debt relief for poor countries?
yoran asked:
are there opposing sides to this?
should poor countries have to pay back their debts?
why or why not?
Marjorie
are there opposing sides to this?
should poor countries have to pay back their debts?
why or why not?
Marjorie
Tags: Debt Relief, Debts, Poor Countries
January 12th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Yes they should, otherwise we’ll be one of them!
January 12th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Much of the money loaned to poor countries was misused or stolen by the governments so produced no returns to pay back the loans. This means as a practical matter you can’t collect on much of the loans, so it is a matter of judgment how much of the debt to forgive and what reforms are required before forgiveness takes place.
January 15th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
What is debt relief? I have yet to experience this phenomenon because I live in a country with an image of abundant wealth yet I’ve known poverty for most of that life. The glare from all those spot lights exposing the shadows of humanity have kept me at a distance and from receiving this grace I am now told is in abundance for other poor nations, yet there is none for the hands that are serving an abundance. When did you feed me? I was and am hungry for such a phenomenon ,to say it is so.
January 17th, 2009 at 6:04 am
Poor countries continue to be a drain. If the corrupt politicians would actually use the money that was loaned to them for infrastructure improvements and food growing then they would pay their loans bak in a responsible manner. However, the money goes into the pockets of the elite in those countries and not to the people. So yes they should pay the loans back but the banks should oversea the money once it is in the country to make sure it is being utilized for all. The world bank is not a charity.
January 18th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
It’s really not the right question to ask… Debts you’re talking about are NOT owed by countries, they are owed by their GOVERNMENTS. It is those governments that chose to borrow, rather than tax their wealthy friends and relatives who financed their campaigns (if not coup d’etats), and spend the proceeds on maintaining the armed forces and police, rather than on education, healthcare, and infrastructure.
When a country is run for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many, debt relief really doesn’t do anything; an oppressive government will remain oppressive, regardless of how much money it owes…
January 18th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
Debt relief never works. It hasn’t worked in the past, and it will certainly not change just because Bono has jumped on the bandwagon. Foreign debt owed by developing countries has actually demostrated as an incentive for them to maintain some civility and stability.
Lets look at little closer at Debt relief.
1. Who paid this debt? Tax payers in rich countries.
2. What is the highest portion of tax-payers that contributed to this? The Poor.
3. Who gets this debt? The Rich in these poor countries. Since the governments consistently run into fiscal issues, due in very large part to the cronyist/familial parceling out of access of the economy’s commanding heights, proper wealth distribution never occurs. The remedy is when the World Bank or IMF steps in and gives loans only as the country progresses down a path to correctly implement true markets, and not corrupt frauds. However, everything being said, this debt is given to the government to assist its businesses (who are in their position of wealth because of their association to the government).
So what is debt relief really? Its the poor people in Rich countries giving their money away to the Rick people in poor countries. If this was so damn important, lets not use taxpayer dollars to issue the debt to begin with. Lets just have the rich 1% issue checks to these governments. Naturally, they would not get a tax break in this issuance, nor would they get one if the country defaults.
Then lets see who gets excited about this. There is a natural business implication here, if you can see through the B.S.
If there are businesses within the Developed World that wants access to industries and markets in the developing world, who do they go through? The developing world leaders. What do they want in exchange? Money, often in the form of debt relief!!
So, why is it bad? Cause its not designed to succeed. Because economically speaking, its horrible economics. Even a freshman year economist major knows that Wealth Transfer never equates to Wealth Generation (evidence is the high bankruptcy rate of lottery winners).