|
|
Vertaal:
              Geen „Bailout“ voor de Slechtste Wereld
Woensdag, 1 Oktober, 2008 Door Thalif Deen | Aangezien een uitspreidende financiële crisis dreigt om de economische recessie in de Verenigde Staten te verdiepen, het nieuws van een ongekend 700 miljard-dollar bailout pakket dat door de gangen van de Verenigde Naties vorige week wordt weerkaatst zoals meer dan 100 wereldleiders die in New York voor jaarlijks worden verzameld bespreking-fest-spreken: de 63ste zitting van de Algemene Vergadering. Op een tijdstip waarop de Verenigde Naties verhoogde financiële hulp van rijke naties inroepen om ontwikkelingslanden te helpen de het wankelen Doelstellingen van de Ontwikkeling van het Millennium (MDGs), met inbegrip van een 50 percentenvermindering op extreme armoede en honger tegen 2015 ontmoeten, de huidige V.S. de economische crisis en zijn voorspelbaar negatieve radioactieve neerslag zouden overzee een belangrijke tegenslag moeten zijn. Richtend afgevaardigden vorige week, de V.N. Secretaris-generaal Ban Ki-moon waarschuwde ervoor dat de huidige sombere vooruitzichten het welzijn van miljarden mensen bedreigen, „niets dan meer zo slechtst van de armen.“ „Dit slechts samenstellingen de schade die [reeds] door veel hogere prijzen voor voedsel en brandstof“ wordt veroorzaakt, voegde hij toe. Het verbod heeft 72 miljard dollars per jaar in extra externe financiering verzocht om MDGs tegen 2015 te bereiken. Aangezien één Aziatische afgevaardigde het zette: „72 miljard is pinda's in vergelijking met het 700 miljard Witte Huis wil uit aan schotel enkele firma's van Wall Street van gaande buik omhoog redden.“ „En de dringende behoeften van ontwikkelende naties zullen nu de minst van de prioriteiten van de Verenigde Staten zijn en andere Westelijke donors,“ hij voorspelde. De vader Miguel D' Escoto Brockman van Nicaragua, de onlangs-verkozen voorzitter van de Algemene Vergadering, waarschuwde ervoor dat de huidige financiële crisis „zeer ernstige gevolgen“ die de significante vooruitgang zullen belemmeren, „zal hebben als inderdaad om het even welke vooruitgang“ wordt geboekt, naar de doelstellingen die door MDGs worden gevestigd, „die zelf“ ontoereikend zijn. „Het is altijd de armen die de prijs voor de ongebreidelde hebzucht betalen en de onverantwoordelijkheid van krachtig,“ hij zei, nemend een voorbijgaand schot bij wankelende 700 miljard-dollar bailout die door het beleid van President George W. wordt voorgesteld Bush om de hoog-stakenInvesteringsbanken van New York van faillissement en instorting te bewaren. De Noorse Eerste Minister Jens Stoltenberg vertelde afgevaardigden dat het „geld geen probleem schijnt te zijn, wanneer het probleem geld“ is. „Zoek een ogenblik bij wat op Wall Street en in financiële markten rond de wereld gebeurt. Daar, bedreigt de ondeugdelijke investering de huizen en banen van de middenklasse,“ hij voegde toe. There is something fundamentally wrong, he argued, “when money seems to be abundant, but funds for investment in people seem so short in supply”. Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding told the General Assembly that the crisis currently rocking the world’s financial markets reflects the inadequacy of the regulatory structures that are essential to the effective functioning of any market. But it is more than that. It represents the failure on the part of the international financial system to facilitate the flow of resources into areas where they can produce real wealth — not paper wealth, he added. Golding said the world is not short of capital: “What it lacks are the mechanisms to ensure the efficient utilisation of that capital.” As the economic meltdown in the United States continues, the casualties are piling up both among commercial and investment banks: Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual (allowed to collapse with no government bailout); American International Group, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley (allowed to survive with emergency financial assistance, including some from the government); Merrill Lynch has been folded into Bank of America and Citigroup has taken over Wachovia Bank. The outrage against Wall Street, described as the world’s financial capital, is also directed at the high salaried chief executive officers and the middle rung bosses who make multi-million-dollar salaries, with stock options and perks that set them up in a privileged class by themselves. According to one report, the lowest salary on Wall Street was around 280,000 dollars a year in a country where the average low or middle class employee would go home with a pay packet of 50,000 or 75,000 dollars per year. In 2007, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, was paid 68.7 million dollars — described as “the most ever for a Wall Street CEO.” As the entire U.S. economic edifice is in danger of collapsing, the White House has been called upon to save some of the biggest financial institutions in the country and, at the same time, redress the excesses of Wall Street business tycoons who earned multi-million-dollar salaries and extravagant bonuses. The greed factor in the crisis is that these same tycoons, who are responsible for mismanaging their companies, still insist on continuing with their same lavish lifestyles and lofty salaries even after the massive taxpayer-funded bailout. But these salaries and bonuses are likely to be curbed as part a return for the bailout package. Addressing the 192-member General Assembly last week, the President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the economy of any country is “too serious an undertaking to be left in the hands of speculators”. Ethics must also apply to the economy, he said. But, unfortunately, in the race for profits, the ethical factor has ceased to exist. The president quoted the Brazilian economist Celso Furtado who once said: “We must not allow speculators’ profits always to be privatised, while their losses are invariably socialised.” And as a postscript, the Brazilian president added: “We must not allow the burden of the boundless greed of a few to be shouldered by all.” In the 1987 Hollywood movie ‘Wall Street,’ Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas plays the role of a ruthless corporate raider, Gordon Gekko, who forsakes all business ethics to climb to the highest echelons of the business world. His speech to a meeting of stock traders is still considered a classic on Wall Street: “The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works.” “Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind.” Douglas, who is the U.N.’s goodwill ambassador for disarmament and a “messenger for peace”, was at the United Nations last week to participate in the International Day of Peace. Responding to a reporter who asked him: “Are you saying, Gordon, that greed is not good?,” a visibly annoyed Douglas shot back: “”I am not saying that. And my name is not Gordon. He’s a character I played 20 years ago.” Have Your Say: No “Bailout” for the World’s Poorest Please read our posting guidelines before posting. Alternatively you can discuss this report here. Related News
|
Revealed: Oil-Funded Research in Palin's Campaign Against Protection For Polar Bear Last post by Nostalgia @ 09:20 PM Go to Forum
| Latest Topics
Green-Left Weekly. Last post by Thinking Man's Idiot @ 09:18 PM US Lawmakers Want Probe of Exports to Iran Last post by THEIMER @ 05:34 PM McCain Urges Bush To Spend $1 Trillion On Bailout - Without Congressional Approval Last post by Nostalgia @ 05:17 PM Campaigners to disrupt illegal work on WMD Last post by Nostalgia @ 05:06 PM Bush Had No Plan to Catch Bin Laden after 9/11 Last post by Gareth Porter @ 04:22 PM Getting In The Mood For It! Last post by Thinking Man's Idiot @ 03:50 PM lesson of bailout from little Ireland Last post by Unregistered @ 03:30 PM A Tory dystopia Last post by Unregistered @ 03:18 PM Workers Rebuild Britain. Last post by Thinking Man's Idiot @ 03:12 PM  Email This Page To A Friend Latest Headlines
More Breaking News  Archive |
The views expressed in the RINF news wire and newsletter are the sole responsibility of the author (s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the webmaster. RINF.COM: Breaking News & Alternative Media is Copyleft - Copy & Distribute Freely. News Forum |
Loading ...
