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Non-Tech : The ENRON Scandal -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (4531)	9/26/2002 6:11:42 PM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 5185

The era of market fundamentalism is over " Reckless deregulation in California enabled Enron and other energy companies to gouge customers." iht.com Robert Weissman The Washington Post. Thursday, September 26, 2002 Developing countries WASHINGTON Marketization, deregulation, privatization and the opportunities for market manipulation offered by inadequate regulation - all central elements in the rise and fall of Enron - are now discredited in the United States. And in developing countries, where their effects have been most devastating, they are the object of widespread public opprobrium. Unfortunately, the IMF and the World Bank continue to sing from the market fundamentalist hymnal. Just as Enron created new markets in exotic commodities such as bandwidth, so the IMF and the World Bank have worked to marketize services previously in the public and noncommercial realm. Case in point: user fees for primary health care. The World Bank continues to support such charges, even after reversing its support for education fees. The effect is to deny poor people access to care. In Papua New Guinea, for instance, introduction of user fees led to a decline of about 30 percent in the average monthly attendance at outpatient health centers. Reckless deregulation in California enabled Enron and other energy companies to gouge customers. Similarly, IMF- and World Bank-induced deregulation in developing countries has had disastrous consequences. In the Philippines and in Ghana, for example, deregulation in the mining sector has opened the country to giant multinational companies, displacing tens of thousands of residents and paving the way for environmental devastation. Central to Enron's international agenda was the takeover of privatized electricity and water services in developing countries. One country where it sought to gain control of a privatized water system was Ghana. Concerns about corruption, including those voiced by the World Bank, led to the collapse of the deal. But the World Bank continues to push for water privatization in the West African nation. In preparation, water prices have doubled, and the bank anticipates prices rising for the foreseeable future, even though poor Ghanaian consumers can pay as much as 10 to 20 percent of their income for drinking water. In a country where one-third of urban consumers are not even connected to water pipes, the private operators would have no duty to expand service to the poor. In the Dominican Republic, World Bank-supported privatization let Enron swoop in, buy parts of the electric utility and jack up rates. When consumers and the government could not pay the high prices, Enron turned off the power. Enron and other buyers of the privatized utility are now alleged to have paid too little, thanks to a valuation performed by an Arthur Andersen subsidiary. Enron's financial fraud is now legendary, but consider the IMF's deceit in Brazil. Everyone knows that the country has no prospect of paying off its foreign debt. But rather than acknowledging this and working out a discounted payment arrangement for creditors, the IMF is making new loans to pay off old ones. This has two immediate effects: It enables the private creditors, including the big U.S. banks, to be paid off, with debt obligations shifted to the IMF; and it enables the IMF to extract austerity measures from Brazil that are explicitly intended to lock in fundamentalist market policies, no matter which party Brazilians elect in coming elections. Restraints on corporate power are even more necessary in developing countries than in the United States. But the market fundamentalists at the IMF and the World Bank continue to systematically unshackle corporate activity in the Southern Hemisphere. That is a major reason why thousands will demonstrate against the IMF and the World Bank in Washington this weekend. Action makes a difference. In 2000, after the last major U.S. demonstrations against the IMF and the World Bank, Congress passed a law requiring the United States to oppose IMF or World Bank loans that include user fees for primary education or health care. Partly as a result, Tanzania lifted primary education user fees, and 1.5 million additional children, mostly girls, were able to go to school. The writer, editor of Multinational Monitor magazine, contributed this to The Washington Post. iht.com

To: Mephisto who wrote (4531)	9/30/2002 12:17:20 AM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5185

Thousands march on Cheney's house to protest a war with Iraq sfgate.com DAVID HO, Associated Press Writer Sunday, September 29, 2002 (09-29) 16:03 PDT (AP) -- The following is an excerpt: WASHINGTON (AP) --" Thousands of people opposing a war with Iraq marched to the residence of Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday, culminating three days of smaller-than-expected demonstrations. Protesters, some holding signs that said "No Blood for Oil," blamed Cheney for pushing the nation toward war. Police estimated about 2,500 people turned out for the peaceful event. "