Hussain Khan
Hussain Khan, a freelance writer, contributed this article to Media Monitors Network (MMN) from Tokyo, Japan.
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Pakistan should cancel all its debt
- December 2, 2018
THIS ARTICLE WAS ALSO POSTED BY MR. ALI KHAN ON A PAKISTANI ONLINE NEWSPAPER 'SIYASAT'
https://www.siasat.pk/forums/threads/pakistan-should-cancel-all-its-debt.663014/
PAKISTAN SHOULD CANCEL ALL ITS FOREIGN DEBT, AS IT IS ALL ILLEGITIMATE
POLITICAL, LEGAL, ECONOMIC, MORAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND RELIGIOUS JUSTIFICATIONS FROM INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED ECONOMISTS OF THE WORLD FOR CANCELLING ALL FOREIGN DEBT OF PREVIOUS GOVERNMENTS
Ultimately, Toussaint and Millet advocate cancellation of all foreign debt for developing countries and provide arguments from a number of perspectives—political, legal, economic, moral. environmental and religious.
ONE GOOD EXAMPLE THEY HAVE GIVEN IS THAT OF PRESIDENT BUSH. WHEN AMERICAN FORCES HAD COMPLETE CONTROL OVER IRAQ, HE WAS ASKED TO PAY ALL LOANS OF SADDAM HUSSEIN REGIME. HE TOTALLY REJECTED THE IDEA. HE CALLED THESE LOANS AS 'ODIOUS' AND NOT WORTH PAYMENT. HE REFUSED TO PAY A SINGLE PENNY OF SADDAM LOANS. NO ONE CRITICIZED HIM FOR SUCH A CLEAR DEFAULT OF ALL IRAQ LOANS. IS IT NOT A SIMILAR CASE OF IMRAN KHAN INHERITING SIMILAR ILLEGITIMATE 'ODIOUS' LOANS?
WAS IMF BLIND TO THE FACT THAT ZARDARI AND SHARIF GOVERNMENTS WERE LINING THEIR OWN POCKETS INSTEAD OF SPENDING THESE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY. NOW THEY ARE FACING COURT INVESTIGATIONS OVER THE CRIME OF HAVING ASSETS BEYOND MEANS.
IF IMF WAS BLIND TO THESE FACTS, IT DESERVES THE PUNISHMENT OF DEFAULT. THERE IS NO LOGIC IN THE ARGUMENT THAT OUR COUNTRYMEN FOR THE LOANS FROM WHICH THEY NOT BENEFIT TED.
NOT ONLY THESE AUTHORS BUT OTHER RENOWNED ECONOMISTS LIKE THE FORMER CHIEF ECONOMIST AND VICE PRESIDENT OF WORLD BANK, NOBLE LAUREATE, AUTHOR OF SEVERAL BOOKS ON CURRENT ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL ISSUES, JOSEPH STIGLITZ, (who was also chairman of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers) HAVE ALSO ACCUSED IMF FOR DELIBERATELY OFFERING SUCH 'ODIOUS AND ILLEGITIMATE LOANS.
"The issue of the moral responsibility of the creditors was particularly apparent in the case of cold war loans. When the IMF and World Bank lent money to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s notorious ruler Mobutu, they knew (or should have known) that most of the money would not go to help that country’s poor people, but rather would be used to enrich Mobutu. It was money paid to ensure that this corrupt leader would keep his country aligned with the West. To many, it doesn’t seem fair for ordinary taxpayers in countries with corrupt governments to have to repay loans that were made to leaders who did not represent them."
------Stiglitz in his book, Globalization and its Discontents
In the above passage, Stiglitz has revealed the fact that such 'odious' loans are deliberately given to corrupt regimes to keep these countries aligned with the West.
IMF has deliberately given such loans to corrupt Zardari and Nawaz regimes to keep Pakistan aligned with the West. History shows that both these regimes were puppets of the West. These regimes have done their duty faithfully and have even hired lobbying firms in Washinton to let them be counted in good books of all American governments. IMF should go to them and ask for repayment. Why Imran Khan regime should be held responsible to pay what IMF has loaned to the corrupt regimes for its own selfish ends?
Stiglitz further advocates that any country which is heavily laden with DEBT should not be forced to pay it. The reasons may be corrupt governments or anything else. Such debts should be written off. He gives examples of Germany and Greece in the following passage:
Stiglitz warned that Germany, a major beneficiary of debt write-offs following WWII, had not learned the lesson of its own history. Officials are blind to the reality that debt forgiveness is necessary for Greece at a time when nearly everyone, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), recognizes that the country simply can’t pay back what it owes. Instead of remembering the terrible consequences of mass unemployment following WWI, many Germans insist that it was hyperinflation that led to Hitler, and so they tend to support central bank policies that guard against that problem rather than the far more worrisome specter of joblessness.
As Stiglitz describes, the result of all this historical amnesia and economic blindness is a “Dickensian” nightmare that recalls 19 th century debtor’s prisons where people were punished for the inability to pay debts and locked (literally) into a situation in which paying them was, of course, impossible. Only now, the prisoner is an entire country.
----Joseph Stiglitz: “Deep-seatedly wrong” economic thinking is killing Greece By Lynn Parramore
The Institute for New Economic Thinking
Economist and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz discusses public debt and argues that concerns over debt are crowding out the relief and recovery policies that the United States—and other nations facing debt problems—needs. Stiglitz was chairman of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers and served as senior vice president and chief economist at the World Bank.
The success and achievement of Joseph Stiglitz economic policies at the end of 8 Clinton years can be judged from the following passage I had written 15 years ago. This passage is part of an article of mine that was published and discussed by many readers in Asia Times, in several online newspapers and in DAWN on September 22, 2003. DAWN had copied it from Asia times without my or Publisher's permission.
"The federal government enjoyed a projected 10-year budget surplus of $5.6 trillion at the time when President Clinton left office. But the Bush Administration now confronts sizable annual budget deficits within just less than three years. A lot of private economists now forecast a 10-year deficit of around $4 —$6.7 trillion, excluding the social security surplus. As a share of the economy over the next decade, government debt and interest payments are expected to double the share of the economy over the next decade."
9/11: is it the end of US economic supremacy?
http://www.dawahislamia.com/resources/DAWNarticles.pdf
It is also available in a booklet Form on the following Amazon site:
https://www.amazon.co.jp/Succeeds-Damaging-Economy-Severally-English-ebook/dp/B004YTT5M2/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528687706&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=Osamsa+bin+Laden+succeeds+in+damaging+US+economy
I always give example of General Motors bankruptcy and its recovery. Toyota started manufacturing cars several years after General Motors and was a laggard in this industry. But it defeated the 70-year old lead of the General Motors as No. 1 in the world. Toyota became No. 1 in the world in its Sales and General Motors was bankrupted due to its vicious circle of increasing INTEREST PAYMENTS OF ITS TOTAL DEBT every year.
This series of 10 articles in Urdu is available on this website under the heading, SECRET OF TOYOTA SUCCESS BOOKLET OVER 50 YEARS OVER 50 PAGES.
Renowned Pakistani columnist and TV Anchor Oriya Maqbool Jan had also mentioned about this TOYOTA series in one of his column after his return from Japan visit a few years ago. He had taken my all other Urdu articles also published in local online newspapers to edit and publish them in thre form of a book in Pakistan
This example of bankruptcy and recovery of General Motors can be applied to debt-ridden countries as well. Stiglitz has given names of different countries which are all running successfully after their declaration of bankruptcies.
For example, Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says Puerto Rico’s current debt position is “unsustainable” and has an idea how much debt relief is necessary to restore sustainability, in a new study with Columbia University colleague Martin M. Guzman and Pablo A. Gluzmann, a senior researcher at the National University of La Plata in Argentina.
Economists including Stiglitz recommend up to 73% Puerto Rico debt write-down
Below are some other Links of Stiglitz Videos and writings which elaborate his idea of cancelling DEBT to restore economy of the countries laden with the pressure of DEBT
Canceling BOJ-Owned Bonds an Option for Debt, Stiglitz Says
Stiglitz – Don’t expect debt payments from Puerto Rico any time soon (THE WASHINGTON POST)
JOSEPH STIGLITIZ VIDEO ON DEBT CRISIS
Noam Chomsky (2014) "How to Ruin an Economy; Some Simple Ways"
STIGLITZ: "THE U.S. WILL ALWAYS PAY ITS DEBT. BECAUSE IT JUST HAS TO PRINT MONEY
Debt,
the IMF, and the World Bank: Sixty Questions, Sixty
![[Toussaint, Eric, Millet, Damien]のDebt, the IMF, and the World Bank: Sixty Questions, Sixty Answers (English Edition)](https://images-fe.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/512DmVdwv9L.jpg)
Answers (English
Edition) Kindle版
