NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/sci/environm/13748

Internet Message Format | 1992-12-22 | 2.7 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!gatech!gatech!wa4mei!ke4zv!gary
From: [e-mail] (Gary Coffman)
Newsgroups: sci.environment
Subject: Re: Development policies
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 21 Dec 92 15:53:51 GMT
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Gary Coffman)
Organization: Gannett Technologies Group
Lines: 40

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Dean Alaska) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Gary Coffman) writes:
>>This type of increasing deficit financing would be seen as a red flag
>>by any rational private investor. This kind of government borrowing and
>>international (government financed) lending is a recipe for disaster as
>>the above quote shows. The World Bank and the IMF have few success stories
>>they can claim for their policies which are founded on collectivist and
>>statist thinking by academic financiers playing with money for whose steward-
>>ship they are not held responsible.
>>
>>The alternative, of course, is for countries to make themselves attractive
>>for private foreign investment and development. This brings new jobs and
>>income to workers, tax revenue to the government, and a climate of prosperity
>>that fosters other investors, domestic and foreign, to start more businesses
>>catering to the new found flows of wealth.
>
>What Gary fails to recognize is that his recommendations are exactly what
>the World Bank was trying to do.  That they continued to enforce this
>policy after it had failed, leading to the deficit spending that he
>criticizes is probably the result of an unwillingness to admit that
>they were wrong.  Also, although describing the World Bank strategy
>as statis may be true but I fail to see how it was collectivist.

The World Bank may have been trying to do what I suggested, but they were
doing a singularly poor job of it. They essentially funnel money from
governments to governments and we've seen countless examples of how
corrupt and inefficient this type of action is. Specifically what I
was suggesting is that countries should establish a legal and political
climate that is favorable to private investment. That doesn't take
massive "loans" from foreign governments. It only takes courage and
integrity by local officials. Of course those are always in short
supply.

The World Bank is fundamentally statist in that it only deals with
states. And it is collectivist in the sense of Karl Marx's taking
from those who can produce and giving to those who cannot, or will
not. Though Robin Hood was more honest than Marx in stating his
intentions.

Gary