Wacky Jacques Chirac's social security plan for the world's corrupt governments

French president Jacques Chirac is putting forth his vision for a global war on poverty, which he almost certainly sees as a counterproposal to U.S. president Bush's vision for a global war on tyranny.

Chirac believes that the UN's goal to cut global poverty in half by 2015 can be accomplished if everybody agrees to his proposal for a tax on international financial transactions. Money collected through such a tax (or, more precisely, whatever is left after the UN deducts various administrative costs) would be used for "development aid" to poorer countries.

As is usual with wealth distribution schemes, Chirac's proposal simply ignores the real problem underlying much of the world's severe poverty -- systemic government corruption and lack of fundamental rights (such as the right to private property) in these countries.

Bush's "war" against the tyrants of the earth will go farther toward ameliorating poverty than will any scheme that merely pours money into the treasuries of these tyrants.