Process
Status Items Output None Questions None Claims None Highlights Done See section below
Highlights
id576868809
The IMF has always pushed vulnerable countries to open markets, liberalize exchange rates, privatize state companies, and slash vital public spending. These measures (according to the IMF’s own research) only worsen poverty and inequality, but are good at protecting private investors who have money on the line and need to be paid back.
✏️ The predatory behavior of the IMF. Giving out loans to those in need, with strings attached to convert them into neoliberal, capitalist grounds that increase poverty and inequality towards the primary goal of protecting the private investors who need to be paid back. It’s capitalist drug dealing with a backend of pimp/sex worker dynamics? 🔗 View Highlight
id576869257
over the course of the virus (from 2020 to 2022), 87 percent of lending came with new demands for austerity. In May of this year, Ghana unlocked a 3 billion program as well, but the IMF pushed harder for the country to sell stakes in several state-owned companies and shift to a flexible exchange rate. Pakistan late last month liberalized markets, raised taxes, and cut energy subsidies in a bid to unlock another $3 billion in a standby arrangement.
✏️ Examples of that dynamic in action. Money in exchange for austerity and conversion from public to private arrangements. The needs of the people get sacrificed for the needs of the investors. 🔗 View Highlight
id576869550
the IMF’s shareholder model — which gives more voting power to countries that can pledge more money
✏️ One of the core failings of the IMF is this undemocratic political asymmetry / power imbalance. 🔗 View Highlight