News analyst Pepe Escobar interviews Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, about this weekend's summit.
When asked what is the bargaining power of developing countries sitting at the G20 this weekend, Weisbrot advises "they have plenty." All the countries with reserves could go around the IMF and the G7 countries and create their own stabilization fund. He doesn't think they will do that. Another bit of bargaining power they have is by refusing to coordinate their policies with IMF's expansionary policies only as applied to the G7.
The part that's bad is that "the IMF has had this double standard for decades. They promote the counter-cyclical Â- that is, expansionary - policies in a recession for the rich countries... but then they promote the opposite for the developing countries. That's the real problem.
"I have to emphasize this because the biggest change that we've had in the international financial system, really, since the collapse of Bretton Woods thirty-five years ago, has been the collapse of the IMF's creditor's cartel - their power to impose conditions on developing countries has really fallen apart in the last decade.Â
"And now, they're trying to get it all back. They're trying to take advantage of the crisis. When I say 'they,' it's really not even worth criticizing the IMF because, it's Â- they really answer to the U.S. Treasury Department. That's who's trying to reestablish this relationship that they had for all these years that imposed, basically, in many countries, neoliberal economic policies."
In 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists. Initially focused on elections, she investigated the 2004 Ohio election, organizing, training and leading several forays into counties to photograph the 2004 ballots. She officially served at three recounts, including the 2004 recount. She also organized and led the team that audited Franklin County Ohio's 2006 election, proving the number of voter signatures did not match official results. Her work appears in three books.
Her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a researcher or investigator for private lawyers, and five years as an editor.
She graduated from The Ohio State University's School of Agriculture in December 2003 with a B.S. in Natural Resources.
All material offered here is the property of Rady Ananda, copyright 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009. Permission is granted to repost, with proper attribution including the original link.
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