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Consequences of conservative ideas

March 3, 2005

EVIDENCE REFUTES Bruce Cantwell's fanciful assertions that ''Conservative ideas are winning the day" (letter, Feb. 26).

Studies show that welfare reform has resulted in increasing the poverty rates. The majority of jobs created through welfare reform were low-paying with no benefits. When the economy stagnated, employees under welfare reform were the first laid off and then were denied their former benefits.

Regarding developing nations, evidence confirms the increased misery of nations that have been forced to adopt ''free market" policies through the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Bread for the World reported that more than 840 million people in the world are malnourished; more than 153 million are under age 5.

UNICEF reported that more than 1 billion young people in developing nations live in severe deprivation with little access to basic human needs such as food, water, and sanitation.

In response to these conditions, developing countries have been organizing against globalization. In Latin America, nations have begun to sign trade pacts with each other and with rivals of the United States such as China. This trend will continue as ''free market" policies reap what they have sown.

BRUCE T. BOCCARDY
Allston

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