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The other day I was flipping through The Village Voice because I was out of ipecac, and I came across something interesting. Some hipster du jour named Tim Rice-Oxley, from the band Keane, took out a full page ad to share his opinions on world debt and poverty. It seems that this misguided soul is of the impression that if we could just absolve the international debts of third world countries, then somehow miraculously their poverty crises would come to a crashing halt. Not only do I not trust this individual to be a purveyor of catchy melodies, I also question his knowledge of economics.
In his diatribe he never mentions how exactly this transformation is to take place. Granted a poor nation that suddenly had zero debt could conceivably reduce taxes and turn revenue inward. But isn't simply wiping the slate clean of debt a very dangerous precedent? It seems like a slippery slope to me. What's next, we do away with currency altogether so we can happily exist in the confines of the "Honor System"? In the ad, the author also fails to mention any disdain for the dictators that control most third world countries. This is at the root of the problem, it's the lack of individual freedom that keeps the masses downtrodden and enslaved. Simply taking a magic wand and waving away international debts will not bring anyone out of poverty. Realistically it would just further line the pockets of the very despots that are responsible in the first place. Allowing everyone the freedom and opportunity to become producers and entrepreneurs is what will change the tide of global poverty.
Poverty is always going to exist, because there will always be people who choose to consistently make the wrong decisions and not take responsibility afterwards. A large scale reduction of poverty, however, is possible, but it takes courage and fortitude to fight the forces of tyranny and collectivism that are at it's core. So perhaps this neophyte tunesmith shouldn't waste his money on full page advertisements and instead invest in any number of books by Thomas Sowell et al.
posted by Chris B. @ 9:03:00 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
I wonder how Mr. Rice-Oxley (is it Rice, is it Oxley...choose one already) feels about the rising consumer debt within our own borders. I assume, based on his "golbal" perspective, that he thinks banks should erase all credit card debt and forego any profits they might have realized based on the risk they assumed. So, the average family has $8000 more, but who is there to lend money (and of course, eventually erase the debt) to those hard workers that lose their jobs when the banks close their doors? Of course, the government, who else?! It seems that $8,000 per family credit card debt just became another tax increase to cover the additional social and welfare programs needed to assist the growimg number of unemployed bankers. So, who's better off after all of this???
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