"There are two kinds of discontent in this world; the discontent that works, and the discontent that wrings its hands. The first gets what it wants, and the second loses what it has. There is no cure for the first but success; and there is no cure at all for the second." Gordon Graham

Barron's has published findings from their second annual survey of the world's most respected companies. Institutional money managers were asked to grade the world's 100 largest companies (as measured by market capitalization). Here is the top ten and some selected others. Complete findings, this week's cover story, with narrative available here (sub req)

1. Johnson & Johnson
2. General Electric
3. Procter & Gamble
4. Toyota Motor
5. Berkshire Hathaway
6. PepsiCo
7. ExxonMobile
8. Goldman Sacks
9. Honda Motor
10. Amgen

Others: Google #20, Microsoft #22, News Corp #43, Walt Disney #46, Comcast #52, Time Warner #100.

2005 US Census data available online: Now you can check out your metro using data points from the 2005 census data base here