Wednesday, March 13, 2002
Posted this today on the Libertarian Alliance Forum:
I've just heard Madsen Pirie on the 'Today' programme, talking about African
economic development. He mentioned the African countries' desire for debt to
be 'forgiven' and implied that he agreed with that. He's right, of course.
Western governments were guilty of colluding with the Third World's
kleptocrats and genocides in pouring money down the drain of 'development'
funding. It's right that there should be a once-for-all debt cancellation to
disentangle the mess, and the guilty parties should suffer: the guilty
parties including the lenders and the Western governments. Which means
Western taxpayers will suffer, of course. Well, who else? They're the ones
who supported and financed the global-socialist policies that created the
mess. It's all very unjust, of course, but a lot less unjust than throwing
the whole burden onto the hapless Third World peasant.
Of course, the future dispensation must include no government underwriting
of lending or investing in any foreign countries, rich or poor. Let the
money-providers take their own risks. On these terms, there can be no future
claims for debt cancellations.
