IMF Needs a Reality Check, Not a Blank Check | Sojourners

IMF Needs a Reality Check, Not a Blank Check

Earlier last month, President Obama requested $108 billion in new money for the International Monetary Fund to show the world that we stood up for our commitments to fighting the global recession. Now leaders in the House and Senate are meeting to figure out the nitty-gritty of this request, which has been pasted into the controversial war funding bill Congress is slated to vote on early next week.

The question is: How can we make sure that the IMF uses this money to really fight the economic crisis abroad? Over the last few decades, the IMF's holy grail of privatization, deregulation, and trade liberalization has actually helped fuel the economic crisis and put millions deeper into poverty.

Ask the IMF's Managing Director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and he'll say the IMF has seen the light and has reformed its ways