{"id":88630,"date":"2024-07-05T21:25:07","date_gmt":"2024-07-05T21:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/05\/political-unrest-worldwide-is-fueled-by-high-prices-and-huge-debts\/"},"modified":"2024-07-05T21:25:07","modified_gmt":"2024-07-05T21:25:07","slug":"political-unrest-worldwide-is-fueled-by-high-prices-and-huge-debts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/05\/political-unrest-worldwide-is-fueled-by-high-prices-and-huge-debts\/","title":{"rendered":"Political Unrest Worldwide Is Fueled by High Prices and Huge Debts"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/07\/05\/multimedia\/05global-unrest-gljp\/05global-unrest-gljp-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Political Unrest Worldwide Is Fueled by High Prices and Huge Debts\" title=\"Political Unrest Worldwide Is Fueled by High Prices and Huge Debts\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Like a globe-spanning tornado that touches down with little predictability, deep economic anxieties are leaving a trail of political turmoil and violence across poor and rich countries alike.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/27\/world\/africa\/kenya-protests-taxes-president-ruto.html\" title=\"\">Kenya,<\/a> a nation buckling under <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/26\/business\/kenya-tax-protests-debt.html\" title=\"\">debt<\/a>, protests over a proposed tax increase last week resulted in dozens of deaths, abductions of demonstrators and a partly scorched Parliament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At the same time in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/26\/world\/americas\/bolivia-unrest-military.html?searchResultPosition=1\" title=\"\">Bolivia<\/a>, where residents have lined up for gas because of shortages, a military general led a failed coup attempt, saying the president, a former economist, must \u201cstop impoverishing our country,\u201d just before an armored truck rammed into the presidential palace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/30\/world\/europe\/france-elections.html\" title=\"\">France<\/a>, after months of road blockades by farmers angry over low wages and rising costs, the far-right party surged in support in the first round of snap parliamentary elections on Sunday, bringing its long-taboo brand of nationalist and anti-immigrant politics to the threshold of power.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The causes, context and conditions underlying these disruptions vary widely from country to country. But a common thread is clear: rising inequality, diminished purchasing power and growing anxiety that the next generation will be worse off than this one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The result is that citizens in many countries who face a grim economic outlook have lost faith in the ability of their governments to cope \u2014 and are striking back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The backlash has often targeted liberal democracy and democratic capitalism, with populist movements springing up on both the left and right. \u201cAn economic malaise and a political malaise are feeding each other,\u201d said Nouriel Roubini, an economist at New York University.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In recent months, economic fears have set off protests around the world that have sometimes turned violent, including in high-income countries with stable economies like <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2024\/03\/07\/poland-sees-its-most-violent-farmers-protest-yet-as-anger-grows-across-europe\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Poland<\/a> and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/02\/01\/world\/europe\/france-farmers-protest-macron.html?searchResultPosition=6\" title=\"\">Belgium<\/a>, as well as those struggling with out-of-control debt, like <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/gallery\/2024\/6\/13\/clashes-between-police-and-protesters-erupt-as-argentina-debates-reform\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Argentina<\/a>, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/13\/world\/asia\/pakistan-kashmir-protests.html\" title=\"\">Pakistan<\/a>, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/africa\/20240302-thousands-protest-against-the-socio-economic-crisis-in-tunisia\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Tunisia<\/a>, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/news\/2024\/06\/angola-police-must-respect-protest-rights-during-planned-22-june-demonstrations\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Angola<\/a> and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/sri-lanka-opposition-protest-economic-crisis-4103716b3399ad4a2f0a21d82bf8da1a\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Sri Lanka<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Friday, Sri Lanka\u2019s president, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/07\/09\/world\/asia\/prime-minister-ranil-wickremesinghe-sri-lanka.html?searchResultPosition=18\" title=\"\">Ranil Wickremesinghe<\/a>, pointed to Kenya and warned: \u201cIf we do not establish economic stability in Sri Lanka, we could face similar unrest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Even in the United States, where the economy has proved resilient, economic anxieties are partly behind the potential return of Donald J. Trump, who has frequently adopted <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/12\/16\/us\/politics\/trump-putin-new-hampshire.html?searchResultPosition=2\" title=\"\">authoritarian<\/a> <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/article\/trump-2025-second-term.html\" title=\"\">rhetoric<\/a>. In a recent poll, the largest share of American voters said the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2024\/06\/26\/us\/elections\/times-siena-poll-registered-voter-crosstabs.html\" title=\"\">economy<\/a> was the election\u2019s most important issue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">National <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/12\/24\/business\/economy\/global-economic-risks-red-sea.html?searchResultPosition=2\" title=\"\">elections<\/a> in more than 60 countries this year have focused attention on the political process, inviting citizens to express their discontent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Economic problems always have political consequences. Yet economists and analysts say that a chain of events set off by the Covid-19 pandemic created an acute economic crisis in many parts of the planet, laying the groundwork for the civil unrest that is blooming now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The pandemic halted commerce, erased incomes and created supply chain chaos that caused shortages of everything from semiconductors to sneakers. Later, as life returned to normal, factories and retailers were unable to match the pent-up demand, boosting prices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine added another jolt, sending oil, gas, fertilizer and food prices into the stratosphere.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Central banks tried to rein in inflation by increasing interest rates, which in turn squeezed businesses and families even more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">While inflation has eased, the damage has been done. Prices remain high and in some places, the cost of bread, eggs, cooking oil and home heating is two, three or even four times as high as it was a few years ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As usual, the poorest and most vulnerable countries were slammed the hardest. Governments already strangled by loans they couldn\u2019t afford saw the cost of that debt balloon with the rise in interest rates. In Africa, half of the population lives in nations that spend more on <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/14\/business\/government-debt.html\" title=\"\">interest payments<\/a> than they do on health or education.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That has left many countries desperate for solutions. Indermit Gill, chief economist at the World Bank, said nations unable to borrow because of a debt crisis had essentially two ways to pay their bills: printing money or raising taxes. \u201cOne leads to inflation,\u201d he said. \u201cThe other leads to unrest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After paying off a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/26\/business\/kenya-tax-protests-debt.html?searchResultPosition=1\" title=\"\">$2 billion bond<\/a> in June, Kenya sought to raise taxes. Then things boiled over.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Thousands of protesters <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/25\/world\/africa\/kenya-protest-photos.html\" title=\"\">swarmed the Parliament<\/a> in Nairobi. At least 39 people were killed and 300 injured in clashes with the police, according to rights groups. The next day, President William Ruto withdrew the proposed bill that included tax increases.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In Sri Lanka, stuck under $37 billion in debt, \u201cthe people are just broken,\u201d said Jayati Ghosh, an economist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, after a recent visit to the capital city, Colombo. Families are skipping meals, parents cannot afford school fees or medical coverage, and a million people have lost access to electricity over the past year because of unaffordable price and tax increases, she said. The police have <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/sri-lanka-opposition-protest-economic-crisis-4103716b3399ad4a2f0a21d82bf8da1a\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">used tear gas and water cannons<\/a> to disperse protests.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In Pakistan, the rising costs of flour and electricity set off a wave of demonstrations that started in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c4n11j4wewxo\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Kashmir<\/a> and spread this week to nearly every major city. Traders closed their shops on Monday, blocking roads and burning electricity bills.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe cannot bear the burden of these inflated electricity bills and the hike in taxes any longer,\u201d said Ahmad Chauhan, a pharmaceuticals seller in Lahore. \u201cOur businesses are suffering, and we have no choice but to protest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Pakistan is deep in debt to a string of international creditors, and it wants to increase tax revenues by <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/pakistan-parliament-passes-tax-heavy-budget-to-appease-imf\/a-69507786\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">40 percent<\/a> to try to win a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/markets\/asia\/pakistans-budget-will-aim-set-stage-imf-bailout-2024-06-10\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">bailout of up to $8 billion<\/a> from the International Monetary Fund \u2014 its lender of last resort \u2014 to avoid defaulting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">No country has a bigger I.M.F. loan program than Argentina: $44 billion. Decades of economic mismanagement by a succession of Argentine leaders, including printing money to pay bills, has made inflation a constant struggle. Prices have nearly quadrupled this year compared with 2023. Argentines now use U.S. dollars instead of Argentine pesos for big purchases like houses, stashing <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/08\/06\/business\/inflation-argentina.html\" title=\"\">stacks of $100 bills<\/a> in jackets or bras.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The economic turmoil led voters in November to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/11\/19\/world\/americas\/argentina-election-javier-milei.html\" title=\"\">elect Javier Milei<\/a>, a self-described \u201c<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/11\/20\/world\/americas\/javier-milei-argentina-trump.html?searchResultPosition=2\" title=\"\">anarcho-capitalist<\/a>\u201d who promised to slash government spending, as president. He has cut thousands of jobs, chopped wages and frozen infrastructure projects, imposing austerity measures that exceed even those the I.M.F. has sought in its attempts to help the country fix its finances. In his first six months, poverty rates have soared.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Many Argentines are fighting back. Nationwide strikes have closed businesses and canceled flights, and protests have clogged plazas in Buenos Aires. Last month, at a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c255zdlde92o\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">demonstration<\/a> outside Argentina\u2019s Congress, some protesters threw rocks or lit cars on fire. The police responded with rubber bullets and tear gas. Several opposition lawmakers were injured in the clashes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Martin Guzm\u00e1n, a former economy minister of Argentina, said that when national leaders restructure crushing government debt, the agreements fall most heavily on the people whose pensions are reduced and whose taxes are increased. That is why he pushed for a law in 2022 that required Argentina\u2019s elected Congress to approve any future deals with the I.M.F.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere is a problem of representation and discontent,\u201d Mr. Guzm\u00e1n said. \u201cThat is a combination that leads to social unrest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Even the world\u2019s wealthiest countries are bubbling with frustration. European <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/31\/world\/europe\/angry-farmers-are-reshaping-europe.html?searchResultPosition=1\" title=\"\">farmers<\/a>, worried about their prospects, are angry that the cost of new environmental regulations intended to ward off climate change is threatening their livelihoods.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Overall, Europeans have felt that their wages are not going as far as they used to. Inflation reached nearly 11 percent at one point in 2022, chipping away at incomes. Roughly a third of people in the European Union believe their standards of living will decline over the next five years, according to a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/europa.eu\/eurobarometer\/surveys\/detail\/3272\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">recent survey<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Protests have erupted in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/economy\/1229955\/farmers-begin-protests-over-high-costs-compensation-payments\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Greece<\/a>, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/europe\/tractor-driving-portuguese-farmers-block-roads-spain-protests-grow-2024-02-01\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Portugal<\/a>, Belgium and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/01\/18\/world\/europe\/german-economy-standstill.html\" title=\"\">Germany<\/a> this year. Outside Berlin in March, farmers spread manure on a highway, causing several crashes. In <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/01\/26\/world\/europe\/france-prime-minister-protests-farmers.html?searchResultPosition=1\" title=\"\">France,<\/a> they burned hay, dumped manure in Nice\u2019s City Hall and hung the carcass of a wild boar outside a labor inspection office in Agen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As the head of France\u2019s farmers union <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/31\/world\/europe\/angry-farmers-are-reshaping-europe.html?searchResultPosition=1\" title=\"\">told The New York Times<\/a>: \u201cIt\u2019s the end of the world versus the end of the month.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The economic anxieties are adding to divisions between rural and urban dwellers, unskilled and college educated workers, religious traditionalists and secularists. In France, Italy, Germany and Sweden, far-right politicians have seized on this dissatisfaction to promote nationalist, anti-immigrant agendas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And growth is slowing worldwide, making it harder to find solutions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTerrible things are happening even in countries where there aren\u2019t protests,\u201d said Ms. Ghosh, the University of Massachusetts Amherst economist, \u201cbut protests kind of make everybody wake up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Zia ur-Rehman<!-- --> contributed reporting from Karachi, Pakistan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/05\/business\/global-economy-debt-inequality.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Like a globe-spanning tornado that touches down with little predictability, deep economic anxieties are leaving a trail of political turmoil and violence across poor and rich countries alike. In Kenya, a nation buckling under debt, protests over a proposed tax increase last week resulted in dozens of deaths, abductions of demonstrators and a partly scorched [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/07\/05\/multimedia\/05global-unrest-gljp\/05global-unrest-gljp-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[14583,11484,437,4346,234,2364,3092,2599],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88630"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88630"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88632,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88630\/revisions\/88632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}