Basic HTML Version
PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, DECEMBER 31, 1982
PAGE 5
as world events are moving faster. Thank you for your help and
encouragement. My prayers are with you.
S.M. (Greensboro, NC)
Your letter dated November 22 arrived today. It is sobering, yet
exciting, to realize that what we have been working and praying
for is just around the corner!
J.F. (Gardena, CA)
Though we shouldn't be, we are shocked to see prophecies coming
to pass so rapidly! May God strengthen you, Mr. Armstrong, as
never before. We are striving to pray more than ever and be bet
ter students of God's Word so that we can be teachers in God's
government.
Mr. & Mrs. S.G. (Glendora, CA)
My husband and I were truly overwhelmed by the last letter from
Mr. Armstrong. Over the past year we have really felt the bless
ings of being involved in God's Work, but we are equally aware of
the growing problems in the world around us. We deeply felt the
need Mr. Armstrong expressed for support, so we want to send this
extra check above and beyond our tithe.
ON THE WORLD SCENE
J.C.R. (Philippi, WV)
--Richard Rice, Mail Processing Center
1983: NOT A HAPPY NEW YEAR, AT LEAST FOR THE WORLD'S BANKERS
As the world careens around the corner into 1983, few observers view the
upcoming new year with any degree of optimism. Certainly the worldwide
economic outlook appears bleak. Country after country in the Third World
is lining up at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for emergency bail
outs, simply to get infusions of money to pay the interest on maturing
loans, avoiding default and chaos in the interwoven global economic struc
ture. Positive action by the IMF often opens the door to additional help by
consortiums of private banks.
Significantly, IMF loans almost hurt as much as they help; as a condition
for receiving assistance, creditor countries have to pare back government
spending, especially subsidies for food, housing, etc.
This, in turn,
slows the creditor country's economic growth, increases unemployment (add
ing strain to unemployment assistance), limits the ability of the country
to buy foreign goods, thereby weakening the economies of the developed
nations. Bitter medicine, all around, it would seem. Yet there are pre
cious few options for a world living way beyonds its means.
Here is the way FORTUNE magazine, in its January 10, 1983 issue assessed the
burgeoning problem of global indebtedness:
Again and yet again, Latin American countries are testing the
nerves and tapping the resources of the international banking
system. Brazil, with a $1.2-billion loan from the U.S. and a
$1.5-billion agreement with the Bank for International Settle
ments freshly in hand, last week finished negotiating an accord
with the International Monetary Fund for a $4.9-billion loan. If