272/YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE!
1992 Washington, DC. The Bank's chief economist, Larry
Summers, publishes a confidential report in which he calls for
exporting the North's polluting industries to the South,
which he describes as being 'largely under-polluted'. He sees
this as a rational way to further industrial development while
reducing pollution in the North. Among other things, the
future joint secretary of the Treasury for the Clinton admin
istration writes:There are no limits on the planet's capacity for absorption
likely to hold us back in the foreseeable future. The danger
of an apocalypse due to global warming or anything else
is non-existent. The idea that the world is heading into the
abyss is profoundly wrong. The idea that we should place
limits on growth because of natural limitations is a serious
error; indeed, the social cost of such an error would be
enormous if ever it were to be acted upon ... In my view,
the economic logic of disposing of toxic waste in low-
income countries is impeccable.(Better for sickness and death to occur in places where the
loss of earnings is the lowest!).
His conclusion is typical of the Bank's approach to such
matters:The environment is a critical global problem.
Environmental problems are serious the world over, but it
is only in the poor countries that they maim and kill
millions of people every year, by aggravating all the other
terrible effects of poverty. Any strategy on environmental
problems that slows the growth of poor countries, either
by direct regulation or by market limitation, is perfectly
immoral, (quoted in George and Sabelli, 1994)1992 Chile. The Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC)
approves a financial package worth 124.9 million dollars for
the Pangue dam on the Bio Bio river, disregarding two years
of opposition on the local and international levels. In 1993,
more than 2,000 opponents of the dam attend a meeting of
seven Pehuenche communities billed as 'a symbolic act for