I.O.U.: The Debt Threat And Why We Must Defuse It

by Noreena Hertz

We are bombarded with images of poverty, terrorism, war and collapsing states. Do we ever question what the root cause of these problems might be? Noreena Hertz, one of the world's leading experts on economic globalization, tackles Third World Debt as a problem which must be resolved if we are ever to see global stability.

Genres: Nonfiction, Economics, Politics

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Noreena Hertz is a renowned thought leader, academic, and broadcaster who was named by The Observer “one of the world’s leading thinkers” and by Vogue “one of the world’s most inspiring women.” Her previous bestsellers—The Silent Takeover, The Debt Threat, and Eyes Wide Open—have been published in more than twenty countries, and her opinion pieces have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and Financial Times. She has hosted her own show on SiriusXM and spoken at TED, the World Economic Forum in Davos, and Google Zeitgeist. Hertz holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD from Cambridge University and is based at University College London, where she holds an honorary professorship.

Reviews

[Malcolm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hertz is complex character – she is a member of the Economics Department at Cambridge (England) and was an advisor of some sort in the establishment of a Russian stock exchange, who has now become a turncoat critic of neo-liberal globalisation. Not quite Naomi Klein, but then she is an insider who has begun to explain the crippling effects of national debt and corporate globalisation as new forms of the old imperialism. Pretty good, pretty clear, lucid. A good place to start, although the solutions she proposes are little more than stopgaps.

[Dirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book published in 2004 is discussed again now (2011) as Hertz predicts many of the global financial problems we currently face. The book is very well written and very relevant for people interested in general politics and economics.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

Interesting, but dry and so hard to read.
Rhetorical.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looking dated now, a 2004 book on international development aid and where it goes, does not go, and the problems it causes.

Bono and Bob Geldof are in the early chapters, looking for African debt cancellation. Later we are told that the French lent money to Rwanda which was probably used to buy the weapons for the genocide. So why would you cancel that debt? We now know that many nations' leaders have been salting away riches in Swiss bank accounts, art, jewellery and luxury goods and cars, while citizens had no medicines or education. Why would you cancel that debt? If you do, the criminals will just keep coming along to steal from their people again. Plenty of instances are given where the debt money was lent to countries famed for human rights abuses, from Turkey to Pakistan to China. Shouldn't we make countries clean up their acts before giving them money for jails and guns?

The book mentions poverty causing disease, citing Peru which acquired cholera probably from Chinese seamen visiting, and next day the citizens woke up so poor they could not afford clean water, soap or kerosene. So cholera spread. This is a precursor to the 2010 outbreak of cholera in earthquake-struck Haiti, which again came in from Nepalese UN troops. And to the Covid-19 Pandemic, originating in China, either in a lab or in the farmers' market from hell. It's not clear that poverty caused these diseases, as the people spreading them had jobs, and China has been building entire cities it does not need to inhabit. However it is clear that when the disease gets into a poor area or country, the people there suffer disproportionately.

Many nations now donate to NGOs which they hold accountable, instead of handing money directly to those in power. You may say this doesn't gain them interest, but maybe it provides employment and taxes to their countrymen and women. And it provides oversight. A charity or a branch of the UN has to respect public opinion; a dictator overseas does not. This is how I would like to see donations progress, instead of nations incurring debts.

Let the title be a lesson to us all to keep as little personal and business debt as possible. Pay as much as you can, to avoid interest, and save up to buy goods. Own your house instead of renting. Rent is debt as you never own the house.
I read a hardback. This is an unbiased review.

[Chloé Schwizgebel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Topic overall was interesting and very informative. Simply regret that the more concrete "how to change things" is only present at the end.

[Outofstephc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it in dutch