Vulture funds: The rich keeping the third world in debt
February 16th, 2007 by CD
A fascinating broadcast was shown on BBCTV a couple day ago on vulture funds. Vulture funds - as defined by the International Monetary Fund and Gordon Brown amongst others - are companies which buy up the debt of poor nations cheaply when it is about to be written off and then sue for the full value of the debt plus interest - which might be ten times what they paid for it. In many cases as seen in the broadcast, this simply put keeps the third world from improving their economy and social standings. It won’t be surprising that many of these companies that buy up the debt are not only located in places like Washington, D.C. and New York but that they have ties to the U.S. government.
- Posted in African Affairs, International Politics, Social Issues