Today was a day of little occurrence. I arose from my slumber at around 11 in the morning, proceeded to have a nice hot bath and then it was toast and Italian coffee while listening to Joseph Stiglitz totally decimate President Obama’s welfare and bank policies. He also brings into context the behavior of the IMF and World Bank in this current age, stating that it is still very much the Washington Consensus although with updated ideologies.
I could go on and on about the fallacies and the utmost failings of the IMF’s Structural Adjustment Programmes and its vile machine known as Conditionality but if I did, this would probably bore a lot of people just looking for a relaxing read at home. Managed to complete the Post-Washington Consensus reading for Development Perspectives; very good ideas by Stiglitz but we do need to get the IMF and the World Bank to listen to them before they bring the rest of the world down in a spiral of bad debts, collapsing central banks and currency deregulation.
Inflation: is it really such a big issue that takes priority over all others? The IMF and World Bank certainly seem to think so. They would rather force people out of their jobs and increase the rate of unemployment for the sake of forcing down an already low inflationary rate. The World Bank itself has conducted studies and has discovered that aside from very high levels of inflation (20-40%), pushing down a very low inflation rate will have little to no beneficial effects on economic growth. I could go into financial systems and the bailing out of banks but I will just leave it at that for the moment, lest I dedicate an essay for the purpose of a blog post.
Met up with people from church today, had fajitas for dinner and discussed the message on Sunday. Basically, pastor Tom emphasized the importance of listening, and after a long rant about today’s youth and how they never LISTEN to their parents, proceeded to once again provide us with an enlightening anecdote from his childhood regarding himself and his dad, and the many mistakes he made as a result of not listening. I find some truth in those words; there have been many occasions whereupon while I’m participating in a conversation, I sit with my words at the edge of my tongue, so intent on voicing my opinions and ideas, that I no longer listen to the other person’s words; rather looking for a gap in the noise to say what I want to say. I feel that I sometimes need to take a step back and really listen to the people who are most important to me instead of having the brash arrogance of youth that I openly admit flares up sometimes within me.
It has been quite some time since Regency Security has offered me any work whether at nightclubs or at student type bars. I wonder if I have somehow offended my colleagues through action or words. Meh, I could do with the extra time reading and essaying at home/university. I do have to say, after that altercation with the three tattooed chavs two Thursdays ago, I can’t wait to get back on the job. I know I make myself sound like some sort of a violent guy, but I’m really just a chilled-out, calm and eloquent guy just out for a bit of fun.
Hope for Latvia
Alright, down to business! As I have only posted regarding this project on the International Development Postgraduate wall, I feel that this worthy cause warrants more attention. Short of posting it on my wall (because there would be too many words and people would generally tl;dr) I am now promoting this on my long-abandoned newly-revitalised blog!
Hope For Latvia is an aid organization run by our church. What it does is try to improve living conditions in Latvia in a small-scale scope by educating the locals and providing food and shelter to those in need. Unfortunately, the situation is dire. We get no funding whatsoever from the government and we have utmost reliance on donations and voluntary efforts.
You can find out more information from the website at
Please show your support for this noble effort by either volunteering your time and efforts or donating. Every little bit does count, and although this is a poor effort given to fundraising (using my blog, for heavens’ sakes) it is a sincere one.
Am really looking forward to tomorrow’s lecture on the Post-Washington Consensus; there are some questions I would like to ask Ed Anderson about regulation and fair-trade. Will post an update to this tomorrow when I have the time. Also, our ever-elusive Thomas Maxwell has confirmed dinner with me; he suggested Wagamama’s just outside Chapelfield Shopping Complex. If any of you would like to join, and live in Norwich, give me text if you know my number, or just comment on the post. I receive updates on my excellent 3G Smartphone if you comment, so I’ll be able to provide a swift and prompt response.
Man, I should really start adding photos to my posts again just to spice up things. And videos. I actually managed to record my trip to UEA on my minicamera; just haven’t gotten round to editing it and posting it, what with the atrocious speed my 5 year-old computer is operating on.
Stay safe,
Clement.
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