Here's a question:
If these loans are denominated in US Dollars, and then the loans are defaulted, Does this hurt the Dollar and help the Euro?
Is this an effort of the anti-american UN to hurt the USA by helping the Euro?
Who wants to bet the corruption in these loan programs will dwarf the oil for food program.
It would hurt us in the UK equally - if not moreso than the US. Many of our finanical instutions have massive exposure to the developing world and would rightly expect the government to make up the difference of any debt the government 'forgave'.
That said - I am half expecting Britain to do something like this unilateraly regardless of everyone else as our chancellor is big on this issue.
"Who wants to bet the corruption in these loan programs will dwarf the oil for food program."
Which is probably why no one at the administrative level will be asking the right questions. Sounds like they want to continue the gravy train for the corrupt officials.
Because, dating back at least to the so-called ''sovereign loan'' debacle in the 1970s, both traders and economists (in a rare display of agreement, btw) haven't counted these ''loans'' AS loans, but have essentially expensed them from the get-go. Therefore, exactly the same effect of these ''loans'' as would be if the same dollars had been spent buying a few B-2s.
As to your bet: no bet. The sum total of these faux-loans over 40+ years utterly dwarfs the amount involved in the oil-for-food scam.