there are always ( and always have been !! ) people that seem to be one thing , yet in reality are the complete opposite . The not so clever ones can be very manipulative . A lack of intelligence can be replaced by cunning . George W bush is case of how someone as thick as pig shite can reach the top !!! , yet I think he lacks the animal cunning that some dim whits can have, he just happened to have a very rich , very powerful and totally corrupt family .
The clever ones , can go very far in any field they choose ... Peter Mandelson is a prime example . A very clever man , as bent (corrupt !! ) as a fiddlers elbow and yet he makes no apparent effort to hide the fact he is a ruthless , nasty , insidious slimy bastard , yet look how he keeps popping up ...even after getting caught fiddling/being on the take !!!
Sadly Sandy, it all boils down to corruption , both moral and monetary .
This double whammy of corruption is now endemic, and has reached it's zenith and is about to crash and burn as all corrupt people ,companies , governments etc always do . What is left after this has yet to be seen . What will take over is more scary than the crash itself !! , as I said , corruption is endemic , and therefore it is more likely that the even 'more' corrupt people, companies, governments will step in .
cheers
Russ