Sympathy for Zimbabwe
Tyler Dorden’s point, with his post about trying to send money to his friend (actually named Time) in Zimbabwe is that the United States strangles business with meddling. In this case, he suggests, it does so by requiring Western Union to layer on burdensome precautions before allowing people to transfer money there.
I don’t know the background of the policy well enough to say whether the imposition is worthwhile. Judging from the questions that Dorden reports Western Union having asked, it appears to be both an attempt to stifle Internet scams and a form of mini sanction against the nation’s ruler, Robert Mugabe.
More compelling than that argument, though, is the description of Time’s background. The proportion may be very imbalanced, but I couldn’t help but think of Rhode Island when I read the following:
By the time he was 15-years old, Time could see the writing on the wall. Mugabe had all but destroyed the market and private property rights, and Time knew there would be absolutely no prospects for him in Zimbabwe.
How many people, especially young Rhode Islanders embarking on the working phase of their lives, have made the same decision about this state? I know I’ve heard the advice suggested frequently, in multiple contexts and with an air of plain common knowledge.
Thank you, PATRIOT Act. The World Bank called those restrictions “an over-reaction to an otherwise smaller problem.” Thought you “conservatives” loved that?
Yeah, Russ. Just look at all the people lining up to defend the Patriot Act…
Is the World Bank your new favorite appeal to authority on these issues? Did you get tired of Krugman already?
Gee Russ, you spend so much time on this blog you would think you would at least pay a little attention. Didn’t the Commander and Chief of the left wing moonbats sign an extension to the Patriot Act?
“Didn’t the Commander and Chief of the left wing moonbats sign an extension to the Patriot Act?”
I’m aware of that, but I’m not sure why you folks think the left is happy with Obama. I didn’t vote for him last time. Not planning to vote for him next time.
Yes, we leftists just looove the World Bank especially under Wolfowitz. So much to add to the conversation as usual, Dan.
Zimbabwe and RI-
both progressive sinkholes.
They have one over us though in that LVBTQ or whatever it is “marriage” is definitely NOT on the agenda.
LOL
I have a friend from Zimbabwe who has lived here as a legal resident for many years-I’m told that Zimbabwe has no real immigration laws because no one wants to go there.Maybe that’s what the left is aiming at here.
Russ – Why are you citing and quoting an organization that you disapprove of?
Besides, Progressives should love the World Bank – it’s the quintessential progressive organization. It incorporates all of the progressive ideals of centralized economic planning, financial forecasting, and central aggregation of expert knowledge, all for the goal of helping less fortunate countries held captive in the oppresive grip of poverty through no fault of their own. And, like most other progressive programs, it has been a counterproductive disaster from day one, enriching and empowering only those connected to it while keeping those it was intended to serve helpless and dependent.
“Why are you citing and quoting an organization that you disapprove of?”
Because they’re correct about that and because quoting the ISR or something wouldn’t resonate with a right-wing audience. Seems kind of obvious to me.
“…it’s the quintessential progressive organization.”
It’s almost as if you don’t know any actual progressives, relying entirely on some narrative constructed on right-wing radio. Really quite strange. Maybe you remember this?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WTO_Ministerial_Conference_of_1999_protest_activity
“It’s almost as if you don’t know any actual progressives, relying entirely on some narrative constructed on right-wing radio.”
Haven’t you and your progressive RIFuture friends relentlessly advocated for exactly the same kinds of loans for small businesses on the statewide-level as the World Bank facilitates on the worldwide-level for developing countries? And haven’t you advocated for these loans for exactly the same stated anti-poverty and planned economic development purposes as the stated purposes of the World Bank? You don’t consider this a progressive idea?
“Haven’t you and your progressive RIFuture friends relentlessly advocated for exactly the same kinds of loans for small businesses on the statewide-level as the World Bank facilitates on the worldwide-level for developing countries?”
No, not at all. Anyone interested in understanding the progressive position should read Naomi Klein.
http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine/excerpt
“You don’t consider this a progressive idea?”
Also no. You seem to be confusing progressivism with neo-liberalism.
http://www.stwr.org/globalization/neoliberalism-and-economic-globalization.html
“Haven’t you and your progressive RIFuture friends relentlessly advocated for exactly the same kinds of loans for small businesses on the statewide-level as the World Bank facilitates on the worldwide-level for developing countries?”
No, not at all. Anyone interested in understanding the progressive position should read Naomi Klein.
http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine/excerpt
“You don’t consider this a progressive idea?”
Also no. You seem to be confusing progressivism with neo-liberalism.
http://www.stwr.org/globalization/neoliberalism-and-economic-globalization.html
Russ – You’re way too trigger-happy with the links and blockquotes and it affects your ability to listen and digest. I said in advocating for such loans, your stated purposes are the same as those of the World Bank. The basic loan mechanisms are clearly the same. The only difference you seem to be asserting is that the World Bank is somehow exploiting those countries while a “true progressive” program would lift them out of poverty with altruistic terms and motives. I have already made the point that the World Bank is hardly unique among progressive programs in accomplishing exactly the opposite of its stated purpose – subsidized home loans and education loans to the underprivileged are two more examples of progressive programs that have severely damaged those they intended to aid.
Posted by joe bernstein:
“I have a friend from Zimbabwe who has lived here as a legal resident for many years-I’m told that Zimbabwe has no real immigration laws because no one wants to go there.Maybe that’s what the left is aiming at here.”
I knew a guy who was a mercenary in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)His wife sent him Chef Boy ar Dee while he was there. He returned here and became a cop, as he put it “All I know how to do is kill people”. While on duty, he was emasculated by a dog. With the sum received, he decided to go into the drug business. That ended as shoot out with the police in Miami, which he did not survive. (robert Ferguson, if you want to Google news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2206&dat=19800319&id=VsslAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WPMFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5983,3365701 ). I only knew him because he worked part timein a gun store the “Blue Knight’s Supply”
Back to Zimbabwe, it is true about immigration. Most of the white people fled when their farms were nationalized. Blacks were fleeing to South Africa, but I think they have put an end to that. PBS did a rather sad documentary comparing Rhodesia under British influence, to present day Zimbabwe. In Rhodesia they showed productive factories, in Zimbabwe, those factories are abandonded and people are squatting in them. I am amazed that Western Union still operates there.
“I said in advocating for such loans, your stated purposes are the same as those of the World Bank.”
I suppose you got me there. Venture financing is intended to provide financial and technical support. But you said they were “the same kinds of loans” which I still say is inaccurate except in the view from space sense that you’re now arguing.
Apparently because progressives are against poverty and for economic development, any idea that proports to be in favor of those goals is also progressive. By that definition, the Republican Party platform is progressive as well.
Russ – Instead of creating a lengthy back and forth over semantics, why don’t you simply explain how the progressive small business loans you advocate for on the RI state level to spur the local economy are different from the loans that the World Bank makes to developing countries. I don’t see a fundamental difference – maybe in the ultra-fine details. If you don’t have an explanation, just say so.
Well, they are both loans. Again, you got me there. But you won’t see any EDC loans tied to neoliberal economic reforms like privatization of the water supplies, forced school fees on students, or eliminating food subsidies (all conditions seen on World Bank Loans). I’m not against loans, just against using them as a form of neo-colonialism.
btw progressives are generally in favor of home mortgages too. They must also support loan sharks, right?