A Fate Worse Than Debt
by Susan George
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Book Summary Information
Author: Susan GeorgeEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1990-02
ISBN: 0802131212
Publisher: Grove Press
Book Reviews of A Fate Worse Than Debt
Book Review: Blows the Lid Off of Certain Economic Fantasies
Summary: 5 Stars
Ever wonder just how the rich get richer and the poor get poorer? Well, Susan George goes the distance in explaining both the how and the why of this phenomenon, on a global context. Her book, A Fate Worse Than Debt, outlines just how a few select countries continue to accrue wealth, while a vast majority sink deeper into the abyss of poverty and insecurity.
Ms. George sees debt as the great, unsung cause of increased hunger, a lack of food security, and a generally deepening level of misery for the vast majority of the world's population. She approaches the topic from the standpoints of food security, economic development, and equity. All three, she has found, have a common cause: crushing debt burdens imposed by rich country donor elites and their rich counterpart recipients in the poor countries. She sums up the situation best by saying, "The elites, either out of stupidity, cupidity, or lack of foresight, racked up debt, and when they could not pay, transferred the burden to the larger nation." Though she goes to great lengths to distance herself from the 'vast conspiracy theory of history', what she documents throughout the book amounts to a veritable conspiracy of criminal proportions. In her defense, every single assertion she makes about how the economic (mal)development assistance programs worked back then, as they still do now, were later fully corroborated by an entrenched member of the economic development establishmment in his memorable book, Confessions of an Economic Hitman.
Ms. George explains the problems in very clear, common-sense terms using the then available information. Since then, the problem has gotten much worse, however, but the debtor nations are making payments on their debt. The truly shocking thing was to learn the true nature of this debt- almost all of the nations involved went into debt in an attempt to finance prestige projects, ape the West through misguided modernization schemes, or to purchase things they did not really need, meanwhile very basic needs such as for infrastructure, health and education (those things that really would have helped the poor) went unheeded.
While there is little historical depth to the book (again, her attempt to distance herself from the Vast Conspiracy Theory of History), she does present example after example of how official development assistance hurts the people all involved say they are trying to help. As such, it does much to dispel the prevailing notion that many in the Third World are simply do-nothing deadbeats looking for a handout to squander. Instead, many hardworking people in these countries have found it harder to make ends meet because they are burdened with the consequences of someone else's stupidity- they literally pay for the idiotic ideas that their leaders put into motion.
In the end, the issues she presents boils down to a question of priorities and self-interest. The needs and wants of a rich and elite minority (often educated abroad and having sizable assets in other countries) in-country take precedence over the very real day to day needs of the poor majority. While investments in economic growth uniformly benefit this minority and the foreign investment community, economic development could (and indeed would) benefit everyone, rich and poor alike, by setting the stage for continued, sustained growth. In the two decades or so that this book has been around, we have seen the consequences of such destructive self-interest. In Brazil, for example, you have a rich and isolated minority living in fear of poor hordes pressing upon their gated, high security communities (or is this the USA!?!). Everywhere one looks, we now have a polarized world rife with conflict, but as long as debt gets serviced, no matter how crushing the burden on the average citizen, no intervention (economic or military) is required. Perhaps it is time that all of us thought about a more enlightened self-interest, one that would avert total disaster- aka The Economic Apocalypse, as opposed to managing small (but increasingly more frequent) economic disasters here and there.
Anyone looking to understand some of the economic reasons for the failure of official development assistance to the Third World must read this book first. The book also contains a list of highly informative source materials, though somewhat dated, for further reading. In sum, this book does much to release some of the hot air surrounding techno-economic fixes to many of the problems in the world. We really can't rely on technological quick fixes or economic palliatives to bring relief to much of the suffering humanity when self-interest works counter to these measures.
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