Loading ...In the mid to late 70’s I knew a fellow in Brussels who represented big NYC banks , and worked with IMF in mineral rich central African states . He would pitch megabucks plants to extract the minerals , get the IMF to back the deal and hand off the financing to the big banks in NYC . Americans would construct the plants , take them all the way through commissioning , then turn over the plant to the locals . Soon the operators would tear up the equipment through rough handling , no one knew how to repair or maintain the plant components , and soon the sources of revenue dried up . Bondholders would eat the losses . The banks were happy .
BTW both this fellow and his wife were the types who could be on the cover of GQ and Vogue .
The same type your post a day or two ago about the elite class in France spoke of .
On that topic , I spent a couple of years in France in the early 60’s . One of my last assignments was in Marseilles . This was just after France gave Algeria its independence . There were many Pieds Noirs ( French nationals who had been in Algeria for generations and now returned with pockets of money ) in Marseilles and other parts of France . Many Algerian ‘Arabs’ also came . It is my understanding that now , 50 + years later , more Arabic is spoken in Marseilles than French . On virtually my last day in France at that time , I was touring Paris on foot , and was approached in the park next to the Eiffel tower by one of the Pieds Noirs , very well dressed , who wanted me to witness the fact that he was being accosted by a very angry elderly Parisian lady . The lady was turning the air blue at his expense . Turns out that she was blaming his type for raising rents in Paris to the point that she lost her lease . The influx of Algerion money created demand which left the native Parisians out in the street . Similar to Asian money flowing into US real estate now .