Loans by big banks to third world dictators have left these nations in debt, obliged to pay for weapons and lavish lifestyles of their former oppressors. Why don't they repudiate the loans? After all, if a thief took you hostage in your own house and ordered pizza and bling, you would not feel obliged to pay for it after the ordeal ended. The main way nations are forced to pay debts is because if they don't, they will never get another international loan, leaving legitimate development without support. The World Bank and International Monetary Funds are mostly debt collection agencies for banks that have forgotten that high rewards must come with high risk, meaning they could lose their money.
Why not provide an alternate source of funds for legitimate development, loans that are only made to democratically elected governments? Aggregated, many individuals contributing to a fund could replace the big bank intermediaries and allow countries to repudiate debts incurred by former dictators. This would expand the smaller scale idea that has produced successful micro-lenders, making loans to individuals who bigger banks have ignored.
Maybe Pope Francis could kick-start the process by re-purposing the Vatican Bank from a money laundry to an Other-Wordly Bank.
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