The Jubilee Blog

White House: Ebola, Tax, Debt and Vulture Funds

 

Ebola.

It's on everybody's mind right now, and for good reason. More than four thousand lives lost - children, parents, grandparents, spouses. Thousands more infected.

Last week Jubilee USA met with the White House to talk about the connections between Ebola and global financial policies. The nation of Guinea, where the epidemic began, spends more on debt than on public health and loses millions from corporate tax avoidance and corruption.

NPR, BBC, 150 Faith Communities Proclaim IMF Jubilee

In DC, we are engaging the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Across the country, nearly 150 synagogues, churches and mosques prayed and acted during Jubilee Weekend (October 10-12) to address inequality and the causes of extreme poverty. In the lead up to these Jubilee Weekend events, National Public Radio's Interfaith Voices aired a 15-minute interview about Jubilee's work on 75 stations. Listen as our executive director Eric LeCompte shares about our work on predatory hedge funds, the IMF, debt, tax, and trade. 

Across the United States, Jubilee communities acted on an Ebola epidemic worsened by poor global debt and tax policies. In Washington, the International Business Times, the BBC, El Espectador, Agence France-Presse and the investor publication Value Walk covered our work at the IMF.

We've continued to be a part of the global conversation on stopping predatory financial behavior and preventing financial crisis. At the IMF and World Bank meetings, we organized 4 events and high-level conversations to end extreme poverty and address inequality.

Panel at IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings Proposes Debt Restructuring Improvements

 

By Nick Birnbaum

During the week of October 6, 2014, Jubilee USA was actively involved in discussions on debt, predatory funds and financial reform at the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings. Below is one of our press releases from the meetings.

Washington, DC - At a high-level event during the IMF and World Bank annual meetings, representatives of the central banking and investment communities, as well as senior IMF and UN staff, will offer proposals to improve country debt restructuring. The event is being co-hosted by the Jeanne Sauvé Foundation and Jubilee USA Network. The event comes in the wake of challenges to recent efforts by Greece and Argentina to restructure their debt. Experts from the Bank of England, Franklin Templeton Investment and Columbia University are among those presenting.