I've just returned from a trip to London. It was heaving and - apart from the tourists - seemed full of people with "things to do and people to see". Particularly in Canary Wharf, a bustling business district. I posit that, on a local scale, people coalesce at a location where they can earn what they need to live and then a bit more - maybe a lot more - for a comfortable life.
Hold that thought for a second and I'll tell you that the excellent "Broken Money" by Lyn Alden was too heavy to take to London in my shoulder bag so I took the much lighter "Hidden Repression - how the IMF and World Bank sell exploitation as development" by Alex Gladstein.
"Broken Money" explains how money *can* be abused by those in power whereas "Hidden Repression" details the actual mechanism that *is* used. The developed countries are plundering the developing countries and enslaving their populations who are now looking for a way out of that perpetual poverty.
Back to London: people coalesce at a location where they can earn what they need. So the same surely applies on a global scale. Populations migrate to where a living can be made and if, by way by example, shrimp farming has destroyed a sustainable lifestyle in Bangladesh along with the environment (Gladstein chapter 1). We shouldn't be surprised if migration from Bangladesh to developing countries happens.
What if the IMF and World Bank stopped making loans to developing countries - encouraging (forcing?) them to export the necessities of a luxurious, first-world life - and gave loans to encourage real, sustainable development? Maybe people could lead sustainable and fulfilling lives in their own countries; effectively dispersing the masses from artificial concrete cities to healthier, more fulfilling locations.
By the way, I do recognise that this last point might come across as wanting to "send them home". It's not. I just don't understand why happy lives can't be lived anywhere. I certainly wouldn't be happy living and working in a concrete jungle and neither would I be happy living on land polluted by saltwater so I could grow shrimps for export and earn $1/day. Something in between would be nice. Indeed, I might try El Salvador.
Can't we just share the bounty of the earth in a more equitable fashion?
The Dollar hegemony, central banks, the IMF and the World Bank all need to go.
