2 de Marzo 2004

Libertad económica, ¿en la ONU?

En un artículo publicado en la Heritage Foundation para explicar como la administración Bush promocionará la libertad económica bajo el paraguas de la ONU, Kim R. Holmes denuncia que:
"At times, indeed, the U.N. seems less a forum for hope-generating discussions and pro-growth economic policies than it is a stage for stale debates about transfers of wealth. In the U.N.'s economic fora, debates often have little to do with the real business of promoting development. "

Se queja de que:
"[...] is a tangible antipathy, if you will, against the private sector. We hear this in calls for greater regulation, or the extortion of profits thinly disguised as proposals for greater "corporate social responsibility.""

y se pregunta:
"How did such ideas come to gain credibility in the United Nations?"

Por dos motivos:
1. "there are many non-democratic nations in the U.N. Decisions in most U.N. bodies are made on the basis of one country/one vote, with all nations--regardless of size or type of political system--casting a vote equal to that of the United States and other free nations. Non-democratic nations, therefore, get the same vote as democratic ones. All too often, these countries vote together to block not only sensible ideas of economic development, but also proposals for U.N. reform that would loosen their hold on U.N. decision-making in areas of budget and economic development."
2. "many in the U.N. Secretariat and U.N. specialized agencies seem biased in favor of the ideology of an aid-focused development strategy."

Pero no es la ayuda económica el factor más importante sino la libertad económica dado que en términos cuantitativos "Development aid from all sources to the developing world amounted to $57 billion in 2002. By contrast, remittances from immigrant workers reached nearly $80 billion, foreign direct investment was $115 billion, and developing world trade surpassed $2 trillion. Resources now lost to corruption could provide additional billions."

Aquellos gobiernos que quieran disfrutar de los paquetes de ayuda del Millenium Challenge Account (MCA) en el 2004, es decir, el dinero de los contribuyentes useños que la administración Bush donará en concepto de ayuda al desarrollo, deberán demostrar que están verdaderamente implicados en la mejora de la libertad económica en sus respectivos países. La corporación encargada de la gestión, la MCC, utilizará como herramienta de evaluación el Indice de Libertad Económica de la fundación. Ya hay 63 candidatos. En palabras de Mr. Holmes "This "economic freedom alliance," if you will, could help developing countries shore up the courage of their convictions so that they aren't always cowed by the Cubas of the world". Sea.

Nota: esta son los resultados para España