Earlier in parts 1, click here , 2, click here , and 3, click here , conspiracy theory was shown to be irrelevant to the question. The American Round Table, the Federal Reserve System, the League of Nations, the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Liberty League were identified and discussed as knots on the thread of money and power.
Part 4 begins with the next knot, the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference. The United Nations, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Bilderberg Group are also discussed.
1944 Bretton Woods Conference: Dealing with issues of currency and trade, delegates of 44 allied nations agreed to currency exchange rates in terms of gold. Agreements provided for the formation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) and the International Trade Organization (ITO).
Of these, the proposed ITO would have compelled loss of sovereignty in trade disputes. It failed ratification by the Senate. Later it would be revived however as GATT morphed into the World Trade Association (WTO). Convertibility to gold would cease in 1971 when Nixon unilaterally abrogated the agreement. Since, the U.S. dollar has served as the currency reserve for the world. China and other creditor nations hold the key with respect to how long this might continue.
Lending funds to countries with balance of payment difficulties is an IMF function. Additionally its capabilities include monitoring economic and financial developments and providing technical assistance to developing countries.
Following reconstruction and development in Europe, the World Bank concentrated on infrastructure needs such as port facilities, highways, and power plants in the developing world. Prior to loan grants, engineering studies to demonstrate repayment capabilities were needed. Repayment capabilities, however, were often fabricated.
Projects would be created with no chance of repayment. American international companies would benefit from multiple contracts. With project failure, debtor nations required more loans to continue paying interest. To obtain them required austerity and privatization programs. Foreign capital would rush in to privatize segments of the countries public ownership on favorable terms and the general population would be deprived of services, meager as they may have been even before.
As Major General Butler had previously "made the world safe" for U.S. banking and corporate interests, John Perkins has told us how these same interests have perverted the idealistic goals of the IMF and World Bank in his two books, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and The Secret History of the American Empire: The Truth about Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and How to Change the World.
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