Debt Plan Flawed
Art Pine and the World Bank finally sounded the death knell for former Treasury Secretary James A. Baker III’s Third World debt plan. (“World Bank Calls Third World Debt Plan Inadequate,” Dec. 19). It wasn’t possible to get many bankers to lend more money to countries that weren’t even able to repay the interest on their loans.
With the Third World debt currently at $1.3 trillion, more debt for equity swaps and debt for ecological preserves and plain debt forgiveness are obviously necessary, at least for the most indebted nations. Per-capita spending for health and education has plummeted in the poorest nations. We can’t expect these nations to repay debts out of the mouths of their children.
JERRY DOUGLAS SMITH
San Luis Obispo
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