Remember the bottom billion will also afford less a Zimbabwe

Sir Bob Geldof, in all honesty believes that the current crisis is the result of a runaway laisser faire fundamentalism and he is wrong. There is no laisser faire in having some bank regulators decide on their own upon some minimal capital requirements for banks based on a vague concept of risk and which places a regulatory de-facto tax on risk taking. Neither is there any laisser faire in the empowerment of some few credit rating agencies to act like the world guides on matters of risks, and which has made of them the largest propagators of the subprime virus. This though does not take away one iota from the correctness of many of Geldof’s proposals in “Remember the bottom in our brave new world” November 14, especially since most of what he argues was just as valid before this crisis.

Now unfortunately the reality of the crisis is such that even if the needs for help will increase the availability of resources and the willingness to help will decrease and that, whether you like it or not, will also require diminishing the laisser faire attitude implied in “allowing governments to determine their own agenda”. I have always fought for the right of countries to have their own unencumbered voice but the underlying assumption is of course that the quid pro quo is a more responsible behaviour. In this respect, a continent, like for instance Africa, needs now to be much more forceful in handling their Zimbabwe, if it wants to maintain its credibility.