Spend money on aid, not wars - World Bank head

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N26657086.htm

WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - There is a "ludicrous" gap between the billions of dollars spent globally on defense and military activities and the sum spent on trying to reduce world poverty, World Bank President James Wolfensohn said on Sunday.

Around $900 billion a year is thrown into defense spending compared to only $60 billion for foreign aid, he estimates.

"That seems to me to be the most nonsensical thing you can imagine," Wolfensohn said at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings.

Pouring money into the root causes of poverty might help prevent conflicts, the World Bank suggests.

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[Judi Lynn]

1. Good for him. Unfortunately, only Democrats will probably ever listen.

"We need to focus on the causes of conflicts and the causes of instability and one of the principal causes of all this is education and opportunity," Wolfensohn said.

I wonder if the Republicans could find a way to get VOUCHERS and fundamentalist Christian public schools for the world's hoped for, future school children!

[Mika]

7. Do the Democrats listen to him regarding Cuba?

Nope.

Gittin tough on Cuba is good for bipartisan business (of the sordid kind). Dem and repug.


World Bank President James Wolfensohn extolled the government of Cuba for doing “a great job” in providing for the social welfare of the Cuban people.
http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/learn.htm

His remarks followed Sunday’s publication of the Bank’s 2001 edition of ‘World Development Indicators’ (WDI), which showed Cuba as topping virtually all other poor countries in health and education statistics.

It also showed that Havana has actually improved its performance in both areas despite the continuation of the US trade embargo against it, and the end of Soviet aid and subsidies for the Caribbean island more than ten years ago.

“Cuba has done a great job on education and health,” Wolfensohn told reporters at the conclusion of the annual spring meetings of the Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “They have done a good job, and it does not embarrass me to admit it.”

His remarks reflect a growing appreciation in the Bank for Cuba’s social record, despite recognition that Havana’s economic policies are virtually the antithesis of the “Washington Consensus”, the neo-liberal orthodoxy that has dominated the Bank’s policy advice and its controversial structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) for most of the last 20 years.

Some senior Bank officers, however, go so far as to suggest that other developing countries should take a very close look at Cuba’s performance.

“It is in some sense almost an anti-model,” according to Eric Swanson, the programme manager for the Bank’s Development Data Group, which compiled the WDI, a tome of almost 400 pages covering scores of economic, social, and environmental indicators.

[peacetalksforall]

2. Could this be for real...I have only the darkest opinions of the WMF

because they always seem to be aiding exploiters if not designing plans of exploitation. Is this just public relations or is this for real.

[54anickel]

6. I hold the same suspicions of the IMF and World Bank. I think the IMF

is trying to change for the better. It has always been headed by someone from Europe. The person nominated this time is from Spain I believe and actually has more of an economics background instead of political this time.
The World Bank has always been headed by the US, no changes there yet as far as I know. I posted an interesting look at these entities in the SMW this past week. I'll see if I can dig it up.

On edit - here it is:
http://www.anti-imperialism.net/lai/texte.php?language_id=3§ion=CMBC&object_id=22573

[JoFerret]

3. Just think of the goodwill

87 billion could buy in the world.

[walmartsucks]

4. Screw that

Just think of the healthcare and education $87 billion could buy Americans right here in the good old U.S. of A.!

[whatelseisnew]

5. No screw that, there is more than enough to go around.

If you buy into the idea that we are living in a world of scarcity you

are being duped.

[walmartsucks]

9. That may be the case

But it is not the job of the U.S. to support impoverished nations around the world. I'd prefer we feed our own hungry, house our own homeless, and educate our own children before we ship U.S. tax dollars around the globe.

[Mika]

8. $87 billion? Try $400+ billion spent by the US per year alone

We could buy the whole world a Coke™ - and much much more.