Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's billionaire prime minister, and Thierry Breton, France's finance minister, might seem to have little in common, other than previous careers as successful corporate executives. But they share one conviction: that the interests of companies and countries are basically identical. Both are seriously mistaken.
The main difference between them is that they start from opposite ends of the argument. Mr Thaksin took office vowing to run his country like a company, leading voters to hope he would enrich them as well. Mr Breton thinks countries - or rather their governments - should decide who runs large companies.
Mr Thaksin's beliefs have already been exposed as shaky. Not only has he been an indifferent economic manager; he faces accusations that the recent $1.9bn (£1.1bn) sale of his family's stake in Thailand's biggest mobile telephone company was made in murky circumstances that put personal gain before national interest.
Mr Thaksin denies the allegations, saying the sale allowed him to focus on running the country undistracted by criticism that he was using his influence to benefit the family business. But his defence betrays a curious concept of national interest.
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