Surely the most destabilizing aspect of the current Russian collapse on top of the continuing crisis in Asia is the demonstrated abject failure of the IMF bailouts and the structural adjustment (Washington) model, a model so recently rejected in toto by Stiglitz as V-P of the World Bank. In short, if the rescue packages we are financing so heavily through the IMF are merely perpetuating and making more severe the economic crisis, then it is difficult to see why the fundamental instability would not continue to spread -- with a 'Ponzi' recourse to the 'safe' American dollar. But how long can this last? Paul Phillips, Economics, University of Manitoba
