US Congress to Address Poor Country Debts
NEW YORK - The U.S. House of Representatives is likely to endorse a legislative proposal this week calling for the cancellation of debts owed by some of the world’s poorest countries.
The rights advocacy groups that have lobbied hard for the passage of the Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation told OneWorld they had no doubts that a vast majority of lawmakers will vote in favor.
“We have very strong support in the House,” said Danielle Pals of the Jubilee USA Network, an umbrella group representing more than 80 religious denominations, development agencies, and human rights organizations from across the United States.
The Jubilee USA Network has been trying to convince U.S. lawmakers to pass the proposed legislation on debt cancellation for a long time. Like many other anti-poverty advocates, the group holds that the lending practices of international financial institutions are mainly responsible for the suffering of the poor in developing countries.
The House is expected to vote on the proposed bill this week, which coincides with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank annual meeting, which was held this weekend in Washington, DC. The bill was already endorsed by the House Financial Services Committee earlier this month.
“We welcome the strong bipartisan committee support for this forward-looking legislation which, when passed, will help to ease the unjust burden of debt on some the world’s most impoverished nations,” said Jubilee’s national coordinator Neil Watkins.
The proposed legislation calls for “greater responsibility” in lending and borrowing in the future. Supporters of the bill say current lending practices are hampering development initiatives in many countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
The legislation calls on the U.S. Treasury Department to negotiate at the IMF and World Bank for an agreement for debt cancellation for up to 24 additional poor countries that need financial help to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by world leaders in 2000.
The MDGs include a 50-percent reduction in poverty and hunger; universal primary education; reduction of child mortality by two thirds; cutbacks in maternal mortality by three quarters; the promotion of gender equality; and the reversal of the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.
If adopted by the U.S. Congress, the bill introduced by by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) would expand eligibility for 100-percent debt cancellation without harmful economic conditions to 67 impoverished countries in the global South.
Last October, the Jubilee Act was also introduced in the Senate by Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN), and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT).
The proposed act prohibits the imposition of harmful economic and policy conditions as a condition of debt cancellation and calls for a new legal framework to restrict the activities of so-called “vulture funds,” the private companies that have been accused of debt profiteering at the expense of the world’s poorest people.
The act also mandates transparency and responsibility in lending from governments and international financial institutions.
Last September, scores of activists who supported the Jubilee Act participated in fasts for more than a month, moving a number of lawmakers on both sides of the political divide.
Jubilee claims that more than 20,000 Americans participated in its 40-day fast campaign calling for the cancellation of debt owed by the poorest nations.
Currently, indebted nations spend an average of $100 million each day simply to service their debts, an amount that, according to groups like Jubilee, is more than enough to provide food, medicines, and education for the millions of poor in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
“All the impoverished countries deserve to have their debts canceled once and for all,” said Waters in recent statement. Like her, Bachus argues that debt cancellation is “the right thing to do.”
“For [the United States] it’s a good thing because it makes the world better,” says Bachus. “It makes the world more stable. It’s the right thing to do for growing democracies because the great threat, I think, to democracy and freedom is poverty.”
© 2008 One World
What?
When is China going to become “compassionate” and debt forgive America? I mean how is this even being discussed in the wake of record (crude oil prices today), or ever soaring domestic food prices, America’s mounting debt over its Iraq war debacle, ever increasing foreign aide to improvised countries, the continual outsourcing of jobs via so-called “free-trade” agreements and all on top of our estimated $69 trillion dollar underfunded welfare program: social security.
How can these people in Washington see this as a benefit to America?
-James
www.thepoliticus.org
jposty
When did these people ever care about benefits to America?
Bushco and the neocons have robbed us blind and will continue to do so…especially if Washington isn’t cleaned and held responsible for such irresponsible decisions. This kind of thing didn’t just begin with Bushco…The dark gifts that these people, the administrations of greed and power…go on giving. Money rules…we are just a part of the problem they have to rule into subserviance…and acceptance of their tyrany.
I can’t imagine China “forgiving” us our debts to them…they own our country….thank you very much Repubs and Dems…for allowing this to happen.
While they are busy “forgiving foreign countries of debt and letting them off the hook…people here are losing homes….what about forgiving them, too. Bear Stearns was forgiven…why not the little guy who lost a job and home?
It depends on what the neocons and Bushco, members of Congress, can gain by forgiving these loans. You can bet in the deal, those countries will be in dept to the US in some other way. When did this country ever do something for nothing…
Ever read the book: Confessions of an Economic Hitman ?
Bushco and the likes are the vultures flying overhead waiting for a prey…
“Last September, scores of activists who supported the Jubilee Act participated in fasts for more than a month, moving a number of lawmakers on both sides of the political divide.
Jubilee claims that more than 20,000 Americans participated in its 40-day fast campaign calling for the cancellation of debt owed by the poorest nations.”
So, 20,000 people had a campaign to cancel the debts and the lawmakers listened….
They have selective hearing….apparantly….how many are protesting the war and being ignored? How many want 9/11 investigated? How many want impeachment? How many are against the free-trade agreements? How many are protesting about veteran’s rights and care?
Selective hearing…
The US is suffering from “losing face” with the world community…
This is a way to try and buy it back….
Maybe they should start with NOT torturing people.
Is this a sick April 15th joke? The U.S. is the greatest debtor nation this world has ever seen. Heck of a job Congress.
Third world debts? What about our debts?
Well, the U.S. and E.U. (West) have made billions of dollars over the years in interest payments from these very same debts, in many cases far more than the original principal amounts by way of secondary benefits like captive markets, etc. Its about time they forgave the crushing debt burden that ‘third world’ countries suffer under.
By the way … how do you measure which came first the third world or the first ?
We should go a step further and pay these ‘third world’ countries huge sums of money every year as we pollute the air they breathe by our our completely disproportionate ‘carbon emissions’.
riddimboy
At the moment, China and India are the worst polluters…and our companies that are outsourcing these countries are basically endorsing it by investing there. Cheaper labor and fewer regulations.
I figure we should stop trade with them until they clean up the mess…or put such high tariffs on products made in unclean environments that they can’t afford to ship here and make a profit…and….make sure they have workers unions….
Yes, we need to clean up here, and many are trying, but as long as the profit margin is there…not much will be done, here or there….
Riddimboy,
don’t for get that many countries also had to sell off their nationalised assets including utilities to private corp’s like halliberton and Bechtel.
The accompanying map is kind of outdated isn’t it?
There is no longer a “second world” (i.e. the “communist” world) - and a number of the countries colored red are hardly “third world” countries anymore. The map even has S. Korea colored red.
3rd world debt is a very powerfull tool to keep ‘them’ in line. It disallows most nations and their people to make significant strives out of severe poverty- which keeps them weak and violent (easier to control, i.e. pillage)
IMO, this is a smart move to alliviate some of the ‘insurgent’ pressures on ‘1st world’ companies (backed by gov. i.e. military), allowing colonialism to be ratcheded up, as we fight harder for the peaked oil, natural gas, uranium etc- with an added bonus of monoplizing their food, medical and god-know-whatelse importing.
I am surprised to see such opposition on this site to what is a pretty sensible (and moral) idea.
Though I think that freezing the debt for a period of 5 years would be a better option. No repayments, no interest at all. If they use the money on education, poverty reduction, democratic reform, diversifying their economy and governing better, with lower corruption etc, then the debt is halved and set aside for another 10 years. At the end of the 10 years, they would be assessed against the same poverty and corruption reduction criteria, and if they have maintained reforms and fulfilled obligations to their people, then it could be cancelled.
Corruption, failed states and bad governance is responsible for many of the problems of the 3rd world (including allowing the West and China to exploit their people). Maybe I am too idealistic on this issue, but I would hope that we can use the yoke of the debt to promote and encourage better governance in the 3rd world. Countries that succeed in better governance for the sake of their people will have no debt; corrupt military regimes that continue to reward their friends and repress their populations, buying Mercedes and condos whilst their people starve would still have to pay the debt.
http://rebelconservative.blogspot.com
“The proposed act prohibits the imposition of harmful economic and policy conditions as a condition of debt cancellation and calls for a new legal framework to restrict the activities of so-called “vulture funds,” the private companies that have been accused of debt profiteering at the expense of the world’s poorest people.”
Excuse me……but haven’t the vultures been “debt-profiteering” at warp-speed since Woodrow Wilson was President? I don’t have a printing press where I can create money out of thin air and then lend it out at outrageous interest rates - do you?
Is Congress trying to convince U.S. Citizens that we are in great economic shape by diverting our attention to a greater poverty around the globe?
The whole purpose of the IMF and the World Bank is to loan these countries money they don’t need at rates they can’t afford and to make damn sure that they NEVER get out of debt. Who needs slave ships when there’s credit cards?
The little picture above is absurd, if very sexy. It equates Mexico and Argentina and South Africa with Somalia and Iraq. Also, it equates Sweden with the US, which is at least as big a detour from reality.
I see I’m not the first to comment on it …just seems that a thoughtful article would have had a more thoughtful picture …or none at all.
PEOPLE,
ARE ALL OF YOU ALL TOO BITTER AND FULL OF PISS AND VINEGAR TO CELEBRATE THE SUCCESS OF JUBILEE ACTIVISTS?????????
Yes, this is still not a pefect world and how effective this legislation (if passed) will be has yet to be seen, but anti-poverty activists have spent years working to get this far. Show some respect and congratulate them for their success.
This story misses a key piece of information that I saw somewhere else very recently about the IMF.
The IMF is struggling for funds. All the ‘middle-income’ countries are disgusted with IMF policies and have paid off their debts to the IMF and refuse to take further loans. This hits the IMF as it was using these interest payments to get the cash to make loans to the lower end countries.
To resolve this, the IMF wants to sell off some of its gold reserves. But, for some reason I don’t understand (probably that we gave them the gold to start with), to sell off these reserves will require Congressional approval.
So, the IMF will soon be coming to Congress to request this approval.
The question I have, seeing that this isn’t mentioned in this story, is will the Democrats tie the two bills together. Will they say you only get the approval to sell off the gold if you forgive these debts? If the Democrats in Congress really want this to happen, that would force it.
Or, will the Democrats simply posture? If they keep the two bills separate, they can pretend to want to reduce th debts. But in separate bills, the debt reduction plan can be vetoed. So, if you see the Democrats keep these as separate bills (and note that this article seems to imply that as no one is talking about the bill to approve the gold sale), then you know its just BS from the Dems trying to sound good. If you see the two bills tied together, then you know the Dems really want this to happen.
This is the goofiest world map I’ve seen in a long while. If it were only that simple!
I look around the big American city I live in and I can see the 1st, 2nd and 3rd worlds outside my window!
And when did South Korea become a 3rd world nation? It has a higher internet use per capita than the US!
I think the usa needs to forgive a lot of people in their own country for debt.
A lot of people owed a small amount but it keeps getting larger due to preditory, unregulated lending.
My concern is if they forgive the world for debt what will happen to the poor people here?
The Carlyle Group,{Bushco} and Madeline Albright
were trying to reduce the debt owed us by
Kuwait. What is their percentage on that score?
truthaddict April 15th, 2008 3:12 pm
“ARE ALL OF YOU ALL TOO BITTER AND FULL OF PISS AND VINEGAR TO CELEBRATE THE SUCCESS OF JUBILEE ACTIVISTS?????????”
truthaddict,
You are right that they deserve credit for their hard work; and anyone who is still in touch with their heart and soul doesn’t want to see the poor or anyone else needlessly suffer.
You are also right that this is not a perfect world, nor will it ever be. In fact, most people are not asking for perfection - they are simply asking for “fair play”.
Sadly, when you have organizations like the IMF, World Bank and WTO imposing reforms and debt-based restrictions on borrowing countries for the planned purpose and intention of expanding “profitability” for the largest international corporations at the expense of the poor, this system clearly demonstrates a complete absense of fair play and a very serious problem that needs to be addressed and resolved.
The truth is, loan forgiveness has been going on for a long time; probably since the corporations usurped governments and started to write the legislation so that the average-Joe taxpayers would be covering the cost of these forgiveness programs. Aside from this, the bigger question is: After decades of lending multi-$billions to third world countries, why are they still third world countries?
Many authors have answered that question convincingly with factual and detailed examples explaining how this happened.
One of my favorite books on this issue is “The Globalization of Poverty” by Michel Chossudovsky, followed by “The Shock Doctrine” by Naomi Klein.
Irresponsible and greed-driven lending is only a small part of a much larger problem.
Our elected representatives can barely bring themselves to acknowledge to the slightest degree what a crime our foreigh lending policies have been over the years. The heartless, criminal financial practices that have been done, and are still being done, in our name, are unbelievable, yet very real.
unchained — “At the moment, China and India are the worst polluters…”
Where did you come up with this gem ? The West accounts for 70% of carbon emissions in the world with a population of 20 to 25% creating it. The entire development and progress the West has made is predicated on this rampant pollution weve created these last 100 years. And just when these 2 large countries are pulling thmesleves out of poverty we begin moralising about polluters !!
Until such time we equate 1 american to 1 chinese to 1 indian (in other words we are all the same) we need to shut the fuck up about pointing fingers.
I say cancel all debts globally, and start clean. Sarcastic LOL, like these criminals are going to let that happen.
This is just another way to lower the standard of living in the developed world to 3rd world standards, those states who are forgiven the debts, will just use it to enrich our global corporations in the non-finance sector, like the agri-business cartels who have inflated food prices. The IMF can now be free to loan the US money, after they sell their gold, at exorbitant interest rates to take us down to 3rd world status. Then we can make China mad and get them to dump our dollars and complete the collapse.
Globalization should be about bringing up the standard of living in the 3rd world to the developed worlds standards. We are going about it in reverse, justified by the myth of global warming and limited resources.
This form of Globalization = Genocide.
Larouche has been discredited to many people, but he has it right.
http://www.larouchepub.com/eiw/public/2008/2008_10-19/2008-16/pdf/38-39_3516%20.pdf
Prophets are always called nuts and crackpots, and punished if they develop too much of a following, until the prophecy is fulfilled, and by then it’s too late. Not calling him a prophet, just someone who seems to be speaking something closer to the truth than most.
This is a great idea, Dubya will just have the treasury “print the money”, but as posted above, who’s gonna bail us out?
Take the “country club” economy of 250 million spoiled people and dilute it out over 6 billion - what do you have? Add in Peak Oil and the party’s over. Third world here we come! Thank you Bill and Dubya.
I think I had that map in Civics class in 1968!
The map promotes sloppy thinking. Is Dubai third world in the same way as Congo? How is it that second world China is the creditor for the first world? China is an anarchic crazy quilt of communist relics and nouveau billionaire capitalists. The world is too complex and shifting for such simplistic, if colorful, depictions as this map.
I am all for cancelling debt. This type of debt has usually been crafted to demand a social agenda that punishes the poor by demanding spending cuts for things like education and health services.
But who will pick up the tab? Oh wait. It will probably be us - the not so rich, increasingly tired and insecure, hardworking US taxpayers. (The bitter class). I hope there can be some economic justice on this end too, letting the super wealthy feel some of the pain.
But still decency demands that we help countries where so many have nothing. We should not sit by and allow an apocalypse of hunger and despair for the world’s poor. We may be next if we do not stand up to the big financial institutions that control far too much.
Isn’t it about time for us to start worrying about our own debt????? We have a staggering deficit that’s about to crush all of us if it isn’t addressed. It’s a debt that’s going to be left to our children and grandchildren to pay off. I can’t believe the people who are worried about someone else’s debt when we are drowning from the red ink. I blame most of the mess on those American’s who vote Republican because they don’t want their taxes raised. So they let the Republican’s screw up the country with tax cuts for the rich while everyone else suffers. So every so often we wind up in this kind of mess due to them. When you mention putting in a Democrat they go into cardiac arrest that some ‘tax and spend’ Democrat is going to raise their taxes. So they opt for a ’spend and deficit’ Republican who screws the country up wholesale. It doesn’t make a gram of sense. I don’t know who the hell people think is going to pay for the decaying infrastructure, education for the young,Federal Government and etc????? The good tooth fairy???????? But, that’s Republicanism for you. It screws up people’s thinking and ability to reason.
To the others critical of the dumb map, it is a very outdated map from the cold war days - when US thinking about the rest of the world really was that simplistic - it’s still simplistic today too of course.
I wrote a reply to the criticisms posted above substantiating my claim that hunger is quite simple to correct.
But the information laden reply failed to appear after it was submitted. (I now see that it too has met the ‘moderation’ glitch.)
CD, it is time for you to explain your censorship policies.
Consciously preventing actionable and basic understandings and solutions from being shared (while purporting to do otherwise) is tantamount to support of genocide by hunger.
Hunger is not naturally occuring notr naturally supported. And that I have proven, overwhelmingly. This is NOT an issue of ‘carrying capacity’.
STOP BLOCKING THE SIMPLE TRUTH while allowing disinfo discussions (that support feelings of impotence and despair, fear, militarism and justifications for depopulation/genocide) to get published.