----- Original Message ----- From: "Howard Winter" Subject: Re: [OT] Who controls the internet > and jars of Marmite at four times what they cost in England! :-) Pretty > much > anything that isn't US made seems to come from China as far as I can see. Most thing that appear US made come from China, Taiwan or Korea. > Wouter's countrymen seem to be doing pretty well - I'm surprised we > haven't heard of them doing consulting work (at least) on the sea > defences around New Orleans. Even though we panicked a few years ago about the Japanese taking over, the Dutch are second only to the Brits in foreign ownership of U.S. assets. They're slowly taking over the world, they're just being real quiet about it. > I think it's more that the beaureaucrats have spotted another niche to > create a new "body" to oversee something Europe hardly has a corner on the bureaucrat market > In what way? I think the EU sells a lot more stuff here than we do there. A fortress Europe would eliminate a reasonably strong group of competitors in the largest, growing markets. A decade or so ago the U.S. would have felt obligated to bail out a bankrupt Europe, but nowadays I don't thing there's much stomach for that. On the other hand, a European company is paying me a bunch of change next week to come talk to them, and I hope to take a lot more of their money next year, so personally, my balance of payments situation is a bit different. > Well Homeland Security don't seem to have been involved yet - if they > haven't got enough to do, perhaps they could be tasked with protecting > the Internet? :-) Now wouldn't THAT be special? --McD -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist