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Missing signature mars launch of war on hunger (Bush Admin refuses to back global tax)
Sydney Morning Herald ^ | September 22, 2004 | Irwin Arieff in New York

Posted on 09/21/2004 11:06:36 AM PDT by dead

More than 100 countries have endorsed a campaign to raise an additional $US50 billion ($71 billion) a year in development aid to combat global hunger, but the United States has poured cold water on the project.

"The greatest scandal is not that hunger exists but that it persists, even when we have the means to eliminate it. It is time to take action," read a declaration signed by 110 nations and adopted at the close of a summit on hunger on Monday.

It urged governments to consider a report for the conference, setting out a series of options for raising the extra money.

Kofi Annan shakes on the deal with presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, centre, and Jacques Chirac.

These included a global tax on financial transactions, a tax on the sale of heavy arms, an international borrowing facility and a credit cards scheme that would direct a small percentage of transaction charges to the cause.

President Jacques Chirac of France said the report set out technically realistic and economically rational solutions.

However, the leader of the US delegation, the Agriculture Secretary, Ann Veneman, dismissed it. "Economic growth is the long-term solution to hunger and poverty," she told the meeting.

"The report should give more attention to practical steps to sustained growth. There is too much emphasis on schemes such as global taxes to raise external resources. Global taxes are inherently undemocratic. Implementation is impossible."

The US President, George Bush, did not attend the summit although he is due to address the General Assembly today.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, who organised the summit, said after the meeting that Washington had made it clear earlier that it would not participate.

Mr Chirac predicted the US position could change after the November 2 presidential elections. "Let's see when things settle down what their position will be," he said. "However strong the Americans may be, you cannot in the long run emerge victorious by opposing an idea that is backed by 100 countries and which will probably be approved by 150, creating a new political situation."

More than a billion people around the world live in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $US1 a day. They include 300 million in sub-Saharan Africa.

At a summit four years ago, United Nations members pledged to halve the number of people in deep poverty by 2015.

"Right now, however, we are falling short," said the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan.

Reuters


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: globaltax; un
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To: dead

I really, Really, REALLY hate the UN!


21 posted on 09/21/2004 11:14:10 AM PDT by najida (Sometimes I feel like a nut, sometimes I am.)
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To: coconutt2000
corrupt UN officials to replace their cash cow, the Oil for Food program.

You nailed it. But corrupt UN officials is kind of redundant, eh?

22 posted on 09/21/2004 11:14:19 AM PDT by Stonedog (Mr. Blather... tear down this STONEWALL!!)
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To: dead

Good job. This is not about feeding the hungry, it's about feeding those hungry for U.N. supremacy and the downfall of the west, specifically America. The rest of the world will stop at nothing to chip away at our sovereignty. Heck, our own dems go willingly.


23 posted on 09/21/2004 11:14:43 AM PDT by kenth (Even John Kerry's recreation depends on which way the wind is blowing...)
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To: dead
Mr Chirac predicted the US position could change after the November 2 presidential elections.

Clearly Mr. Chirac did not see the polling from Ohio today...

24 posted on 09/21/2004 11:15:21 AM PDT by gridlock (BARTENDER: Why the long face? HORSE: Ha ha, old joke. BARTENDER: I was talking to Kerry!)
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To: gridlock

Bush should have said, "Hey, Chirac, wha'dya do with the rest of the billions we already gave ya? Spend that!"


25 posted on 09/21/2004 11:16:38 AM PDT by applpie
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To: dead
How will the UN line its pockets now that they've burned through the profits skimmed off the Oil for Food program?!


26 posted on 09/21/2004 11:16:41 AM PDT by GalaxieFiveHundred
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To: dead
"Mr Chirac predicted the US position could change after the November 2 presidential elections. "Let's see when things settle down what their position will be," he said. "However strong the Americans may be, you cannot in the long run emerge victorious by opposing an idea that is backed by 100 countries and which will probably be approved by 150, creating a new political situation.' "


Pay for it yourself, jerky. 150 nations should be good for the dough. (Curious... How many of the 150 would be beneficiaries; IE on the non-giving receiving end?)

APf
27 posted on 09/21/2004 11:16:50 AM PDT by APFel
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To: dead

We had a revolution over 'taxation without representation'.

And we'll do it again. Against the U.N.



28 posted on 09/21/2004 11:17:12 AM PDT by Bigh4u2
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To: dirtboy
Yeah, the UN did such a great job running Oil For Food, we should just hand them 71 billion a year...

Great idea!.

I will write the UN and remind them that, if they recover all the money stolen by the oil-for-food program, by the UN, their hangers-on and the corrupt scam artists they dealt with, it should cover most of the $70 billion they so adamantly are trying to extort from us.

29 posted on 09/21/2004 11:17:27 AM PDT by Publius6961 (I don't do diplomacy either)
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To: dead

So why don't you guys do something about the starving? Americans gives billions to the starving around the world every year, how about France? Once you tax American citizens will you put the money with the oil for food program? Oh sorry you lost that scam didn't you, is this to replace it?


30 posted on 09/21/2004 11:17:31 AM PDT by Taxbilly
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To: dead
More than a billion people around the world live in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $US1 a day. They include 300 million in sub-Saharan Africa.

The money raised by these new "taxes" will undoubtably be stolen by despotic rulers like Mugabe in Zimbabwe and their ilk. Better to spend the money on overthrowing the Marxist regimes in that part of the world, so they can make their own way.

This is the problem with the UN. There's no check on the "tyranny of the majority" that support these foolish schemes.
31 posted on 09/21/2004 11:17:55 AM PDT by cryptical
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To: APFel

If current economic trends continue, France will be eligible to receive payments under this program by 2020.


32 posted on 09/21/2004 11:18:07 AM PDT by gridlock (BARTENDER: Why the long face? HORSE: Ha ha, old joke. BARTENDER: I was talking to Kerry!)
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To: dead

Here Ithought the one world govt was a rumor, truly if the UN is given taxing authority the world would be doomed.


33 posted on 09/21/2004 11:18:21 AM PDT by aft_lizard (I actually voted for John Kerry before I voted against him)
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To: dead

If you want to end hunger, abolish socialism.


34 posted on 09/21/2004 11:18:33 AM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave soldiers and their Commander in Chief)
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To: dead
The Food for Oil scandal isn't enough? Now these clowns want to scam another cause? Puh Leeeeeeeze. The UN is a joke. Go Bush, indeed!

Red

35 posted on 09/21/2004 11:18:42 AM PDT by Conservative4Ever (With Rather doing all this backpedaling...he should be wearing pedal pushers.)
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To: Shermy
It's the replacement for Food for Oil. Call it Food for Oil II.

Kofi's bank checking account must be running a little low.

36 posted on 09/21/2004 11:18:51 AM PDT by JoeBob255
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To: dead

President Kerry will trip over himself to get to the table to sign a global UN tax.


37 posted on 09/21/2004 11:19:02 AM PDT by Travis McGee (----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
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To: dead
Mr Chirac predicted the US position could change after the November 2 presidential elections.

In other words, they'll get Kerry to ignore the Constitution, and sell the American people out. Yep. That sounds exactly like what Kerry would do. He'd turn on the American people in a heart beat if he thought it would make him more important in the world. Why, an opportunist like Kerry may even see visions of the U.N. presidency!

38 posted on 09/21/2004 11:19:03 AM PDT by concerned about politics ( Liberals are still stuck at the bottom of Maslow's Hierarchy)
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To: dead

If everyone on this thread chipped in a penny, we could buy a bullet for Mugabe and solve starvation in Zimbabwe.


39 posted on 09/21/2004 11:19:45 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (cong rec 27.3.86 jk speech doubleplusungood malreported cambodia rectify)
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To: Shermy
It's the replacement for Food for Oil. Call it Food for Oil II.

Since it involves Jacques ChIRAQ, shouldn't that be "Food for Oil - Part Deux"?
40 posted on 09/21/2004 11:20:17 AM PDT by JayNorth
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