#4121: Re: Produce our own food; Gill replies to Simidor

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: markgill <markgill@clas.net>

regardless of the role of the IMF, or the World Bank, Haiti can still
provide protectionist policies that would encourage local agriculture....

the focus of the IMF/World Bank is toward payment of external debt, with
specific methods laid down to accomplish this.....for example, the cutting
of government bureaucracy....something, by the way, Aristide had started
during this first seven months of his first term, and before structural
adjustments became a requirement for IMF funds....he reduced government size
by something like 2000 employees, all on his own...

anyway, although the IMF/World Bank does focus on free trade, this does not
preclude Haiti from taking internal measures that would upgrade local
agriculture....

the main problem in the past has been that the govt simply did not care
about improving the life conditions of the poor...rather, policies were
designed to support the elites and their business/social interests.....