Economic fallout
By now we all know that the global economy is in a stalled tailspin. That's what happens when you fly at 30,000 feet without looking at the fuel gauge. Millions worldwide are losing their savings, homes, retirement funds and jobs. As we sit here and point fingers, others are about to suffer too. The sad thing is that they are not the ones with the multi million dollar homes, fast cars and yachts. They are the disposessed of lower resource countries. The dwellers of Rio's favelas and Nairobi's Kibera are soon going to get hit as international aid dries up and their own governments are unable to provide the meager assistance they may have been providing to date.
Indeed, there is every chance that the international public interest community will be hard hit by this crisis. I cannot imagine governments and companies not scaling back their financial support of global institutions such as the United Nations or large civil society organizations. In weeks to come I'll be keeping my eyes and ears open to see if there is any sign of such a mutiny but it sure smells bad for now.
The follow up question is: if the international community gets hit, will all get hit the same? Will WHO see its budget tightened? How about FAO or WMO? How about donations to your national Red Cross? Worse, will food banks and blood banks dry up? It may seem like a far stretch but such things could happen. Actually, on second thought, the blood banks will likely benefit as people who need money decide to barter blood for bucks. But will there by any bucks to pay them with?
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