Did You Know II?

The depiction of the 25 largest companies in 1999 and in 2009 is another interesting analysis from the Wall Street Journal's end-of-decade article. Only eight of the 25 companies on the 1999 list made the 2009 list. This illustrates the incredible dynamism of the (semi) free market we live in.

In contrast to the left's depiction of a static economic environment, with the implication that today's winners will be tomorrow's winners as well due to the advantages of precedent, a free market produces dramatic changes in a short period of time.

Instead, today's winners can be tomorrow's losers, and companies one has never heard of become wildly successful (think Google) in a short period of time.