[PEN-L:32836] Canada & IMF

[Hari Kumar <hari.kumar@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From the ML_ist Daily:
"IMF Praise for Canada
 The International Monetary Fund (IMF)is a financial spokesperson and
organiser for the international  financial oligarchy. IMF credit is
routinely used to protect the investments of U.S., Canadian and other
monopolies in those countries that have been bled white by imperialist
exploitation. The IMF credits  are used as a kind of insurance fund that
allows the monopolies to cut their losses when a country  suffers
serious collapse. IMF credit eventually flows back to those monopolies
that may be badly  exposed in troubled economies. IMF credit is also
used as political leverage to attack those social and  political forces
in the oppressed country that want to take measures to regain control of
their national  economy and restrict the operations of the foreign
monopolies.
 Like most bureaucracies under imperialism, the IMF has become an
international institution with its
 own life and interests. The IMF routinely issues economic guidelines
for most countries sometimes
 accompanied with threats to withhold promised funds if the advice is
not followed. Those instructions  are then repeated in the international
mass media with much head bobbing and analysis by leading  academics.
The process creates an aura of authenticity and seriousness that IMF
proposals would  otherwise never receive.
 In a country like Canada, the IMF instructions are mainly propaganda, a
part of the continued effort to  give authority to government economic
policies dictated by the financial oligarchy that have no
 scientific or humane credibility. The recent IMF missive aimed at
Canada heaped lavish praise on the  Liberal government for continuing to
pursue its anti-social offensive. The really only concrete IMF proposal
was for what it calls "health care reform and Kyoto." It is interesting
that the IMF guidelines  were issued only two days before the release of
the Romanow Report on Health Care Reform. The  IMF suggested "the
federal government fund new initiatives such as health care reform and
Kyoto  from existing programs or risk undoing the great strides it has
made in improving Canada's economic  foundation."
 What are the "existing programs" that must be cut to divert funds to
health care reform and Kyoto?
 The only specific program mentioned for further cuts was the employment
insurance program. "Labour  market flexibility could be further enhanced
by scaling back regional-extended benefits. Moreover, EI programs
directed at broader social objectives could be funded instead through
other, more efficient,  sources of revenue, which would provide greater
scope for further lowering EI premiums," the IMF  said.
 What are we seeing here? The IMF seems to be suggesting that public
money taken from EI and other  unspecified "existing programs" should be
diverted to health care reform and Kyoto. A national  insurance plan to
partially fund the purchase of drugs has been bandied about. Is money
going to be  taken from the employment insurance fund and given to the
U.S. and European pharmaceutical  monopolies? The Canadian working class
and people must be vigilant. Unemployed Canadians should  not be made to
pay for health care reform. That is not investing in health; it is
robbing poor Peter to  pay rich Paul. Health care reform must restrict
the right of the monopolies to profit from illness and  injury. Where
the money comes from to invest in social programs is intimately related
to the demand to  Stop Paying the Rich! Billions upon billions of
dollars in Canada which are expropriated by the  government on behalf of
the class it represents are distributed through institutions and schemes
they set  up behind the backs of the electors in a form of civilized
corruption which includes the legal patronage  system. But these
billions are not considered "available funds" when it comes to meeting
the claims of  Canadians or society. Now that Canadians are embarking on
a national campaign in defence of a  fully-funded national health care
system, it is crucial that all myths about the non-availability of funds
be  laid to rest."