Thank You Blair, Bush and Wolfowitz....Victory for the Poor!!!

[Dreadsox]

[Q]LONDON — Building on an accord between Britain and the United States, finance ministers of the world's wealthiest nations agreed Saturday to wipe out $40 billion in debt owed by 18 of the world's poorest countries as part of a major assault on global poverty.

The decision by the Group of 8, the world's leading industrial nations and Russia, fulfilled a decades-old dream of anti-poverty activists, who have argued that payments on old loans drain the limited resources of the world's poorest nations, most of which are in Africa, keeping millions of people mired in poverty.[/Q]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationw...2jun12,0,4107212.story?coll=la-home-headlines

 

[BostonAnne]

I think it's great that they did it before the summit and live8.

Great news!

 

[financeguy]

(at the thread title)

 

[Dreadsox]

I think it's great that they did it before the summit and live8.

Great news!

Thank goodness for liberals like you who have a sense of humor and can cross through party rhetoric.

 

[financeguy]

 

[wizard2c]

reply

Great news!

 

[DrTeeth]

Yay!

 

[blueyedpoet]

I really have been trying to grasp how wonderful this is...I only hope that the leaders of the G-8 can hear the many thanks you's...Dreadsox, i'm confused, where's the humor? i guess being a liberal missed something

 

[BostonAnne]

I really have been trying to grasp how wonderful this is...I only hope that the leaders of the G-8 can hear the many thanks you's...Dreadsox, i'm confused, where's the humor? i guess being a liberal missed something

I think Dreadsox is waiting for people to complain about the title of this thread. He used the key liberal complain word - "Bush" and threw in "Wolfowitz" for bonus points.

I don't mind thanking everyone that gets the job done!

 

[Dreadsox]

Well, don't the three of them deserve some credit for coming around?

There have been enough threads in the last two months bashing Wolfowitz, and the President.....

Why are most so reluctant to give them credit when they do something "good"?

 

[verte76]

I don't care who it is, the fact that this was done is extraordinary and I'm really happy.

 

[The Disciple]

Well, don't the three of them deserve some credit for coming around?

There have been enough threads in the last two months bashing Wolfowitz, and the President.....

Why are most so reluctant to give them credit when they do something "good"?

Amen.

 

[nbcrusader]

Well, don't the three of them deserve some credit for coming around?

There have been enough threads in the last two months bashing Wolfowitz, and the President.....

Why are most so reluctant to give them credit when they do something "good"?

It makes it harder to keep up the fight based on stereotypes...

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I don't care who it is, the fact that this was done is extraordinary and I'm really happy.

 

[pax]

Agreed. Democrat or Republican, if this kind of work can be done, I don't care who it is.

 

[blueyedpoet]

oh yeah, i really don't mind saying thanks to bush or anyone else if they do the right thing...praise if they do good things, blame if they do bad things

 

[Rono]

Are there details about the the rules that those poor countries need to aply to , published ?

Such as, open up your internal market for our heavy subsidized products ?

 

[nbcrusader]

What good would that do? They are not consumer driven economies.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

The good would be - open up our heavily subsidised markets for their products.

 

[nbcrusader]

Now, that may be a help.

 

[Se7en]

What good would that do? They are not consumer driven economies.

historically, the IMF and WB force free trade and neoliberal economic policies onto nations they deal with.

 

[U2@NYC]

Wolfowitz still sucks Despite the nice outcome, I see this as a blatant move to gain popularity as the new World Bank president. Just taking advantage of something that should have happened a long time ago to benefit from it. Timing here was not a coincidence.

 

[Teta040]

This is very good news. However, this is the easy part. It's very easy to sign a piece of paper and wipe off debt, esp as that money is not vitally needed at present by you. This costs the donor nations nothing. It isn't a sacrifice. This makes these leaders feel good and pat themselves on the back. Let's get a 302b or four going...APPROPRIATING (not just allocating) the Mellinium Challenge Funds is the next--and more important-- step. Debt, AID, TRADE, Africa. This is what we should be pressuring these (presently) forward-acting leaders to do.

The horse has been led to water..now it has to drink. Step 1, in a small way. Now onto Step 2.