Monday 30 March 2026: The World Clock — Worldwide timeanddate.com/worldclock/ Source:L'Osservatore Romano 🔴The Need For a Fairer Global Economy How the Powerful Invest in the Status Quo and Leave the Poorest Behind 06 March 2026 By Stefan Dercon Director, Centre for the Study of African Economies, Blavatnik School of Government and Economics Department, University of Oxford Since 1990, two billion fewer people live in the most extreme poverty, enjoying better health, education and living standards than their parents ever had. It was an escape from the deepest deprivation that had been commonplace overwhelmingly in Asia and Africa prior to 1990. This change was possible not due to the generosity of the rich nor due to foreign aid, but because powerful groups in politics, civil service, business and others in leading positions in their own countries did not simply follow their own greed but built societies and economies that gave the poor at least a minimal chance for a better life. Behind it was sufficient common purpose and commitment by leading elites that there was space for change for the better for the many, and not just the few. It happened in democratic and less open societies; it happened mainly in Asia but also in some African countries. There are, however, countries where even this most basic change has not even started, and where extreme poverty has increased by hundreds of millions of people. Countries where the elites with power often choose to fight each other to grab more with seemingly little intention to make these places better off. Or where elites have a long history of squandering their oil and mineral wealth on anything but development. Or where even with peace and democracy, elites have not seemed willing to build the most basic prosperity. In my book from 2022, Gambling on Development: why some countries win and others lose, I described how this happened in countries and how it cost the poor dearly. Unlike the poor, elites have the power to change societies; unlike the poor, they can deliberately block change and let their greed and lust for power and status trump all. Richer and powerful countries and their elites in the West and in the East should not be let off either. They are willing to condone or even support abuses of power in poorer countries in return for natural resources or votes in international organisations. Global facilitators of wealth laundering — lawyers, bankers, PR agencies — provide the means, connections and the cover for the plunder by some of these rich and powerful in rich and poor countries alike. None of this is just because of a few bad eggs in politics or business at home or abroad. There are no doubt real crooks involved. Nevertheless, it is also due to the many more in leading and influential positions in business, politics, media, academia and, dare I say, even civil society and religious leaders, that offer an excuse to each other not to act, as if it has nothing to do with them. It is said that power corrupts. I don’t agree: this does not have to be a necessity. Power can be used as a force for good as well. Countless countries and societies have shown that some degree of cooperation and collective action, not least amongst the powerful, around peace, stability and a growing and fairer economy is possible, even with deep-rooted political disagreement and fierce economic competition. The outcome has never been perfection, and economic and political governance often remains flawed, even in fast growing and improving societies, as we have seen in India, China, Bangladesh, Ghana or Ethiopia. But at least these are examples of countries where far more people are better fed, live longer, boys and girls can go to school, and can take more command of their own lives. Today there is much risk of those countries and populations staying behind, now having even less chance of escaping, not least in Africa, even if new well-meaning local coalitions of power may emerge. Tariff walls for trade and other walls for people are closing off proven successful routes for broad-based economic growth, jobs and better incomes. Instead, with painful echoes from colonial history, richer countries hunting for minerals and other natural resources are increasingly willing to pay tribute to local African leaders — even those selling out their own people. And those getting rich in the process have more choice than ever across London, New York, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore, where an army of suited facilitators from across the world turn wealth into untraceable assets. In this context, aid cuts across the richer West, a UN that is risking bankruptcy or lower net flows from China to the poorest nations, are just symptoms of a much deeper malaise that may emerge, if those meaning well with the world are not careful. Change in the poorest countries will have to come from inside, but the rest of the world must give those trying to change countries from the inside a chance, even if not a free ride. There are a lot of things richer countries in the East and in the West can do: give poorer countries’ business fair access to global markets, encourage outside business to invest but force them to be transparent in their dealings in these countries, enforce transparency in natural resource transactions and strengthen local oversight, police illicit money flows across the world also in newly emerging havens such as Dubai or Singapore, give poorer countries a chance in the arms race in digital technology, and many more. There is good to be done with foreign aid, but charity alone will not change countries. The lessons of the last few decades suggest that change will happen if those with power in their own countries find a common purpose to build a somewhat better society, in which the poorest are at least given a chance. Aid may accelerate this process if carefully used. One serious risk is present nevertheless: if foreign aid is given in those countries where elites have little intention to change the status quo, it will not only fail to be transformational, it may even end up strengthening the status quo, giving excuses not to act by those in power. Actors in the international aid architecture could also do with some modesty: they can only work as a supporting cast, as the lead roles have to be from inside the countries involved, while foreign powers acting as casting directors are a recipe for failure. In general, it will not help the poorest to look at them as only deserving charity. A larger dose of altruism will no doubt be good for the world, but more is needed: a stronger common purpose between the poorest people and the powerful in the poorest countries and beyond. The poor don’t hold the cards; the powerful in politics, business and elsewhere have them all — they can pass and leave the status quo as it is, or they can act, and use their influence to build a common purpose to run their economies and societies reasonably and also in the interest of the poorest. Where does that leave well-meaning citizens across the world? To start, take an interest in what is happening across the world, not simply in the extreme horror and scandals, but in the slow-burning suffering of poverty as well as in the surprising progress that has been made across a large number of mainly Asian and some African societies. And then use all the small amounts of influence and power we all have to push those with power in politics, business, media and beyond to be drivers of change as well. The poorest deserve our empathy and charity, but more importantly, they deserve a choice: a life in a society where their own efforts can pay off, and not one where cynical powerful groups choose to preserve the privilege of their positions even if the society and economy around them remains a shambles. osservatoreromano.va/en/news… ============ Coordinated Universal Time time.is/UTC National Institute of Standard: --NIST (US) time.gov/ Gray line or Terminator that shows the division between day and night on the map. pskreporter.info/pskmap.html Epstein Fury*net: epsteinfury.net/ Zionists in their own words: Quotes> People Quotes organized by person zionism.observer/database