Little guys will still be little guys

Sir, Moisés Naim’s well written piece …the little guy is calling the shots, June 13, reads a bit like a nostalgic reminiscence of a time when the air was cleaner and power was power but, rest assure, little has changed and the little guy will remain the little guy. Yes, faster and more importantly cheaper communications do augment the possibility for local upstarts of becoming a nuisance but the real chances of the David’s beating the Goliath are about as slim as ever.

That said what really seems to be calling the shots now, both for big and small guys alike, are just plain old time fundamentals, like the environment and the availability of energy. Naím begins his article with the example of big Shell giving in to a small Bolivia but he knows very well that in a world of 5 dollars per barrel, as actually some major pundits spoke about as late as 1999, nobody would give a jota for a small southern-hemisphere hillbilly who happened to strike it rich and who probably would misspend his fortune soon anyhow. Had only the Big one act responsible and checked his runaway consumption of oil, then Bolivia would sadly still be forgotten and perhaps Baghdad a non issue.

Finally, and since Naím pits the Vatican against Pentecostal Christians, we should not forget that in this particular case, they in fact both work for the same supreme power.

Sent to FT, June 13, 2006