Friday, July 27, 2012

A Capitalist Joke

Trey Smith


The new president of the World Bank wants to eliminate global poverty.

That is priceless. I laughed so hard that I fell out of my chair. I lay on the floor for over 10 minutes laughing hysterically. Finally, I was able to pull myself up, only to fall on the floor again from one belly laugh after another.

Now, I realize that some of you may not understand WHY people like me find this all so hilarious. If you fall into that category, let me explain.

The key to the humor concerns the words, "World Bank." This financial institution (in cahoots with the International Monetary Fund/IMF) is responsible for the vast majority of third world debt. This debt guarantees that the poorest nations will remain poor for generations to come.

In her superb book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Naomi Klein has quite a lot to say about the World Bank and IMF; almost none of it is good!

Another way to better understand this bit of humor is to provide you with a congruent example or two.

Example #1
It would be the same as a leading member of the military-industrial complex declaring that their new mission is to eradicate war!

Example #2
It would be the same thing as a corporation that has not paid any corporate income taxes for several years and has received multi-billion dollar refunds in those same years to announce that it will spearhead a campaign to do away with the loopholes that have allowed it to receive the refunds in the first place!

I'm sorry. That last example is so hilarious that I can't type right now.

2 comments:

  1. Unreal....

    I remember a debate I had with some street charity collectors once where I was persuading them that money was the problem not the solution.

    The whole idea of one institution controlling and holding all cash and then... I won't go on, the whole thing is a terrible joke as you pointed out.

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  2. Why did he say he wants to eliminate poverty if he doesn't mean it? Is it some kind of cruel joke? or is he just trolling the worlds poor?

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