China’s loans pushing world’s poorest countries to brink of collapse

[Twilight Hue]

Oh you mean the spending that has gone on unchecked under republican presidents and House majorities? Have you noticed it's never a problem until there's a democrat president and republican House? And how they are going about it is insane. Republicans cut taxes and then want to cut spending, but there is only a small sliver of the pie that can actually be cut, and that is social services. Cutting these puts a lot of poor people at risk. And what happens when the poor are starved and stressed? More crime. And then there is more demand for communities to hire police, and how does that get paid for?

This is the problem with republican idealsim, they don't think ahead about consequences. No thoughts on consequences of climate change and fossil fuel burning, no consequences on immigration policies that hurt many farmers and construction companies, no consequences for the lack of gun regulation, no consequences for limiting health care access, no consequences for banning abortion access, etc.

If republicans want to negotiate the budget, then they can do it without threats of economic collapse, don't you think?

If the economy collapses because the republicans refuse to raise the debt limit will they learn a lesson? They sure as hell won't win the presidency.

Just more bluster as if the government is buying bigger screen TV's for all citizens. Our nation needs to function, and that requires spending, just as much as you have a budget in your life. If your job cut your paycheck by 20% abruptly and had to default on your mortgage or credit cards, would you blame yourself? We all live our lives with a budget, and having financial stability is crucial for us. The government is no different. If republicans really wanted to balance the budget they would have worked towards that end in 2017-2020. They didn't. Theuy cut taxes, and the debt went up.

All it takes is downsizing the government bloat.

The money will appear.

Democrats want the opposite. Raise taxes and impoverish the very people that are paying the government, and a hint, it's mostly the middle class and poor, not the elites that will suffer ever than before from the ever sucking black money hole called government.

 

[F1fan]

All it takes is downsizing the government bloat.

The money will appear.

Democrats want the opposite. Raise taxes and impoverish the very people that are paying the government,

Really, can you provide evidence that democrats have an agenda to impoverish anyone?

and a hint, it's mostly the middle class and poor, not the elites that will suffer ever than before from the ever sucking black money hole called government.

Since the republican tax cuts in 2017 helped the wealthiest at 83% the burden will fall on the middle class. This has to include state and local taxes that are raised since there are federal cuts to states and cities. So to say that tax cuts help the middle class don't take into account other taxes to offset the federal, which as noted helped the richest pay less. And what happened? The debt went up. Who's going to pay for it? The wealthy who can afford to hide their money? No. The middle class gets the bill kicked down the road. What do republicans blame? Spending by democrats. And as also noted the cuts affect the poorest, and when you stress the poor crime goes up. Who will be blamed?

 

[metis]

Really, can you provide evidence that democrats have an agenda to impoverish anyone?

Since the republican tax cuts in 2017 helped the wealthiest at 83% the burden will fall on the middle class. This has to include state and local taxes that are raised since there are federal cuts to states and cities. So to say that tax cuts help the middle class don't take into account other taxes to offset the federal, which as noted helped the richest pay less. And what happened? The debt went up. Who's going to pay for it? The wealthy who can afford to hide their money? No. The middle class gets the bill kicked down the road. What do republicans blame? Spending by democrats. And as also noted the cuts affect the poorest, and when you stress the poor crime goes up. Who will be blamed?

Ah please, don't let the facts confuse the poor lad?

 

[Revoltingest]

And why would the Army not know how to buy Worcestershire sauce?

A common problem in the military is the propensity to
create a Mil-Spec for some product that could be bought
"off the shelf", but can't now. So the Mil-Spec is sent out
for bids, which generally cost far more than commercially
available products. If $6000 could enable buying the
product from Costco, we'd save orders of magnitude
more than the study's cost.

 

[Revoltingest]

Really, can you provide evidence that democrats have an agenda to impoverish anyone?

One of their tricks is to offer benefits that disappear
if the recipient works, & earns any money.
2 different single mothers I know were advised by
government social workers to quit their jobs because
they'ed receive more total money by being unemployed.

Now, there's a question whether Dems intended
keeping them down, or if they're just too dumb to
realize the consequences of dysfunctional incentives.
I can't help you there.

 

[F1fan]

One of their tricks is to offer benefits that disappear
if the recipient works, & earns any money.
2 different single mothers I know were advised by
government social workers to quit their jobs because
they'ed receive more total money by being unemployed.

That sounds like conflicts between different areas of society. Government could set policies to streamline these differences. Having universal healthcare would be a way to ease pressure on wages and businesses.

Now, there's a question whether Dems intended
keeping them down, or if they're just too dumb to
realize the consequences of dysfunctional incentives.
I can't help you there.

Dems show themselves to prefer spending more money than less if it means kids get fed and families stay in housing and school. The compromises about social services means a lot of changes and adjustments to ongoing programs, and instability hurts. I wish republicans would value the poor as much as they do the rich. The "every man for himself" approach will always favor those with more resources, and those with the least will have no way to compete.

 

[Wu Wei]

China's loans pushing world’s poorest countries to brink of collapse

A dozen poor countries are facing economic instability and even collapse under the weight of hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign loans, much of them from the world’s biggest and most unforgiving government lender, China.

apnews.com

It's a long article, but rather informative. It details how many governments are close to default or collapse due to the increasing burden of foreign debt. Kenya, Mongolia, Zambia, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan are going through severe economic crises at present. I recall Sri Lanka had a major upheaval last year when protesters took over the Presidential Palace and swam in his swimming pool. But they're still in a serious mess.

For their part, the Chinese are saying that they're trying to help, though they're blaming the US and the Federal Reserve. Meanwhile, Pakistan had to buy discounted oil from Putin just to keep the lights burning.

In Zambia, some people can't afford to buy food.



It's hard to know how much these countries owe because many of the loans are secret.

Does anyone foresee a time when the world will be debt-free?

Come to think of it, they've been talking about the possibility of a U.S. default. Is the world run by loan sharks?

What do you think?

What do you think the goal of their 'belt and road initiative' has been all about.

 

[Stevicus]

What do you think the goal of their 'belt and road initiative' has been all about.

Loansharking, I suppose.

 

[Wu Wei]

Loansharking, I suppose.

Kinda sorta

 

[LuisDantas]

When I see this kind of claim here in Brazil (there used to be a whole lot of similar accusations made towards the IMF back in the 1980s and 1990s, and they never really went away), China isn't really the target. The popular perception is that the IMF is a malign entity acting as a proxy of some sort of the equally malignant USA, presumably so that Brazil does not eclipse it or simply to steal our wealth. Or something. Brazilians aren' particularly rational, least of all when talking about international politics.

Still, I am not sure I see grounds to criticize China (or the IMF, for that matter) for simply offering loans. Sure, they have goals and interests there. It isn't exactly a deep mystery. I'm sure most third world countries would welcome better offers if they were available.

In the real world, countries aren't very often willing to offer money to other countries to any significant extent, and there is never a lack of communities that simply can't very well refuse financial aid of any form. Greece and Argentina come to mind, but there are really many, many others.

At the end of the day, the plain fact is that humanity as a whole rarely has any great success at building financially sustainable communities.