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To: Constant Reader who wrote (14709)	6/11/2002 8:53:46 PM
From: Dayuhan	Respond to of 21057

One difference is that when a poor country uses subsidies, the IMF comes down like a ton of bricks and threatens to chop their credit. Rich countries operate under no such constraints. I remember when the Marcos dictatorship fell... for years he'd been subsidizing and controlling the prices of rice, electricity, fuel, public transport, etc. Nobody had a word to say about it. Then when Aquino came in, there was the IMF on the doorstep, insisting that all the subsidies and controls go at once. Of course they were bad things, but most people here were arguing for a phased withdrawal to allow some adjustment. They didn't get it. The government was forced to eliminate the subsidies, and prices shot up almost overnight, causing much public discontent. Not a very effective way to support a transition to democratic government.