Discussion Question 2
Recently the French President Jacques Chirac proposed a world tax on trade and financial investments to ease the burden of poverty worldwide. Is this a good idea? Is foreign aid a better way to help poor countries than trade? What will you support and why?
French President Jacques Chirac, in January 2008, gave a speech to the World Economic Forum. He proposed a global tax on aviation fuel, all fiscal transactions, and trade with the specific reason of funding more international programs ( Chirac’s view, echoed by many internationalists, including former U.S. President Bill Clinton, is that pure foreign aid to lesser developed countries rarely disseminates to the populations it was intended to help. The typical “foreign-aid” goes into governmental treasuries, and is often used by the ruling elite for their own enrichment, or for goods and services designed for governmental supporters, rather than the populace. Even foodstuffs can be hoarded, resold, etc. and sometimes do not provide for their intended need. Critics of the proposal, like Microsoft’s Bill Gates, are concerned that it will take too long to amass enough tax revenue to be effective (See:
A concern, too, regarding the proposed tax would be the collection and administration – perhaps adding yet another level of bureaucracy, and another chance of fraud or a portion of the tax funds going to administration rather than aid. Many, even in the United Nations, believe that if two simple things happened to the lesser developed countries (LDC) , they would prosper: 1) eliminate massive governmental corruption, and 2) reduce or eliminate foreign aid and translate it into foreign export/import using a globalization model. Trade is the way to get a LDC to prosper, since that comes from the ground up, rather than the top down. Certainly, monopolies and larger corporations have the potential to take larger percentages of profits, pay low wages, etc., but with greater globalization comes greater power for countries to exploit THEIR resources and raise their own standard of living.
For more info, see:
Chirac’s own article about bringing fairness to the globalization process:
Interview with former President Bill Clinton on globalization:
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=2840
Several articles from the global policy forum:
Discussion Question 3
Many arguments have been made in favor of easing international patent laws for medical drugs. It is said that this will help poor countries manufacture affordable medical drugs. This will also help countries such as India build an entirely new export industry. Should patent laws be relaxed for either or for both these reasons? Discuss.