Taking the "Am" out of "AmCham"

Matt Welch | October 5, 2004

What do you call an American Chamber of Commerce abroad that is run by non-Americans, "has ceased to be an institution dedicated to promoting the 'American' way of doing business, and is instead now a local symbol of the most 'un-American' of bad business habits, including cronyism, cartelism, non-transparency and even a degree of media coercion"? The comparatively trivial yet compelling (to me!) story, which was apparently too hot for the local English-language newspapers to handle, can be found here.

Comments

|10.5.04 @ 4:11PM|#

A great finish: "Strike a blow for the "American way" of business, and vote for the Canadian."

|10.5.04 @ 4:28PM|#

Interesting, provacative and something that will now side-track me from other things for maybe hours. Exactly what I need today. But I'm gonna do it anyway. Darn it.

|10.5.04 @ 4:32PM|#

Actually, Matt, this seems to be something you're well-suited to write an article about.

s.m. koppelman|10.5.04 @ 6:23PM|#

Are "cronyism, cartelism, non-transparency and even a degree of media coercion" really that uncommon at Chambers of Commerce here in the US? Isn't part of the CoC's mission to further its members' interests through a mix of (1) cooperation and mutual backscratching among member companies and (2) lobbying, sometimes at odds with the wishes of most community residents?

Heck, one person's cooperation between member companies is is another person's cronyism and cartelism, innit?

|10.5.04 @ 6:43PM|#

I'm now convinced you should write an article (and it's not just because I'm an intellectual sluggard).

|10.6.04 @ 1:07PM|#

So..."ShamCham"?