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Sadly all of this is part of a familiar and historic pattern in Africa. The so-called international community and powerful global/Western institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regularly induce governments to take on huge debts, and then begin to impose from abroad drastic societal reform measures on the population.
Corrupt local government figures line their own pockets while imposing stringent and very sudden measures on the lower class and impoverished citizens.
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Everyone should read "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man". The original version, not the updated one.
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What's wrong with the new version, isn't it like the old with some add-ons?
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Yes that’s a good book. I didn’t realise there were two versions?!
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Here's a fun little experiment to try with your friends ready to accept anything their overlords tell them to do to "save the planet".
I never challenge people on their eco-concerns. I get why they are concerned. What I tend to do is discuss the impacts of many policies on people in poor countries. How many of these policies are developed by the elites in wealthy countries with no thought for the impacts on people that still lack basic infrastructure. If many of these western polices are put in place these poor people will be cursed to live in poverty for generations instead of advancing like the western world has been able to do.
This shifts the conversation and hopefully makes them think. If they want to talk further I talk about using voluntary measures instead of force. Work on convincing people to change their lifestyle vs. using force. I've had very good conversations with progressives using this approach when talking about battery cars, nuclear power, and all of the "carbon initiatives" when they come up.
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76 sats \ 2 replies \ @398ja 25 Jun
I have a similar approach with the current mass migration issue. It turns out that almost all open borders proponents cannot its devastating impact on the third world, where most of the economic migrants are from. How could they, actually? You have to live it to understand what it is when the majority of able men leaves, or is actively planning to leave... In a way, this is very similar to what Ayn Rand describes in Atlas Shrugged
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Immigration causes brain drain in the third world?
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @398ja 26 Jun
Absolutely!
In many African countries for example, you have more doctors, Ingenieurs etc living and working in the diaspora than in the country.
There are also millions of people who've earned an university degree in their countries but have never had a "proper" job in life, either because they didn't know anybody who could sponsor them, or the job market had nothing to offer. They'll also travel to the West, mostly illegally, to search for opportunities.
With time, it becomes increasingly unattractive for people to stay in their home countries because the shortage of skilled labour makes life harder, more expensive etc for everyone else, so the state expands, tries to do everything, but obviously this only makes things even worse...
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Regarding impact, people rarely course correct or admit my idea and policy were a mistake and we should do the opposite etc
The problem with the climate change agenda is coercion and mandates. Very similar to the politics of COVID
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I am pleased to see the light that is being shined on the IMF and World Bank recently.
Did you listen to the Bitcoin Fundamentals podcast Preston did with John Perkins (the US"s economic hitman)?
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Yes! I read that book years ago too. I love listening to that guy.
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I’ll check that out, thanks. 🙏
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The sub-discipline of Development Economics is absolutely full of horror stories.
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Isn’t wealth of nations a how to guide for building and facilitating wealth in a country?
Same can be said for capitalism and freedom or free to choose.
I believe most economists would say the purpose of economics is to alleviate poverty
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An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith is sort of a how-to, I guess. It's a description of why specialization and the division of labor, combined with free trade, lead to prosperity.
Another book of a similar title, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor by David S. Landes, is a prominent work in development economics and is more of a comparison of different institutions.
I think most economists would say the purpose of economics is to understand human behavior under conditions of scarcity. Most would probably add on something about informing wise public policy.
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I don't understand why these countries actually take such steps!! Well, keneya already have some laws regarding taxes for environment
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i know the protest are sign for growing frustrations and desperate demand for a better cost of living condition and responsive governance
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Africa is a shit show. I'm not convinced it wants to be a not shit show since the cartel politicians are the unending issue.
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You aren't wrong.
People extorted will say they had to pay a bribe, which places the blame on them (the one that bribes) rather than the one extorting them.
Paying cops to pass a checkpoint is considered a cost of doing business.
People don't want to burn the ballroom at a luxury hotel built on stolen public land, they want an invite to party there.
Corruption isn't hated enough. Yet.
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People want to be free. Governments and banks want slaves.
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