The G8 says it will initiate a new program to pay off the debt of the world's poorest countries. The justifications for this relief include that the debt is odious (meaning the people who benefited from it are not the same people who now have to pay it back, i.e. it was stolen by corrupt governments) and that these countries would never have a chance of growth were the debt to continue.
Debtor countries to get relief include Bolivia, Guyana, Honduras and Nicaragua in this hemisphere. Why not the Dominican Republic? Are we that much better off than Honduras?
Also, is this a good idea by itself? I'm sure Bono's heart is in the right place, but it seems to me that without a major change in the way that the World Bank, IMF and other multilateral development and trade banks do business, these countries will just re-establish the same or worse odious debts. I have not seen any new policy designed to reduce the corruption associated with private and quasi-governmental loans to the "developing" world. This means that, with this relief from old debt, corrupt governments will now have access to new money to prop themselves up - buying votes, buying the police and army and giving patronage jobs, all to be paid for later with economic disaster. To those who watch Dominican politics, this is all too familiar.
Once again I ask, is this a bailout of Cameroon, Guinea-Bissau and Uganda, or is it a bailout of those who lent them money? And won't the unseemly conspiracy between big international banks, the IMF and corrupt governments just continue as always and put everyone right back in the exact same place in 5-10 years?
Debtor countries to get relief include Bolivia, Guyana, Honduras and Nicaragua in this hemisphere. Why not the Dominican Republic? Are we that much better off than Honduras?
Also, is this a good idea by itself? I'm sure Bono's heart is in the right place, but it seems to me that without a major change in the way that the World Bank, IMF and other multilateral development and trade banks do business, these countries will just re-establish the same or worse odious debts. I have not seen any new policy designed to reduce the corruption associated with private and quasi-governmental loans to the "developing" world. This means that, with this relief from old debt, corrupt governments will now have access to new money to prop themselves up - buying votes, buying the police and army and giving patronage jobs, all to be paid for later with economic disaster. To those who watch Dominican politics, this is all too familiar.
Once again I ask, is this a bailout of Cameroon, Guinea-Bissau and Uganda, or is it a bailout of those who lent them money? And won't the unseemly conspiracy between big international banks, the IMF and corrupt governments just continue as always and put everyone right back in the exact same place in 5-10 years?