Posts tagged World Bank
Teach the Man how to Fish
…and how to paddle and probably even build the boat, too—one step at a time, with not just one person doing the teaching part.
ODA (official development assistance) may no longer be that sustainable, considering the shifts of economic powers and political positions in the world order in the last half-decade. In the last two decades we also saw the rise of corporate foundations (CSRs), multi-laterals, development agencies and bi-lateral relations come to the fore in advancing global development.
An alarming consequence of Greece’s economic meltdown has been the rise of the virulently ultra-nationalist political party, Golden Dawn. In this week’s issue of TIME, we report on the group’s tactics and ideology as well as the political climate that feeds Golden Dawn’s anti-immigrant drive.
Hardly surprising, given the Greeks’ own history of xenophobia in general; and the current economic state coupled with their internal political tiffs.
Chronic, Global and Contagious (1 of 2)
One most talked-about issue in any government—industrialised or developing nations, democratic or communist societies—is the eternal plague of corruption in their institutions. Spurring endless debates on its effects, though not so much on the root causes nor its remedies, the issue of [corruption] is one that easily attracts holier-than-thou attitudes among a general public especially in societies where it mirrors all aspects of governance and leadership.
If the church or any religious organisation wants to get involved in politics by preaching from the pulpit and telling their followers how to vote on certain bills during election time or commit felonies, then it is time that their tax exempt status is taken away. Yes, there are some good churches and organisations that do wonderful stuff for people and the poor, but they need to know their place and stay within it. And that place is NOT in the political arena.
If they truly want to get involved in politics, let them, but their tax exempt status must be revoked. They will be just fine without and they will be able to survive. The Catholic Church has billions and billions of dollars to sustain them. Besides, aren’t they the ones to always say, “Do not worry, God will provide”? If they are truly following God’s word (whatever that means), I am sure he will take care of them. […] Freedom OF Religion is fine and I am all for it, but the way this going is, it looks as if the government will have to step in and change it to Freedom FROM Religion.
I support…the end of the socio-political grip of the Catholic Church in this country; the end of hypocrisy over real issues and oblivion to the truth; and the end of the deception that for centuries has kept this society backward, cowardly and weak. To the members of Congress, with or without bribe (as that priest so mightily proclaimed at the pulpit last Sunday), please vote with your conscience—keeping in mind that overpopulation is as much a moral issue than it is economic, political or financial. Don’t let these sex-starved and denialist bishops and clergy scare you with tales of hell and hollow promises of salvation.
Dear World Bank.
I rest my case.
—Poor Countries
Dear World Bank,
This is a test of your sincerity in alleviating the world from poverty, in real terms that will transcend from your didactic hypocrisy to what you so cleverly call (and impose to be the) Third World.
Still waiting for tangible results,
Poor Countries.
Well done Warsaw: Poland’s debt trumps Germany’s and America’s
Anyone who takes financial-market indicators as a guide to the real world must be mad or a banker. But it is still interesting to note, as Bloomberg has just calculated, that on risk-adjusted returns Polish government bonds are a better bet than either German bunds or US Treasuries. The Bloomberg ranking gives Poland the top spot with an 8.3% return in local currency in the three years to February 6th, against 4% for German government debt and 3% for the US paper. Polish debt was only ninth in total returns, but shot up the index because of its lower volatility.
That is better news for lenders than taxpayers: Polish borrowing costs are still quite high by international standards, at around 6%. But it is a feather in the cap for Poland’s finance minister, Jan Rostowski, who has piloted the country almost unscathed through the economic storms in the euro zone.
Poland is striving to get the budget deficit below 3% of GDP this year, which is a condition of eligibility for euro zone entry in 2015. However Mr Rostowski is backing away from that target: he told the BBC that Poland would join the common currency “only when it is safe to do so”.
Along with AA- credit ratings for Estonia and the Czech Republic (better than Italy’s), the Bloomberg calculations help highlight the relative economic strength of countries that were once part of the continent’s “east European” periphery.
In The Economist, 8 February 2012. Story in: http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2012/02/well-done-warsaw?fsrc=scn/fb/wl/bl/polandsdebttrumps
