There could be volumes of detail written to answer that incredibly complicated economic situation, but the simple answer is that this is a small island country that does not have all the necessary natural resources to meet the needs of its growing population and needed to borrow funds in order to provide the services that the population requires. That is why the IMF exists in the first place. If there wasnt a worldwide need, the IMF wouldnt exist. The IMF wasnt created to help only Jamaica...
Negril.com - For the vacation that never ends!
"The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank are run by their member governments, but not on the basis of one-country-one-vote. Instead, governments have votes based on the amount of money they pay in to the organizations. In this sense, they operate much like private corporations, except that the owners of shares are governments instead of individuals.
The U.S. government has by far the largest share of votes in both the IMF and World Bank and, along with its closest allies, effectively controls their operations. In 1998, the U.S. held 18% of the votes in the IMF and 15% in the World Bank. Together, the United States, Germany, Japan, the U.K. and France control about 40% of the shares in both institutions. With the rest of the shares spread among 175 other member governments, some holding a tiny number of votes, the United States is effectively in charge.
So the people running the IMF and the World Bank are the same folks who run the U.S. government and the governments of its closest allies. Since the institutions were founded at the end of World War II, the president of the World Bank has always been a U.S. citizen, and the head of the IMF has always been a European. These are all men, generally coming from the top of the financial industry.
While the IMF and the Bank operate as extensions of the U.S. government's foreign policy, they are well insulated from democratic accountability. Congress, to say nothing of the populace in general, has no role overseeing their operations, and they operate largely outside the public eye (though Congressional ire sometimes appears in response to a request for more funds).
What the IMF and the World Bank do is lend money to governments. Because many governments, especially governments of poor countries, are often in dire need of loans and cannot readily obtain funds through financial markets, they turn to these institutions.
The IMF and the Bank make sure that U.S. allies get the financial support they need to stay in power, abuses of human rights, labor, and the environment notwithstanding; that big banks get paid back, no matter how irresponsible their loans may have been; and that other governments continually reduce barriers to the operations of U.S. business in their countries, whether or not this conflicts with the economic needs of their own people."
The terms and conditions that go along with these loans are designed to benefit the IMF members at the long term expense of the developing nations. It's a form of exploitation that does not involve the use of deadly force or threat thereof.Originally Posted by Rob
Here is the link from where Craig123 quoted this information from the Third World Traveler site which was apparently copied from an article in Dollars and Sense magazine July/August edition on page 41 back in 1999:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/IM...ThePeople.html
And once again, a lot has changed in those past 15 years...
Negril.com - For the vacation that never ends!
Noam Chomsky would beg to differ with you Rob.
I am not positive, but I dont think he has registered yet here on the Board... (grin)
Negril.com - For the vacation that never ends!
Good come back Rob. Nuff said on this topic.
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