Furthermore, once you toss out the schizophrenic/paranoia explanation of why the NSA is doing this, the only other explanation is economic espionage, which they

Furthermore, once you toss out the schizophrenic/paranoia explanation of why the NSA is doing this, the only other explanation is economic espionage, which they've claimed they haven't been doing. However know one knows the truth, and given what has been demonstrated so far, most countries should assume the worst with respect to the use of the NSA for economic espionage, and treat the US as a suspect trading partner.