LeifEkstom (July 8, 2009 at 10:45 pm)

I'm sorry; I don't understand your comment. What were you trying to say?

PeaceAndJustice357 (July 8, 2009 at 9:52 pm)

When you say the Africans you end point is where it's at. Just like when they say the american people who. The leaders or the people

LeifEkstom (June 17, 2009 at 1:05 am)

Basically, Africa, along with Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, needs the provisions of the Bamako Appeal.

LeifEkstom (June 17, 2009 at 1:02 am)

Investment in education, drug rehab, legal reform, health provision, sexual education, and infrastructure, alongside transparency and accountability and strong anti-corruption measures must be taken, and soon. They must reject FTAs, and seek trade with a balance in their favor. They need import substitution, crop diversification, and land reform. They need a stronger state sector, and a smaller wealth gap. They need an international tribunal for debt auditing, and environmental reparations.

LeifEkstom (June 17, 2009 at 12:57 am)

He routinely blames the Africans for their own plight. He says they need to stand up and take charge. This ignores the fact that they don't have the time or energy to engage in the necessary struggle. They are too busy trying to survive. They are kept illiterate and ignorant by their leaders to maintain this arrangement, as they fuck their own people over for their own gain.

CrowdPleeza (June 16, 2009 at 3:54 pm)

I've never seen James Shikwati blame poor people. He mainly blames Africa's poverty on gov't corruption and on the bad economic policies of African leaders.

LeifEkstom (June 16, 2009 at 5:52 am)

Sorry; not Baltic. I didn't mean that. I meant to say the Caucasian states.

LeifEkstom (June 16, 2009 at 5:49 am)

James Shikwati is a dishonest economist. He blames the poor for everything, and tries to validate his theories by extrapolating micro-economic phenomena onto macro-economic projections. His conclusions don't logically follow from his arguments.As I said, laizzes-faire is Africa's greatest danger. Once they have developed sufficiently, sure, why not. Hell, that''s what the First World did! But Africa will just be another mess like the Baltic states if they go Estonia's route too early.

CrowdPleeza (June 16, 2009 at 4:18 am)

Check out The African Executive site.They deal with market reforms for Africa.

LeifEkstom (June 15, 2009 at 8:29 pm)

They need long-term reforms, on this we can agree. But with the present level of inequality and corruption embedded in the system, they will end up like Yeltsin's Russia, but without Putin's revival.

LeifEkstom (June 15, 2009 at 8:27 pm)

Estonia and Poland were Second World economies before the collapse. After the collapse, they slipped back into the Third briefly, but under the brilliant guidance of their reformers they experienced their economic miracles. This was because they had the infrastructure and the skilled (but cheap) workforce that came with industrialization.Africa is comprised of Third World undeveloped nations; very few are industrialized, and they lack infrastructure and skilled labour.Apples and oranges.

CrowdPleeza (June 15, 2009 at 6:07 pm)

Look up how Estonia and Poland implemented their privatization. They had few corruption problems with their approaches. Estonia used an auction approach and Poland used an leasing approach.