G-8 In Ecstasy Over Giving Away National Money

Maybe I have missed something..
Maybe I am not seeing some intangible pot-o-gold at the end of the
rainbow..

But somehow, I just don't see why any leader of any country might be
*happy* to *give away* national funds that might be used for his/her
fellow citizens; to give away the tax money that was extracted from
average taxpayers.

For educational purposes:

"Brown pulls off historic debt accord
By Malcolm Moore in Washington (Filed: 26/09/2005)

Gordon Brown has sealed an agreement to forgive billions of dollars of
debt owed by poor countries after persuading the world's eight richest
nations to issue an extraordinary IOU note.

Gordon Brown: $40bn debt will go 'by the end of the year'
"Agreement has been reached on all the elements," said the Chancellor,
speaking on Saturday evening. "That means the process of completing the
debt write-off has ended today."

The $40billion owed by the world's 18 poorest countries will now be
wiped from the slate "by the end of the year". Eventually, as many as
20 other countries could qualify for the deal, which would bring the
total to $55billion.

The IMF committee endorsed the deal after Mr Brown produced a letter
signed by all eight finance ministers from the G8 club of wealthy
nations.

He said the letter, which is the first time such a note has ever been
issued, calmed the fears of several countries who were worried that the
G8 might renege on the promises they made at Gleneagles in July.

A breakaway faction, led by Belgium and the Netherlands, had been
prepared to veto the deal on the basis that none of the G8 had put in
place the formal arrangements to actually pay the required money.

They accused the United States and Germany of being happy to agree the
deal now, only to pull out later. Mr Brown's letter, together with
fierce lobbying, won the rebels over.

"I think there is a political deal now," said Gerrit Zalm, the Dutch
finance minister. "We are now quite happy with what is on the table."

It is still not clear where the cash will come from for the
cancellation but Mr Brown said appropriate legislation would soon make
its way through Parliament.

The letter also reassured the World Bank that the institution would not
be marginalised. The bank was worried that once its debts were
cancelled, it would not have the finances to carry out all of its work.
The letter said G8 would top up the Bank's resources to make sure it
was not weakened.

Last night the deal was approved by the World Bank."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2005/09/26/cndebt26.xml&menuId=242&s***=/money/2005/09/26/ixcitytop.html
....

"..still not clear where the cash will come from.. but Mr Brown said
appropriate legislation would soon make its way through Parliament."

Well, if it's not clear which taxpayers it would come from.. it is
perfectly clear that the parliament won't stop it..

And there are people who say that there exists a 'lack of democracy'!
Imagine that.

The only question remaining is which companies got the equipment that
they won't have top pay for.. And which banks will get the tax money to
make up for their bad loans.

.