The elder sign omens wendy adams
money policies in the early ‘80s how, during the ’80s and ’90s, this led to the Third World debt crisis how the IMF then stepped in to insist that, in order to obtain refinancing, poor countries would be obliged to abandon price supports on basic foodstuffs, or even policies of keeping strategic food reserves, and abandon free health care and free education how all of this had led to the collapse of all the most basic supports for some of the poorest and most vulnerable people on earth. “Well, for example, we managed to almost completely destroy the IMF.”Īs it happened, she didn’t actually know what the IMF was, so I offered that the International Monetary Fund basically acted as the world’s debt enforcers-“You might say, the high-finance equivalent of the guys who come to break your legs.” I launched into historical background, explaining how, during the ’70s oil crisis, OPEC countries ended up pouring so much of their newfound riches into Western banks that the banks couldn’t figure out where to invest the money how Citibank and Chase therefore began sending agents around the world trying to convince Third World dictators and politicians to take out loans (at the time, this was called “go-go banking”) how they started out at extremely low rates of interest that almost immediately skyrocketed to 20 percent or so due to tight U.S. “Actually,” I said, “I think it’s kind of amazing how much we did manage to accomplish in those first couple of years.” She was curious: she’d of course read a lot about Seattle, Genoa, the tear gas and street battles, but … well, had we really accomplished anything by all of that? I told her I had been involved for many years with the global justice movement-“anti-globalization movement,” as it was usually called in the media. You’ll probably have a lot to talk about.”
She works for a foundation that provides legal support for anti-poverty groups in London. She turned out to be a trim, well-appointed young woman who, he explained, was an attorney-“but more of the activist kind. At one point, Father Graeme intervened, saying that there was someone by a nearby fountain whom I would certainly want to meet. But I felt more than a little out of place. It’s not that other guests weren’t pleasant and amicable, and Father Graeme, who had organized the party, was nothing if not a gracious and charming host.
THE ELDER SIGN OMENS WENDY ADAMS SERIES
Two years ago, by a series of strange coincidences, I found myself attending a garden party at Westminster Abbey. If you owe the bank a hundred million dollars, you own the bank. If you owe the bank a hundred thousand dollars, the bank owns you. 2 the state of owing money.ģ a feeling of gratitude for a favour or service. (1971–The Beginning of Something Yet to Be Determined)Ĭonclusion: Perhaps the World Really Does Owe You a Livingĭebt: noun 1 a sum of money owed. Part II: The World of Credit and the World of Interest The Far West: Christendom (Commerce, Lending, and War)Īge of the Great Capitalist Empires (1450–1971 AD) Honor and Degradation, or, On the Foundations of Contemporary CivilizationĬredit Versus Bullion and the Cycles of HistoryĬhina: Buddhism and the Economy of Infinite Debt
A Brief Treatise on the Moral Grounds of Economic Relations