‘G20 taking us down the drain’ - KMU

Measures taken by the global elites under Group of 20 (G20) to supposedly ease the global economic downturn are actually taking workers and people of the world into a trip to rock bottom, according to labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno.

KMU slammed the ongoing G20 Pittsburgh Summit and crisis prescriptions of the “greedy twenty,” saying massive bailout programs and debt-dumping which are pushed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) spawn new taxes for peoples of Third World countries like the Philippines.

“Global elites are now meeting in the G20 Summit to pursue their crisis agenda of bailing out themselves while further drowning poor countries in debt through unsolicited loans. The world’s poor majority are then forced to shoulder more taxes, squeezing what is left from their pockets,” said KMU Chairperson Elmer “Bong” Labog.

“With these, we clearly see that economic recovery is a myth. These global elites, who in the first place caused the crisis, are not leading the way out of the crisis. They are actually taking us down the drain,” added Labog.

Since the financial crisis broke out exactly last year, G20 has already held two summits wherein anti-people resolutions were created. These include prescriptions for more liberalized trade, more flexible labor schemes, massive jobs cuts, “tax reforms” and heavy borrowing of poor countries.

“Massive retrenchments, contractualization, proposed hike in excise tax of gasoline and tax on text – all these are actually meant to render workers and the people as shock-absorbers of the crisis, even as we already face massive joblessness and steep commodity prices,” Labog added.

“Big capitalists and financial institutions, meanwhile, remain comfortably seated at the receiving end, reaping surging profits and infinite gains despite the global crisis,” added Labog.

The labor leader said the Arroyo regime has served as the best local accomplice of global elites in delivering blows to livelihood of Filipinos by imposing new guidelines on flexible labor and facilitating retrenchment of thousands of Filipino workers.

“The Arroyo regime has done nothing to avert the looming job massacres and declining living standards of thousands of families amid the crisis. It has instead created a few low-quality and temporary jobs that further place the livelihood of Filipinos on shaky grounds.

“The creation of decent jobs that will address the decline of social services is the proper crisis response, rather than hefty infra-spending which can never satisfy our growling stomachs.

“Strategically, genuine land reform combined with national industrialization is our best shield against the ill effects of this rotting global capitalist system,” said Labog. #