Time: Thu Dec 04 05:13:47 1997 To: From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: SLS: PJB-No More Bailouts--Abolish the IMF! (fwd) Cc: Bcc: sls References: <snip> > >NO MORE BAILOUTS -- ABOLISH THE IMF! > >by Patrick J. Buchanan > > December 1, 1997 > >If the people of South Korea were starving, Americans would send food. If >they were victims of a natural disaster, an earthquake or typhoon, >planeloads of American doctors and nurses, shiploads of medicine and >supplies, would be instantly on the way. > >But Asia's financial crisis is not a natural disaster; it is man-made, >the work of corrupt and incompetent political elites, crony capitalists >and idiot-investors who deserted their own countries to chase hot profits >in Asia. Obligations of charity do not apply here. What these avaricious >bankrupts want Americans to do is to pick up the hotel and bar bills from >their decade-long orgy. No thanks. > >Ask yourself: Why does Seoul suddenly need $20 billion? Is it because >Koreans are suffering? No. South Korea needs $20 billion pronto because >it has $20 billion in short-term loans coming due by year's end. Korea >hasn't got the cash, and its creditors are howling. > >The IMF bailouts of Korea, Thailand and Indonesia, which could put >Western taxpayers on the hook for $100 billion, are to save the faces of >these Asian regimes and the fannies of "investors" who want back every >dime they put up -- without missing a payment. When you know who is >holding that $20 billion in debt, you will know for whose benefit the >Global Economy is designed to work. > >But why should U.S. taxpayers be put on the hook by the IMF, to make good >failed Asian investments? Let those who made the hot profits in Asia eat >the losses. Let the market work. Let the Asian debtors and their >creditors negotiate themselves the terms of repayment, and keep U.S. >taxpayers out for once. > >The hour is at hand for Congress to run a sword through this corrupt >global system. All we need do is follow the counsel of ex-Treasury >Secretary Bill Simon, the Heritage Foundation, and the American >Enterprise Institute, and kill the IMF. Then the gods of the markets can >rule again. Don't our free traders believe in that? > >This November, in a courageous act, the House voted down Mr. Clinton's >request for $3.5 billion to replenish the funds of the IMF. Prediction: >Mr. Clinton will come back from Vancouver Asia-Pacific summit and demand >even more money to bail out Robert Rubin's Wall Street buddies. But if >Congress will hold firm and deny the White House another dime for the >IMF, it can strike a mortal blow against a system crafted to endlessly >loot the American nation of its wealth. > >What is the IMF? It was created At Bretton Woods in 1944 as a fund from >which governments could borrow to maintain the fixed rates of exchange of >their currencies. But in 1971, Richard Nixon took America off the gold >standard; the exchange-rate system broke down; the dollar and other >currencies were allowed to "float" in a free market. The need for an IMF >was over. > >But the IMF refused to fold its tent. It set itself up as overseer of the >Global Economy and lender of last resort to bankrupt regimes. Four times >since 1970 the IMF has bailed out Mexico. In the last bailout, the IMF >gave $17 billion in fresh loans to enable President Zedillo to pay off >his New York creditors, who thus walked away from their risky loans, >while American citizens are now exposed to the lion's share of that $17 >billion. > >How is Mexico to repay the IMF? The devaluation of the peso by 50 percent >doubled the price of U.S. goods in Mexico and cut by 50 percent the price >of Mexican exports. Devaluation thus wiped out the tiny U.S. trade >surplus. And when U.S. companies saw the price of Mexican labor had been >cut in half in dollars, they laid off their workers, shut down their U.S. >plants and headed south for the Rio Grande. > >This, then, is the great trade-off of the Global Economy: Wall Street >gets reimbursed, while Main Street loses its export market, its factories >and its jobs, and is put on the hook by the IMF, so "investors" on Wall >Street do not have to swallow really big losses. We do it all -- to make >the world safe for Goldman Sachs! > >The Global Economy is like a high-stakes poker game, where the big >players pocket their winnings, while the "house" -- i.e., the taxpayers >-- makes good their losses at the end of a bad night. > >To do in Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea what it did in Mexico, the >IMF will need billions more in lending authority from the U.S. >government. We ought not let this happen. The looting of our country must >stop. And it can be stopped, if the agencies that thieve and redistribute >U.S. wealth -- the IMF and World Bank -- are denied all power to put at >risk the credit of the American people. > >Time for Congress to end these bailouts, privatize the World Bank and >abolish the IMF. > >c Patrick J. Buchanan > <snip>
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