The UN Represents The Governments Of The World. May A "Bell Of Atri" Represent The People Of The World? (Part 17)
"A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather & ask for it back when it begins to rain." - Robert Frost, American poet
While UN specialized agency, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) - like all moneylenders since the beginning of Time - has plenty of shiny toys with which it attracts clientele, its 2 trump cards are:
1. The Stand By Arrangement (SBA):- Financial assistance to countries facing short-term balance of payments problems.
2. The Extended Fund Facility (EFF):- Financial assistance to countries facing medium- to long-term balance of payments problems.
"US envoy Blome assures support for Pakistan’s IMF Program in Meeting with Finance Minister Aurangzeb" - Pakistan Observer (March 19, 2024)
To summarize: The IMF has extended the duration of its SBA Review meetings in Islamabad, due to a failure to agree on whether & when further taxes can be rained down on the People Of Pakistan. Meanwhile, Islamabad is preparing to request another EFF (given that the current SBA is set to lapse on April 12, 2024; while the previous EFF lapsed in 2023). According to the US Embassy in Islamabad, Ambassador D. Blome called on Finance Minister M. Aurangzeb to "reiterate Washington's support" for completion of Islamabad's ongoing USD 3 billion IMF loan program.
Do references to Islamabad's desire for both SBAs & EFFs, imply that the Pakistani economy faces short-, medium- & long-term problems...despite being an IMF member since 1950 & an IMF client since 1958?
In effect, what both the IMF & Islamabad apparently confirm, is that the Pakistani economy is in dire straits - despite or due to IMF guidance...since ~75 years?
How is this possible, given that, Pakistan ranks 8th in food crops & textile products export, & 4th in cotton production, worldwide?
With hundreds of millions of foreign customers for 2 of the 3 essentials (food, clothing & shelter) - food & clothing - what economic technicality could account for the statistical dissonance between how productive the People Of Pakistan are & how little they get paid?
It is understandable if Islamabad's top partner, Washington, requests frequent discounts, given that, while every Pakistani citizen is USD ~900 in debt, every US citizen is USD ~100,000 in debt!
But what about the financial problems raging through the rest of the world?
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While the People Of Pakistan are clearly insufficiently remunerated for their goods & services, does the ongoing global economic crisis constitute evidence that the UN may be the cause of this suspiciously-persistent worldwide issue?
"There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law & in the name of justice." - Montesquieu, French judge
The ongoing international financial calamity bears a chilling resemblance to the case of Michael Jackson's murder & consequent disposal of his assets.
Official reports declare that Michael Jackson - the most famous (i.e. highly-monetizable) brand name in the world & the most financially-savvy name in the global entertainment sector - was USD ~500 million in debt "due to frivolous purchases of useless bric-a-brac"?
To repay said alleged debts, he decided to perform a total of 10 concerts at the O2 Arena in London (the 50-concert world tour was never part of his deal), which would somehow not only generate USD 500 million (i.e. USD 50 million per concert, after covering all costs & taxes incurred by the concerts themselves) but also permanently restore him to his multibillionaire status, hence his firm statement, "This is the final curtain call"?
Further, after he died (under highly-suspicious circumstances), law firm Ziffren Brittenham & multinational Sony (the firms he blacklisted because he caught their employees - J. Branca & T. Mottola, respectively - abusing his {highly-monetizable} name to generate &/or launder dirty money in 2003) were (surprisingly) immediately legitimized by the US judicial system as appropriate managers of his assets, who then (equally surprisingly) immediately turned his allegedly debt-ridden estate into a huge money machine, via a (boring) Cirque du Soleil show, an upcoming (hopeless) Biopic, etc.?
The People Of The World ask:
While a career at an Intergovernmental Organization (IGO), e.g. the UN, or any of its branches, e.g. the IMF or World Bank, is considered the Holy Grail for professionals in the market for a salaried job, why are said IGOs eminently ineffective (or downright detrimental) to humankind's right to natural justice?
The "Bell Of Atri" answer:
IGOs never were & are not now supposed to prioritize PEOPLE over GOVERNMENTS, which is why, assuming that an IGO or (for that matter) a salaried cog in the GOVERNMENT machine will somehow ignore his/her paymaster for the parties said paymaster claims to like, is absurd & unfair to employees of IGOs & GOVERNMENTS, alike.
Natural justice has always been & will remain the foundation stone of human society until the end of Time...but it cannot fulfil its purpose, unless & until the PEOPLE OF THE WORLD acknowledge that, just as IGOs are essential to the GOVERNMENTS OF THE WORLD (i.e. IGOs do the research & negotiation that keeps GOVERNMENTS from weakening themselves by undermining each other), a theoretical "Bell Of Atri" organization is crucial to the research & negotiation between PEOPLE, e.g. entrepreneurs, traders, workers, etc., to clarify where & when unbridled individual creativity is absolutely required or where & when a deadline-based partnership (between purported competitors or opponents) is logically unavoidable.
"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go." - Oscar Wilde, Irish poet