I am not making this up. But, after you look past the smoke, it's just the US government paying banks money instead of foreign governments that originally took on the debt.
Here are the details.
The Treasury has just announced that the United States and Indonesia, together with two environmental NGOs, Conservation International and Yayasan Keanekaragaman Hayati Indonesia have signed agreements for the largest debt-for-nature swap under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA) since its passage in 1998. The agreements will reduce Indonesia’s debt payments to the United States by nearly $30 million over the next eight years. In return, the Government of Indonesia has committed these funds to support grants to protect and restore the country’s tropical forests.
According to the Treasury, the Indonesia agreement marks the 15th TFCA deal, following agreements with Bangladesh, Belize, Botswana, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Panama (two agreements), Paraguay, Peru (two agreements) and the Philippines.
And just to think, only a few decades ago we thought people who purchased swamp land in Florida were rubes.
ReplyDeleteI think there is room for a revisionist rewrite of the great Florida boom of the 1920s. Those hucksters weren't crooks, just environmentalists ahead of their time!