[PEN-L:7616] Re: World Bank Marshall Plan?

["Henry C.K. Liu" <hliu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It is the equivalent of: "Here a dollar, go buy yourself a luxury yacht."
The Third World needs a level playing field in globalization more than a token
"Marshal Plan", the outcome of which is a predictable conclusion that even with
"generous" aid, the Third World is hopeless.
It reminds me of a story of a man pulling into a gas station in a Cadillac and
asked to be filled up while leaving his engine running.  After five minutes,
the attendants apologetically asked the driver to please turn off the engine:
"you are gaining on me".
Turning off the draining exploitative regime is more important than token aid.

Henry C.K. Liu

Michael Hoover wrote:

> dig world bank web page header...
>
> as for below proposal, surely its architects won't impose kinds of strings
> attached to original Marshall Plan - demand for balanced budgets, stable
> currency, high profit margins, low wages, inegalitarian tax structures in
> order to assist capitalist class that benefits from exploitative policies.
> ..and they certainly won't try to stimulate economic recovery at expense of
> working people in conjunction with forms of repression intended to reduce
> the power of working class organizations...   Michael Hoover
>
> >    THE WORLD BANK GROUP A World Free of Poverty
> >                                                     [INLINE] May 30, 1999
> >    This summary is prepared by the External Affairs Department of the
> >    World Bank. All material
> >    is taken directly from published and copyright wire service stories
> >    and newspaper articles.
> >    Subscribe | Unsubscribe | Archive | Feedback | Search | News Home
> >    x
> >    EUROPE READIES MARSHALL PLAN FOR BALKANS
> >    Western countries yesterday began discussions on the embryo of a
> >    "Marshall Plan" to rebuild southeastern Europe after the Kosovo
> >    conflict, Reuters reports. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer
> >    urged officials from some 30 countries and international organizations
> >    to work on "the ambitious project" of anchoring the Balkans in
> >    democracy and economic prosperity after the NATO bombing stops.
> >    Besides the EU, those represented at the meeting were NATO, the OSCE,
> >    the OECD, the EBRD, the Western European Union, the EIB, the World
> >    Bank, the IMF, Japan and Canada. Officials said the meeting was only a
> >    first step and that they were far from drawing up the details of a
> >    reconstruction plan along the lines of the US Marshall Plan for
> >    rebuilding Europe after 1945.
> >    Fischer said he hoped the one-day meeting would prepare the ground in
> >    time for ministers to meet to begin work on a so-called Stability Pact
> >    before the end of Germany's six-month presidency of the EU on June 30.
> >    He also wanted to call a donor conference for the Balkans.
> >    "We have to end this absurdity where it is easier to collect money for
> >    war than peace," Fischer added.
> >    Meanwhile, diplomats are quietly complaining that the international
> >    community, because it is preoccupied with the Kosovo crisis, is paying
> >    too little attention to conflicts in Angola, Ethiopia and elsewhere.
> >    UN humanitarian coordinator for Angola Francesco Strippoli said $110
> >    million in food and other assistance was desperately needed just to
> >    sustain the 1.6 million internally displaced Angolans.
> >    So far, says the Economist (p.45), the donors-rich countries'
> >    governments that are tired of pouring money into Angola-have come up
> >    with only $25 million. Even in the unlikely event of the donors
> >    responding [more] quickly, the situation will remain perilous, says
> >    the story.