Agree on most counts but it is a drop in the bucket compared to the aid the US and UK governments have given to bankers!

Absolutely great idea. Fire all the bankers, the bonus system is rape of the shareholders and depositors alike. The bonuses have perverted banking into dubious paper instruments and false accounting to jack up paper profits in order to gain obscene bonuses while small and medium sized businesses are starved of capital. It is the small and medium sized businesses which while not glamorous account for most of the economies jobs and GDP.

If the banks put their efforts into assisting enterprises with real value added that produce goods and services rather than indulge in speculation everyone would benefit.

I have another harsh word for auditors who by their negligence, incompetence or complicity have allowed this situation to persist. The auditors together with dierectors and trustees should be made financially liable for losses incurred through cooking the books.

Are not auditors supposed to be the policemen of the financial system...or am I being too simplistic?

Kofi Annan's Astonishing Facts
[New York Times, 29 September 1998]

The three richest people in the world have assets that exceed the combined gross domestic product of the 48 least developed countries.

The world's 225 richest individuals, of whom 60 are Americans with total assets of $311 billion, have a combined wealth of over $1 trillion – equal to the annual income of the poorest 47 percent of the entire world's population.

Americans spend $8 billion a year on cosmetics – $2 billion more than the estimated annual total needed to provide basic education for everyone in the world.

Europeans spend $11 billion a year on ice cream – $2 billion more than the estimated annual total needed to provide clean water and safe sewers for the world's population.

It is estimated that the additional cost of achieving and maintaining universal access to basic education for all, basic health care for all, reproductive health care for all women, adequate food for all and clean water and safe sewers for all is roughly $40 billion a year – or less than 4 percent of the combined wealth of the 225 richest people in the world.

The three richest people in the world are Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Carlos Slim Helu. All three have CREATED businesses that that positively impacted billions around the world, employed millions and created new industries and technologies.

If anything, we should hold these people in high regard for making the life of billions of humans better. Their success is not an excuse for the 48 countries failure.

And these richest individuals create the jobs, jobs and jobs that is the only hope over time of improving the lives of these 47 percent. Wealth comes from private industry, not government and not the U.N.

Americans and Europeans have worked for their wages and damn well have the right to spend it as they see fit.

These "estimate" numbers are total bulls**t. You can't even provide clean water and safe sewers in Beijing for $2 billion. You can't even provide this magic list of education, food, health care for women, etc. for $40 billion in any country in the world, let alone "for all".

Kofi Annan's astonishing facts? I'm astonished anyone believes this load of horse crap. More important, if you really want to contribute help, this outright total list of lies does damage to fund raising. Kofi Annan should be ashamed of these types of statements.

Unfortunately that is the way the world is, pi~~~

Yeah, Mockingbird knows.

Everybody knows.

Except pnkearns.

---------------------------------------------------------

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

-- Leonard Cohen

First of, Pnkearns is a black man born in a white continent and he believes that:

1. Colonialism has ended in Africa as a whole.

2. Africans are lazy people who can't fend for themselves.

3. His precious tax money of which he is not accountable is being used as a drug to cure an ailing continent of 52 countries.

If all of the above is true then pnkearns must be an ignoramus. In any case there is no need to engage him in any meaningful argument about Africa's woes.

n.b pnkearns: you've not actually stated what really bugs you about Africa.

Colonialism started to end after WW II. The claim of "colonialism" legacy and African victimhood is just total B.S. these days. When you look at all the other nations around the world that were spun off colonies (at the same time as Africa) and are politically /economically successful, the conclusion is the problems of Africa are mostly caused by Africans themselves.

Yeah... right.... after how many decades of "cure"? We have already passed 60 years of "cure" aid for some African countries. That isn't a cure. That's supplying drugs that keep an addict dependent. Ask any 12 step AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) person.

Personally, I don't give a rat's *ss one way or another about Africa. I would like to visit as a tourist one day, but that's about all I give a damn.
Personally, I'm for helping my fellow man, including Africans, on a temporary basis. Then it is up to them to be self sufficient on their own.

I blame African leaders for being "compassion" pimps whoring out their people to get western aid. I blame Western leaders for being lazy and not demanding a path to self sufficiency as part of aid programs, and willing to cut off aid if progress is not made towards self sufficiency.

pnkearns, pnkearns, pnkearns.

the fist thing we need to do with you is wash your brain out with soap.

please don't quote Economics 101 that you learned in your ivy league schools. first of all, i've heard it all before. secondly, it's boring as hell. i'm having trouble staying awake reading your posts. thirdly, this is all Matrix sh*t.

Your first 're-education' assignment is to read this.

This is how things really work.

http://www.democracynow.org/2004/11/9/confessions_of_an_economic_hit_man

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions

Pi, Pi, Pi...

I already wrote that one of my issues with Africa was that it leaders were whoring out its population.

Your "revolutionary" posts would have more impact if they did not have a Che image.

Many Cubans exiles in the U.S. consider Che's reign as the head of Cuban prisons to be a black era since he happily ran the first firing squads under Castro and founded the Cuban labor camp system.
http://slate.msn.com/id/2107100/
As a later South American revolutionary, he was of minor importance.
If he met the "revolutionary" Pi, he probably would given you about 10 minutes before having you lined up against a wall and shot.

Let's face it. If Che hadn't been put onto a French protest poster back in '68 because the French thought his image was a "handsome revolutionary", then he wouldn't have the fashion cult that puts his image on everything from T-shirts to Smirnoff Vodka ads. No one would give a sh*t about his minor place in history.

And this excuses the other 51 African nations? Many of them independent for over 50 years or more?

A. African empires existed prior to Europeans with muddled populations.
B. Follow the Yugoslav or India/Pakistan model and break into smaller nations along ethic lines.

Saudi Arabia had 20% slave population until 1950.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_slavery
As for former colonies making it economically, most nations of the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific Islands.

Sorry... total bulls*t. If you want to charge more for your oil / resources, then do so. African nations are not owed aid.

If the "colonialists never left", then that is the problem of African leadership isn't it?

I will agree with one thing, God help Africa. Amen.

Nothing sad about CHE. He has attained immortality.

Saw a little ma and pa restaurant that has a poster of him on their window.

RSA is not yet free. They've just learnt how to mingle. The other 51 countries learnt how to mingle before RSA was set free. The big picture is that the wealth revolves around those selected few who mingle so well.

Ofcourse empires existed and they fought wars long before the Europeans arrived. I can't verify if those empires had muddled-up ethnic lines, i have to check but what i can assure you is that the Europeans muddled the entire continent beyond elastic limit.

Why ? Some African countries could even measure up to any of the above named countries if given the technology and training now. The major bottle neck is that most Management Executives would demand more to stay in Africa for the long haul. Asia is cheaper in terms of safety etc.

Pnkearns, you're dumb but you're brainy.

Start from Houston, Texas.

Who are you going to fight? Poor people who can't even afford three square meals...

Pnkearns, you still don't get it, do you?

These people are not playing victim. They are real victims of colonialism. Judging from my own personal experiences in Africa, i do not think the people blame the Europeans for their problems. I think most of the people actually blame their government hence the chaos and violence that you see everyday on TV.

I am the one who is blaming the Europeans.

Africa has been changing but the media hasn't changed it's biased methods of reporting Africa news. The colonial masters will continue to buy into the 'colonial guilt' appeal but what they do with that is their choice. Whatever they do, it won't stop Africans from moving on and changing their future anyway they can.

AAh, sounds so sweet. How ?

You see, they more you provide answers without visiting the place, the more you're wrong in all your calculations about the place. Imagine what you are proposing; ' resisting any changes' along ethnic lines ? If they resist, they would be killed.

I think we should all focus more on creating new jobs in Africa, rather than masterminding any form of agitation which may lead to anarchy. The rich nations should stop sending aid to africa, they should spend more money on training or on stuffs like ICT and Solar Energy.

The future is now, mockingbird. Postpone at your own risk

Pi, go get some ....