US cuts funding for condoms in Marie Stopes' African clinics
Sarah Boseley, health editor
The Guardian,
Saturday October 4 2008
The US government is cutting its funding for the supply of contraceptives to family planning clinics run by Marie Stopes International in Africa, alleging that it condones forced abortions in China.
MSI has categorically denied that it supports forced abortions or coercive sterilisation in China or anywhere else in the world, and says that the actions of the Bush government will result in more abortions in Africa, as women will be unable to get contraceptives and will end up with unwanted pregnancies.
One of George Bush's first acts after becoming president was to stop all US funds to foreign organisations that helped women in any way to get an abortion, including providing advice. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) lost $34m that Congress had appropriated for it in 2002.
In a letter to Dana Hovig, chief executive officer of MSI, based in London, the assistant administrator for global health at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Kent Hill, noted that MSI did not currently receive any funds from the US government.
"However, we understand that in some countries, MSI receives USAID-funded contraceptives and/or condoms from host country governments that receive them from USAID," he wrote on September 26. In view of MSI's work as the main implementing agency for UNFPA's work in China - "which supports the Chinese national family planning programme" - USAID is telling its missions "to work with these governments to ensure that no such USAID-funded commodities are distributed to MSI at this time".
MSI says the USAID edict will seriously hamper its work in at least six African countries - Ghana, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. USAID is the biggest supplier of contraceptives in many African countries.
According to MSI, the inevitable consequence will be more abortions. It estimates that it will lose $1.5m worth of supplies in the next year, resulting in 325,000 extra unwanted pregnancies in the six African countries and 65,000 abortions.
"At a time when governments have pledged to increase their commitment to improving the health of women, only the Bush administration could find logic in the idea that they can reduce abortion and promote choice for women in China by causing more abortion," said Hovig.
* guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Poverty-linked diseases come back in Argentina
Poverty-linked diseases come back in Argentina
Fri Oct 3, 2008 4:09pm EDT
By Karina Grazina
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Poverty-related diseases such as Chagas, rabies and yellow fever are making a comeback in Argentina because prevention campaigns cut during a deep economic crisis seven years ago have still not recovered.
Deforestation and higher temperatures attributed to global warming are also contributing to the resurgence or reappearance of some diseases, experts said.
Argentina has sharply reduced poverty since the 2001-2002 crisis, and the economy is in its sixth year of strong growth, but health workers say they do not have the resources for prevention in the poor northern region of the country.
"Recently we're seeing the emergence or reemergence of some diseases we thought were at least under control," said Sonia Tarragona at Mundo Sano, a scientific research firm.
Chagas disease, caused by a tropical parasite, is endemic to Argentina and is commonly caused by an insect that lives in homes made of flimsy materials in rural parts of the north.
"For good prevention, you have to eradicate the insects, but there are zones where we only have five people for pest control and a lot of houses spread out from each other," said Hugo Mujica, a cardiologist who works with Chagas patients in Santiago del Estero, one of Argentina's most affected areas.
Chronic Chagas can damage the heart and other organs.
Chagas prevention programs collapsed in 2001 during the crisis, and that helped the comeback of the vinchuca, the local name for the insect that causes the disease.
"With deteriorating living conditions..., the vinchucas move and return to areas they had been gone from," said the health ministry's Epidemiology Director Juan Bossio.
The government this year increased its budget for fighting Chagas disease and in April launched a program to try to eradicate it within three years.
CHANGING APPROACHES
Rabies, transmitted by bites from infected bats, dogs or other animals, had been eradicated in Argentina since 1994. But in July an eight-year-old boy died of rabies.
"Argentina is totally changing its approach to rabies because the situation changed... The appearance of a disease that hadn't been here sounded an alarm," Bossio said.
Mosquito-borne illnesses, which have made a comeback around the world, possibly due to climate change or the banning of some pesticides, are also resurgent in Argentina.
After 42 years without yellow fever, eight cases were reported this year, with one fatality. Malaria cases have been on the rise since 2002.
The government has doubled its budget for preventing tuberculosis next year because even though cases of the lung disease are not rising, the rate of decline has slowed.
Many of these illnesses are on the rise in northern Argentina, the poorest area of the country.
Government statistics show poverty fell to 18 percent in the first half of the year after rising to 55 percent in 2002 when the economy contracted dramatically. But some private economists believe the government's under-reporting of inflation is exaggerating the drop in poverty.
Soy and other crops, as well as new communities, are expanding into previously forested areas, which means people are exposed to insects left behind when trees are cut down.
"When people cut back the forest they are exposed to diseases they didn't even know existed," Tarragona said.
In 2006 Argentina saw its first reported case of visceral leishmaniasis, the most serious form of the parasite disease, and health experts say its appearance is a direct result of settlements in previously forested areas.
In the last two years, four cases of visceral leishmaniasis were reported in Santiago del Estero province and 21 in Misiones province. Four people died from the disease.
(Translation by Fiona Ortiz; Editing by Patrick Markey)
© Thomson Reuters 2008.
Fri Oct 3, 2008 4:09pm EDT
By Karina Grazina
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Poverty-related diseases such as Chagas, rabies and yellow fever are making a comeback in Argentina because prevention campaigns cut during a deep economic crisis seven years ago have still not recovered.
Deforestation and higher temperatures attributed to global warming are also contributing to the resurgence or reappearance of some diseases, experts said.
Argentina has sharply reduced poverty since the 2001-2002 crisis, and the economy is in its sixth year of strong growth, but health workers say they do not have the resources for prevention in the poor northern region of the country.
"Recently we're seeing the emergence or reemergence of some diseases we thought were at least under control," said Sonia Tarragona at Mundo Sano, a scientific research firm.
Chagas disease, caused by a tropical parasite, is endemic to Argentina and is commonly caused by an insect that lives in homes made of flimsy materials in rural parts of the north.
"For good prevention, you have to eradicate the insects, but there are zones where we only have five people for pest control and a lot of houses spread out from each other," said Hugo Mujica, a cardiologist who works with Chagas patients in Santiago del Estero, one of Argentina's most affected areas.
Chronic Chagas can damage the heart and other organs.
Chagas prevention programs collapsed in 2001 during the crisis, and that helped the comeback of the vinchuca, the local name for the insect that causes the disease.
"With deteriorating living conditions..., the vinchucas move and return to areas they had been gone from," said the health ministry's Epidemiology Director Juan Bossio.
The government this year increased its budget for fighting Chagas disease and in April launched a program to try to eradicate it within three years.
CHANGING APPROACHES
Rabies, transmitted by bites from infected bats, dogs or other animals, had been eradicated in Argentina since 1994. But in July an eight-year-old boy died of rabies.
"Argentina is totally changing its approach to rabies because the situation changed... The appearance of a disease that hadn't been here sounded an alarm," Bossio said.
Mosquito-borne illnesses, which have made a comeback around the world, possibly due to climate change or the banning of some pesticides, are also resurgent in Argentina.
After 42 years without yellow fever, eight cases were reported this year, with one fatality. Malaria cases have been on the rise since 2002.
The government has doubled its budget for preventing tuberculosis next year because even though cases of the lung disease are not rising, the rate of decline has slowed.
Many of these illnesses are on the rise in northern Argentina, the poorest area of the country.
Government statistics show poverty fell to 18 percent in the first half of the year after rising to 55 percent in 2002 when the economy contracted dramatically. But some private economists believe the government's under-reporting of inflation is exaggerating the drop in poverty.
Soy and other crops, as well as new communities, are expanding into previously forested areas, which means people are exposed to insects left behind when trees are cut down.
"When people cut back the forest they are exposed to diseases they didn't even know existed," Tarragona said.
In 2006 Argentina saw its first reported case of visceral leishmaniasis, the most serious form of the parasite disease, and health experts say its appearance is a direct result of settlements in previously forested areas.
In the last two years, four cases of visceral leishmaniasis were reported in Santiago del Estero province and 21 in Misiones province. Four people died from the disease.
(Translation by Fiona Ortiz; Editing by Patrick Markey)
© Thomson Reuters 2008.
End to malaria deaths may be near, world leaders say
End to malaria deaths may be near, world leaders say
Pledges totaling $3 billion could help reach that goal by 2015, participants in a U.N. meeting say.
By Richard Boudreaux
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 28, 2008
UNITED NATIONS — With $3 billion in new pledges, world leaders say they believe that an ambitious goal to stop deaths from malaria by 2015 is finally within reach.
A plan billed as the most comprehensive ever to tackle the mosquito-borne disease, which kills nearly 1 million people each year, was unveiled last week at a United Nations gathering of heads of government, global health leaders and philanthropists.
It calls for sharply increasing the use of relatively simple prevention efforts, such as distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets and the spraying of homes, and boosting vaccine research.
"To be able to say with conviction for the first time that all countries will be able to see an end to malaria deaths . . . is indeed a historic moment," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told reporters here Thursday. "What seemed impossible a few years ago is now possible."
Malaria is the leading cause of death for children around the world. But the scourge began to draw high-profile attention only after the United Nations in 2000 made its eradication one of the Millennium Development Goals, a set of targets for reducing poverty by 2015. International spending to fight the disease reached an average of $1 billion a year from 2002 to 2007, according to the online journal PLoS Medicine.
The World Health Organization in a report last week put the number of malaria cases in 2006 at 247 million and the number of deaths at 881,000, most of them children younger than 5 in sub-Saharan Africa. The figures are slightly lower than in previous reports; the drop is attributed to better counting methods.
But participants at the U.N. gathering said they were buoyed by a real decline of 50% or more in malaria deaths during this decade in some African countries that have mounted aggressive prevention and treatment programs.
Those include Eritrea, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, and the Zanzibar region of Tanzania. The WHO report pointed out that they have relatively small populations, a factor that might have made progress against the disease easier.
About one-third of the new funding will go toward a World Bank campaign in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which account for at least 30% of all malaria deaths.
The plan was unveiled with fanfare by participants in the gathering, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and U2 singer Bono.
The $3-billion commitment was described as the largest batch of anti-malaria pledges ever. But the campaign's organizers said additional investments of at least $1 billion a year would be needed to reduce the number of deaths to zero over the next seven years.
The pledges include $1.6 billion from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; $1.1 billion from the World Bank; $168.7 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; $2 million from Ted Turner's United Nations Foundation; and $28 million from a coalition of corporations led by Marathon Oil Corp.
Brown committed about $83 million from the British government. The U.S. government this year approved $5 billion over five years.
The plan calls for expanding access to bed nets and treatment to everyone in vulnerable regions of Africa and Asia by 2010. The Gates money will support research to develop a vaccine against the parasite that causes the disease.
"This is a great plan," Gates said. "It's going to make a huge difference."
Pledges totaling $3 billion could help reach that goal by 2015, participants in a U.N. meeting say.
By Richard Boudreaux
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 28, 2008
UNITED NATIONS — With $3 billion in new pledges, world leaders say they believe that an ambitious goal to stop deaths from malaria by 2015 is finally within reach.
A plan billed as the most comprehensive ever to tackle the mosquito-borne disease, which kills nearly 1 million people each year, was unveiled last week at a United Nations gathering of heads of government, global health leaders and philanthropists.
It calls for sharply increasing the use of relatively simple prevention efforts, such as distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets and the spraying of homes, and boosting vaccine research.
"To be able to say with conviction for the first time that all countries will be able to see an end to malaria deaths . . . is indeed a historic moment," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told reporters here Thursday. "What seemed impossible a few years ago is now possible."
Malaria is the leading cause of death for children around the world. But the scourge began to draw high-profile attention only after the United Nations in 2000 made its eradication one of the Millennium Development Goals, a set of targets for reducing poverty by 2015. International spending to fight the disease reached an average of $1 billion a year from 2002 to 2007, according to the online journal PLoS Medicine.
The World Health Organization in a report last week put the number of malaria cases in 2006 at 247 million and the number of deaths at 881,000, most of them children younger than 5 in sub-Saharan Africa. The figures are slightly lower than in previous reports; the drop is attributed to better counting methods.
But participants at the U.N. gathering said they were buoyed by a real decline of 50% or more in malaria deaths during this decade in some African countries that have mounted aggressive prevention and treatment programs.
Those include Eritrea, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, and the Zanzibar region of Tanzania. The WHO report pointed out that they have relatively small populations, a factor that might have made progress against the disease easier.
About one-third of the new funding will go toward a World Bank campaign in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which account for at least 30% of all malaria deaths.
The plan was unveiled with fanfare by participants in the gathering, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and U2 singer Bono.
The $3-billion commitment was described as the largest batch of anti-malaria pledges ever. But the campaign's organizers said additional investments of at least $1 billion a year would be needed to reduce the number of deaths to zero over the next seven years.
The pledges include $1.6 billion from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; $1.1 billion from the World Bank; $168.7 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; $2 million from Ted Turner's United Nations Foundation; and $28 million from a coalition of corporations led by Marathon Oil Corp.
Brown committed about $83 million from the British government. The U.S. government this year approved $5 billion over five years.
The plan calls for expanding access to bed nets and treatment to everyone in vulnerable regions of Africa and Asia by 2010. The Gates money will support research to develop a vaccine against the parasite that causes the disease.
"This is a great plan," Gates said. "It's going to make a huge difference."
Credit crisis will hit developing countries hardest
By Pieternel Gruppen*
Radio Netherlands
25-09-2008
Bert KoendersThe Millennium Goals are supposed to be heading the agenda in New York, where the United Nations is holding its annual summit. But Wall Street is also dominating the discussions at the UN headquarters.
"People in Wall Street who turn out to have cheated everyone are receiving 38 billion in bonuses. That's equal to all the aid to Africa."Dutch Development Minister Bert Koenders (pictured) doesn't mince his words. He is concerned that the 700 billion dollar financial injection proposed by US President George W Bush will come at the cost of development aid.
"You can imagine that aid will suffer if economic growth falls and national governments have to take decisions on where money should be spent."
And this when massive sums are needed to reach the Millennium Goals, the targets for a drastic reduction of poverty around the world, agreed on by the international community in 2000. Rich countries promised to devote a total of 70 billion dollars annually to meeting the aims.
Spending power down
For the time being, the US and Europe will be focusing their attention inwards, predicts Ruerd Ruben, a development economist at the Radboud University Nijmegen. And the effect will chiefly be felt by exporting developing countries. The financial crisis is now starting to hit the real economy. Falling house prices and rising oil prices are whittling away consumer spending power. People are less likely to buy products they don't really need.
"A country like Mexico, which exports to the United States, will noticeably suffer."
A basket weaver in Ghana who mainly produces for the local market won't immediately feel the effect of the crisis, Mr Ruben thinks. But eventually the credit crisis will make nearly all the developing countries suffer. Only oil-producing countries like Nigeria and Venezuela are profiting from the crisis.
According to Mr Ruben, historically speaking it is always the developing countries that ultimately draw the short straw during a world economic crisis. That's despite the fact that people in these countries are more likely to meet their financial obligations. For micro-credit, small loans for people who want to set up a business, the repayment capacity is around 95 percent. For some mortgages extended in the US this was 50 percent. Because of unstable exchange rates, goods become more expensive, and this hits people in developing countries particularly hard in their pockets.
Mr Rubens says the same thing happened during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
"But then the Second World War followed, which actually meant developing countries flourished, because for the first time they operated independently of the Western world."
Now, however, trade between rich countries and developing countries is closely interlinked. In the World Trade Organisation's current Doha Development Round talks, agreements are supposed to be made on improving access for developing countries to Western markets. But Mr Koenders is concerned that because of the credit crisis, the United States and Europe will be even less inclined to bring down their trade barriers.
"I'm really afraid it will lead to increased protectionism, that it will be more difficult to reach agreement on the Doha Round, which is actually supposed to be development-friendly and offer developing countries greater possibilities to export."
Development economist Ruerd Ruben takes a more laconic attitude.
"The Doha Round is already on its last legs."
Mr Ruben thinks that sooner or later developing countries will be hit by the credit crisis. The degree to which they are affected will depend on the region. But he is sure of one thing:
"In the end, the weakest pay the bill."
* RNW translation (mb)
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/globaldevelopment/080925-credit-crisis-mc
By Pieternel Gruppen*
Radio Netherlands
25-09-2008
Bert KoendersThe Millennium Goals are supposed to be heading the agenda in New York, where the United Nations is holding its annual summit. But Wall Street is also dominating the discussions at the UN headquarters.
"People in Wall Street who turn out to have cheated everyone are receiving 38 billion in bonuses. That's equal to all the aid to Africa."Dutch Development Minister Bert Koenders (pictured) doesn't mince his words. He is concerned that the 700 billion dollar financial injection proposed by US President George W Bush will come at the cost of development aid.
"You can imagine that aid will suffer if economic growth falls and national governments have to take decisions on where money should be spent."
And this when massive sums are needed to reach the Millennium Goals, the targets for a drastic reduction of poverty around the world, agreed on by the international community in 2000. Rich countries promised to devote a total of 70 billion dollars annually to meeting the aims.
Spending power down
For the time being, the US and Europe will be focusing their attention inwards, predicts Ruerd Ruben, a development economist at the Radboud University Nijmegen. And the effect will chiefly be felt by exporting developing countries. The financial crisis is now starting to hit the real economy. Falling house prices and rising oil prices are whittling away consumer spending power. People are less likely to buy products they don't really need.
"A country like Mexico, which exports to the United States, will noticeably suffer."
A basket weaver in Ghana who mainly produces for the local market won't immediately feel the effect of the crisis, Mr Ruben thinks. But eventually the credit crisis will make nearly all the developing countries suffer. Only oil-producing countries like Nigeria and Venezuela are profiting from the crisis.
According to Mr Ruben, historically speaking it is always the developing countries that ultimately draw the short straw during a world economic crisis. That's despite the fact that people in these countries are more likely to meet their financial obligations. For micro-credit, small loans for people who want to set up a business, the repayment capacity is around 95 percent. For some mortgages extended in the US this was 50 percent. Because of unstable exchange rates, goods become more expensive, and this hits people in developing countries particularly hard in their pockets.
Mr Rubens says the same thing happened during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
"But then the Second World War followed, which actually meant developing countries flourished, because for the first time they operated independently of the Western world."
Now, however, trade between rich countries and developing countries is closely interlinked. In the World Trade Organisation's current Doha Development Round talks, agreements are supposed to be made on improving access for developing countries to Western markets. But Mr Koenders is concerned that because of the credit crisis, the United States and Europe will be even less inclined to bring down their trade barriers.
"I'm really afraid it will lead to increased protectionism, that it will be more difficult to reach agreement on the Doha Round, which is actually supposed to be development-friendly and offer developing countries greater possibilities to export."
Development economist Ruerd Ruben takes a more laconic attitude.
"The Doha Round is already on its last legs."
Mr Ruben thinks that sooner or later developing countries will be hit by the credit crisis. The degree to which they are affected will depend on the region. But he is sure of one thing:
"In the end, the weakest pay the bill."
* RNW translation (mb)
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/globaldevelopment/080925-credit-crisis-mc
No “Bailout” for the World’s Poorest
No “Bailout” for the World’s Poorest
Wednesday, October 1st, 2008
By Thalif Deen
As a spreading financial crisis threatens to deepen the economic recession in the United States, the news of an unprecedented 700-billion-dollar bailout package reverberated through the corridors of the United Nations last week as over 100 world leaders gathered in New York for the annual talk-fest: the 63rd session of the General Assembly.
At a time when the United Nations is seeking increased financial assistance from rich nations to help developing countries meet the faltering Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including a 50-percent reduction on extreme poverty and hunger by 2015, the current U.S. economic crisis and its predictably negative fallout overseas is expected to be a major setback.
Addressing delegates last week, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that the current gloomy outlook threatens the well-being of billions of people, “none more so than the poorest of the poor.”
“This only compounds the damage [already] being caused by much higher prices for food and fuel”, he added.
Ban has called for 72 billion dollars per year in additional external financing to achieve the MDGs by 2015.
As one Asian delegate put it: “The 72 billion is peanuts compared to the 700 billion the White House wants to dish out to save some of the Wall Street firms from going belly up.”
“And the urgent needs of developing nations will now be the least of the priorities of the United States and other Western donors,” he predicted.
Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockman of Nicaragua, the newly-elected president of the General Assembly, warned that the current financial crisis will have “very serious consequences” that will impede the significant progress, “if indeed any progress is made”, towards the targets established by the MDGs, “which are themselves insufficient”.
“It is always the poor who pay the price for the unbridled greed and irresponsibility of the powerful,” he said, taking a passing shot at the staggering 700-billion-dollar bailout proposed by the administration of President George W. Bush to save the high-stakes investment banks of New York from bankruptcy and collapse.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told delegates that “money doesn’t seem to be a problem, when the problem is money”.
“Let us look for a moment at what is happening on Wall Street and in financial markets around the world. There, unsound investment threatens the homes and jobs of the middle class,” he added.
There is something fundamentally wrong, he argued, “when money seems to be abundant, but funds for investment in people seem so short in supply”.
Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding told the General Assembly that the crisis currently rocking the world’s financial markets reflects the inadequacy of the regulatory structures that are essential to the effective functioning of any market.
But it is more than that. It represents the failure on the part of the international financial system to facilitate the flow of resources into areas where they can produce real wealth — not paper wealth, he added.
Golding said the world is not short of capital: “What it lacks are the mechanisms to ensure the efficient utilisation of that capital.”
As the economic meltdown in the United States continues, the casualties are piling up both among commercial and investment banks: Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual (allowed to collapse with no government bailout); American International Group, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley (allowed to survive with emergency financial assistance, including some from the government); Merrill Lynch has been folded into Bank of America and Citigroup has taken over Wachovia Bank.
The outrage against Wall Street, described as the world’s financial capital, is also directed at the high salaried chief executive officers and the middle rung bosses who make multi-million-dollar salaries, with stock options and perks that set them up in a privileged class by themselves.
According to one report, the lowest salary on Wall Street was around 280,000 dollars a year in a country where the average low or middle class employee would go home with a pay packet of 50,000 or 75,000 dollars per year.
In 2007, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, was paid 68.7 million dollars — described as “the most ever for a Wall Street CEO.”
As the entire U.S. economic edifice is in danger of collapsing, the White House has been called upon to save some of the biggest financial institutions in the country and, at the same time, redress the excesses of Wall Street business tycoons who earned multi-million-dollar salaries and extravagant bonuses.
The greed factor in the crisis is that these same tycoons, who are responsible for mismanaging their companies, still insist on continuing with their same lavish lifestyles and lofty salaries even after the massive taxpayer-funded bailout.
But these salaries and bonuses are likely to be curbed as part a return for the bailout package.
Addressing the 192-member General Assembly last week, the President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the economy of any country is “too serious an undertaking to be left in the hands of speculators”.
Ethics must also apply to the economy, he said. But, unfortunately, in the race for profits, the ethical factor has ceased to exist.
The president quoted the Brazilian economist Celso Furtado who once said: “We must not allow speculators’ profits always to be privatised, while their losses are invariably socialised.”
And as a postscript, the Brazilian president added: “We must not allow the burden of the boundless greed of a few to be shouldered by all.”
In the 1987 Hollywood movie ‘Wall Street,’ Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas plays the role of a ruthless corporate raider, Gordon Gekko, who forsakes all business ethics to climb to the highest echelons of the business world.
His speech to a meeting of stock traders is still considered a classic on Wall Street: “The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works.”
“Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind.”
Douglas, who is the U.N.’s goodwill ambassador for disarmament and a “messenger for peace”, was at the United Nations last week to participate in the International Day of Peace.
Responding to a reporter who asked him: “Are you saying, Gordon, that greed is not good?,” a visibly annoyed Douglas shot back: “”I am not saying that. And my name is not Gordon. He’s a character I played 20 years ago.”
http://rinf.com/alt-news/business-news/no-bailout-for-the-worlds-poorest/4688/
Wednesday, October 1st, 2008
By Thalif Deen
As a spreading financial crisis threatens to deepen the economic recession in the United States, the news of an unprecedented 700-billion-dollar bailout package reverberated through the corridors of the United Nations last week as over 100 world leaders gathered in New York for the annual talk-fest: the 63rd session of the General Assembly.
At a time when the United Nations is seeking increased financial assistance from rich nations to help developing countries meet the faltering Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including a 50-percent reduction on extreme poverty and hunger by 2015, the current U.S. economic crisis and its predictably negative fallout overseas is expected to be a major setback.
Addressing delegates last week, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that the current gloomy outlook threatens the well-being of billions of people, “none more so than the poorest of the poor.”
“This only compounds the damage [already] being caused by much higher prices for food and fuel”, he added.
Ban has called for 72 billion dollars per year in additional external financing to achieve the MDGs by 2015.
As one Asian delegate put it: “The 72 billion is peanuts compared to the 700 billion the White House wants to dish out to save some of the Wall Street firms from going belly up.”
“And the urgent needs of developing nations will now be the least of the priorities of the United States and other Western donors,” he predicted.
Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockman of Nicaragua, the newly-elected president of the General Assembly, warned that the current financial crisis will have “very serious consequences” that will impede the significant progress, “if indeed any progress is made”, towards the targets established by the MDGs, “which are themselves insufficient”.
“It is always the poor who pay the price for the unbridled greed and irresponsibility of the powerful,” he said, taking a passing shot at the staggering 700-billion-dollar bailout proposed by the administration of President George W. Bush to save the high-stakes investment banks of New York from bankruptcy and collapse.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told delegates that “money doesn’t seem to be a problem, when the problem is money”.
“Let us look for a moment at what is happening on Wall Street and in financial markets around the world. There, unsound investment threatens the homes and jobs of the middle class,” he added.
There is something fundamentally wrong, he argued, “when money seems to be abundant, but funds for investment in people seem so short in supply”.
Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding told the General Assembly that the crisis currently rocking the world’s financial markets reflects the inadequacy of the regulatory structures that are essential to the effective functioning of any market.
But it is more than that. It represents the failure on the part of the international financial system to facilitate the flow of resources into areas where they can produce real wealth — not paper wealth, he added.
Golding said the world is not short of capital: “What it lacks are the mechanisms to ensure the efficient utilisation of that capital.”
As the economic meltdown in the United States continues, the casualties are piling up both among commercial and investment banks: Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual (allowed to collapse with no government bailout); American International Group, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley (allowed to survive with emergency financial assistance, including some from the government); Merrill Lynch has been folded into Bank of America and Citigroup has taken over Wachovia Bank.
The outrage against Wall Street, described as the world’s financial capital, is also directed at the high salaried chief executive officers and the middle rung bosses who make multi-million-dollar salaries, with stock options and perks that set them up in a privileged class by themselves.
According to one report, the lowest salary on Wall Street was around 280,000 dollars a year in a country where the average low or middle class employee would go home with a pay packet of 50,000 or 75,000 dollars per year.
In 2007, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, was paid 68.7 million dollars — described as “the most ever for a Wall Street CEO.”
As the entire U.S. economic edifice is in danger of collapsing, the White House has been called upon to save some of the biggest financial institutions in the country and, at the same time, redress the excesses of Wall Street business tycoons who earned multi-million-dollar salaries and extravagant bonuses.
The greed factor in the crisis is that these same tycoons, who are responsible for mismanaging their companies, still insist on continuing with their same lavish lifestyles and lofty salaries even after the massive taxpayer-funded bailout.
But these salaries and bonuses are likely to be curbed as part a return for the bailout package.
Addressing the 192-member General Assembly last week, the President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the economy of any country is “too serious an undertaking to be left in the hands of speculators”.
Ethics must also apply to the economy, he said. But, unfortunately, in the race for profits, the ethical factor has ceased to exist.
The president quoted the Brazilian economist Celso Furtado who once said: “We must not allow speculators’ profits always to be privatised, while their losses are invariably socialised.”
And as a postscript, the Brazilian president added: “We must not allow the burden of the boundless greed of a few to be shouldered by all.”
In the 1987 Hollywood movie ‘Wall Street,’ Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas plays the role of a ruthless corporate raider, Gordon Gekko, who forsakes all business ethics to climb to the highest echelons of the business world.
His speech to a meeting of stock traders is still considered a classic on Wall Street: “The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works.”
“Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind.”
Douglas, who is the U.N.’s goodwill ambassador for disarmament and a “messenger for peace”, was at the United Nations last week to participate in the International Day of Peace.
Responding to a reporter who asked him: “Are you saying, Gordon, that greed is not good?,” a visibly annoyed Douglas shot back: “”I am not saying that. And my name is not Gordon. He’s a character I played 20 years ago.”
http://rinf.com/alt-news/business-news/no-bailout-for-the-worlds-poorest/4688/
On the Unfolding Economic Crisis and Its Disproportionate Impact on Nation’s Most Vulnerable Women and Families
On the Unfolding Economic Crisis and Its Disproportionate Impact on Nation’s Most Vulnerable Women and Families
September 18, 2008
Statement of Sara K. Gould, President and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women
WASHINGTON - September 18 - Amidst the emphasis on solving the economic crisis facing Wall Street, the crisis crippling women and their families on Main Street continues unabated.
"Even at the beginning of the economic downturn, more women than men, and more African Americans and Latinos than whites, were caught in the sub-prime mortgage trap. Now that the crisis has escalated, we must expect that the negative repercussions for women -- especially women of color -- will escalate as well," notes Sara K. Gould, President and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women.
An expert in women's economic development, Ms. Gould has decades of experience spearheading cutting-edge solutions to promote women's economic security. She is available to discuss how the plummeting economy will further threaten millions of women whose lives already hang in the balance.
Gould, who was just named to the NonProfit Times Top 50 Power and Influence List for her visionary leadership in economic development, states, "Women in the U.S. are playing with the economic deck stacked against them. Taking into account longstanding pay inequities, insidious barriers to employment, record levels of inflation and ever-increasing childcare expenses, women and their families are struggling to keep up and get by. For women who confront the additional barriers of race and class, the obstacles are much greater and the economic straits even worse.
"The current instability roiling Wall Street's markets will lead to an increasingly dire economic situation for women. This is especially true for low-income women, women of color, single mothers and others who have long experienced the disproportionate impact of flawed economic policies."
Women faced challenges to their economic security long before the recent turmoil in the stock markets.
* The gender-wage ratio has not improved since 2001. Women are still paid only 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. The disparity is even greater for women of color: African-American women make 62 cents and Latinas make only 53 cents for every dollar of male earnings. [1]
* Women comprise the majority of low-wage workers: Women accounted for 68.2% of minimum-wage and below-minimum-wage workers in 2007. [2]
* Most poor Americans are women and children, with women comprising a full 39%, children, 35%; and men, 26%. [3]
* Accounting for 37% of families in poverty, the poverty rate for single female-headed households is higher than any other demographic group. [4]
The current economic downturn will impact low-income women and their families the hardest, and drive even more into poverty.
* Already, the sub-prime mortgage crisis is taking a higher toll on women -- especially women of color. 32% of women hold sub-prime mortgages vs. 24% of men; and African American and Latino homeowners were 30% more likely to have received sub-prime loans. [5]
* Poverty rates increase during economic downturns. With the increasing costs of even basic necessities of food, transportation and energy, the number of poor families is growing. [6]
* Once a family has fallen into it, poverty is difficult to escape. An estimated 60% of families that are in the bottom fifth of income remain there a decade later. [7]
Ms. Gould continues, "Across the U.S., women are too well-acquainted with poverty and economic insecurity. Because they know these challenges personally, however, they are often best positioned to develop the most effective strategies to address them.
"Women must be better represented at policy tables; their perspectives and leadership are crucial to bring about long-term economic stability and well-being -- for women, families and communities. So as we hold key members of the public and private sector accountable for our country's worsening economic disaster, let's turn to women driving change at local, state and national levels for economic-justice solutions."
About Sara K. Gould: Ms. Gould is a national authority on women's economic development and economic security, and a groundbreaking innovator in philanthropy. Ms. Gould was named to the NonProfit Times 2008 Top 50 Power and Influence List for her visionary leadership in advancing women's economic security, in particular her founding of the Collaborative Fund for Women's Economic Development, a pioneering grant-making initiative which leveraged over $10 million in the field of women's microenterprise development in the United States.
###
Founded in 1973, the Ms. Foundation for Women is the first and leading women's fund and the foundation engaged across the United States to build women's collective power to ignite change. It provides strategic grantmaking and capacity-building support to over 150 grassroots and national advocacy organizations working to bring about policy and culture change across the broad areas of economic justice, women's health, ending violence and building democracy. In August 2008, Raise the Floor: Wages and Policies that Work, a book published and co-authored by the Ms. Foundation in 2001, was named to Bill Moyers Journal's "Become a More Engaged Citizen" Book List. It outlines a number of policies designed to increase economic security for low-income women and low-wage workers that have gained traction during this election cycle.
CONTACT:
Ms. Foundation for Women
esmith@ms.foundation.org
Phone: 212.709.4426 (Office)
512.203.6206 (Mobile)
September 18, 2008
Statement of Sara K. Gould, President and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women
WASHINGTON - September 18 - Amidst the emphasis on solving the economic crisis facing Wall Street, the crisis crippling women and their families on Main Street continues unabated.
"Even at the beginning of the economic downturn, more women than men, and more African Americans and Latinos than whites, were caught in the sub-prime mortgage trap. Now that the crisis has escalated, we must expect that the negative repercussions for women -- especially women of color -- will escalate as well," notes Sara K. Gould, President and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women.
An expert in women's economic development, Ms. Gould has decades of experience spearheading cutting-edge solutions to promote women's economic security. She is available to discuss how the plummeting economy will further threaten millions of women whose lives already hang in the balance.
Gould, who was just named to the NonProfit Times Top 50 Power and Influence List for her visionary leadership in economic development, states, "Women in the U.S. are playing with the economic deck stacked against them. Taking into account longstanding pay inequities, insidious barriers to employment, record levels of inflation and ever-increasing childcare expenses, women and their families are struggling to keep up and get by. For women who confront the additional barriers of race and class, the obstacles are much greater and the economic straits even worse.
"The current instability roiling Wall Street's markets will lead to an increasingly dire economic situation for women. This is especially true for low-income women, women of color, single mothers and others who have long experienced the disproportionate impact of flawed economic policies."
Women faced challenges to their economic security long before the recent turmoil in the stock markets.
* The gender-wage ratio has not improved since 2001. Women are still paid only 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. The disparity is even greater for women of color: African-American women make 62 cents and Latinas make only 53 cents for every dollar of male earnings. [1]
* Women comprise the majority of low-wage workers: Women accounted for 68.2% of minimum-wage and below-minimum-wage workers in 2007. [2]
* Most poor Americans are women and children, with women comprising a full 39%, children, 35%; and men, 26%. [3]
* Accounting for 37% of families in poverty, the poverty rate for single female-headed households is higher than any other demographic group. [4]
The current economic downturn will impact low-income women and their families the hardest, and drive even more into poverty.
* Already, the sub-prime mortgage crisis is taking a higher toll on women -- especially women of color. 32% of women hold sub-prime mortgages vs. 24% of men; and African American and Latino homeowners were 30% more likely to have received sub-prime loans. [5]
* Poverty rates increase during economic downturns. With the increasing costs of even basic necessities of food, transportation and energy, the number of poor families is growing. [6]
* Once a family has fallen into it, poverty is difficult to escape. An estimated 60% of families that are in the bottom fifth of income remain there a decade later. [7]
Ms. Gould continues, "Across the U.S., women are too well-acquainted with poverty and economic insecurity. Because they know these challenges personally, however, they are often best positioned to develop the most effective strategies to address them.
"Women must be better represented at policy tables; their perspectives and leadership are crucial to bring about long-term economic stability and well-being -- for women, families and communities. So as we hold key members of the public and private sector accountable for our country's worsening economic disaster, let's turn to women driving change at local, state and national levels for economic-justice solutions."
About Sara K. Gould: Ms. Gould is a national authority on women's economic development and economic security, and a groundbreaking innovator in philanthropy. Ms. Gould was named to the NonProfit Times 2008 Top 50 Power and Influence List for her visionary leadership in advancing women's economic security, in particular her founding of the Collaborative Fund for Women's Economic Development, a pioneering grant-making initiative which leveraged over $10 million in the field of women's microenterprise development in the United States.
###
Founded in 1973, the Ms. Foundation for Women is the first and leading women's fund and the foundation engaged across the United States to build women's collective power to ignite change. It provides strategic grantmaking and capacity-building support to over 150 grassroots and national advocacy organizations working to bring about policy and culture change across the broad areas of economic justice, women's health, ending violence and building democracy. In August 2008, Raise the Floor: Wages and Policies that Work, a book published and co-authored by the Ms. Foundation in 2001, was named to Bill Moyers Journal's "Become a More Engaged Citizen" Book List. It outlines a number of policies designed to increase economic security for low-income women and low-wage workers that have gained traction during this election cycle.
CONTACT:
Ms. Foundation for Women
esmith@ms.foundation.org
Phone: 212.709.4426 (Office)
512.203.6206 (Mobile)
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