Financial Meltdown Underminesefforts to Tackle Climate Change and Global Hunger
NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2008
Editorial by Bruce Duncan
Financial meltdown underminesefforts to tackle climate change and global hunger
The media have been mesmerised by the unfolding financial crisis in the United States, with good reason, since the consequences will be severe for many people. Not only have 2.3 million homes been foreclosed on in the United States, 760,000 jobs had been shed this year by October, with USunemployment at 6.1%(see our News Analysis).
Australia has been somewhat cushioned from the effects of these events, but is feeling pain as well, particularly in the share markets and in western Sydney where sub-prime home loans were made to people unable to repay. These loans were 1% of the Australian mortgage market, compared with 13% in the US.
It is no wonder many people are livid with rage against those responsible for the financial meltdown. Commentators, including George Soros, were warning for years of the inevitable outcome of profligate and irresponsible borrowing, the debt binge, the fantasies about managing risk, reckless tax cuts for the rich, and a catastrophic failure in USregulatory governance.
Wall Street offices Flickr. Courtesy Stan
As the Nobel Prize-winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz wrote, ‘The greed of Wall Street knows no bounds.’ The crisis was entirely predictable, the result of the corruption of ethical standards, of self-serving neoliberal ideology and overweening arrogance. Yet the architects of this disaster and their collaborators are likely to walk away with their millions and not be held accountable for the suffering their actions are causing.
But it gets worse. The preoccupation with the financial fiasco has drawn attention away from the impending crisis of global warming and climate change. Public support for urgent action to address issues arising from climate change has suddenly waned, and it will be difficult for governments and businesses to find the funds needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Millennium Development Goals
As if that is not bad enough, consider the implications for the UN Millennium Development Goals to reduce global hunger and poverty. The New York meeting of over 100 heads of government on 25 September to reinforce support for the Goals and expand funding was almost totally eclipsed by the dramas on Wall St.
Instead of massive endorsement of the Goals and renewed determination to fund them, governments will have to struggle with a financial tsunami, and it will be very tough, politically and economically, to raise money to meet many aspects of the Goals.
UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, warned that unless more financesare available, many of the Goals will fail to meet their targets, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Millions of people will die unnecessarily from the results of acute poverty. Up to 10 million children a year are currently dying from lack of basic nutrition, disease control and health care.
The world has wasted opportunities that should have been seized during the years of plenty. Despite earlier pledges, the G8 nations since 2004 have provided only $2.4 billion (in US dollars) for the MDGs, far below what was needed.
Australian response
Australia’s overseas aid during the years of the Howard government languished at about 0.25 per cent of our gross national income, well below the UN target of 0.7 per cent of GNI.
The Rudd government has raised the level of our overseas development assistance, and particularly redirected much of it to basic health care, food security and education (see Bill Frilay’s paper on our website).
Speaking to the UN General Assembly on 26 September, Mr Rudd could give only a few sentences to the Millennium Development Goals in his hurriedly rewritten address. He wished to redouble efforts to reduce poverty, and increase health care and education for children. He reiterated that Australia was increasing its official development assistance to 0.5 per cent of GNI by 2015. ‘Australia now resolves to do much more, much, much more to make poverty history.’
In the September forums in New
York, richer nations pledged a
further $16 billion in funds for
theMDGs, a mediocre result
when somanylives are at stake.
Even so, supporters of theMDG
campaign will have to work hard
to maintainthe political will in
their governments to honour these commitments
(see our News Analysis).
One bright spot was the commitment to provide $3 billion for the global campaign to reduce numbers of people contracting malaria, which claims a million lives a year. The Gates Foundation offered nearly $170 million to improve vaccines.
The task – or opportunity - for SPC
Unhappily it is no hyperbole to see these current crises as unleashing a cascade of disasters that will likely imperil many of our hopes and plans for a more equitable human future.
The task for those committed to social justice and improving human wellbeing has become so much harder.It has also become more urgent.
But the current crisis may also be an opportunity to develop something better. The previous neoliberal ascendancy has been shattered, and it is time for new thinking about sounder values to guide humanity at this time.All of us have serious work to do.
The churches have much to offer about what constitutes a just society, and how to orientate our economies. Regrettably though, few know or explore the rich social thinking in the Christian traditions. Social Policy Connections intends to help open up these resources more fully, and to promote debate about how to reform our capitalist society. We need to explore and articulate our deep social philosophies extolling the worth of every person, human rights and the economic consequences in terms of a more equitable distribution of goods and opportunities.
UPDATE
You will have seen from our September Newsletter that SPC and the Yarra Institute have been settling into their new home in the new facilities at Yarra Theological Union at Box Hill.
We have been preparing a number of public events, the first on Thursday 16 October, 3.00-4.30pm,
being with Rev Joel Edwards, the incoming Director of Micah Challenge International, an organisation mobilising the churches in support of the Millennium Development Goals. The conference room is accessible via 34 Bedford St, Box Hill, or through Yarra Theological Union at 98 Albion Rd.See our website for brochure.
Our second forum on 11 Novemberwill hear Dr Hilary Martin OP speak on the federal intervention in the Northern Territory. Dr Martin has long experience in indigenous issues, and lectures at Yarra Theological Union and also the United States. We will provide details later.
Annual General Meeting
SPC will hold its Annual General Meeting at 6.30 pm at our new premises at the Study Centre of Yarra Theological Union, also accessible via 34 Bedford St, Box Hill, on Tuesday 11 November. Financial members are eligible to vote, and have been posted their voting information. Others are welcome to attend. The AGM will be followed by Dr Hilary Martin’s talk at 7.30pm.
2009 Courses at YTU
The 2009 course listings for YTU are now available on the YTU website www.ytu.edu.au, and the brochure listing thespecialised social justice offerings is on our website.