The apparent main reason why Haiti still lives in poverty... They were forced to take a loan.

In 1825 Haiti never should have had to pay France $21 billion (in 2004
dollars) to compensate French slave-holders for their loss of property
(now free Haitians). This debt, paid under threat of invasion and
exclusion from international commerce, took Haiti 120 years to repay.

www.zmag.org...

Incredible... I have had it with all the stories of how Western countries have forced loans down the throats of other countries (with the threat of military action if they refuse to take the loan). Makes me think that this is the main reason why there is poverty on the planet and why there exist such thing as a third world.

What do you guys think about this?

More info here:

en.wikipedia.org...

And France has the brass nuggets to pick on the US for its handling of the disaster situation so far...
www.abovetopsecret.com...
Haiti has been in debt to everyone since then, I think I read that 88% of their GDI goes out to paying outstanding debts to places like France and the IMF.

Its discusting!
We all know this happens, that is the worst thing.
This has happened for hundereds of years and its still happening in our advanced modern culture. Makes you sick it really does!

Makes you wonder if the French are going to stick Haiti with the bill for any relief aid that they provide.

reply to post by TheBandit795


Wow never heard of this before. With every passing day such nefarious activities of Govts. keep coming forward. This is sick.

I'll have to check if it is true, but I heard on the radio last week that France has proposed the cancelation the national debt of Haiti.

France Calls for Cancellation of Haiti's Debt
www1.voanews.com...


But the fact that they forced them into poverty for so long is very disturbing. But I believe it is not the only thing that kept Haiti the way it was.

For what it's worth ... a wiki page about Haiti' debt

reply to post by TheBandit795



Bandit this is not synonymous to Haiti, the world banking systems has every county in debt.

I really wish people would take the time to listen to this short lecture in regards to how the banking system works. If people invest a few moments, they will see that not only Haiti, is in debt, but no matter where your at in the world, debt is the "Ball and Chain", for every man women and child.

This is by far the quickest and most accurate information on why everyone is in so much debt, everything in this presentation is backed by 100% facts.

Google Video Link

[edit on 19-1-2010 by Realtruth]

Slavery works a lot better for the OWNER, if you don't have to guard your property. The French even came up with Amortization tables to see how their "assets depreciated over time." Roughly translated; when do they work themselves to death?

Isn't it appropriate to just pay for this whole cleanup with taxes on Corn Syrup companies like AMD -- or how about the new slave holders paying for their investment -- aw heck, I forgot, we keep focusing on the value of "charity" because we don't want people who work for things to feel "entitled" to a living wage or anything. Haitians have been getting a survival wage.

You have to wonder if some of the News Crews flocking to the country for their disaster porn aren't spending more watts on blow dryers for reporters wearing $200 Kaki vests to make their hair that perfect balance of salon beauty and "Wolf Blitzer" shock and awe -- it's all about the Zazz folks!

I wonder if the Haitian's will have to work for $.26 an hour to repay all our kindness vs. the $.27 an hour they make.

The earthquake they experienced was inevitable --but their horrible building codes, lack of infrastructure, and poverty would not.

It made me pretty sick to hear Limbaugh say; "we already donate to Haiti -- it's called US taxes." Were those the "taxes" you paid vacationing in the Dominican Republic with a bottle of Viagra, Rush? I mean, what's there for his vacation beyond little people you can adopt for $50? Maybe he needed to save money at his resort -- must be tough on his salary to go to Cabo.

I think that, the Haitians and a lot of other people could forego all of US charity combined if we KEPT 99.9% of our tax dollars on the military that insures places like Haiti and Honduras never, ever get control of their own lives.

Since we don't get irony in this country; around $35 Billion in INCREASED military spending was approved for the military operation in Afghanistan -- because it was really important to find and torture a few cab drivers.

More than that is going to bonuses on Wall Street -- the same people who make money on money and not doing anything.

When Bush and Clinton showed up to beg for charity -- it brought a tear to my eye. I mean, Bush ousted Aristeed, and Clinton helped shut down their internal police in exchange for ruining their Sugar industry. Had to make US corn syrup economically competitive because we can't have our children eating sugar!
The ousting of Aristeed a couple times by both Bush president's probably didn't help.

The absolute ignorance in this country of what we do and are still doing is amazing. And the news media didn't pick up on the Oil Infrastructure Improvements starting up in Iraq (it wasn't for oil people) 7 years after we invaded because Saddam was an undemocratic bad man (and Aristeed was too Democratically elected?) The media didn't cover 20 million people protesting "no blood for oil."

Why do Haitians get shipped back to their country when people from Cuba get amnesty? Now, Cuba is sending medical help and aide to Haiti. If you are going to be desperate and poor -- make sure you are escaping a Communist Dictatorship and not merely trying to get out of paying off a permanent debt at $.27 an hour.

Why isn't it a paradise there -- when it has the LEAST corporate regulations of any country on earth?

Oh, nothing new. Some countries are forced to take loans, some are just gladly doing it (US) - but the end result is the same - a new form of global taxation . How much % of your income goes on paying interest? individuals, companies, cities and countries are ALL in debt at the same time. Someone must be rich out-there, dont you think?
It would be an interesting thread to actually study who owes money to who , a "follow the money" thread!

[edit on 19-1-2010 by Romanian]

the untied states is actually infamous for doing this to smaller countries.

they send in "economic hit men" and then that country is in debt to the U.S. forever.

nothing new.

If you really think about it, this happens everywhere in the world. We are constantly hit by debts so that we may never reach the elite. Debt is a system of control which is forced down most people's throats. The only difference with them is that their nation is too small to pay such big debts.

Personally, I think the whole money systems needs a big revision. This system was designed so that few people take hold of most of the riches while others get squeezed for their last pennies.

Very interesting indeed. Add in corruption by Haiti's leadership and it's no wonder that Haiti is at the bottom of the world. Haiti has been robbed and kept down. Kept from ever becoming independent and an equal member of humanity. As long as the inhabitants were black, those that controlled the wealth of nations raped and pillaged everything that Haiti had to offer. Then they blamed the results on the blacks to imply that all the poverty and lack of civilization was to be blamed on ignorant black people.

Lastly I would add that someone should explain in terms the general public could understand just how the Mayans had a civilization for over 500 yrs without a currency. That small point of history would have been something I wanted to pursue when I was in college, but alas, those days are far behind me.

I just feel that in today's terms of learning from the past, we should learn how The Mayan civilization of such huge size could exist and function without a currency. Anyway, its just a thought that I always felt we could learn from and benefit from.

And here's France bashing the U.S. for helping Haiti.

Weird.

the Haiti situation makes a lot more sense now. The World Bank and/or IMF + weather control machines e.g. Nikolas Tesla = man made disasters in territories that can't pay the $$ back or won't change their policies.

Originally posted by MaxBlack
snip
Lastly I would add that someone should explain in terms the general public could understand just how the Mayans had a civilization for over 500 yrs without a currency. That small point of history would have been something I wanted to pursue when I was in college, but alas, those days are far behind me.

I just feel that in today's terms of learning from the past, we should learn how The Mayan civilization of such huge size could exist and function without a currency. Anyway, its just a thought that I always felt we could learn from and benefit from.

Cant say as I agree.
from what I understand the pagan Mayans had jade, gold, slaves and must have traded substantially
Money [ currency] is not evil- but like the Bible says:
Love of it is!

dont forget about the child slavery abound in the area

As soon as dawn breaks in Port-au-Prince the first children appear, staggering under the weight of five-gallon buckets of water. The water carriers, many as young as 6-years-old, are some of the thousands of children living as virtual child slaves in the country.

Given away to other families by parents too poor to feed and clothe them, they cook, clean and fetch water without any payment.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Originally posted by grandnic
I'll have to check if it is true, but I heard on the radio last week that France has proposed the cancelation the national debt of Haiti.

France Calls for Cancellation of Haiti's Debt
www1.voanews.com...


But the fact that they forced them into poverty for so long is very disturbing. But I believe it is not the only thing that kept Haiti the way it was.

For what it's worth ... a wiki page about Haiti' debt

well since the country lies in ruins and people in povrety I think French compagnies (and not only France, all western countries ) will have a lot of contracts t o rebuild the Haiti...

reply to post by TheBandit795


THat's just sickening!

These people take advantage of one of the most poorest economy in the World, and after they get hit by a destructive, terrifying and deadly quake!

There are no honest people left in the World of politics and Corporations!

This makes me so mad I could melt them with my eyes if they were in front of me!

The truth shall set us all free - look at the people controlling aid and emergencies - follow the money trail and there at the top lies the root of the evil in the World

The whole monetary concept revolves around ownership of people - in some countries more in some less. The people of Haiti bought themselves, you do the same when you pay vague taxes for living or when your wages/income freeze (which I doubt ever happens in US). That is why people compare modern lifestyle (not just in Americas) with slavery - in Haiti, people were literally slaves.

Hypocrisy is used as a veil to hide the truth. Even the IMF itself has donated to haiti.

There's another example of the (unjust?) debt.

National debt of a country can get extremely high - the actual money ends up all over the world, used for various criminal purposes so that 3rd world dictators can drive expensive cars or have their own nuclear bombs. If the money would be used for some useful purposes like in case of Israel there wouldn't be military power to threaten debtors. While point of a debt with interest rate is of course - not to pay it.

My own small (6 mil. people) country - Serbia, is in a huge debt and even with paying off it is still increasing. Yet we somehow managed to borrow Iraq 2.5 billion dollars (that is unimaginable sum of money to people of Serbia) and just recently cancel the whole debt.
For example, what you guys have destroyed for decades is made of money coming from you.

Yugoslav construction companies had built most of the military infrastructure in Iraq, such as military bases and command headquarters during the seventies and eighties of the last century.

(click for source)

The money used to build those came from our external debt, which is money from United States and Soviets - total of 20 billion dollars back in 1980. That's a lot for those days. In a nutshell, US made possible for Yugoslavia, Iraq and few others to live off the slavery of millions of people for considerable amount of time.

Point is - symbolically, he who prints the money, eventually collects his loot one way or another. His slaves will work for him even in the remotest parts of the world. French actually had their slaves for 120 more years.
The economy, politics, organized crime and religion are all inter related thanks to a network of world governing criminal organisations such as CIA, UN, IMF, Interpol, MI5, Mossad and many others. Facts are hidden somewhere among their endlessly complex and classified bureaucracy. But one fact is for certain, slavery never ended or even made a pause - it has become more manageable and much "cleaner".

[Edit: corrected wording/grammar]

[edit on 19/1/2010 by SassyCat]