I don’t want to interfere much in your Iraq discussion, folks, but I couldn’t help but notice a common opinion among posters here: that corporations somehow are the evil force behind pretty much everything in the world.

Not only I don’t subscribe to that opinion, but, on the contrary, I believe that corporations are behind almost everything that is good in the world, like progress, technological advance, wealth creation, and, yes, even wealth redistribution to the poor. Private foreign direct investment in the last 20 years in China, India, and the rest of South-East Asia has lifted way more people out of poverty than all the government spending over the last century.

I feel it is terribly shortsighted to blame corporations for everything. Business-bashing has become widely accepted political rhetoric. It used to only come from the left, but it now comes from both left and right. As an example, I think that the ridiculous congressional hearings of oil company executives in the wake of Katrina were a low point for the US Congress and our country.