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Street Smarts
March 18, 2013 | 39 comments
At Large
Here I Come to Save the Day
How I would lead the World Bank.
(Page 2 of 2)
I believe that wealth can be created when the poor are allowed freedom and opportunity — when there are private property rights, justice and the rule of law, freedom to start a business without oppressive regulation, and freedom to enter into networks of productivity and “circles of exchange.” I believe — in fact, I know — that the poor can create wealth and prosperity for themselves, their families and their communities that no state or international agency could ever create.
I actually believe “the children are the future” and therefore think we should be spending resources to keep them alive and to give them opportunity not to reduce population through abortion, sterilization, and making development assistance contingent upon population control. Unlike Professor Sachs, I prefer economic reality to his claim that the world is “bursting at the seams.” As president of the World Bank I would stop the funding of abortions that have led to the death of millions of unborn children in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and that has led to what Nicholas Eberstadt documents in his article “The Global War on Baby Girls,” and what even the New York Times has described as “The Daughter Deficit” and the Economist has labeled called “Gendercide.” As president of the World Bank I would promote a culture that respects all life — including that of unborn women.
I also believe that the real development professionals are not people like Professor Sachs and certainly not me. I believe the real development professionals are the entrepreneurs and a new generation of local leaders who recognize the creative potential of people. They are the only ones who can create the institutions of wealth creation and long term sustainable development.
On second thought — I don’t really want to be president of the World Bank. In fact, I don’t really believe in the World Bank. It was formed at Bretton Woods with the original intent of rebuilding Europe. When this task was taken over by the Marshall Plan, the World Bank, like any bureaucracy worth its salt, went looking for a new mission because, after all, where else would all those technocrats and development specialists work? The World Bank’s mission “dreams of world without poverty; to fight poverty with professionalism and lasting results.” The best way to fight poverty with lasting results is to allow entrepreneurs and businesses to flourish. I think it would better for everyone if the World Bank were closed down. I am sure there are many fine, dedicated, and well intended people who have worked at the World Bank over the years. Instead of using their talent and knowledge as part of a broken system they could focus on partnering with poor, starting businesses, or maybe become venture capitalists providing investments to help grow local business throughout the developing world.
The developing world doesn’t need another neo-colonial master. They’ve had enough. The poor don’t need another development expert. They need partners and access to markets. As a friend says, “We give aid to Africa, but we don’t do business with Africa.” We’ve had enough development professionals, celebrity campaigns and wristbands — its time for something new. It is time to do business.
Let’s get started.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (9) | Leave a comment
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Jack in Wi.| 3.20.12 @ 6:37AM
Lets get rid of the World Bank, IMF, Federal Reserve, American foreign aid, and the UN. They have all been money pits and piggy banks for the world's elites. All they do is support a lot of unsustainable ideas, that often make things worse not better.
Bulgaraicus| 3.20.12 @ 7:25AM
Amen! Close it down!
Bob K.| 3.20.12 @ 9:02AM
The only thing Sachs left out of his plan was a Sermon on the Mount to the world and a basket of 5 loaves and 2 fishes!
What do you think of throwing that into your plan, Mr. Miller?
albert constantine jr.| 3.20.12 @ 11:35AM
I think Mr. Miller’s ideas have merit, in that it views the impoverished as individuals who should be given an opportunity to succeed, rather than “masses” in need of care and control.
On the other hand, I don’t think the World Bank should necessarily be closed down; all of the well-meaning, along with technocrats, kleptocrats and poverty pimps would be out of a job, and in danger themselves of being impoverished if they haven’t developed productive skills. I just feel we needn’t fund it.
Theo Prinse| 3.20.12 @ 12:09PM
I know Professor Sachs from CNN European edition. Prof Sachs is more or less for tiers economics. Although Sachs seems to distinguish between the two opposites: crony re-distributive capitalists versus venture innovative capitalism .. but he is not.
Prof. Sachs is for the pseudo small capitalist whether crony or venture .. This approach cannot solve the current worlds economic crisis.
What causes the problem in today's economic crisis is the high energy price in relation to the low supply of energy.
But this worlds energy shortage in connection with US military dependence of Saudi-islam-oil and all its Sunni corrupt Muslim Brotherhood Outreach infiltration of US institutions and Government .. is getting confused with Iran's insinuation of a Gulf regional nuclear arms race and the Pakistani Taliban getting grips of that of Pakistan ... and getting confused with the trillions USD health Care Plan etc ..
The two axes of the current economic crisis are: US-Saudi oil and the US-China's debt dependency ..
Sachs is still confused in Antropogenic Global Warming hypothesis, the lie of Sustainability and the vehement anti-Thorium Nuclear Energy lobby as just merely one of the many linchpins of the Clintons Muslim Outreach, The Cloward–Piven strategy being a political strategy outlined in 1966 by American sociologists and political activists Richard Cloward (1926–2001) and Frances Piven, the Derrick Bell, Rev. Wright, Elena Kazan and Casandra Butts Critical Race Theory and the birth and Osama's death certificate Kenian ...
Westie| 3.20.12 @ 2:04PM
!st choice is to rid the world of all these crony communist one world organizations like the World Bank, IMF and up to the largest cesspool, the UN. If that's not possible then never give Sachs the job.
PJ| 3.20.12 @ 4:39PM
Jeffrey Sachs is a dangerous man. He wants all 1st world countries to be taxed 1% or 2% of their GNP. The proceeds will then go to a World Bank type of place to be distributed to 3rd World countries. Giving other countries' money away to poverty-stricken will not alleviate the problem & it has been proved time & time again.
Either Sachs is naive on how a bloated bureaucracies work or he is scheming to take a cut from the proceeds.
PJ| 3.20.12 @ 4:51PM
Sorry the percent is 0.7%. Friendly to the radicals, Mother Jones, interviewed Sachs: http://motherjones.com/politic.....frey-sachs
POST American| 3.21.12 @ 12:16AM
-------------------BOTTOM LINE------------------------
----------USURY-----IS-----ABOMINATION--------
WORD of GOD
LAW of MOSES
Demonstrative FIGURE of CHRIST
---Jews ----Muslims ---Christians
'A'-----theists ----take your choice.
Unaccountable, capstone USURY and
its justifications in actuarial psychopathy
-------------------BEGET----------------------
-----------------EUGENICS-------------------.
The FINAL, indeed, perhaps ONLY
'SSSS-US---STAIN---Abel' expression
of EUGENICS ---------is GENOCIDE.
"And in the camps, through the entire
war, the eternal refrain was ---WHY?
----WHY??? ------WHY????? did we
DO NOTHING when we could have???
-----------------WHY?!!!!!!--------------"
-Survivor's Testimony
As we've pointed out,
ALLLLLL human history
BEARS this out.
"Remember, in WWII, and during
the Cold War there were still functioning
soveriegn nations to resist tyranny.
ONCE the Global 'SIS---stem' is fully
operative there will be NOTHING to
stand in its way. -----NOTHING."
NEED MORE?
"Soon you will be hearing
that communism is DEAD.
---DON'T believe it!"
-Mikhail Gorbachev
1991
REMEMBER!
neither NAZIs nor Soviets nor Chinese
'CALM--YOU--nists' were EVER overthrown
by their people.
-------------YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED-------------