Fighting corruption is a proven means to reduce inequality. But the issue has often been co-opted by elites looking to do just the opposite.
What the World Cup Can Teach Progressives About Corruption
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International Monetary Fund
NAFTA at 20: State of the North American Worker
Twenty years since its passage, NAFTA has displaced workers on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, depressed wages, weakened unions, and set the terms of the neoliberal global economy.
Portugal Struggles to Meet Troika Conditions
The European Central Bank, the European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund find themselves at odds with another Eurozone country.
Structural Adjustment: Former President Ben Ali’s Gift to Tunisia (Part One)
The rip-off continues.
Four More Years: Europe’s Meltdown
Back in the 1960s, the U.S. peace movement came up with a catchy phrase: “What if the schools got all the money they needed and the Navy had to hold a bake sale to buy an aircraft carrier?” Well, the Italian Navy has a line of clothing, and is taking a cut from a soft drink called “Forza Blu” in order to make up for budget cuts. It plans to market energy snacks and mineral water. Things are a little rocky in Europe these days.
Lagarde’s Victory: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back?
Today many in the developing world continue to be frustrated with the IMF’s structure since it doesn’t reflect the shifting power balance in the global economy.
Like Strauss-Kahn, Christine Lagarde Dragging Baggage Into Likely IMF Directorship
Like Dominique Strauss-Kahn, leading candidate for the IMF directorship Christine Lagarde has skeletons in her closet.
Don’t Just Indict “DSK,” Charge the IMF Too
Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s alleged sex attack on an African immigrant is a harrowing metaphor for how the International Monetary Fund treats the rest of the world.
Starving Africa’s Future?
In what may be President Obama’s most significant foray into changing U.S.-Africa policy since his election in 2008, the United States is embarking on a new initiative to boost agricultural production in the global south. Feed the Future (FTF) came out of the G8 summit in L’Aquila in 2009 where developed country leaders committed to acting to “achieve sustainable global food security.” Obama pledged $3.5 billion over three years toward this goal, in hopes that other rich nations would also make significant investments in agricultural development.
Statement from Emira Woods on Haiti’s Debt
While we applaud the International Monetary Fund’s cancellation of Haiti’s debt, we are alarmed that in the six months since Haiti’s devastating earthquake, the IMF has saddled the country with millions of new loans. Haitians must direct scarce resources to rebuilding — now and into the future, not to debt service payments to international bankers. What’s worse, according to the IMF, these new loans focus on developing “the textiles and tourism industries.”