International Monetary Fund

Hello for the last time, delegates – this is the final blog entry!

I hope you all have safe travels back home and aren’t too far behind on your homework.

Anyway, for those delegates who had to miss closing ceremonies to catch flights, here are the awards:

Honorable Mentions (posted online only; these are not official BMUN awards with certificates): Colombia, Palestine, Syria, Cote D’Ivoire, Switzerland

Commendations: United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Pakistan, Benin

Outstanding: Kuwait, United States, China, France

Best Delegate: Australia

If you missed closing ceremonies and won an award, your certificate or gavel will be mailed to your school advisor soon.

Research Awards: France, United States, Syria, Georgia, Japan, Argentina, Australia, China

Thank you all for coming to the 58th session of Berkeley Model United Nations. Sydnee, Hinh, and I enjoyed meeting you and facilitating debate on our two topics and crisis simulation. We hope to see some of you next year either as fellow Berkeley students (be sure to try out for BMUN if you are admitted to Berkeley, seniors!) or as delegates at BMUN59.

Best wishes for the future,

Stephanie

Hey Delegates!

Though the issue of Greece, Spain and Portugal has been in the news, especially in relation to how it affects the euro and other euro zone countries, some aspiring euro zone members have also been having trouble.  Latvia has been particularly hard hit by the recession — unemployment is still 22% (the highest in the EU) and, according to BusinessWeek, the average wage fell 12.1% last quarter.  This fall in wages is partially due to the fact that Latvia is “internally devaluing” its currency.

With wages as low as they are, the country also could be particularly vulnerable to financial fraud and pyramid/Ponzi schemes.  What, if any mechanisms are in place to stop these schemes?

The IMF has been supporting Latvia for the past few years (it has given them about 1 billion euros so far) and has extended its support through 2011 to help stabilize the economy.  However in order to meet its goal of joining the euro zone by 2014, Latvia still has much to do and must reign in its budget deficit (to 3%) if it is to meet the necessary criteria.  In order to raise cash, Latvia has even gone so far as to auction off a ghost town to a Russian company and Russians have been increasing their influence both politically and economically throughout the country.

Latvia is not a member of the euro zone, unlike Greece.  This has allowed it more options in terms of dealing with the downturn as it has more control over its currency.  As we have seen with Greece, one problem of being in the eurozone is that richer EU countries are forced to support poorer countries, and problems with the economy of one state can ripple through the eurozone.  With this in mind, should the IMF support or discourage countries from joining the eurozone?

Thanks for reading.  I hope you all are as excited as I am for the conference this weekend!

Sydnee

Hello Delegates!

I just met with our IMF guest speaker today to go over some final things, and you are all in for a treat!

Kelly Knorr is an MBA student with an emphasis on Finance and the Social Sector in the Walter A. Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. She earned a B.A. in Economics from Northwestern University in 2004, supplemented with a summer certificate in public finance and the economics of the E.U. from the London School of Economics.

Kelly spent four years as an Investment Banking Analyst with J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc. in Chicago, IL, working on mergers & acquisitons and debt and equity capital raising transactions. She has also worked with Agora Partnerships, a non-profit organization providing business consulting services to small and medium enterprises in Nicaragua. In 2008, she volunteered full-time with World Bicycle Relief in Lusaka, Zambia, to produce 25,000 bicycles annually in Africa. You can watch a short video from The Today Show about World Bicycle Relief here.

In her spare time, Kelly serves as a Special Olympics coach. She’s an all-around awesome person, and we are so lucky to have her come speak on Saturday, March 6, at 11:15 AM at the YWCA auditorium, located at 2600 Bancroft Way on the corner of Bancroft and Bowditch.

See you at opening ceremonies,

Stephanie

Hello Delegates,

I know that some of you will be arriving in the Bay Area as early as Wednesday from Canada and other places, so I want to post a list of things you should pack:

• Umbrella – rain is forecasted for this weekend! Also consider bringing rainboots or a pair of sneakers to walk through the rain in (and keep your dress shoes nice).
• Canteen – As BMUN’s Sustainability Coordinator, I would really love if not a single delegate in our committee brought disposable plastic bottles. Let’s be BMUN’s greenest committee! Bring your own reusable canteen and refill water at the water fountains near our committee rooms. You can also buy a BMUN canteen for $10 (stainless steel, BPA free) at registration or at the Delegate Dance.
• Clipboard
• Pad of paper
• Flash drive
• Laptop (not required, but very helpful for typing up resolutions. see blog post from 2/26/10.) – Be advised that the internet on campus is open only to Cal students/staff/faculty, so you will not be able to access internet in committee. Download any PDFs or information you may need before coming to campus.
• Delegate Dance costume for Saturday night – the theme is “Let’s CAN Hunger,” so dress up as your favorite food from around the world! This year’s conference cause is the World Food Program, so we want to show solidarity in the fight against world hunger. Some costume ideas I’ve heard are pineapples, salt & pepper, farmers, carrots, etc.
• Canned food (you can bring cans or buy them at a drugstore near campus) – BMUN will be having a canned food drive at the Delegate Dance. Delegates who bring in canned and other non-perishable foods will be given an extra $50 worth of BMUN casino money for every item they donate. BMUN casino money can be exchanged for food and prizes.

Questions or suggestions for what to bring? Comment away!

Safe travels to Berkeley,

Stephanie

Hey guys,

As many of you guys know, the economic downturn is bringing Greece to its knees; its budget deficit is over 12% of its GDP, sustained general strikes have crippled the country, and its budgetary woes are singlehandedly putting the entire European Union, and its currency, the euro, in danger. Analysts say that the only way out for Greece is if it forces through a massive austerity package (which is unlikely, given the waves of strikes that have ground the country to a halt) or if EU heavyweights France and Germany come to the rescue (more likely, but is opposed by ~70% of French and Germans) with at least €30 billion. Some are even speculating that the IMF may have to intervene if both options fail to come through, though it would be a humiliating slap in the face for Greece to have to accept IMF aid.

This issue potentially addresses both topics that will be addressed in committee this weekend.

First, Greece may be in the same boat as developing countries; the economic downturn has severely affected its economy and its government budget, and even worse, unlike many developing countries, Greece has to borrow to pay for its generous social welfare programmes. Now, richer EU countries may have to spend billions to bail Greece out and defend the euro from hungry speculators.

That brings up another point. Greece’s government has admitted that it cooked the books so that it could join the EU and the eurozone, engaging in deceptive financial derivative practices (the same ones that contributed to the financial disaster that triggered the economic downturn). This type of sovereign financial fraud also has regional and global implications.

As part of the discussion on Ponzi and pyramid schemes, countries should also take a look into the larger financial industry and analyze how, exactly, do such large cases of financial fraud occur, whether it is linked to prestigious and seemingly reputable financial leaders like Bernie Madoff or developed countries such as Greece.

Thanks for reading and see you guys in a few days!

-Hinh

Hello Delegates,

With just a few more days till BMUN58, I’m happy to announce that our keynote speaker this year is Anuradha Mittal, an internationally renowned expert on trade, development, human rights and agriculture issues. She is a native of India and the author and editor of numerous articles and books including America Needs Human Rights and The Future in the Balance: Essays on Globalization and Resistance.

You can read more about Ms. Mittal, including an interview with her in The Sun Magazine on the BMUN website here.

- Stephanie

Hello Delegates,

We’ve just a week left till opening ceremonies! Thanks to those of you who have submitted your position papers by the Feb. 22 deadline for research award consideration. Your vice chairs and I are busy grading them and will be returning them via email before the conference starts. The research awards will be announced on the first night of committee.

I’ve received several queries regarding use of multimedia in committee. So, here’s the lowdown:

• Laptops are allowed in committee – in fact, we encourage delegates to bring laptops to write their resolutions so that they can be submitted/projected digitally, thus saving paper. So, remember to bring flash drives!  (If you do not have a laptop, no problem. You can still submit a written resolution.)
• Be advised that the internet on campus is open only to Cal students/staff/faculty – you will not be able to access internet in committee. Download any PDFs or information you may need before coming to campus.
• You are welcome to distribute handouts to supplement your speech, provided that you approach the dais during an informal caucus before you plan to hand them out and let us chairs approve it first. I’d suggest that instead of distributing handouts on paper, you could save trees by giving us a copy of your handout on a flash drive, which we can project on the screen during your speech from our computer. Again, you’d need to get our approval before you make the speech/display the handout by bringing that flash drive with the soft copy up to us during an informal caucus.
• BMUN will not be using overhead projectors that display transparencies. (They’re antiquated!)

If you have any other questions, please leave a comment!

Remember to brainstorm on costume ideas for the Delegate Dance theme, “You Are What You Eat” (see the post right below this one for more).

- Stephanie

BMUN is happy to announce that this year’s theme for the Saturday Night Delegate Activities will be “Let’s CAN Hunger” where decorations and costumes will represent favorite foods from around the world. In support of this year’s conference cause, World Food Program, the theme aims to show solidarity in the fight against world hunger. Any food related-wear is appropriate and some possible things to dress up as include fruits, salt and pepper, M&M’s, the color representing your favorite food group, food mascots, your favorite Wheatie’s champion, or even farmers from around the world. Creativity is strongly encouraged!

This year’s activities will include the delegate dance, entitled “You Are What You Eat,” and a casino with Blackjack and Roulette. There will be raffle prizes, a free photo booth and a refreshment stand. Of course, there will also be a dance floor and a DJ.

To address hunger in our own local community, BMUN will also be having a canned food drive Saturday night. Delegates who bring in canned and other non-perishable foods will be given an extra $50 worth of BMUN casino money for every item they donate.

The activities will take place on Saturday, March 6th. The doors to Pauley Ballroom will open at 8:00 p.m. and all activities will end at 11:00 p.m.

Do you have any ideas on a costume? Feel free to add a comment on what you’re thinking of dressing up as!

- Stephanie

Hey Delegates,

Since I haven’t blogged in awhile, this one will be in two parts:

Hope all of your research for conference is going well.  I thought I’d post an interesting article about the Madoff scandal awhile ago.  It discusses the first “truly worldwide” pyramid scheme and explains the methods he used to convince businessmen and citizens across the world his business was legitimate.

You should think about whether your country favors global regulations to help protect against financial fraud or whether you favor individual, perhaps coordinated, action.  This scandal showed that we didn’t have adequate safeguards in 2008, but are we any better off now? I’ve also provided the link to a list of Madoff’s clients that you may find interesting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/20/business/20madoff.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/madoffclientlist020409.pdf

And as for a more recent article about financial fraud, I found an article in the Times about a recent scheme in New York.  This article discusses the unlikely leader of the pyramid scheme as a “working class mother of four”, who somehow managed to raise $15 million from family and friends, promising to double their money within a year.  This clearly isn’t a global scheme, but it shows that even in the post-Madoff world, we still have a long way to go in the way of preventing financial fraud.  It also discusses how many purveyors of financial fraud depend upon the support of those with a shared identity (be it cultural, religious, etc.).  Think about if or how this might influence how states might choose to combat financial fraud.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/nyregion/14towns.html?scp=2&sq=pyramid%20scheme&st=cse

Again, I hope all of your research is going well and I’m excited to see you all in a few weeks!

–Sydnee

Hello Delegates,

We received an impressive 29 position papers for research award consideration this week, and have begun grading them. Congratulations to the delegations that have submitted their papers already! We will be emailing you your graded position paper, along with comments and a breakdown of your score, by March 5.

A reminder to the remaining delegates: submit your papers by February 22 to be considered for committee awards (i.e. gavel, outstanding, etc.). If you submit your paper by this deadline, we will be returning your graded position papers with comments and a score breakdown by March 3 as well.

Please submit your position papers for BOTH topics in ONE single Microsoft Word document to bmun58imf@gmail.com. Please follow these instructions:

• FORMAT: Please refer to your delegate guide for the proper formatting of your position papers. There are 3 sections that must be clearly indicated in each paper: 1. Topic Background, 2. Past UN Action, 3. Delegation Policies and Proposed Solutions.
• Save your document in the following format: countryname_highschool.doc   (fictitious ex. Ukraine_SunshineHS.doc)
• *Note*   .docx files are not accepted
• Subject of email to bmun58imf@gmail.com: PositionPapers_countryname_highschool (ex. PositionPapers_Ukraine_SunshineHS). You will receive an automatic response from this account to confirm receipt of your email.
• In the body of your email, you’re welcome to write a brief introduction of yourselves (you and your codelegate) so we can get to know you before the weekend of BMUN58.
• Please remember to list your sources at the end of your position paper (see the topic synopses for an example of what we expect). Plagiarism is unacceptable. We want to hear your original ideas!

Less than one month to go till BMUN58!

- Stephanie