GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - View Single Post - USA: Sobering statistics for all of you who only want to pay your fair share

jayeff · 03-28-2004, 10:28 PM

"Lies, damned lies. And statistics". It is also a fact that the the USA's foreign aid, although the largest of any country in dollar terms, as a percentage of GNP is the lowest of any industrialized nation (http://www.oecd.org/home/).

Indeed, although on the face of it, the connection between aid and UN votes may not appear to be working too well and bombs grab more headlines, foreign aid is the new imperialism. It is often a mechanism that has turned much of the third world into suppliers of cheap labor and markets for products that formerly they either went without or attempted to manufacture themselves. In other cases, the US has bought support for issues it would otherwise not have support for. It may occasionally lose votes in the UN, but it rarely faces meaningful opposition to its wishes.

More significant than the role of the UN are those of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank. Both these bodies are designed to favor developed nations and in particular the US (which has the right of veto as it does in the UN).

The debt crisis triggered in many countries as a result of receiving "aid" has forced most developing nations to hand over control of at least part of their economies to the IMF and World Bank. In such a crisis the IMF and World Bank step in and offer to re-structure loans: on certain conditions of course. Typically these involve removing barriers to imports and removing whatever protection of workers 'rights' and pay might exist.

In consequence, wages in most African countries have fallen by 50-60% since the early 1980s. In Mexico, Costa Rica and Bolivia average wages have fallen by a third since 1980.

Through the IMF/World Bank and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) it even gets to set the rules of global trade with its junior partners among the G7 nations (the seven most powerful economies). Recently, that has included attempts to force the acceptance of genetically modified foods on reluctant European states.

States which have defied this new world order, like Korea and Cuba, have been easily isolated militarily and economically. Or bombed back into the Stone Age, as with Afghanistan and Iraq.

With such economic control, the US hardly needs military control, although it has that too. For those who have forgotten the death toll read out during "Bowling for Columbine", since 1948 direct action by the US and financial/"technical" support for some extremely unpleasant regimes, have accounted for more than 10 million deaths around the world.

All these policies may work as intended, but they are hardly designed to make friends or create supporters.

03-28-2004, 10:28 PM
jayeff Confirmed User Join Date: May 2001 Posts: 2,944	"Lies, damned lies. And statistics". It is also a fact that the the USA's foreign aid, although the largest of any country in dollar terms, as a percentage of GNP is the lowest of any industrialized nation (http://www.oecd.org/home/). Indeed, although on the face of it, the connection between aid and UN votes may not appear to be working too well and bombs grab more headlines, foreign aid is the new imperialism. It is often a mechanism that has turned much of the third world into suppliers of cheap labor and markets for products that formerly they either went without or attempted to manufacture themselves. In other cases, the US has bought support for issues it would otherwise not have support for. It may occasionally lose votes in the UN, but it rarely faces meaningful opposition to its wishes. More significant than the role of the UN are those of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank. Both these bodies are designed to favor developed nations and in particular the US (which has the right of veto as it does in the UN). The debt crisis triggered in many countries as a result of receiving "aid" has forced most developing nations to hand over control of at least part of their economies to the IMF and World Bank. In such a crisis the IMF and World Bank step in and offer to re-structure loans: on certain conditions of course. Typically these involve removing barriers to imports and removing whatever protection of workers 'rights' and pay might exist. In consequence, wages in most African countries have fallen by 50-60% since the early 1980s. In Mexico, Costa Rica and Bolivia average wages have fallen by a third since 1980. Through the IMF/World Bank and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) it even gets to set the rules of global trade with its junior partners among the G7 nations (the seven most powerful economies). Recently, that has included attempts to force the acceptance of genetically modified foods on reluctant European states. States which have defied this new world order, like Korea and Cuba, have been easily isolated militarily and economically. Or bombed back into the Stone Age, as with Afghanistan and Iraq. With such economic control, the US hardly needs military control, although it has that too. For those who have forgotten the death toll read out during "Bowling for Columbine", since 1948 direct action by the US and financial/"technical" support for some extremely unpleasant regimes, have accounted for more than 10 million deaths around the world. All these policies may work as intended, but they are hardly designed to make friends or create supporters.