Last night I told my wife that the future seems scary with all these rich multi-international companies starting to stick their legs deeper in foreign countries infrastructure.
Oils, Natural Gas, Minings, Banks.
I can only pray that these giants won't create a huge ticking time-bomb such that governments all over the world had to bail them out in the future in case something bad happened.
(The conversation happened when I saw HSBC advertisement saying that they are the "local bank everywhere you go").
It's an interesting point to make. There was a particular cable from Wikileaks that talked about how Shell had infiltrated a large portion of the Nigerian government. Who knows what else is in the works?
I've been semi-following wikileaks but I didn't know about this Shell-Nigerian infiltration issue.
Sometime I feel that whatever noble cause Bill Gates and Warren Buffet do will eventually be overridden by these issues in the future.
What we're seeing is a humongous circle of evil:
A company started with a decent intention: just to make a living. Once its existence is threatened by competitors, it is forced to expand in order to be competitive.
When all "ethical" routes to expand had been explored, they started to do a less "un-ethical" moves (i.e.: infiltrate, spy, bribe, etc). Government is the first and foremost primary target for these kind of activities. Once it happened, government is no longer a pure entity that can lead a nation. Government turns into a commercial entity where it tries to make every single employee rich.
When every dirty little secrets are exposed, citizens might turn against their own government. Probably in the form of militants, rebels, and whatnot.
What once was an ideal movement to overrule the corrupt government might put these idealist in the same spot as the previous governments: "hey, we fought for this country and it's time for us to enjoy the best time of our lives ... while we can". Thus the circle of corruption in the government continues.
It all started with "Money". It is truly the root of all evils.
Somehow I've seen these things unfold in most Hollywood movies. WikiLeaks, corrupted government, overruling militants.
On the other hand, it looks like China is trying to stay away from all the debacles by rebuilding and reinvesting on its own infrastructure. While China has its own issues with human rights and freedom of speech, it is probably one of the nations that "seem" less corrupt to foreign interests (they're still corrupt within themselves) compare to other nations.
Oils, Natural Gas, Minings, Banks.
I can only pray that these giants won't create a huge ticking time-bomb such that governments all over the world had to bail them out in the future in case something bad happened.
(The conversation happened when I saw HSBC advertisement saying that they are the "local bank everywhere you go").