World Bank warns of social unrest

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

The head of the World Bank has warned that the global economic crisis could lead to serious social upheaval. "If we do no take measures, there is a risk of a serious human and social crisis with very serious political implications," Robert Zoellick said. He pointed to Eastern Europe, which faces the "tricky situation" of fast-shrinking economies and protests. Mr Zoellick suggested governments should start preparing for high levels of unemployment. "In my opinion, in this context, nobody really knows what is going to happen and the best one can do is be ready for any eventuality," Mr Zoellick said in an interview with Spain's El Pais newspaper. "There is also what I call the 'X-factor', that one can not foresee," such as the recent outbreak of swine flu, he said. "Latin America has remained reasonably stable, even if Mexico and Central America are under pressure because they rely a lot on the North American market," Mr Zoellick added. It was reported last week that Mexico's economy shrank by 8.2% in the first three months of this year compared with a year earlier. Mexico sends 80% of its exports to the US. Other economies in Eastern Europe have registered double-digit declines in GDP, such as Latvia and Estonia, while the retiring Bank of England rate-setter David Blanchflower has said at least one million more people in the UK will lose their jobs. The World Bank has previously warned of a "human catastrophe" in the world's poorest countries unless more is done to tackle the global economic crisis. It said an extra 53 million people are at risk of extreme poverty. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8066037.stm

[piet11111]

The head of the World Bank has warned that the global economic crisis could lead to serious social upheaval.
"If we do no take measures, there is a risk of a serious human and social crisis with very serious political implications," Robert Zoellick said.
He pointed to Eastern Europe, which faces the "tricky situation" of fast-shrinking economies and protests.
Mr Zoellick suggested governments should start preparing for high levels of unemployment.
"In my opinion, in this context, nobody really knows what is going to happen and the best one can do is be ready for any eventuality," Mr Zoellick said in an interview with Spain's El Pais newspaper.
"There is also what I call the 'X-factor', that one can not foresee," such as the recent outbreak of swine flu, he said.
"Latin America has remained reasonably stable, even if Mexico and Central America are under pressure because they rely a lot on the North American market," Mr Zoellick added.
It was reported last week that Mexico's economy shrank by 8.2% in the first three months of this year compared with a year earlier. Mexico sends 80% of its exports to the US.
Other economies in Eastern Europe have registered double-digit declines in GDP, such as Latvia and Estonia, while the retiring Bank of England rate-setter David Blanchflower has said at least one million more people in the UK will lose their jobs.
The World Bank has previously warned of a "human catastrophe" in the world's poorest countries unless more is done to tackle the global economic crisis.
It said an extra 53 million people are at risk of extreme poverty.


there now it is readable.

its no surprise really that eastern europe is in deep trouble but interesting enough is that a lot of european banks have invested a lot of money there that they are now seeing going down the drain especially german and austrian banks are exposed to this.
so if eastern europe goes down its likely to take a lot of european banks with it perhaps that explains why the IMF has been uncharacteristically generous with loans.

what i am curious about is how the people that grew up in the USSR have to say about this as the USSR was largely immune from crises in capitalism they must have the feeling that much was better in the USSR then things are today.

[Angry Young Man]

The problem with much of Eastern Europe is its vulnerability to fascism. This may manifest because the failure of capitalism combining of their scepticism toward socialism. Many will think that Marxism is akin to the USSR.

[JimmyJazz]

In related news, serial rapist warns of trigger-happy women.

[Dust Bunnies]

Well there are problems with leftism in Eastern Europe. Probably most active people are too young to remember the USSR days. Also, I know that Poland is very religious, they take the lies at face value that the Soviet Bloc=Communism. Also, in many former Soviet Bloc countries it has become illegal to do anything close to Communism or Stalinism.

This video describes several things that have happened regarding laws after the end of the Soviet Bloc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsENOy2I1II