Thomas:
This is a pretty complete about face from the neo-con - monetarist
philosophy that has been dominating us from the 70's on. Has the world bank
got religion or has some re-read Kenysian Economic Theory?
>Subject: World Bank: 200 million newly poor on the planet (fwd)
>Date: Thu, Jun 3, 1999, 9:38 PM
>
> From: Robert Weissman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: Multiple recipients of list STOP-IMF <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: World Bank: 200 million newly poor on the planet
>
> Thursday June 3 1999
>
> World Bank
> estimates 200 million
> 'newly poor'
>
> ASSOCIATED PRESS
> Updated at 6.10pm:
> In its first detailed look at the impact of the
> Asian financial crisis on global poverty, the
> World Bank estimates the world has 200
> million ''newly poor'' and recommends urgent
> changes in financial rescue programmes to
> protect people, not just economies.
>
> ''Countries that until recently believed they
> were turning the tide in the fight against
> poverty are witnessing its reemergence,'' said
> bank President James D. Wolfensohn. ''We
> must now draw on the lessons of recent
> experience to help us reshape our strategies
> for the future.''
>
> Programmes to avoid and deal with financial
> crises in all countries must now boost social
> protections, often called ''safety nets,'' the
> bank said. They include unemployment
> insurance, subsidised school fees, job
> creation, food subsides and other programs
> directly affecting the poor.
Thomas:
Imagine, "safety nets" shades of socialism. The next thing will be the
magic word "planned economies" and Marx will come back into fashion.
>
> The bank is responding to data showing
> poverty rising again in India, continuing to go
> up in Africa and sharply worsening across
> eastern Europe and central Asia. Indonesia,
> hit early in the crisis, is among the worst off,
> with 30 million more people earning less than
> HK$8 a day than it had before the financial
> collapse.
>
> Worldwide, the number of people below that
> income, considered the benchmark for abject
> poverty, is estimated at 1.5 billion - up 200
> million from 1993. Final figures for 1999 will
> not be available for several years, but the
> estimate is based on trends since 1.2 billion
> poor were counted in 1987.
Thomas:
Gee, 6 billion people in the world and 25% of them earning less the 8$ Hong
Kong per day if the HK is Hong Kong dollars.
>
> Despite the gloomy outlook, the report said
> there has been widespread progress in health
> and education. And an exception to the
> increase is China, where the number of poor
> is believed to have declined from 280 million
> in 1990 to 125 million in 1997.
>
> The bank, in a report last week based on a
> survey of Asian companies, concluded that
> Asian economies are recovering more quickly
> than expected from the Asian crisis. The new
> report points to the lasting impact of the crisis
> on some of the world's poorest, diminishing
> hope of cutting worldwide poverty in half by
> 2020 - a goal many experts had thought could
> be achieved.
Thomas:
Now wasn't that wonderful, they planned to halve 1.5 billion people making
$8 dollars a day to only 750 million and now they have decided that even
that modest goal cannot be reached in 20 years!!
>
> ''The East Asia crisis and its spillover into
> other emerging markets offers the world an
> opportunity to devise a new approach to
> crisis, one that rightly puts concern for the
> poor and the vulnerable right at the centre of
> its response,'' said World Bank economist
> Giovanna Prennushi, who wrote the report.
>
> ''By helping countries establish stronger social
> protections, the international community may
> be able to prevent the sudden
> impoverishment of millions of people when
> crisis strikes.''
>
> The bank has distributed to world
> policymakers a working paper that lays out
> plans for safeguarding the needy before and
> during financial crises. The paper gauges the
> impact of recent developments on the poor in
> East Asia, Latin America and Africa.
>
> Wage cuts, job reductions, lower rates of
> return on savings, reduced government
> benefits and drops in services such as health
> care and safety can all affect people directly
> and immediately, the paper says,
> recommending guidelines for programs that
> head off such problems.
>
> A ''pro-poor response'' to all crises could add
> up to 5 per cent to governments costs, but
> could be cheaper, in the long run, than hastily
> prepared relief operations that have no lasting
> impact, it says.
Thomas:
Is that actually logic I read? Is it better to pay know to prevent later -
what a mind blowing concept. We have been running on the gas of ideas that
imply do not pay now, it probably will not happen later - the ostrich form
of policy making and even if it does, we'll deal with it then. This
brilliance is currently bringing us overpopulation, resource depletion,
species extinction and global warming and off course 25% of the worlds
population trying to live and raise a family on $8 per day. Sure wish I had
went to Harvard so I could understand these things.
Respectfully,
Thomas Lunde
>
