Fortune 500 a Dated Idea in Global Market

I can understand your desire to convey the impression that all is well with Southern California’s business climate despite the grave loss of the headquarters of the Lockheed Corp. (“Smaller Firms Spell Exiting Aging Giants,” Sept. 5). It is thusly reassuring for the Los Angeles Times to state that California still has the largest number of Fortune 500 headquarters of any state.

Unfortunately, the Fortune 500 is itself becoming increasingly dated when measured in the global marketplace. Seven of the top 10 largest firms in the world are now headquartered in Japan. Most of those firms dwarf anything the United States has to offer. You had considerable commentary about the combined size of Lockeed-Martin. However, at $20 billion-plus, the merged firms are a mere drop in the bucket of the global economy. Japan’s largest firm, Itochu, has annual sales of $180 billion-plus.

I believe, therefore, that the Los Angeles Times does a disservice to the community when it downplays the loss of the headquarters of a firm like Lockheed which was central to the growth of Southern California over the last 50 years. Instead of trying to foster the lowest wage area in the world (through editorial endorsement of wide open immigration), the Los Angeles Times might instead study how Japan has become the world’s most powerful (by far) economy.

A. DANIEL ELIASON

Santa Barbara