Can We Talk About Ukraine’s Debt To The IMF?
Whoever owns the debts writes the rules. “Investor friendly” is just code for slavery.
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Before the war, Ukraine didn’t have a very good economy. We know this because back in 1992, Ukraine got hooked into a payday loan program with the International Monetary Fund to the tune of $2.2 billion. After a few more loans, Ukraine now owes $22 billion to the IMF.
Before the war, Ukraine’s economy was valued at about $155 billion. Even before the war, it would be hard to find an analyst who would tell you with any confidence that Ukraine could pay off that debt. Ever.
A debt that cannot be paid, won’t be paid. — Michael Hudson, historian, and economist
Last year I read “…and forgive them their debts”, by Michael Hudson. In that book, Hudson walks us through a couple of thousand years of the history of debt and money. He shows us that the Austrian economics people have got money all wrong. Money wasn’t created by people who got tired of bartering. It was invented by the first governments in the cradle of civilization, Sumeria, and Mesopotamia.
He also shows us something else. Throughout history, the record shows that loans were often not made to be repaid. They were made for slave labor. Families who could not pay their loans with commodities or money would pay the loan off with a child, maybe two. Then loans were made for the land.
In the age of antiquity, there was a different social compact between the rulers and the ruled. Every family received a plot of land they could not lose or sell. Each family lived on that land, grew their own food, and passed it down to their heirs. In return for the land, each family would perform work to maintain the kingdom. They’d build walls, dig irrigation ditches, and send their sons off to war.
The early loan sharks wanted the labor and land. So when their debtors got in too deep, by design, the debtor would “adopt” the loan shark as heir so that he could acquire the land upon the death of the father.
Do you see what I mean by using loans for control?
The loans made to Ukraine are so large, that it’s not possible to repay them without help. A lot of help. And with…
