10. Don’t count on other people to look after your interest
In Papua New Guinea, a large gold and copper mine, OK Tedi dumped 80,000 tons of contaminated material daily into the Ok Tedi and Fly rivers as it extracted over $6 billion worth of ore. Once the mine was exhausted, the Australian majority ownership, after admitting that it has vastly underestimated the environmental impact, just walked away, turning over its share to the government, leaving he government already strapped for funds, with the cleanup costs.
We are not far from this. Obviously in the 1950s to the 1970s, somebody burn and cut our trees, and for the next 20 or 30 years, we have to suffer all the consequences , while they have probably made their pile.
We are a more compassionate world than before. More than ever, more companies are conscious about their corporate social responsibilities. They care about the work environment, and they care about being green. Many of them take special care to contribute back to society.
However, that still does not mean that corporations are there not to make money. No company is going to volunteer to pay you a higher price if they can haggle from you a lower price. A company still have the obligation to its shareholders, and if the managers want to keep their job, it is their responsibility to get optimized profits, and get the best possible deal for their company.
Ditto with American politicians. After all, they were elected and owe their obligations to the American people, and not to us.
After all is said and done, we cannot point fingers to a company or country and say – “ why did you not do more or pay us enough?” When we work with them, or even with ‘generous’ countries like the United States, it is still up to us to insure that we are getting our rightful share.
May 20th, 2010 at 4:26 am
don’t count on your own politicians to look after your interest too!
May 21st, 2010 at 8:56 am
the laws of the country are meant to protect against the expression of destructive self-interest that affects the common good. i agree – self-interest is good and healthy, when channeled properly.
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:16 am
its true that the main reason we do anything to serve personal interest
businessmen want to help improve the economy because they believe that by improving the economy, it will open a gate towards Cheaper Materials, A well Trained working-population to hire from, And access to improved technologies to help improve the Bottom Line
July 8th, 2010 at 5:40 am
Regardless if it’s a corporation or a government, both are looking out for their own interest. The corporation gives the impression they are going to help the government & to a certain extent they do but usually through payoffs or bribes. In return the government allows certain corporations to as they please unless someone catches them both in their practice.
Governments are not the ones who should control the companies but the population of the country. If they are not responsible or do not offer a fair practice, then the people need to stop working for them, stop buying from them & stop allowing them to use the resources of the people.
Today we see several corporations here & abroad who have large swaths of land to earn their shareholders profit but rarely do they invest in the country they are taking from.
The United States is a prime example of outsourcing resources to protect what they have at home. They gather nearly everything they consume from other nations & often at the expense of the people of that country along with the environment.
July 18th, 2010 at 11:12 am
Perhaps we can count on the Filipino people’s collective wisdom?
In computer science, Linus’ law states that “given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow”. I believe that given enough minds, no issue is too big to be solved or too little to be noticed.
We should not count on other people (other countries), but perhaps we can count on each other. I believe in Adam Smith’s law but I think there should be something in there where the other man is also considered. In game theory, this is mostly true, where you’ll need to consider the other player’s move/interest.
I would appreciate it if you could visit my site – http://www.waripinas.com, or give some inputs on the success/failure of a tool that encourages citizen participation when it comes to policy making? Can collective wisdom actually benefit us?
Thanks! Your book is truly interesting!