Blog the Debt

Front Page News: Who Will Be New Treasury Secretary?

The nation's choice for a new Treasury Secretary made front page news in the Washington Post this morning. Check out the article here and Neil's response below where he argues the importance of choosing a Secretary who can fight against not only the financial crisis, but also global poverty.

Response to Washington Post's '"Succession at Treasury Emerges as Key Question"
By Neil Watkins
Sept 25, 2008

This article correctly identifies that the selection of the next Treasury Secretary will be a critical early choice for whomever wins the Presidency. Someone must be chosen who can manage the economy, avoid further financial meltdown, and help ensure that the economy works for working families.

But the US Treasury Secretary also plays a little known but critical role in foreign policy and is a critical actor in the fight against global poverty. The next President needs to choose a Treasury Secretary who can manage the economy at home and help ensure fair economic policies and development for impoverished countries around the world.

The US Treasury Secretary, in addition to managing the US economy, represents the US in meetings with finance ministers of the world's leading economies, holds the most powerful seat on the boards of international financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and plays the most critical role in determining debt relief for some of the world's most impoverished nations.

The Treasury Secretary is not only an economic position but is a critical part of the US' foreign policy. The US projects its power and influence around the world in international negotiations and through its policies towards international institutions. To restore Us leadership in the world, the Treasury Secretary should make reform of the international financial institutions and expansion of poor country debt relief -- an effective tool to fight global poverty with strong bi-partisan support in Congress -- a priority as well.

Now is the time for a leader at Treasury who can restore confidence in the US economy and ensure justice and dignity for the billions of people around the world that are affected by the decisions he or she makes. While the priority of responding to the US crisis cannot be overstated, we have an obligation to keep in mind the needs of the rest of the world as they are impacted by the financial crisis, as well as the crisis of skyrocketing fuel and food prices. The next President needs to appoint a Treasury Secretary (and other political appointees within Treasury, including the key positions of Undersecretary for International Affairs and Assistant Secretary for International Affairs) that prioritizes these issues. Great nations can and must do more than one thing at the time.

NEW Jubilee USA DVD!

Check out our long-awaited 20 minute DVD: Stand Up, Take Action: End Global Poverty & Unjust Debt. To order for $10, email carly@jubileeusa.org. To view, click below and don't forget to share with your friends!

Part 1

and Part 2

Just ONE Question: Global Poverty and the Presidential Debates

ONE has an exciting campaign to make the fight against global poverty a part of the presidential debates. Read on to find out how to get involved.

Two. Only two questions about global poverty have been asked in the history of modern presidential debates, going back to Kennedy-Nixon in 1960. That's less than 1% of all questions asked.
To change that shockingly low figure, ONE is launching a new campaign to get "Just ONE Question" about the fight against global poverty asked at the 2008 presidential debates.

The first debate at the University of Mississippi at Oxford, Mississippi, will focus on foreign policy and is only 10 days away. It happens just one day after world leaders gather at the United Nations in New York for an emergency meeting on the Millennium Development Goals – the global pledge made in 2000 to halve extreme poverty and global disease by 2015.

Meeting those goals will require unprecedented U.S. leadership during the next eight years. For at least four of those years, John McCain or Barack Obama will be our president. It's up to us to make sure that the issues being discussed at the United Nations in New York are also being raised with Senators Obama and McCain at the debate in Mississippi. Take action now by sending a message to debate moderator Jim Lehrer. Click here and we'll send your message to Mr. Lehrer, urging him to ask Just ONE Question on the fight against global poverty.

National Day of Action: 1Sky Gears Up for a Green Economy

By ADA ARONEANU, 1Sky, Organizer

On Saturday, September 27, we're launching a national mobilization to say, "I'm ready for the green economy." We are ready to tackle the climate crisis by building a green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty - check it out at greenjobsnow.com
 
Green Jobs Now is a National Day of Action that will empower everyday people to stage hundreds of grassroots events throughout the country. We will have a special focus on low-income communities, communities of color and indigenous people. This will send a message to our leaders that, when it comes to creating green jobs for a more sustainable economy, PEOPLE ARE READY!

Right now, there are millions of people ready to work and countless jobs to be done that will strengthen our economy at home. There are thousands of buildings that need to be weatherized, solar panels to be installed, and wind turbines to be erected. There are communities that need local and sustainable food and people ready to farm the crops. There are public transit systems and smart electricity grids in need of engineers and electricians. Americans are ready to build the new economy. It's time to invest in saving the planet and the people. It's time for green jobs now!

Rumer Reports from Ecuador North-South Meetings

By PAT RUMER, Co-Chair of Jubilee USA Coordinating Committee

Saludos de Ecuador! The South-North Conference is at the Divine Word Center high in the hills overlooking Quito. Expecting rain we have had sunny days with spectacular views of snow-capped volcanoes that surround this city at 10,000 feet altitude. Mostly, I notice the altitude when I attempt to run up the steps to our meeting on the third floor of the conference center!

Friday, September 12 we met with the Commission for the Integral/ Comprehensive Audit of Public Debt of Ecuador – the first official external debt audit process in the world! The presentation began with the commission’s working definition of “illegitimate debt”. There were three guiding principles: violation of sovereignty, violation of human rights (including social and economic) and the impact on the quality of peoples’ lives. The challenge was how to make this definition of illegitimate debt operational. The commission agreed that illegitimacy had three components: illegal, illicit and odious. Another consideration was an analysis of an economic system with its conditionalities that did not benefit the people of Ecuador. All in all they developed 45 indicators to evaluate the forty-six loans that they reviewed.

Ricardo Ulcuango, an indigenous member of the commission, said that the former governments of Ecuador had accepted the conditions of the international financial institutions and that neither the national government nor the IFI’s cared about the impact of these loans on the people because it is the “people who pay the debt.” Basically, the contracts were developed outside the country and the government official just signed off.The indigenous community was given a loan of $50 million from the World Bank – the national government designed the project and the indigenous community was told – now, you are responsible for this debt. “Loans were imposed on us and our lands were given to private companies,” said Ricardo. This reality mobilized the indigenous community to struggle against the debt.

From Convent to City: Global Networks, Illegitimate Debt and Neil Watkins in Ecuador

By NEIL WATKINS, Jubilee USA Network National Coordinator

I am writing from Quito, Ecuador. This week I am here with 50 representatives and long-time leaders of Jubilee/debt movements from 35 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe and the US for the "South – North Study and Strategy Meeting on Illegitimate Debt and Alternative /Responsible Finance." I am here with Pat Rumer from Jubilee Oregon and the co-chair of the Jubilee USA coordinating committee.

One of the strengths of the Jubilee movement is its global nature which we saw on Tuesday night, when we met with Ecuadorian Finance Minister Wilma Salgado, who is a former member of Jubilee 2000 Ecuador (as is Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa).

Salgado echoed Jubilee’s call for economic justice: "The change we are creating in Ecuador means that the public budget is being reoriented. Our most important expenditures now are education, health, water to address the crises of poverty, malnourishment, and young children dying. These issues are at the top of our agenda. We are re-orienting our spending away from debt servicing and towards these priority expenditures."

There are Jubilee or debt movements in more than 80 countries, but we operate as a loose network – we visit each others’ countries, learn from one another, hold the occasional strategy meeting, gather around a G-8 summit or a World Social Forum. We want to change that, and move to a more coherent and effective global network. We came together to spend 6 days developing greater unities around key issues and to create joint global strategies for coordinated work.

Jubilee Traveling Banner Takes on U.S.A.

Hello!

I'm Carly, the new Outreach Fellow taking over for Nate, ready to give you an update on our Picture New Leadership Banner and its travels across the nation. Folks around the country are taking pictures and signing petitions asking presidential candidates to make global poverty a priority and we’ve sent our traveling banner out and about, using it as part of our photo petitions. Well, the banner has already crossed the country from D.C. to Chicago and now is on to Ohio! People are doing really exciting work; we will post pictures soon!

Dan McGuire of Jubilee Chicago sent the banner on from Chicago to Columbus, and now Amaha Selassie has sent it on Mary Nona and Michael Hudson in Santa Cruz California, who are planning to bring the banner to church this Sunday!

It's not too late to bring the banner to your hometown! Demand for the Traveling Banner was so high we ordered a second one. Get in touch soon cause its filling up fast!

If you'd like to host the banner email me at Carly@Jubileeusa.org.

Thanks everyone! - Carly Pildis