Toussaint is also convincing on the subject of radical reform or outright elimination of the World Bank and the IMF. These institutions have consistently failed in the economic stabilization and development of poor countries that was their supposed mission. Today they are more of a force dragging down developing countries than pulling them up. Toussaint is very good on the need for a Tobin tax and other controls on the international flow of capital.

Toussaint misses the boat on some economic issues. He points out that GDP is a poor measure of economic growth, but doesn't discuss more accurate statistics such as the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW). Toussaint wants growth so that the developing countries can be lifted out of poverty. What he doesn't mention is that if growth is accomplished by overexploitation of natural resources and pollution of the environment, as it usually is these days, in the long term this will mean more poverty. Since GDP does not account for changes in population, exhaustion of resources, or declining quality of life, increase in GDP is certainly not evidence of prosperity. I think the best we can hope for is the steady state economy; further economic growth is just not possible. This is not necessarily a bad thing.

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