# Who is the most powerful person in the world? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 19, 2006, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/357348 "2006-05-19T00:53:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/357348/41 "2006-05-23T22:05:09Z")
We dont know who it is, but there is someone in the background pulling the strings of the Bush administration. There are people making fabulous wealth off of the world economics. They must have planned it all. They are too smart to run so the buy the players. Most people sense that the dems are owned by the same people. They have the world changed to make more money for them. They topple governments and have world leaders removed.It might be Cheney except his 100 mill buck bank account isnt big enough. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/357348/42 "2006-05-24T00:56:07Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > no! You’re wrong! Because… er… dammit, I hate it when folks find common ground in GD. Don’t we all? > [@gonzomax](#): > > We dont know who it is, but there is someone in the background pulling the strings of the Bush administration. There are people making fabulous wealth off of the world economics. They must have planned it all. They are too smart to run so the buy the players. Most people sense that the dems are owned by the same people. They have the world changed to make more money for them. They topple governments and have world leaders removed. Your ideas intrigue me, and I’d like to subscribe to your newsletter. > [@](#): > > It might be Cheney except his 100 mill buck bank account isnt big enough. It isn’t big enough… _anymore_. Buying all those people costs money. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/357348/43 "2006-05-24T00:58:13Z")
If there is indeed the most powerful person in the world then we most certainly would never know who it is. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/357348/44 "2006-05-25T19:37:30Z")
OK, OK… it’s me. Now forget I told you. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/357348/45 "2006-05-26T21:16:54Z")
It’s important to point that there’s more to a President’s power than is shown on paper. Subtle, varying factors can come into play. Bush is clearly more powerful than Clinton ever was–and not just due to the Republican Congress although that’s a major factor–but he’s a bit less powerful now than he was in 2002. If people are reluctant to criticize the Prez because they fear a backlash from his supporters, that’s heightened power. Bush sheer audacity also gives him heightened power, but while there’s a ‘use it or lose it’ quality, there also can be a ‘use it _and_ lose’ quality. Bush was powerful enough to launch an invasion of Iraq, but the US military has become badly degraded, we’ve revealed our weakness by our inability to prevail, and we’ve provoked Iran and numerous jihadists. Similarly, Clinton’s power never recovered from his failed health care inititative. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/357348/46 "2006-05-27T16:33:41Z")
I’d have to go with the POTUS, but I think the Chinese leader (Hu Jintao currently) is a strong candidate. China’s not yet as powerful as the U.S., but the Chinese leader has way fewer checks on his authority. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/357348/47 "2006-05-27T16:45:04Z")
You mean apart from the Masons and the Illuminati? GWB of course, with Hu Jintao a close second. Hu is absolute dictator of the most populous country on earth. He may not have the same economic or military resources as the US, no the diplomatic clout but he definitely has access to a huge bloody army, and nukes. If China wanted to invade another land-linked county or region of Asia (due to the lack of a navy to rival the size of the PLA), there’s nothing much any other country could do to stop them, without a nuclear holocaust. As China’s economy grows, the reigning Chinese premier can only grow in power. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/357348/48 "2006-05-30T02:11:41Z")
I know I sound like a conspuracy nut. I retired last year and I watch cspan a lot. I watch bills going up in front of the Senate and House frequently. There are bill after bill entrenching the wealthy and corporations at the expense of the people. It may be that The Bankrupcy Bill (written by the Finance co.),the rejection of a raise in min. wage, the plethora of bills removing our rights in deference to corporations. I see it endlessly and do not think Bush is capable of masterminding this when I hear him Forrest Gump his way at question ans answer sessions. Then I ask who. Somebody is planning this. The oil war ,permanent bases in Iraq.who, I dont believe its an accident. Someone is pulling very big strings that impact the whole world.I just dont know. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/357348/49 "2006-05-30T19:45:48Z")
The Chinese president has great _potential_ power, but doesn’t necessarily have untrammeled opportunities to use it. No Chinese leader since Deng (and not even him, entirely) has been completely free to do as he pleases. The Communist Party’s upper hierachy is a labyrinthine structure of allegiances, alliances and cliques, and any leader of it can find himself out on his ear if he departs too much from the Party line. ---
**Author:** ![Lazlo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lazlo/32/9678_2.png) [@Lazlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazlo)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/357348/50 "2006-05-31T05:18:46Z")
**Panache45** mentioned the Federal chairman and I tend to agree. I got this from my old macroeconomics prof. He stated that Alan Greenspan was the world’s most powerful man. Why? Well, the US dollar is based upon nothing more than the confidence that we as consumers have in it. If something increases or decreases that confidence, the value of the dollar goes up or down. A single report from Greenspan could have profound effects on this confidence. He then went on to describe the power the US Dollar held over world economy and how a shift in its value could change world economics. Now how true this is, I really don’t know, but it sounded reasonable at the time. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2006, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/357348/51 "2006-06-03T22:30:30Z")
Mariuz Pudzianowsiki ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/357348/52 "2006-06-04T01:19:57Z")
I dunno…Jokho Ahola was pretty beefy. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/357348/53 "2006-06-08T18:04:49Z")
> [@Elendil's Heir](#): > > OK, OK… it’s me. Now forget I told you. So you _think_. And unfortunately for you, you _were_ off my radar, until just now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-powerful-person-in-the-world/357348.md?page=2)