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Excerpt from BANKRUPTING THE THIRD WORLD: How the Global Elite Drown Poor Nations in a Sea of Debt:

The media regularly reminds us of the billions of dollars First World governments and international aid organizations grant annually to impoverished Third World nations.

The official story goes that Western nations are extremely generous in assisting the development of the Third World. And few would argue with this summary as even when countries like the United Kingdom, Germany or the United States are in an economic slump, they are never shy of giving vast sums to poorer nations in times of need.

This is especially true when it comes to organizing relief efforts for natural disasters. Major catastrophes like the Pakistan floods, the Haiti earthquake and the Indian Ocean tsunami are fairly recent examples of massive amounts of aid being raised almost overnight.

What if much of this aid is not charitable, but selfish? What if it isn’t actually giving, but taking? What if most of the generosity has serious strings attached � strings designed to fleece vulnerable nations?

And what if the IMF, USAID, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank’s sub-institution the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and other such international financial aid organizations are all gigantic scams designed to subjugate Third World countries?

We address this very question in book two of our international thriller series of novels in which the all-powerful founding members of a fictitious super-secretive agency with serious New World order plans consider how best to create enormous wealth in the quickest possible time. In their view, the easiest way to do that is to siphon as many mineral riches as they can out of Third World countries � an age-old practice tried and tested.

Few would argue that Third World countries get a raw deal. To highlight just one industry on one continent, blockbuster movies like the Leonardo DiCaprio-headlined Blood Diamond have spotlighted the corruption that flourishes in Africa’s multi-trillion dollar diamond industry.

However, we are aware that to suggest the likes of the IMF and the World Bank are scams designed to subjugate Third World countries may sound ridiculous. Right? Well, do the research and you’ll find, as we did, that many globalization commentators concur the suggestion is not remotely ridiculous.

Before we expand on this alternative version of international aid, we’d like to separate the aforementioned financial aid organizations and their ilk from genuine charity organizations.

There are too many legitimate organizations to list here, but they include the likes of Save the Children, Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, CARE, Oxfam and Refugees International. Whilst some of these organizations have their critics, most people would agree their intentions are noble, the services they deliver invaluable � often lifesaving � and the people delivering those services extremely conscientious and passionate about what they do.

We also need to stress that none of our criticism of international financial aid agencies disregards the fact that 99% of those who work in such organizations are good, honest people. As is usually the case, it’s often those at the very top (the 1%) who are corrupt. These senior executives often undermine, or even completely override, the otherwise decent and charitable work carried out by others in their organization.

Our alternative version of international aid suggests that money given or loaned by international organizations like the IMF and the World Bank is no different to banks dolling out credit cards to individual customers. And just as banks offer credit to customers so that they (the banks) can make money, this theory also suggests these big, so-called aid organizations are purely profit-motivated and not remotely charitable.

Let’s explore this comparison a little deeper�

Banks know that some customers will pay off their credit cards quickly without incurring much interest. They also know a small percentage will have to be written off as bad debts, and they allow for this in their profit forecasts.

However, the vast majority of customers who take on new credit cards will be indebted to the bank for months, years or even for the rest of their lives. Some of these customers will manage, barely, while some will be completely snowed under and one step away from bankruptcy.

Banks make the bulk of their profits by keeping most of their customers in this perpetual cycle of paying off interest, and that’s why they regularly offer customers more credit � even, or especially, customers who are already having trouble getting themselves out of the debt cycle and who can least afford it.

Following this analogy, on the international stage the World Bank, the IMF and First World governments are the equivalent of smaller, personal banks, and impoverished Third World nations are the equivalent of customers accepting and using credit cards.

Overall, the rules are virtually identical: foster a reliance on credit amongst those you lend to then ensure the interest rates are so extreme the debt can never be paid off.

Once impoverished Third World nations are beholden to lenders, First World governments and their allied corporations regularly demand favors in return. Those favors include relinquishing political control or simply turning a blind eye to the plunder of natural resources, or both.

Manipulating the power structure of countries is done in a multitude of ways, including rigging elections, making under-the-table payments and organizing political assassinations.

When these nations are crushed, enslaved even, beneath mountains of debt, this creates enormous ongoing revenues for the lenders through high interest rates. It also allows for untold injustices to be perpetrated by major multinational corporations � injustices such as oil companies pumping toxins into rivers, logging companies destroying entire forests, pharmaceutical giants performing illegal human experimentation, manufacturers hiring people to work in inhumane conditions in sweat shops, and in some cases employing child labor.

For anyone interested in what goes on with international aid given to "Third World" countries, I recommend watching this video as a good starting point: /videos/8084...

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

James Morcan wrote: "The media regularly reminds us of the billions of dollars in aid First World governments and international aid organizations grant annually to impoverished Third World nations.

The official story..."

James, you don't have to convince me on this one. I have never trusted our Government (of either persuasion) with the peoples money especially the billions that go to overseas aide (presumably). However, I guess it will take a lot to convince our Governments to take up my previous suggestion that we use the money to send our own doctors, scientists & engineers, teachers, machinery, farmers etc who want and are able to do this work to countries like Africa to help the poor with infrastructure like digging wells and teaching methods of farming, natural methods of generating energy etc etc. So much could be done with all those billions if it could just help the people to help themselves.

The Globalisation Of Poverty: Impacts Of Imf And World Bank Reforms by Michael Chossudovsky.

“This book is also about the purposeful bankrupting of nations around the world, the inherently corrupt monetary system and the scam of modern banking � all of which have obviously become major vices of our era. I believe that financial domination is one of the main methods used to enslave the people of this world.� –Dr. Takaaki Musha, from the foreword to The Orphan Conspiracies: 29 Conspiracy Theories from The Orphan Trilogy

A group poll recently ran on this topic asking members: Do you believe global financial aid institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF and USAID primarily help or hinder Third World nations?

Here are the results:

-65.6% of members voted that global financial aid institutions Hinder the Third World
-22.2% of members voted global financial aid institutions Equally Help and Hinder the Third World
-7.8% of members voted Unsure
-4.4% of members voted global financial aid institutions Help the Third World

Check out the comments and debate that occurred during the voting period:
/poll/show/1...

thanks for posting that video link, James.
The thought of what is going on behind the scenes really get to me...it's hard to just sit back and watch a video, knowing that there's nothing I can do to make it stop.

The very people we are supporting and trusting to make the right choices turn out to be the boogeymen we want them to protect us from.

Very disheartening and frustrating to see that those who stand their ground are just permanently removed out of the way.

How do we beat them at their own game?

Lisa wrote: "How do we beat them at their own game?
..."

Well, that's where the 2016 mass production of Underground electric chairs come into the equation, Lisa. :)

Every day, people ask me "how do we change things?"
It's a bloody good question that I wish I had an answer to...Hoping this group attracts brighter minds than mine to provide some revolutionary ideas to fix the system which has obviously gone bust.

In the meantime, I personally think the best way is to spread "underground knowledge" (i.e. all those important, groundbreaking facts and concepts that were never reported on by the media) so the mass public can awaken. Right now there is a dearth of that sort of knowledge and people simply just believe and regurgitate whatever is fed to them via the mainstream media.

Once enough people are awake, then I don't think it's about beating anyone or killing anyone or punishing bad guys. At that point, it will simply be about the People rising up and taking the freedom and justice they deserve. It'll just happen organically. I think many of the injustices in the world are a symptom of most of us being asleep to what is really going on, rather than us being up against some undefeatable enemy.

Long time back I read very good book, the book name is The gigantic casino: reflections on the world financial crisis

Mayank wrote: "Long time back I read very good book, the book name is The gigantic casino: reflections on the world financial crisis"

Written by Fidel Castro???
Still, the title The Gigantic Casino sounds like an apt description of the global economy!

James Morcan wrote: "Mayank wrote: "Long time back I read very good book, the book name is The gigantic casino: reflections on the world financial crisis"

Written by Fidel Castro???
Still, the title Th..."

Yes, sir.. it's written by Fidel Castro. I am sure this book gonna give you chill, James. It's about the recession that hit US in 2008. Plus, there is a famous speech of Fidel Castro. As far as I remember, this book is not even 100 pages but brilliant one.

Thanks Mayank - I'll check it out.

This isn't a big surprise. We always knew the aid was something to hold over heads when we really, really want something. Just look at our reaction after we killed Bin Laden in Pakistan. "Oh, you're upset because we found the world's worst terrorist in your country? Maybe we need to rethink all that aid we're sending your way..."

Before the market crash, China was traveling the world, dealing with countries the US wouldn't, and trying to secure their resources before we become desperate, or before a regime change puts in leaders we are willing to work with. Throughout Africa, China earned friends not by giving aid, but by investing in infrastructure. Not only does the investment spur these nations to trade with China over the US, but it also has the advantage of making it easier for China to move those resources out of those countries.

The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals & the Truth about Global Corruption



The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

The Guardian: Aid in reverse - how poor countries develop rich countries
New research shows that developing countries send trillions of dollars more to the west than the other way around. Why?


We have long been told a compelling story about the relationship between rich countries and poor countries. The story holds that the rich nations of the OECD give generously of their wealth to the poorer nations of the global south, to help them eradicate poverty and push them up the development ladder. Yes, during colonialism western powers may have enriched themselves by extracting resources and slave labour from their colonies � but that’s all in the past. These days, they give more than $125bn (£102bn) in aid each year � solid evidence of their benevolent goodwill.

This story is so widely propagated by the aid industry and the governments of the rich world that we have come to take it for granted. But it may not be as simple as it appears.

The US-based Global Financial Integrity (GFI) and the Centre for Applied Research at the Norwegian School of Economics recently published some fascinating data. They tallied up all of the financial resources that get transferred between rich countries and poor countries each year: not just aid, foreign investment and trade flows (as previous studies have done) but also non-financial transfers such as debt cancellation, unrequited transfers like workers� remittances, and unrecorded capital flight (more of this later). As far as I am aware, it is the most comprehensive assessment of resource transfers ever undertaken.

The flow of money from rich countries to poor countries pales in comparison to the flow that runs in the other direction
What they discovered is that the flow of money from rich countries to poor countries pales in comparison to the flow that runs in the other direction.

In 2012, the last year of recorded data, developing countries received a total of $1.3tn, including all aid, investment, and income from abroad. But that same year some $3.3tn flowed out of them. In other words, developing countries sent $2tn more to the rest of the world than they received. If we look at all years since 1980, these net outflows add up to an eye-popping total of $16.3tn � that’s how much money has been drained out of the global south over the past few decades. To get a sense for the scale of this, $16.3tn is roughly the GDP of the United States

What this means is that the usual development narrative has it backwards. Aid is effectively flowing in reverse. Rich countries aren’t developing poor countries; poor countries are developing rich ones.

What do these large outflows consist of? Well, some of it is payments on debt. Developing countries have forked out over $4.2tn in interest payments alone since 1980 � a direct cash transfer to big banks in New York and London, on a scale that dwarfs the aid that they received during the same period. Another big contributor is the income that foreigners make on their investments in developing countries and then repatriate back home. Think of all the profits that BP extracts from Nigeria’s oil reserves, for example, or that Anglo-American pulls out of South Africa’s gold mines.

But by far the biggest chunk of outflows has to do with unrecorded � and usually illicit � capital flight. GFI calculates that developing countries have lost a total of $13.4tn through unrecorded capital flight since 1980.

Most of these unrecorded outflows take place through the international trade system. Basically, corporations � foreign and domestic alike � report false prices on their trade invoices in order to spirit money out of developing countries directly into tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions, a practice known as “trade misinvoicing�. Usually the goal is to evade taxes, but sometimes this practice is used to launder money or circumvent capital controls. In 2012, developing countries lost $700bn through trade misinvoicing, which outstripped aid receipts that year by a factor of five.

Multinational companies also steal money from developing countries through “same-invoice faking�, shifting profits illegally between their own subsidiaries by mutually faking trade invoice prices on both sides. For example, a subsidiary in Nigeria might dodge local taxes by shifting money to a related subsidiary in the British Virgin Islands, where the tax rate is effectively zero and where stolen funds can’t be traced.

GFI doesn’t include same-invoice faking in its headline figures because it is very difficult to detect, but they estimate that it amounts to another $700bn per year. And these figures only cover theft through trade in goods. If we add theft through trade in services to the mix, it brings total net resource outflows to about $3tn per year.

That’s 24 times more than the aid budget. In other words, for every $1 of aid that developing countries receive, they lose $24 in net outflows. These outflows strip developing countries of an important source of revenue and finance for development. The GFI report finds that increasingly large net outflows have caused economic growth rates in developing countries to decline, and are directly responsible for falling living standards.

Who is to blame for this disaster? Since illegal capital flight is such a big chunk of the problem, that’s a good place to start. Companies that lie on their trade invoices are clearly at fault; but why is it so easy for them to get away with it? In the past, customs officials could hold up transactions that looked dodgy, making it nearly impossible for anyone to cheat. But the World Trade Organisation claimed that this made trade inefficient, and since 1994 customs officials have been required to accept invoiced prices at face value except in very suspicious circumstances, making it difficult for them to seize illicit outflows.

Still, illegal capital flight wouldn’t be possible without the tax havens. And when it comes to tax havens, the culprits are not hard to identify: there are more than 60 in the world, and the vast majority of them are controlled by a handful of western countries. There are European tax havens such as Luxembourg and Belgium, and US tax havens like Delaware and Manhattan. But by far the biggest network of tax havens is centered around the City of London, which controls secrecy jurisdictions throughout the British Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories.

In other words, some of the very countries that so love to tout their foreign aid contributions are the ones enabling mass theft from developing countries.

The aid narrative begins to seem a bit naïve when we take these reverse flows into account. It becomes clear that aid does little but mask the maldistribution of resources around the world. It makes the takers seem like givers, granting them a kind of moral high ground while preventing those of us who care about global poverty from understanding how the system really works.

Poor countries don’t need charity. They need justice. And justice is not difficult to deliver. We could write off the excess debts of poor countries, freeing them up to spend their money on development instead of interest payments on old loans; we could close down the secrecy jurisdictions, and slap penalties on bankers and accountants who facilitate illicit outflows; and we could impose a global minimum tax on corporate income to eliminate the incentive for corporations to secretly shift their money around the world.

We know how to fix the problem. But doing so would run up against the interests of powerful banks and corporations that extract significant material benefit from the existing system. The question is, do we have the courage?

Lance, the problem is not, do we have the courage, but rather, do we have the means? The problem with tax havens is you have to close the lot all at the same time, and getting the coordination would be essentially impossible. If you don't, but simply close some, the money simply transfers.

Maybe dealing with the WTO regulations is a better option for trade. The invoice should accompany the goods, or an independent record of the goods. Thus for oil, a clear record of how much was pumped, when, and the world price that day should be the value of it.

However, the real problem, in my view, is the banking system. It is working solely for the benefit of a very few, who are quite happy to get extraordinarily rich at the expense of anybody else. But even closing that down would not stop the export of funds by dictators, etc. It wouldn't even be so bad if it were limited to what was needed should they have to flee to stay alive, but in many cases enormous amounts just disappear and are never used.

There is probably no solution, except possibly the Heydrich solution - anybody caught goes to a certain camp and is made an example of to others. But I doubt we would be prepared for that, and it would be very difficult to contain that and we would end up with an even worse situation. So maybe there is no solution?

Ian wrote: "Lance, the problem is not, do we have the courage, but rather, do we have the means? The problem with tax havens is you have to close the lot all at the same time, and getting the coordination woul..."

I like to think there's always a solution. (There has to be). I acknowledge corruption - internal corruption that is, by Third World dictators - is a huge problem, but I'd suggest their activities pale into insignificance next to the modus operandi of the international financial aid organisations. Sort them out (and the governments backing them) and the problems would be halfway solved at least.

Certainly the banks are complicit, Lance. I mean, when the President of third world country X deposits a billion dollars, you don't have to have an IQ of 160 to work out that did not come from salary.

Ian wrote: "Certainly the banks are complicit, Lance. I mean, when the President of third world country X deposits a billion dollars, you don't have to have an IQ of 160 to work out that did not come from salary."

Agreed Ian. But that doesn't mean there's no solution.

I can't see any solution in our system where the politicians need donations from the oligarchs to run their election campaigns - and have to be kind to said oligarchs, instead of throwing them into camp.

We will be building an entirely new system, Ian.

You underestimate what the common people will demand (and their immense powers), once they realise they have been duped and that there is no democracy. Once that happens and enough "underground knowledge" becomes common knowledge, then it's literally a case of "What sort of world do WE the People want to live in?" In other words, the 1% don't have a shot in hell of dictating to the 99% once the 99% awaken...And the 99% are VERY close now....

As for corruption within the Third World, and the types of leaders you refer to, I think the primary question needs to be: who is the West is allowing or even encouraging such corruption? Who is encouraging them to accept loan after loan from the likes of the World Bank?

Ah, James, an optimist. Also, your primary question is spot on, but who will do something about the answer?

Ian wrote: "Ah, James, an optimist. Also, your primary question is spot on, but who will do something about the answer?"

I would rather use the term: a realist :)
Because last time I checked with mathematicians, 99% was a lot greater than 1%. If we the common people (worldwide, including in so-called Third World nations) become aware of the game the global elite are playing against us, then it's game over for them and that whole unjust political'/financial system. And it's nowhere near as hard as we have been lead to believe. All these centuries of control and creating serfs out of the masses, it's been an information war...WE have been easily manipulated because we never had the information or knowledge the elitists did...Humanity has never had more information as now, however, and awareness is growing. All the awareness you yourself have (e.g. political chicanery, banking corruption, warmongering of the elite, etc), is becoming the norm, not a rare thing anymore.

So the answer to your latest question is in my opinion...us!
We the people will create true democracy in all forms and uplift all nations. We will demand and create equality for all peoples worldwide and the illusion of Third World status will be removed forever.

It has already begun, in fact. Events like the Occupy Movement were a LOT closer to reshaping the world forever than has been reported...Now next time it'll be Occupy times 10 or times 100...Can you imagine such an uprising?

Those pathetic little elitists are gonna be running for their lives like the Nazis after WW2 ;)

The trouble with the masses is someone always rises to the top and behaves just as badly, but, as I said, I like an optimist.

The last few posts make this thread very interesting. The us of which you speak, however, is a very fragile and amorphous entity, turning up in history from time to time and then dissolving again. A lot of "uses" wanted to alter things but then got stamped down again. Remember the opposition has got the media, the cops, the courts and the army.

They got the guns, but we got the numbers...

Another point to consider...

I've known some of the oppressed and "survivors" of several dark situations in recent history...

Those in Apartheid South Africa
Those in Nazi Germany
Those in the Soviet Union

All told me that at the time they all thought it was a hopeless situation and that they thought the regime would never be defeated.

But in the end, against all odds, they crumbled...and earlier in most cases than even the most optimistic forecasters predicted...

WikiLeaks: The New Dirty War for Africa's uranium and mineral rights

"Today, Friday 5 February at 08:30 CET, WikiLeaks releases a collection of documents that open up a corrupt multi-billion dollar war by Western and Chinese companies grab uranium and other mining rights in the Central African Republic (CAR) and escape paying for the environmental consequences. Among the hundreds of pages in this publication are detailed maps of mining rights, mining contracts with illegal kickbacks and secret investigative reports. The documents have been long sought by fraud investigators. In December 2015 a case was filed against Areva, alleging corruption related to the �1.8 billion purchase of three uranium mines in 2007."

The Aid Trap: Hard Truths About Ending Poverty

Jeremy Corbyn, Bernie Sanders Back Ecuador Anti-IMF Protests
“Let’s give a shout out to those people in Ecuador that are standing up against what the IMF are doing to their economy and their people"

Holy shit, I think the Ghanaian President just told the French President to "fuck off and leave our minerals alone", but in the most erudite way... Go Ghana! Go Africa!

🇬🇭Ghana President Leaves French President SPEECHLESS!!

James wrote: "The Aid Trap: Hard Truths About Ending Poverty

"

I know is an old article taken from the 2011, the reality that recalls remind to many years of study, it gives you anyway an idea that poverty in the US is like any other disease. Who knows the real number adding those who had survived from their status.