Austerity may be painful in the short-run, but it is necessary to resolve this economic crisis. Except when the crisis happens in the US or EU, the government will bailout the economy.
No, Greece, Portugal and Spain don’t count as a real EU member when it matters. Bailouts are for core members only!!
There was also an argument used that the IMF had to impose measures, because the peoples of those countries can’t govern themselves. So they must be ruled by a competent non-corrupt foreign entity.
The dialectic of race and capitalism. It’s no coincidence that the people judged incompetent are paid the least and suffer the worst racism.
IMF funding comes with chains attached
Offer not valid in the continental United States. Conditions and exclusions may apply.
The IMF is one of the most evil institutions on the planet. Invisible colonialism. It would be near impossible to calculate the lives it has destroyed.
“Strings attached” is a bit of an understatement when it comes to IMF funding.
“but but muh Chinese debt trap diplomacy!”
The developing/underdeveloped countries have been made reliant on foreign investment trought colonialism and coups, making them have no choice but to agree to loan terms. These terms ironically strip away the same ways to develop that modern rich countries used to develop themselves, like high tariffs and infant industry protection.
By market logic the poorer countries then have to compete for investment by cutting wages and social programs. The rich countries can instead subsidise food production, enjoy safety nets and bail out their companies in economic downterms. This doesn’t even touch the unequal exchange between the poor and the rich.
Stepping out of line is not an option. The IMF, World bank and WTO have made that clear
The IMF, World bank and WTO
Liberals who supported these institutions all through the 90s and 2000s: “Yeah, well, we couldn’t have known any of that bad stuff would happen, it’s not like somebody wrote a book on it or anything.”
