Posted on 02/04/2002 7:13:00 AM PST by Madiuq
NEW YORK: Jeffrey Sachs, a prominent Harvard University professor, on Sunday accused the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the United States of pursuing policies that have caused the deaths of millions of people around the world.
"People die by the millions in silence because of poverty" and "this is the responsibility of the IMF and the World Bank," he told a gathering at the World Economic Forum, an annual meeting of corporate and political leaders.
"We have 25,000 people die every day for identifiable reasons."
He charged that the "IMF and the World Bank have failed," citing economic reform programs imposed on poor countries by the two institutions in exchange for financial support.
But he laid much of the blame for their failure on the United States, which he said wields substantial influence over the Fund and the Bank and is "the biggest obstacle" to efforts aimed at increasing their assistance to the most impoverished countries.
"We have the means to save millions of people but we do nothing," said Sachs, who is also head of Harvard's Center for International Development.
Also attending the session was French parliamentary deputy Dominique Strauss-Khan, who maintained that the United States lagged far behind other industrial countries in the amount of development aid -- as a percentage of gross domestic product -- that it provides.
France devotes about 0.3 percent of its GDP to aid, compared with 0.1 percent made available by the United States, he said.
One could argue that this proves the IMF is succeeding beyond its wildest dreams.
Argentina has just recently been "deconstructed". Who's next, I wonder?
One has to learn to look at these things from the proper angle......
These "conferences" are just excuses for third world dictatorships and oligarchies to whine that the first world cuts their allowed graft.
It is necessary to define "failure". I would imagine that the IMF and World Bank would, at least privately, claim success.
Now if France and Mr Harvard want to talk about the trade deficit the US operates under so France and Germany can even have a GNP then we might give a minute to listen to their whining.
Word to the wise to any small nations, any of these global "bankers" show up on your borders, don't let them in. Hint 2, credit is not free money, don't take it.
India is exporting food, FCOL! The success stories have been many. But where there is still suffering, the IMF and IBRD get blamed. This suffering would have been much worse if those two institutions had not been around, however. Just MHO.
I would think you would admire France's unwillingness to fleece it's citizens on behalf of this globalist wealth redistribution scheme--a strange scheme that miraculously defies the law of gravity by transferring wealth upwards...
You hardly see that anymore and it was so effective at keeping leaders from abusing the public trust.
And the IMF and World Bank haven't failed -- they're doing exactly what they're designed to do.
Bump for being completely correct, and a very good link. Thank you.
I second the motion...
There's a lot of documentation at africa2000.com, and you're liable to get lost for a week in it.
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