Life And Debt Summary

In the documentary Life and Debt, it is explained through the stories of local people, the economic and social crisis of Jamaica. With Jamaica receiving mandatory loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1977 because of lack of alternatives, Jamaica was promised meaningful development. Unfortunately, this only made the situation worse because of the extreme policies and foreign economic agendas that came with the loans, forcing Jamaica into even further debt. Therefore, it is my opinion that it is because of the policies and greed of the IMF and The World Bank that came along with the loans, that Jamaica is currently 4.5 billion dollars in debt.

Many times people will assume that third world countries aren’t prosperous because of lazy leadership, lack of education, and overpopulation, but this is not true. For the most part, it is not the country's fault that they are not prospering but usually the effects of neoliberalism and globalization. Neoliberalism and globalization have impoverished previously colonized countries all over the world and the effects are devastating and cruel. In the film Life and Debt, it displays how Jamaica’s economic and political policies have negatively impacted their way of life. The director, Stephanie Black, clearly believes that Globalization has almost completely destroyed Jamaica’s economy. Jamaica is no longer able to sustain itself economically, food, and other basic human needs due to the effects of globalization.

The world is constantly becoming smaller and smaller as time progresses. A process of globalization is rapidly turning the world as we know it into economic opportunity waiting to be exploited. A large factor in this process is due to the advent of technology which is becoming more and more readily available to lesser developed countries. Countries such as Jamaica and other LDC’s are primary targets of economic globalization. In the film Life and Debt by Stephanie Black, we see the effects globalization has on Jamaican culture, industry, and agriculture.

“Life and Debt” is a documentary that examines the economic and social effects of globalization on Jamaica. The movie mainly describes the affects of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank’s structural adjustment programs. While these funds are created to help developing countries become more developed, the documentary shows how the reforms were not successful in Jamaica and put the country in debt. This paper will discuss the portrayal of globalization in the documentary, and how globalization can affect people through different scale—both locally and globally.

Globalization is when international organization influence on other countries. It seems that Haiti is a country with a strong dignity that oppose globalization as a force that have an effect on most aspects of economic experience. However, globalization has had both positive and negative effects. Globalization has impacted poverty in Haiti by free trading and many workers works unpaid for many international factories. For many years Haiti was the center of tourism, which was helping the economy, but now it has declined as a source of income . Official data say Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere( Global Finance) . The free trade promoted by global financial organizations has involved the country's economy in a deep retrocession that obliges to neglect barriers and not obstructive goods of developed countries.

One aspect that demonstrates the effects of globalization in Antigua is the never ending poverty of Antigua. Even though a vast amount of tourists come to Antigua one may think that it would be flourishing and rich with wealth; however, in reality the natives and the land of Antigua are extremely poor. Another aspect would be how Antigua is surrounded by a sea and an ocean, but continued to be in a drought. While the natives still have to watch every drop of water they drink, tourists waste water as if Antigua’s has hundreds of puddles waiting to be

In this article, “A Lifetime of Student Debt,” Robin Wilson interprets the different views on taking out loans for college students. The recent worry has been that taking out student loans are “threatening the financial future of today’s college students” (Wilson 256). However, recent studies has shown that one-third of college students will have no debt after their academic experience. College student nowadays are willing to take any means necessary to attend their “dream college, no matter the cost”(257). Mark Kantrowitz touches up on this idea remarking that these students will do whatever they need to go to their dream college. Comparatively,

     The documentary Life and Debt portrays a true example of the impact economic globalization can have on a developing country. When most Americans think about Jamaica, we think about the beautiful beaches, warm weather, and friendly people that make it a fabulous vacation spot. This movie shows the place in a different light, by showing a pressuring problem of debt. The everyday survival of many Jamaicans is based on the economic decisions of the United States and other powerful foreign countries.

Jamaica is not just white sand beaches and mimosas. Behind the thin veil of paradise lurk corruption, violence, and inequalities. Life & Debt illustrates the daily realties of Jamaica following IMF structural adjustment programs. IMF reforms have perpetuated a cycle of debt that Jamaicans have little hope to escape. Although IMF conditionality claims to develop nations so that they can grow and re-pay their lenders, Jamaica is still indebted $4.5 billion dollars and has little development to show for it. Measures of austerity coupled with devaluation, high interest rates, and drops in local wages results in greater unemployment, increased violence, and widening inequality. The bulk of the film focuses on how global integration has undercut

The most imported products and food are iPhones and chocolate beans since they can’t be made in the United States due to the environment and the choices the maker has decided. Most of all, it makes our lives feel further connected and wanting to support where our products came from. For the people who determine to not like the idea of Globalization, says that local businesses have been shutting down due to multinational corporations, having advanced in Science and Technology gotten people to lose their jobs. Throughout six articles, all have their own viewpoints about globalization is or is not helping local business and local economies.

This paper explores a great number of academic research journals and databases on the impact that the tourism industry has on the countries in the Caribbean. Tourism impacts the Caribbean in three different sections. Tourism has a social impact that allows for increases in revenue, jobs, and service for the people living there. Tourism’s cultural impact allows the history and heritage of the Caribbean to be acknowledged and practiced not only here but around the world as tourists come and go. Tourism’s environmental impact effects the natural and geographical diversity that can only be found in these countries. Although tourism brings about many advantages in all three categories, there are still negatives attributes that appear from tourism that must be handled properly to maintain a successful industry. This paper examines 12 different research journals that suggest all of the positives and negatives of tourism in the Caribbean and how they can effect not only the tourism industry but the area in which they are practiced.

The three major international economic institutions are the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organization; this book mainly focuses on the IMF and the World Bank, due to the author’s first-hand experience with both institutions. The IMF, a public institution built as a guiding hand for economic stability around the world, has brought false

Harvard Business School’s Case Study “Aid, Debt Relief, and Trade: An agenda for fighting World Poverty” outlines the steps, and missteps, that the world community has taken since World War II to address the efficacy of international assistance. The study focuses on international financial institutions (IFIs) and their ability to help poor nations break out of poverty and the possible obligations of rich, developed countries to assist the heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs). Additionally, the study seeks to see if this assistance has been and can be parlayed into growth and investment for the HIPCs.

Globalization is important to understand in order to determine what worked in the past and can be successful again in the future. Our many cultures, ideals and growing technology form together to create an extremely global world. We use products that were made on the other side of the world, and are taxed on practically everything. Whether the effects of our global society is good or bad, there’s no doubt that the world is constantly changing and impacting our livelihoods, so we must adapt accordingly in order to succeed.

Apart from Mexico, another country that suffered from IMF and World Bank assistance is Haiti. In Haiti, the IMF and World Bank blocked the government from raising minimum wage and then demanded the privatization of profitable companies. The IMF also insisted that the government cut government services by half in spite of a national shortage of teachers and health care workers and infant mortality running at near 10%.