Good news!

Jun 11th, 2005

by Brent Logan.

I received an e-mail today from Marilyn Burge (a frequent commenter on this blog):

The G8 announced today that the entire debt of 20 of the world’s poorest nations has been voted to be forgiven. The also announced that there are 24 other nations on the table for consideration. All the nations involved will vote on the issue next week.

The Los Angeles Times has more information.

Posted in: General.
Tagged: debt · forgive · G8

3 Comments

1. Mike Cohen says:

   6/12/2005 at 3:41 pm

   This is excellent news!

   Reply
2. Marilyn Burge says:

   6/12/2005 at 9:17 pm

   A spokesman for ONE said that this was just a down payment. They are going for improved infrastructure, such as sanitation facilities, schools, roads, and the like.

   He also said that there are 24 other very poor countries on the table for the same consideration with regard to their debt to the World Bank.

   I hope they also include polio vaccinations. One central Africa nation is having a serious resurgence of polio. I don’t remember the details, but it seems that the officials in that country didn’t take the U.N.’s advice and follow through on immunizing their children.

   This is a very serious matter. I had a series of polio vaccines in my teens and 20′s, but it is doubtful that I am fully covered now, in my 60′s. Should an infected person who is asmyptomatic board a plane and end up in a major international traveling hub, such as London or New York, the disease could spread very rapidly, starting a major epidemic or possibly even a pandemic.

   Do we even innocculate our babies in this country any more? I’m not at all sure we do. We haven’t had a case of polio in this country in a long, long time, so the Public Health officials probably thought we had it licked long ago.

   Reply
3. anon says:

   6/13/2005 at 3:01 am

   Good news now, arising from very bad news then. Unfortunately, neither the G8 nor the WB will acknowledge their fundamental wrong on the poorest nations.

   Loans have been shoved down the throats of developing nations, to build what we value as “infrastructure.” What good are schools, without money for programs to train teachers and feed children and provide clean water? What good are highways without a developed consumer base to purchase petrol (from the U.S. oil companies)?

   The first world has imposed its priority of extracting wealth, at the expense of the third world. In exchange for national security agreements, a third world country is “encouraged” to develop some major “infrastructure” project. But that is not what they most need to improve long term quality of life and economic productivity. The contractors who “win” the bid and get a disproportionatly large chunk of the revenue are first world companies, and the loan does not stay in the third world country to boost the economy. The economy remains further impoverished by a massive debt load. The first G8/WB then has leverage to extract further concessions from the third world country, such as mineral/gas rights, trade agreements, treaty support, etc.

   Similar things are going on here, and voters keep saying — give us more of it! Consider that the U.S. is among the top world spenders on education per capita, but is ranked at the bottom of first world countries in aptitude.
   http://www.pbs.org/newshour/backgrounders/school_funding.html
   http://nces.ed.gov/
   Just as with WB infrastructure loans, the money is not going to those who REALLY need it.

   I have little sympathy for G8 guilt over their own profiteering.

   Reply