That plus the 1999 pie in Camdessus' face we will always love you for, comrade!
> And I am also in favor of anything increasing the level of open
> conflict at the World Bank board, because that increases the level of
> transparency.
Yeah but the risk is that Zoellick blows in with a big leadership mandate and the pressure now building is suddenly released. We're worried about that in SA, because in November the G20 will meet here and their self-mandate to fix the BWIs will be an easier snow job if Zoellick is as slick a neolib/neocon as he seems. So conflict between evil compradors that gets resolved in a way that leaves world opinion sated or bored does us no good.
> "Are there
> microcredits?" Chavez asks, clearly indicating that Chavez thinks this
> is an important component.
>
Chavez has even given Yunus a medal, recently. So, he also praised Robert Mugabe. Everyone makes mistakes...
But yeah, context is everything. Credit can be the most serious amplifier of uneven and combined development - which I see happening in Third World settings ranging from Southern Africa to African-American neighbourhoods in the US now being blighted by mortgage overhangs; or on the other hand, under different conditions it can lubricate accumulation and spread opportunities. It mainly depends on the state of the accumulation cycle, the character of power relations and class inequality, and the ability of comrades to fight back with countervailing regulatory or citizen initiatives. Doug Henwood would probably agree, and has warned for years not to put too much emphasis on M-M`, when the real process of immiserisation is found in C-M-C`.