Posts Tagged ‘poverty’

Those who have already read Bankrupting the Third World, our sixth book in The Underground Knowledge Series, will have picked up on the fact we believe world poverty can be fixed – and fixed quickly.

Just one of many starving children in war-torn Syria right now.

 

Here’s an excerpt from the book, which, hopefully, clarifies why we are so confident there is a quick fix for world poverty:

Some of you may be doubting our sanity about now. At the very least, you’ll be thinking we are underestimating the task at hand, and that poverty’s far too big a challenge to solve any time soon.

But consider this for a moment: the United Nations Development Program estimated in 1998 that it would only cost an additional US$40 billion above current aid payments at the time to completely eradicate poverty as we know it. This figure was broken down as per the following necessary (US dollar) payments: $13 billion extra for every person on Earth to have enough food as well as access to basic health care; an additional $12 billion to cover reproductive health for all women worldwide; $6 billion extra to provide basic education for all; and an additional $9 billion to provide clean water and sanitation for every man, woman and child on the planet.

Now that $40 billion figure was in 1998 dollars, of course, and the world’s biggest problems have arguably gotten worse since then. So let’s allow for inflation and let’s also assume the UN underestimated the amount required.

Let’s say $200 billion dollars, or five times what the UN estimated, is needed over and above current aid payments. To our eyes, that seems a small price to pay for what would undoubtedly be the greatest moment in human history.

Two hundred billion is also a fraction of the cost governments of major nations like China, the US, Russia and the UK each spend on their annual military budgets. By some estimates, the Afghanistan conflict alone has cost America more than a trillion dollars, with all wars since 9/11 said to have cost America several trillion dollars.

Unfortunately, waging wars is clearly a far bigger priority than ending poverty.

______________________________________

“About 21,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes, according to the United Nations. This is one person every four seconds … Sadly, it is children who die most often. Yet there is plenty of food in the world for everyone. The problem is that hungry people are trapped in severe poverty. They lack the money to buy enough food to nourish themselves. Being constantly malnourished, they become weaker and often sick. This makes them increasingly less able to work, which then makes them even poorer and hungrier. This downward spiral often continues until death for them and their families.” –Official statement on the poverty.com website as at February 2014

______________________________________

T.B.C

 

BANKRUPTING THE THIRD WORLD: How the Global Elite Drown Poor Nations in a Sea of Debt (The Underground Knowledge Series Book 6)

 

BANKRUPTING THE THIRD WORLD: How the Global Elite Drown Poor Nations in a Sea of Debt  is available exclusively via Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/BANKRUPTING-THE-THIRD-WORLD-Underground-ebook/dp/B0176UHWH0/  

 

*****************************************

 

Considering the vast sums of money that go through the coffers of the international aid organizations, the corruption aspect is another part of the equation that cannot be ignored. As we point out in our book BANKRUPTING THE THIRD WORLD: How the Global Elite Drown Poor Nations in a Sea of Debt, human greed is normally found wherever large financial transactions occur.

 

Are these starving Liberian children getting a fair go?

 

An excerpt from Bankrupting the Third World  follows:

The hierarchy of the international aid organizations claims to be aware of the problem and on top of it. For example, in a press release from the World Bank itself, dated December 19, 2013, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim states that corruption is “Public Enemy Number One” in Developing countries.

“We will never tolerate corruption,” Kim goes on to say, “and I pledge to do all in our power to build upon our strong fight against it.”

That’s all well and good, but what happens if the corruption is closer to home? In other words, if there are, as we suggest, corrupt elements operating within the highest echelons of the World Bank and other such aid organizations? What then? Which organization would have the nous, or wherewithal, or, for that matter, the will to root out corruption within such charitable “corruption-busting” institutions?

The World Bank has much to answer for we suspect.

A 2012 Forbes article headlined ‘World Bank Spins Out Of Control’ calls that organization “one of the world’s most powerful institutions – charged with saving the world’s poor – but also one of its most dysfunctional”.

The enlightening article also refers to the World Bank as “an endlessly expanding virtual nation-state with supranational powers,” and states there is “little oversight by the governments that fund it”.

The article goes on to say that “FORBES has also discovered a whole layer of bank officials who have learned how to game the system or expand their influence through its constantly revolving doors. It’s not unlike the way that U.S. officials retire and then go to work for the contractors they associated with while in government service”.

A 2013 article by Alex Newman, foreign correspondent for The New American, was even more critical of the World Bank and its lack of ability to stamp out corruption. It reads, in part, as follows:

“A former insider at the World Bank, ex-Senior Counsel Karen Hudes, says the global financial system is dominated by a small group of corrupt, power-hungry figures centered around the privately owned U.S. Federal Reserve.

“The network has seized control of the media to cover up its crimes, too, she explained. In an interview with The New American, Hudes said that when she tried to blow the whistle on multiple problems at the World Bank, she was fired for her efforts”.

The article continues, “Hudes pointed out that a small group of entities — mostly financial institutions and especially central banks — exert a massive amount of influence over the international economy from behind the scenes. ‘What is really going on is that the world’s resources are being dominated by this group…At the heart of the network are 147 financial institutions and central banks — especially the Federal Reserve, which was created by Congress but is owned by essentially a cartel of private banks…This is a story about how the international financial system was secretly gamed, mostly by central banks — they’re the ones we are talking about…The central bankers have been gaming the system. I would say that this is a power grab’.”

Hudes is also quoted as saying the cartel of elite international banksters use the Fed and major private banks, in collaboration with other financial institutions such as The World Bank and the BIS (Bank for International Settlements), to complete shady financial deals, manipulate gold prices and conduct various other monetary deceptions.

Unfortunately, such articles represent just a tiny fraction of the reported and/or confirmed corruption cases occurring year after year within the international aid organizations.

And yet, there has been no serious investigation or detailed audit of them just as there has never been a proper audit of the privately-owned US Federal Reserve.

Could that be because the same leaders charged with keeping such financial institutions honest are the very people who are making trillions of dollars off concealing the ongoing corruptions?

T.B.C.

 

BANKRUPTING THE THIRD WORLD: How the Global Elite Drown Poor Nations in a Sea of Debt (The Underground Knowledge Series Book 6)

 

Bankrupting the Third World  is exclusively available via Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/BANKRUPTING-THE-THIRD-WORLD-Underground-ebook/dp/B0176UHWH0/  

 

*****************************************

Our next book, BANKRUPTING THE THIRD WORLD: How the Global Elite Drown Poor Nations in a Sea of Debt, seriously questions whether the World Bank and other big international aid organizations help the world’s poor.

At the outset, we ask: What if much of the aid extended to impoverished nations is not charitable, but selfish, with serious strings attached – strings designed to fleece vulnerable nations?

We also ask: What if the international financial aid organizations are all gigantic scams designed to subjugate Third World countries?

The answers may surprise.

Of all the statistics we uncovered during our research, one in particular has stayed in our minds throughout the writing process:

21,000 people die every day (one person every four seconds) from starvation.

That’s a sickening figure considering our research has also shown there is more than enough wealth in the world for everyone to at least receive the basic necessities of life.

Even more sickening when you consider there is more than enough wealth in the Third World for it to organically sustain itself.

We hope this book will contribute in some small way to the masses pressuring world leaders to eradicate the extreme poverty that sees millions of our fellow Human Beings – men, women and children – dying unnecessarily every year.

Read more in Bankrupting the Third Worldhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26722083-bankrupting-the-third-world – Coming soon!

 

********************************

To assist our research for Bankrupting the Third World, the next planned book in our Underground Knowledge Series, we asked members of our ‘Underground Knowledge’ group on Goodreads.com the following question: Do you believe global financial aid institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF and USAID primarily help or hinder Third World nations?

Cover reveal for:

BANKRUPTING THE THIRD WORLD: How the Global Elite Drown Poor Nations in a Sea of Debt

Unsurprisingly, interim poll results show that 67% of respondents believe the big global aid organizations are more a hindrance than a help to Third World nations; only 4% believe they’re a help; and the balance are unsure.

Poll respondents’ comments make for interesting reading. Examples follow:

If the leaders of the developed countries wanted to help the people from the third world countries, they should have done it years ago without hesitation.

They are almost entirely funded by the U.S. taxpayers, and I want my money back! The design and build of their headquarters also cost a darn fortune!

World Bank, IMF, USAID are basically tools of the US Government and weapons used to blackmail third world countries.

It’s a case of too many (greedy) cooks in the kitchen.

Their primary interests is themselves. Third world nations are there to be exploited by them for resources. Obviously, they would like all to be third world nations!

It is simple they help by bailing out nation but these nations typically have no way of repaying theses loans and default on them, which is the hindrance.

Dirty water, barren land, land stolen for rubber plantations and GMO crops, keep the Africans and others hungry.

To read all comments, or better still to have YOUR say, go to: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/142309-underground-knowledge—a-discussion-group?type=group

BANKRUPTING THE THIRD WORLD: How the Global Elite Drown Poor Nations in a Sea of Debt

This upcoming book can be viewed on Goodreads at:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26722083-bankrupting-the-third-world

“Western governments tax their citizens to fund the World Bank, lend this money to corrupt Third World dictators who abscond with the funds, and then demand repayment which is extracted through taxation from poor Third World citizens, rather than from the government officials responsible for the embezzlement. It is in essence a global transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. Taxpayers around the world are forced to subsidize the lavish lifestyles of Third World dictators and highly-paid World Bank bureaucrats who don’t even pay income tax.” -Ron Paul’s statement at the World Bank Hearing, May 22, 2007

************************************

oilandgaswells

Contrary to mainstream media reports, it is our firm belief that there is very little true scarcity in the world.

Diamond Mining in Kono

If you take the time to do some digging will soon come to the realization that those running the oil and precious metals industries purposefully foster a belief that there’s a critical shortage of resources in the world; if you can’t spare the time at least take a peek at films like ‘The Formula’ and ‘Blood Diamond’, which are clever dramatizations of the global elite’s devious approach to managing those resources.

Primary image for Blood Diamond

Blood Diamond addresses a real problem.

Creating the illusion of scarcity is intrinsically linked with an excessive desire for profits – a desire that will stop at nothing. Not even the loss of human lives.

Unfortunately, it’s like that with everything in our world at present. We address this particular issue in our book THE ORPHAN CONSPIRACIES: 29 Conspiracy Theories from The Orphan Trilogy.

Here’s an excerpt from the book:

Such illusions are constantly being fed to us as if they are proven facts – the illusion that wars are unavoidable, that there’s not enough wealth to go around, that the Third World cannot organically sustain itself, that terrorists are everywhere…

As we covered in our “The price of a free media” chapter, mainstream media is a big part of this grand deception. This should come as no surprise considering the bulk of the world’s news outlets are owned by only a handful of media tycoons who all belong to secretive, elitist and unaccountable organizations such as the Bilderberg Group and the Council on Foreign Relations.

It’s becoming obvious to most that mainstream media is nothing but a megaphone for the global elite to present biased news that’s designed to align the masses with their agenda.

The Overpopulation Theory

Take the Overpopulation Theory – a pet hobbyhorse of virtually every powerful individual in the Establishment. The supposed need to depopulate the planet for the good of Mankind is a theory that has been peddled by every elitist from the Rockefellers, to Bill Gates and Ted Turner, to US Presidents like George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, to Prince Charles HRH the Prince of Wales and other British Royals. The latter includes the Queen’s husband Prince Philip who once infamously remarked, “If I were reincarnated, I would wish to be returned to Earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels.”

Let us also not forget Henry Kissinger’s aforementioned comment in the recently declassified National Security Memorandum 200 document in which he states, “Depopulation should bethe highest priority of US foreign policy towards the Third World,” to secure mineral resources for the US.

The motivations behind depopulation suggestions may actually be a desire to create a modern form of eugenics, albeit masquerading as something more benign. That may sound a rather extreme accusation, but keep in mind it was only a generation or two ago that the global elite were bona fide supporters of draconian eugenics programs.

How many remain adherents of this insidious science, but choose to keep their beliefs to themselves now that eugenics has been universally vilified?

A politically correct version of eugenics

Many independent researchers, ourselves included, believe the proposed global population control measures really are a politically correct version of the once government-sponsored eugenics programs.

In our opinion, racial hatred is the likely impetus behind this new version of eugenics. As Edwin Black reminds us in his book War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America’s Campaign to Create a Master Race, “Eugenics was” a “pseudoscience,” and “In its extreme, racist form, this meant wiping away all human beings deemed ‘unfit,’ preserving only those who conformed to a Nordic stereotype”.

There are clues that would seem to confirm that domination of non-white races remains a part of the agenda. The biggest clues are the countries and peoples that are being singled out for supposedly propagating too fast.

Have you noticed how those powerful figures who promote the “urgent need” for depopulation are almost always, if not always, referring to Third World countries or developing nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America – and not countries like the UK, France, Germany, Russia or the US whose citizens are predominantly Caucasian?

Could it be that Mr. Kissinger is not the only elitist who fears the West will lose its stranglehold on the planet’s resources if certain developing nations grow too big and powerful?

A convenient coincidence

Remember, so-called experts have been suggesting the Earth must depopulate since the early 20th Century, which notably coincides with the exact same period that eugenics programs were first endorsed by governments.

By the 1960’s, when the planet’s total population was 3 billion, the overpopulation theory reached popular consciousness – aided no doubt by those influential figures who regularly trumpeted it in the media. The concept was always presented as if it was an absolute fact: the world could not handle many more people and humanity would soon cease to exist unless depopulation strategies were implemented immediately.

However, the world’s population is now over 7 billion and life goes on. In some respects, life’s a lot more complicated than it was back in the Hippy Era, but nevertheless Mother Earth continues to sustain life and, despite what some may tell us, she shows no immediate sign of exploding, imploding or otherwise wilting.

Earth’s immense problems unediable

None of this counter-argument should be misconstrued as ignoring the Earth’s immense problems. Yes people are dying of malnutrition, thirst and disease; yes nations are fighting over resources; yes there is an ever-widening gap between rich and poor; and yes much of our planet is disgustingly polluted.

However, these problems, or tragedies, need to be assessed in the context of that which is being withheld. For every Yes there’s a No.

No the world’s most advanced technologies have not been released; no there is not fair and proper distribution of wealth and resources; no we haven’t progressed beyond the strong dominating the weak through wars and the like; no the financial system has not been cleansed of corrupt bankers and economic hitmen.

When you balance the No’s against the Yes’s it becomes obvious that if we lived in a fairer world – especially one where there is greater equality and where no technology or information is ever suppressed – the planet could sustain an even bigger population. Perhaps much bigger.

The daily struggle of many for food, water and other basic necessities is more about greed and unfair political and economic systems than population levels.

What if…

For example, if half of Africa’s population was wiped out tomorrow, millions of people would still be left scavenging for bare essentials due to the fact that very little of the continent’s abundant resources (that are mined, drilled or otherwise extracted) remain in Africa for the benefit of Africans. So the problem is one of imperialism, or expansionism, rather than there being too many mouths to feed.

Yoko Ono summarized this issue well during her appearance on The Dick Cavett Show on September 11, 1971, when she said, “I think the problem is not overpopulation, as people believe to be, but it’s more of the balance of things … Like food. Some parts of the world there’s wastage of food, in some parts nobody has food. And that kind of a balance, if that is solved, I don’t think we’d be worried so much about overpopulation.”

The big question is: why is anyone still suggesting depopulation? And why is the media still giving such suggestions airtime?

Unless outlawed eugenics programs are revived or certain elitists get their way with nefarious strategies such as mass sterilizations or forced abortions, depopulation is hardly likely in this day and age. Except of course where it’s an inevitable consequence of wars, genocide or natural disasters.

The sensible solution

It would make more sense to seek solutions for the world’s current and projected populations than trying to take away or limit people’s basic right to procreate. China’s one-child policyaside, procreation is something Man has always done freely and without thought.

Releasing classified or suppressed scientific inventions would likely be a good start. Especially technologies that have the potential to combat the world’s most pressing issues, such as pollution and its effects on climate, whatever those effects may be.

It’s worth noting that throughout history, population growth has usually spurred technological advances. This was true during the Industrial Revolution, the post-WW2 years and the Space Age era; and we are witnessing it again with the explosion of computer and mobile phone technologies, which can barely keep pace with worldwide consumer demands for those products.

We’ve already acknowledged that pollution is an urgent problem. However, a few hundred million less people less – which is all strict population controls could hope to achieve in the near future – wouldn’t decrease pollution levels that much.

And who is to say higher populations won’t actually make it easier to develop pollutant-free and clean energy technologies in the same way they created the necessary demand, infrastructure and labour force to spark other inventions of bygone years? We are not saying higher populations would necessarily achieve this, but at present there has been zero public debate as to the potential benefits of the planet’s increasing numbers of people.

Many cities are undoubtedly overpopulated, but much of this is to do with poor economicmanagement and a lack of environmental and geographic planning. For example, rural-dwellers are often so impoverished they have no choice but to move to cities for work. With a greater and fairer distribution of wealth, governments could provide incentives for citizens to remain in rural areas or relocate to emerging cities or even build new cities.

To be continued…  

Read more in The Orphan Conspiracies: 29 Conspiracy Theories from The Orphan Trilogy: http://www.amazon.com/The-Orphan-Conspiracies-Conspiracy-Theories-ebook/dp/B00J4MPFT6/

A book that’s for the common people...the 99%.

************************************************************