From: The Brokers With Hands on Their Faces Blog

File Under: Crisis, Which Crisis?
Summer was rife with reports of the global food crisis—rising prices were causing riots in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and the world’s stocks of basic grains and staples were at their lowest levels in decades.

There’s been nary a peep of food shortages, however, since the credit crisis began to swamp the media’s newsrooms in September. And whatever promises were made by western governments to alleviate the problem have proved to be fleeting ones. In a recent report, Oxfam Great Britain points out that less than $1 billion of the $12 billion pledged by countries five months ago has been given.

Return of the IMF
In the past few years, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been rummaging about for nifty gimmicks to restore its diminished credibility. Too many countries with sore memories of debilitating structural adjustment programs had sworn off ever becoming clients again; some regions, such as South America, were even looking at establishing their own banks of last resort to rival the IMF.

Well, the schoolyard bully that everyone had learned to shun is popular all over again, as Pakistan, Iceland, Ukraine and Hungary go open-handed for help to the IMF and the reformed bully is ecstatic for the attention. (The IMF is less happy for the attention it’s receiving as a result of its managing director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who is accused of abusing his power while carrying on a brief fling with one of his female co-workers.)

(All images from The Brokers With Hands On Their Faces Blog)