To: Snowshoe who wrote (69730 ) 6/21/2008 3:02:38 PM From: Maurice Winn Respond to of 74559 Snowy, when you think of the real motivation of swindling and "wayo" as ElM euphemistically calls it, it makes a lot more sense to "invest" in-house. In the USA they have rules. The opportunities to swindle by investing in the USA would be low with prison a possibility. Imagine how much money can be made by directing the Brazilian funds to the right people in Brazil. The cash flow would be huge. In all countries, the primary purpose of government is to benefit those who get themselves into the government. In some countries, there is at least a pretence that the purpose of government bears a passing association with the idea of doing things which the population wants done, even if those things are done so badly as to be a joke. Fortunately for those who love running governments, their populations are quite ignorant and keep going back for more government when things are wrong. The electorates never seem to learn that governments are the problem, not the solution. Since the average intelligence of people is somewhat less than 100 and in Africa is nearer 80, people generally get the government they deserve. ElM is one of the most intelligent Brazilians there are, and he is gung ho to export ethanol and other stone age agricultural products. Therefore the Brazilian sovereign wealth funds will most likely do just that as their great idea, after deducting said fees, apportionments, licences, inspection charges, approval costs, outright bribery, wayo, false invoices and other mechanisms to move money from one place to another. While oil is really expensive, they might even make money, though normally any profits would be taxed and divvied up among those in charge. Mqurice