The bailout and global poverty

As the bailout talks continue in Washington, world leaders are gathered in New York for a meeting of the United Nations. And while everyone in US media looks at the conflict between the financial insitutions and the American taxpayers, Latin American leaders recognize them as international institutions, and therefore are complaining about the possible expenditure as well. Basically, you cannot forget about the world's poor:

"We don't want to conceive of the idea that the rescue of the dignity of the world's poor does not have the same priority or the same urgency of saving the institutions that operate the most powerful financial centre in the world," Fernandez said.
"We need an international financial plan that is as urgent and as bold as the one to save Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch and American International Group."

That is no new-leftist speaking. In fact it is Leonel Fernandez, president of the Dominican Republic, a member of the free-trade friendly Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas group. Bolivia's Morales and others have plenty to say about US imperialism and oppression, but when your allies, those who are always open to volunteer for your photo-op start questioning you, you might be doing something wrong. After all, the $700,000,000,000 would be bigger than the GDP of Latin American giants Colombia, Venezuela, and Argentina combined, according to these 2007 lists.
The GOP is scrambling for votes, and my hunch is that Obama will follow Clinton's example in free-trade issues. But if the nothing is done to firmly relief global poverty, American conservatives will still have to face its most feared threat, immigrants.