Chalk this up to experience or maybe cynicism, or a little of both. But, there should be a shudder rippling through every sector of the Egyptian workforce. Because, riding to your rescue—hopefully, you get my sarcastic inflection–are American corporations.

Buried in this article about the U.S. willing to help Egypt to the tune of $1 billion in debt relief is a chilling sentence:

Hoping to capitalize on what they see as a ripening investment climate, the State Department and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will take executives from nearly 50 American companies, like Caterpillar and Xerox, to Cairo beginning Saturday as part of one of the largest trade delegations ever organized. The officials and executives will urge the government to make changes in taxation, bankruptcy and labor laws to improve the investment climate.[emphasis added]

“Changes” in labor laws is just a code word for abusive conditions. It’s “flexibility”—which means we get to screw your ass and you will work for whatever wages we say you work for. No union power. Nothing.

I guess these big corporations just see a place brimming with desperate workers who will do anything to get a job. The sweatshops of the future beckon.