Busting leftist myths about international organizations

Economics Economics Questions
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1

International organizations I am referring to are primarily the World Bank, IMF, WTO, UN

My basic argument is that these institutions ruin poor people of the world through debt enslavement, prop up dictatorships, and contribute to world inflation by making governments conform to international currency agreements that force central banks to debase along with the US dollar so that no significant BOP adjustments will be necessary. In other words, everybody inflates at the same time, spreading the damage equally. I say that free market or ‘neoliberalism’ (whatever that means) is not to blame for the plight of poor countries, but governments who give exclusive grants to fascist corporations to be the sole provider of essentials such as water and electricity for the country.

Additionally, environmental regulation restricts poor countries from getting electricity, clean water, and important chemicals to fight diseases like malaria. I tell the leftist to look at results and not the intentions of these programs. That the gravest problems in the world are created by allegedly good intentioned people working for the common good.

But the leftist doesn’t seem to believe me because he wants empirical data or authoritative sources. I find that there are fewer free market oriented sources on this than there are leftist sources about these organizations.

As icing on the cake, I say that free market is not imposed. If we really had genuine international trade, we wouldn’t need WTO. Poor countries do not need IMF and WB if they were to really liberalize. That supranational governments imposing a free market in a country is a contradiction in logic.

Can anybody give me the best sources for me to better equip myself in the battle of ideas? I would like to get sources/books/websites that address especially how the IMF and WB are NOT free market institutions. It would be better if they were not from Mises Institute.

2

Neoliberalism is not free market. Neo-liberalism started as a kind of third way between laisez fair and full fascism/socialism, a sort of “pro-market” interventionist ideology. Basically interventionist who wanted to use a market rethoric. That was in the 30’s. Since then neoliberalism has been used a lot by different people to refer to different ideologies but basically it has been used as an insult. It does not describe a real ideology or a real movement.

And your analisis about the WTO and IMF and the rest are spot on. I too want the resources you are asking for.

EDIT: Just came to me. Ron Paul has introduced laws in congress to get the USA out of the WTO, IMF, ONU and the rest. I believe is the only one. Ron Paul is for free trade. Ask your friends why would Ron Paul be against those organizations if they suposedly support free trade.

3

I don’t see how you can possibly have this problem. The definition of a free market is not empirical. Try “Free association + Homesteading”.

The simplest way I can put it is this. If you loan money to a dictator, who owes you money? The dictator. NOT the people of the country. Lending money to to a dictator and then holding his people accountable is like lending money to a person and then saying his family owes you money. Its aggression disguised by the nationalist fallacy everyone subscribes to. Countries do not borrow money, individuals do.

On a free market, there would be loans made to impoverished people, but you would never be able to recoup those losses by aggressively appropriating that ethnic group’s water supplies. That violates the free market homesteading principle…

You especially wouldn’t have these organizations lending money to dictators and bribing them not to pay loans back :slight_smile: The IMF, USAID and WB are all owned by western countries. I believe the US is plurality shareholder in all these organizations. We are forced to support them as they inflate our currency to carry out their schemes. They could never do this if we weren’t bound to the US Dollar. No one would prefer paper money over gold if they had the choice. They don’t because of legal tender laws and the capital gains tax.