As many of you may or may not know, there has been a lot of talk about the possibility of [ Singapore Technologies Telemedia Pte. Ltd. ] buying [ Global Crossing ]. Lately mergers in the telecom world haven’t interested me as they seem to happen at the same rate Microsoft releases bug fixes. This one has elicited a more basic response from me.
For those who don’t know Global Crossing is everywhere. You might even say they’re (ahem) “global”. They are one of the largest communications companies in the world. Chances are if you surf the web or make a phone call in America, Asia, The South Pacific, or Eastern Europe you’re using a Global Crossing circuit at some point. This makes them a very valuable commodity for anyone who can run the network correctly.
Being a lover of the free market, myself, I somehow feel “icky” in restricting anyone anywhere from buying anything. But this somehow seems different to me. Granted Singapore is not North Korea or Iraq. Its not like Osama himself is going to float Global $10 Billion to buy their network but, it is a foreign company owning a very large piece of what makes America run.
The prevailing view in Congress is no but as we all know, it only takes a “small contribution” to change minds. To me this is more of a nationalistic thing. I realize globalization is coming but to me this is dangerous. We can have all the scientists in the world but if it costs them $10 to order their “I really am a rocket scientist” t-shirt, the economy will go down the tubes.
Globalization is great if you believe that all parties have common interests. That no one country would use financial means to do harm to another country. I just find this hard to swallow…
P.S. I’d be really interested to hear what ya’ll (yes I’m southern) think. Throw down some lyrics in the comments section. [ Original Article ]