The Rape of South America

Most people in the world know a lot more about what goes on in the United States than people in the United States know about what is going on in the rest of the world. This is particularly so when it concerns our neighbors to the south.

And we should know.

We should know, not only because they are our neighbors, but because the workings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, political vehicles of the power elite, flagrantly show their true colors in the southern continents - both South America and Africa. These same oligarchs are intent on controlling the United States as well, and already have themselves fairly well embedded. If you think this sounds like paranoia, read below what Joseph Stiglitz, former chief economist for the World Bank, has to say.

In order to understand the real politic of these organizations, one must first comprehend the fact that they are a tool of globalization. Whether you believe in a sinister conspiracy or not, the end result of globalization, as it is being practiced today, is global totalitarianism - not just economically, but governmentally as well.

This is a very important concept to grasp. Global economic powers have been working toward this goal for a long time, and it is now happening very rapidly. The players are getting bolder as well, and it is important to understand that they consider the rest of us to be very naive. The reason for that is that "we" (including most of our representatives and media) are.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, their sidekicks - multinational corporations like General Electric and Bechtel - and their trusty companion the World Trade Organization, have turned most African and South America governments into puppets of corporate totalitarianism. Adding insult to injury, they have done this under the guise of "financial aid to developing countries". If you could sum this up in a few words, it would be "privatize the profits and socialize the losses".

There are no success stories. There are none.

The stated goal of IMF loans to low-income countries is the reduction of poverty. If this is the stated goal of these loans, then why is it that whenever the IMF loans money to a country, costs of electricity and water and heating fuel rise, along with unemployment, while wages decrease.

We're not talking small degrees here, either. According to international investigative reporter Greg Palast, confidential papers he obtained from IMF insiders showed that the IMF ordered Ecuador's government to raise the price of cooking gas by 80%, eliminate 26,000 government jobs, and cut real wages for the remaining workers by 50%. Ecuador was also ordered to transfer ownership of its biggest water system to foreign operators, and grant British Petroleum's ARCO unit rights to build and own an oil pipeline over the Andes.

These were just a few of the 167 detailed loan conditions imposed upon Ecuador by the IMF. Somewhat ungrateful for all these things the IMF had done to reduce their level of poverty, Ecuadorians torched the capital in what chief economist for the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz called "the IMF riots". When a nation is down and out, Said Stiglitz, the IMF "takes advantage and squeezes the last pound of blood out of them. They turn up the heat until the whole cauldron blows up."

Similar stories emerge from Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Indonesia and countries throughout the continent of Africa. Hugo Chavez is fighting to rid South America of the IMF and the World Bank. This does not make him very popular with money interests in the United States who hold weight over both the U.S. Government and the mainstream media.

The IMF's Shady Routine

Here is the IMF routine (originally called "Structured Assistance Programs" or "Country Assistances Strategies", they are now called "Poverty Reduction Programs" - although they have nothing to do with reducing poverty), as described to Greg Palast by Nobel Prize winner and former Word Bank economist Joseph Stiglitz. Stiglitz was fired from the World Bank after raising strong objections to their policies.

  1. Privatization

    - Privatize utility companies and anything else that is government owned, and raise rates to consumers. Reduce any restrictions on foreign ownership. If government leaders don't want to play ball, funnel some large chunks of money into private Swiss bank accounts just to make them feel better about selling off their country's assets.

  2. "Capital Market Liberalization"

    - Another word for this would be "deregulation" which, in theory, should increase the flow of money going in to and out of the country. Unfortunately, that is not always the result and the money just flows out, which can very quickly drain a nations resources. In that case, the IMF demands raising interest rates by as much as 30, 60, or 80% to try to attract speculators. The result is a reduced national treasury, ruined property values, and a knife in the back of industry.

  3. "Market-Based Pricing"

    - This means raising prices on a few little things like food, water, electricity, domestic gas and heating fuels. Countries have experienced IMF-induced utility rate increases by as much as 30 to 800%. "Social unrest" is expected - at least, in confidential IMF documents. (Stiglitz's "IMF riots") Foreign investors don't seem to be too bothered by all the fuss, and seem to be quite happy with the results.

  4. "Poverty Reduction Strategy"

    - Oh! Okay! Now we're going to get to the part where the people of the country benefit, right? Well, it depends on which people you are talking about.

    The IMF's strategy for "poverty reduction" is free trade, WTO style. There is nothing "free" about it at all. What it does do is remove an individual country's ability to establish its own tariffs, and places it in the hands of international elitists, who may decide, for instance (as happened in Africa) that a country in desperate need of drugs to help control their spreading AIDS epidemic, must buy them from the United States, where the price is 15 times higher than the same drugs that are manufactured in a neighboring country.

    Local productivity usually suffers. So ah ... let's see ... poverty reduction ... I know its around here somewhere ... Oh yes! This usually means a large increase in the income of people in the country ... Wealthy people, that is. But it does trickle down, doesn't it?
With all the great things the WTO, World Bank, IMF (and their partner and 51% owner, the U.S. Treasury) do, Hugo Chavez just doesn't seem to trust them. Gosh! He could be lining his pockets right now and letting the globalists run his country like everyone else on the block. What's the matter with this guy! Doesn't he realize he could be killed!
WATCH THE VIDEO


AWARDS AND DISTRIBUTION