82.7 billion in 2022.
   • News Corp: News Corp’s revenues in 2022 were $10.4 billion.

7. Political Governance: The U.S. federal government, state governments, and local governments are the primary political institutions. While the political governance system is nominally democratic, power often resides in elected representatives and bureaucratic structures, limiting direct citizen involvement. The influence of lobbying groups and political action committees (PACs) further centralizes power, often skewing policy outcomes in favor of well-funded interests rather than broader public input.

   • U.S. Federal Government: The federal budget for fiscal year 2022 was approximately $6.8 trillion.
   • State Governments: Combined, state governments have budgets totaling over $2 trillion annually.
   • Local Governments: Local government budgets vary widely, but collectively they manage trillions in public funds each year.

References

[1] Wright, E. O. (2019). How to Be an Anticapitalist in the Twenty-First Century (p. 176). Verso.

[2] Macrotrends. Amazon reported revenues in 2022. Retrieved from https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/AMZN/amazon/revenue

[3] ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil full-year 2022 results. Retrieved from https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/news/news-releases/2023/0131_exxonmobil-announces-full-year-2022-results

[4] Statista. Apple revenue report 2022. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/273941/apple-revenue-by-region/

[5] Statista. Walmart revenue report 2022. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/555905/walmart-worldwide-net-sales/

[6] Harvard University. Endowment report 2024. Retrieved from https://www.harvard.edu/about/endowment

[7] Stanford University. Stanford endowment 2023. Retrieved from https://facts.stanford.edu/research/endowment/

[8] MIT News. MIT endowment 2021. Retrieved from https://news.mit.edu/2021/endowment-update-0921

[9] UC Berkeley. Endowment report 2022-23. Retrieved from https://www.berkeley.edu/about/financials

[10] Reuters. Holy See’s annual budget. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/holysee-budget

[11] Deseret News. LDS Church assets estimate. Retrieved from https://www.deseret.com/faith/lds-church-financial-assets

[12] Christianity Today. Saddleback Church budget estimate. Retrieved from https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2022/saddleback-church-budget/

[13] JPMorgan Chase. Revenue report 2022. Retrieved from https://www.jpmorganchase.com/news/revenue-2022

[14] Goldman Sachs. Revenue report 2022. Retrieved from https://www.goldmansachs.com/media-relations/press-releases/revenue-2022

[15] Bank of America. Revenue report 2022. Retrieved from https://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/revenue-2022

[16] Kaiser Permanente. Operating revenues 2022. Retrieved from https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/news/operating-revenues-2022

[17] UnitedHealth Group. Revenue report 2022. Retrieved from https://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/newsroom/revenue-2022

[18] Ascension Health. Operating revenues 2022. Retrieved from https://ascension.org/about/financials

[19] Comcast. Revenue report 2022. Retrieved from https://corporate.comcast.com/financial/revenue-2022

[20] The Walt Disney Company. Revenue report 2022. Retrieved from https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/revenue-2022

[21] News Corp. Revenue report 2022. Retrieved from https://newscorp.com/financial/revenue-2022

[22] U.S. federal budget fiscal 2022. Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/

[23] National Association of State Budget Officers. Combined state budgets. Retrieved from https://www.nasbo.org/state-budgets

[24] Local government budgets report. Retrieved from https://www.nlc.org/local-government-budgets-report

License for all original work:

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