Great editorial by Economics Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz on the lessons of the economic crisis. (Full Story)
Some highlights:
The first lesson is that markets are not self-correcting. Indeed, without adequate regulation, they are prone to excess. In 2009, we again saw why Adam Smith's invisible hand often appeared invisible: it is not there. The bankers' pursuit of self-interest (greed) did not lead to the well-being of society; it did not even serve their shareholders and bondholders well. It certainly did not serve homeowners who are losing their homes, workers who have lost their jobs, retirees who have seen their retirement funds vanish, or taxpayers who paid hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out the banks.
Under the threat of a collapse of the entire system, the safety net -- intended to help unfortunate individuals meet the exigencies of life -- was generously extended to commercial banks, then to investment banks, insurance firms, auto companies, even car-loan companies. Never has so much money been transferred from so many to so few. We are accustomed to thinking of the government transferring money from the well off to the poor. Here it was the poor and average transferring money to the rich. Already heavily burdened taxpayers saw their money -- intended to help banks lend so that the economy could be revived -- go to pay outsized bonuses and dividends.
The justification was that bailing out the banks, however messily, would enable a resumption of lending. That has not happened. All that happened was that average taxpayers gave money to the very institutions that had been gouging them for years -- through predatory lending, usurious credit-card interest rates, and non-transparent fees.
The bailout exposed deep hypocrisy all around. Those who had preached fiscal restraint when it came to small welfare programs for the poor now clamored for the world's largest welfare program...Those who had argued for "accountability" and "responsibility" now sought debt forgiveness for the financial sector.
Thai soldiers with riot shields and clubs evicted more than 4,000 Hmong asylum seekers from a holding center and forcibly repatriated them to Laos. Thailand defied protests from the United States and the United Nations to suspend the operation. The Hmong are afraid to return to their home country because they fear they will face retribution and persecution from their government. The group of 4,371 Hmong that were repatriated included economic migrants as well as those who fit the definition of refugees with "a well-founded fear" of persecution. The Hmong are a mountain tribal group that the CIA enlisted during the "secret war" in Laos in the 1960s. They helped to fight against the Laotian communist group Pathet Lao and the North Vietnamese. The Hmong started fleeing the country after the Communist victory in 1975. The prime minister of Thailand said they had received assurances that the returnees would be well-treated and they "will have a better life" in Laos.
Critics say this forced repatriation is a violation of international humanitarian principles. At the camp, which was located in the remote hills, the military had begun rounding up Hmongs after cutting off cellphone service and restricting food and medical care to the camp for several days. Thailand has already faced criticism from human rights groups for their treatment of refugees and migrants. Thailand has restricted access to the camp -- reporters have been barred for the past three years and the United Nations were denied their requests to interview the Hmong to determine their eligibility for resettlement abroad. In May the medical group Doctors Without Borders pulled its workers out of the camp because they said there were abusive conditions, including "arbitrary detention of influential leaders to pressure refugees into a 'voluntary' return to Laos." In addition, a year ago Thailand faced criticism when it's military turned away 1,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar and set them adrift at sea in boats without motors. (Full Story)
In a similar story, Bangladesh is repatriating 9,000 Rohingya Muslims back to Myanmar (Burma). Human Rights Groups say that Rohingya Muslims fled Myanmar because of religious persecution, and they do not want to return to their home country. The junta in Myanmar discriminates against the Rohingya's Islamic faith, and they are deprived of free movement, education, and employment. Many have nowhere to live in Myanmar and they suffer "dire conditions" there. (Full Story)
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