Another Failure of Economic Philosophy

The economic philosophy of the free trade Evangelicals is not just destroying our banking system, it's also creating starvation in poor nations:

Inside and out, the rusted towers of El Salvador’s biggest grain silo show how the World Bank helped push developing countries into the global food crisis.

Inside, the silo, which once held thousands of tons of beans and cereals, is now empty. It was abandoned in 1991, after the bank told Salvadoran leaders to privatize grain storage, import staples such as corn and rice, and export crops including cocoa, coffee and palm oil.

...

“The World Bank made one basic blunder, which is to think that markets would solve problems of such severe circumstances,” said Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and a special adviser to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon. “But history has shown you need to help people to get above the survival threshold before the markets can start functioning.”

It appears that the person who got this ball rolling, with "structural adjustment" loans, which required countries to disinvest in staples in favor of cash crops for export, was that guy who ran the Vietnam war so well, little Bobbie McNamara.