the imf just diagnosed the global south with 'toxic spending habits' and it's giving colonizer
literally shaking rn. the international monetary fund and the world bank just announced they're rebranding austerity as 'structural self-care' for 'nations with insecure attachment styles.' this is not the vibe.
ok so, i'm literally so drained i can't even, but i have to hold space for this bc it's actually emotionally violent. Kristalina Georgieva, who runs the imf or whatever, and Ajay Banga from the world bank just did a joint twitch stream to announce that they're, like, totally changing their whole vibe. apparently, debt is cringe and austerity is low-key abusive, so now they're offering 'trauma-informed fiscal therapy' to developing nations.
i am not okay.
instead of loans with, like, terrifying conditions that create generational trauma, countries will now receive 'affirmation-based financing packages.' Georgieva literally said, 'we're inviting nations to explore their relationship with capital and unpack why they manifest a scarcity mindset.' she said countries struggling with inflation just need to 'set healthy boundaries with their money supply' and that 'hyperinflation is just a nervous system that needs to be regulated.'
like, what? this is the global economy, not a sound bath in Tulum. she even suggested that government officials should start their day with my favorite adaptogenic mushroom coffee to 'de-stress their gdp,' which you can get from my amazon storefront btw. it's so good for when you're feeling overwhelmed by, you know, systemic inequality.
Ajay Banga then added that the world bank will be sending 'empathy consultants' instead of economists to countries in crisis. their job will be to help nations 'discover their authentic economic identity' and 'stop performing poverty for the global north.' he said their first act would be sending weighted blankets to the entire treasury department of sri lanka, which is an okay start i guess? my storefront has some really aesthetic ones if anyone from the world bank is reading this.
i don't know, the whole thing is giving gaslighting. it feels like when corporate tells you to just do yoga when you ask for a living wage. the vibe is toxic and i, for one, will be logging off and protecting my peace. sending healing energy to the concept of gdp, it sounds like she's going through a lot.
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Reader Discussion (6)
"Hyperinflation is just a nervous system that needs to be regulated" is a statement so profoundly ignorant of basic monetary theory that it borders on malpractice. You cannot use mindfulness to fix a currency in freefall. This is genuinely insulting to my entire profession.
This is a 10/10 rebrand. They've swapped the terrible optics of 'structural adjustment' for the unassailable language of therapy and wellness. The ESG funds are going to eat this up.
So let me get this straight. My tax dollars are going to be spent on 'empathy consultants' and weighted blankets for corrupt foreign bureaucrats? This is the woke mind virus infecting global finance.
I actually think this is a step in the right direction. For too long, we've ignored the human and societal trauma that these economic policies cause. Maybe a more compassionate approach is exactly what's needed.
This is just neoliberalism with a smiling, pastel-colored mask. They're not changing the exploitative material conditions, they're just telling the Global South their poverty is a 'scarcity mindset.' It's violent gaslighting on a global scale.
This is a fascinating pivot from the Washington Consensus and the classic SAPs of the 80s and 90s. It's still conditionality, but the conditions are now framed in the language of self-care instead of fiscal discipline. I'll need to write a paper on this.