We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Vulture funds: US court ruling on Argentina enrages debt justice campaigners

Click here to access article by Bodo Ellmers from The Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt.
The long litigation odyssey between the government of Argentina and holdout creditors continues. Debt justice campaigners in Argentina and the USA are enraged about a new ruling by the New York appeals court in favour of the vulture funds
That these international banking institutions are controlled mostly by the US that used its clout following WWII to establish them is rarely mentioned in any articles related to them. These banks are key players in the US dominated capitalist Empire.
The USA is the IMF’s largest shareholder and is endowed with a de facto veto right over its decisions.
For more information of the use of vulture funds and sovereign debts that have been used by major banks to hold entire nations in debt to them, I recommend the following links: this, this, this, and this. Also, read Confessions of an Economic Hit Man in which author John Perkins provides all the nefarious details on how this banking scam works.