Case

Notes
There is no reason the US is key to do this. ANY other international actor
CP in the generic file will be able to solve the aff with the net benefit of
politics. Also, the plan doesnt change anything about status quo micro-
financing which means that after the one instance of the plan, private
companies will revert back to high interest rates and exploitation of
women and the poor.
1NC Frontline
1. The plan does nothing to change status quo exploitation it still
includes interest rates, which leave borrowers open to exploitation and
manipulation

2. Microfinance fails to empower or solve used for consumption over
investment
Sinclair 12
Hugh Sinclair, an Economics degree with a specialization in econometrics; a
Masters degree in corporate finance; and an MBA from IESE Business
School., 7/18/12, The Dark Side of Microfinance: An Industry Where the
Poor Play 'Cameo Roles',
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=3053

Knowledge@Wharton: You quote someone from the microfinance
community in your book as saying that nine out of 10 microfinance loans
are for consumption rather than to start or grow an enterprise or even to
buy food or clothing. Doesn't that undermine the whole basis, the whole
theoretical underpinning, of microfinance? Sinclair: It does totally. And it
was [said] by a noted expert, John Hatch from FINCA, one of the biggest
networks in the world, in the Harvard Business Review. Yes, it does totally
undermine it. No one really knows [the numbers] because there is no
good data on how much is used for consumption and investment. But very
rarely do you have anyone saying [spending on consumption] is under
50%. John Hatch suggests it's 90%. I have no idea where it is within that
range, but yes, large amounts of money are used for nothing other than to
buy a new TV or to some new clothes. in addition to that, you have to take
into account the amount of money that is used simply to repay off other
loans.
3. No brink to empowerment movements such as Womens liberation
shouldve solve the impact
4. Micro-finance in Mexico re-affirms competitiveness and profit
motive turns the case
Carillo 2k9 [Ian, Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas--
http://www.microfinancegateway.org/gm/document-
1.9.44194/The%20commercialization%20of%20microfinance%20in%
20mexico.pdf - Sept. 28]
Undoubtedly, the commercialized microfinance industry in Mexico
has been a hotspot for investment and growth. According to
Microenterprise Americas, of the 20 most profitable MFIs in Latin
America, Mexican MFIs occupy the top eight positions. Additionally, in
terms of growth, Mexican firms occupy six of the top ten
positions. The study notes that the disparity in profitability
within Mexicos for-profit microfinance industry has recently
begun shrinking, indicating that the emergence of competitors
may have led to constricting profit margins and increased
efficiency.206 The 2007 IPO signified the potential outreach of
commercialized microfinance, say defenders of Compartamos. Wall
Street Journal columnist May Anastasia OGrady, who sarcastically
labels commercialization critics do-gooders, posits: Would not
serving them [the poor] have been a better moral outcome?207
The monetary success of the IPO caused investors to begin
visualizing the impact that large injections of capital could have on
the microfinance industry. Based on Compartamos lucrative IPO,
the CGAP estimates that global funding for microfinance could rise
from the $4 billion raised in 2008 to nearly $30 billion annually. This
could have a dramatic impact on the global reach of
microfinance. In its current state, the microfinance industry
reached 133 million customers in 2006 and is predicted to reach
177 million in 2015. However, proponents of
commercialization say that one billion customers could be served
by 2015 if Compartamos IPO is duplicated across the globe. As one
Compartamossupporter declared, microlending has lost its
innocence. To mourn this loss of innocence would be wrongTo
attract the money they need, [microlenders] have to play by the rules of
the market. Those rules often have messy results.208 I am
shocked by the news about the CompartamosIPO. When socially
responsible investors and the general public learn what is
going on at Compartamos, there will very likely be a backlash
against microfinance.

Low-interest rates means MFIs fail guts solvency
Arnold 12
Valerie Arnold, 9/27/12, What is the main problem with microfinance?
there is a lot of money but very few organisations capable of absorbing
it, http://ideas4development.org/en/what-is-the-main-problem-with-
microfinance-there-is-a-lot-of-money-but-very-few-organisations-
capable-of-absorbing-it/
What is the main problem with microfinance? Briefly, says Valrie Arnold
there is a lot of money but very few organisations capable of absorbing it. In practice,
investment funds provide money for microfinance companies working in emerging
countries. These companies then offer micro-lending services. One line of
credit from an investment fund will finance a great many micro-loans, but these
demand costly management structures that many microfinance companies cannot
afford. If they accept these flows of money, they take greater risks or may lose sight
of the primary goal in their sector, which is to support entrepreneurship and not
to extend consumer credit. The sector is becoming suffocated and microfinance
companies need to restructure to be capable of absorbing new funds.
Mexican microfinance fails to be used for empowerment
Abbott 12
Kate Abbott, graduate from Stanford, worker for Bloomberg, 7/10/12,
A Microfinance 'Heretic' on How to Fix the Industry,
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-07-10/a-microfinance-
heretic-on-how-to-fix-the-industry

When did you begin to see problems with microfinance? We saw
problems from the very beginning. In Mexico it was very clear that a lot
of the clients werent engaging in entrepreneurial activity. Interest rates
were pretty high, and poverty reduction was underwhelming. Money was
rarely being used to help anyone. It was going to buying new TVs.
Predictions/Util good
1. Extinction is categorically the ultimate risk It is necessary to try and
prevent it
Schell, 1982 (Jonathan, professor at Wesleyan University, former writer and
editor at the New Yorker, The Fate of the Earth, 1982, pg. 93-94)

<To say that human extinction is a certainty would, of course, be a
misrepresentationjust as it would be a misrepresentation to say that
extinction can be ruled out. To begin with, we know that a holocaust may
not occur at all. If one does occur, the adversaries may not use all their
weapons. If they do use all their weapons, the global effects, in the ozone and
elsewhere, may be moderate. And if the effects are not moderate but extreme,
the ecosphere may prove resilient enough to withstand them without breaking
down catastrophically. These are all substantial reasons for supposing that
mankind will not be extinguished in a nuclear holocaust, or even that extinction
in a holocaust is unlikely, and they tend to calm our fear and to reduce our sense
of urgency. Yet at the same time we are compelled to admit that there
may be a holocaust, that the adversaries may use all their weapons,
that the global effects, including effects of which we are as yet
unaware, may be severe, that the ecosphere may suffer catastrophic
breakdown, and that our species may be extinguished. We are left
with uncertainty, and are forced to make our decisions in a state of
uncertainty. If we wish to act to save our species, we have to muster
our resolve in spite of our awareness that the life of the species may
not now in fact be jeopardized. On the other hand, if we wish to ignore
the peril, we have to admit that we do so in the knowledge that the
species may be in danger of imminent self-destruction. When the
existence of nuclear weapons was made known, thoughtful people everywhere
in the world realized that if the great powers entered into a nuclear-arms
race the human species would sooner or later face the possibility of
extinction. They also realized that in the absence of international agreements
preventing it an arms race would probably occur. They knew that the path of
nuclear armament was a dead end for mankind. The discovery of
the energy in massof "the basic power of the universe"and of a
means by which man could release that energy altered the
relationship between man and the source of his life, the earth. In the
shadow of this power, the earth became small and the life of the
human species doubtful. In that sense, the question of human
extinction has been on the political agenda of the world ever since
the first nuclear weapon was detonated, and there was no need for the
world to build up its present tremendous arsenals before starting to worry about
it. At just what point the species crossed, or will have crossed, the boundary
between merely having the technical knowledge to destroy itself and actually
having the arsenals at hand, ready to be used at any second, is not precisely
knowable. But it is clear that at present, with some twenty thousand
megatons of nuclear explosive power in existence, and with more being added
every day, we have entered into the zone of uncertainty, which is to
say the zone of risk of extinction. But the mere risk of extinction has
a significance that is categorically different from, and immeasurably
greater than, that of any other risk, and as we make our decisions we
have to take that significance into account. Up to now, every risk has
been contained within the frame of life; extinction would shatter the
frame. It represents not the defeat of some purpose but an abyss in which
all human purposes would be drowned for all time. We have no
right to place the possibility of this limitless, eternal defeat on the
same footing as risks that we run in the ordinary conduct of our
affairs in our particular transient moment of human history. To employ a
mathematical analogy, we can say that although the risk of extinction
may be fractional, the stake is, humanly speaking, infinite, and a
fraction of infinity is still infinity. In other words, once we learn that a
holocaust might lead to extinction we have no right to gamble,
because if we lose, the game will be over, and neither we nor anyone
else will ever get another chance. Therefore, although, scientifically
speaking, there is all the difference in the world between the mere possibility that
a holocaust will bring about extinction and the certainty of it, morally they are the
same, and we have no choice but to address the issue of nuclear
weapons as though we knew for a certainty that their use would put
an end to our species. In weighing the fate of the earth and, with it, our own
fate, we stand before a mystery, and in tampering with the earth we tamper with
a mystery. We are in deep ignorance. Our ignorance should dispose us to
wonder, our wonder should make us humble, our humility should inspire us to
reverence and caution, and our reverence and caution should lead us to act
without delay to withdraw the threat we now pose to the earth and to ourselves.
In trying to describe possible consequences of a nuclear holocaust, I have
mentioned the limitless complexity of its effects on human society and on the
ecospherea complexity that sometimes seems to be as great as that of life
itself. But if these effects should lead to human extinction, then all the
complexity will give way to the utmost simplicitythe simplicity of nothingness.
Wethe human raceshall cease to be.>


2. Prediction to prevent extinction comes first obligation to future
generations
Fuyuki Kurasawa Constellations Volume 11, No 4, 2004 Cautionary Tales:
The Global Culture of Prevention and the Work of Foresight

When engaging in the labor of preventive foresight, the first obstacle that
one is likely to encounter from some intellectual circles is a deep-seated
skepticism about the very value of the exercise. A radically postmodern line
of thinking, for instance, would lead us to believe that it is pointless,
perhaps even harmful, to strive for farsightedness in light of the
aforementioned crisis of conventional paradigms of historical analysis. If,
contra teleological models, history has no intrinsic meaning, direction, or
endpoint to be discovered through human reason, and if, contra scientistic
futurism, prospective trends cannot be predicted without error, then the
abyss of chronological inscrutability supposedly opens up at our feet. The
future appears to be unknowable, an outcome of chance. Therefore, rather
than embarking upon grandiose speculation about what may occur, we
should adopt a pragmatism that abandons itself to the twists and turns of
history; let us be content to formulate ad hoc responses to emergencies as
they arise. While this argument has the merit of underscoring the
fallibilistic nature of all predictive schemes, it conflates the necessary
recognition of the contingency of history with unwarranted assertions
about the latters total opacity and indeterminacy. Acknowledging the fact
that the future cannot be known with absolute certainty does not imply
abandoning the task of trying to understand what is brewing on the horizon
and to prepare for crises already coming into their own. In fact, the
incorporation of the principle of fallibility into the work of prevention
means that we must be ever more vigilant for warning signs of disaster and
for responses that provoke unintended or unexpected consequences (a
point to which I will return in the final section of this paper). In addition,
from a normative point of view, the acceptance of historical contingency
and of the self-limiting character of farsightedness places the duty of
preventing catastrophe squarely on the shoulders of present generations.
The future no longer appears to be a metaphysical creature of destiny or of
the cunning of reason, nor can it be sloughed off to pure randomness. It
becomes, instead, a result of human action shaped by decisions in the
present including, of course, trying to anticipate and prepare for possible
and avoidable sources of harm to our successors.

3. Utilitarianism is the only way to frame decisions including multiple
moralities singular moralities are counterproductive
Greene 2 (Joshua David Greene, John and Ruth Hazel Associate Professor
of the Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Harvard University,
11/2002, Department of Philosophy, Princeton University, The Terrible,
Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Truth About Morality And What To Do
About It, A Dissertation Presented To The Faculty Of Princeton University
In Candidacy For The Degree Of Doctor Of Philosophy,
http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~jgreene/GreeneWJH/Greene-Dissertation.pdf
//nimo)

The evolutionary perspective makes one curious about and receptive to
information concerning moral psychology. The projectivist account of realist
psychology and phenomenology helps clear away lingering realist doubts,
and the social intuitionist account of moral development explains why moral
disagreement is so frustrating and recalcitrant. Further reflection on the
nature of moral psychology and its likely effects in our present context
suggest that moral1 language and thought are not only unnecessary but
counterproductive, and thus getting rid of them starts to seem like an
appealing idea. At the same time, an understanding of moral intuition and
the rejection of moral realism make deontological line-drawing seem
artificial and make consequentialism more appealing by default. The
suggestion that utilitarian concerns are recognized as legitimate across moral
divides and that therefore utilitarianism is a shareable moral framework
furthers its appeal.
Government Turn
The government is part of the tradition of using coercion Means wont
justify the ends
Mann 02 (Frederick, BA in communications from Stanford University,
Report #TL07B: The Nature of Government version 4, January 2002,
www.buildfreedom.com/tl/tl07b.shtml)
Politicians and bureaucrats use mostly words to impose their will upon
others - even when physical violence is involved, they use words to
attempt to justify their actions. Thomas Szasz wrote in The Second Sin,
"Man is the animal that speaks. Understanding language is thus the key
to understanding man; and the control of language, to the control of
man." The language used to control and dominate others I collectively
lump together as "Slavespeak." My "Slavespeak" is similar to the word
"Newspeak," invented by George Orwell and described in his book
Nineteen-Eighty-Four. I use "Slavespeak" in essentially the same way that
Orwell used "Newspeak,", but within the domain of "Slavespeak" I
subsume words that I don't think Orwell would have included under
"Newspeak,": "state," "government," "law," "king," "constitution,"
"queen," "president," "prime minister," etc. Slavespeak has developed
over many centuries. I contend that the use of Slavespeak by freedom
lovers as if valid (i.e., without questioning its validity, and without
considering its consequences), may easily become counter-productive. I
specifically use Slavespeak in the sense of Orwell's "B vocabulary": "The
'B vocabulary' consisted of words which had been deliberately
constructed for political purposes: words, that is to say, which not only
had in every case a political implication, but were intended to impose a
desirable mental attitude upon the person using them... the 'B' words
were a sort of verbal shorthand, often packing whole ranges of ideas into
a few syllables... even in the early decades of the Twentieth Century,
telescoped words and phrases had been one of the characteristic
features of political language; and it had been noticed that the tendency
to use abbreviations of this kind was most marked in totalitarian
countries and totalitarian organizations... the intention being to make
speech, and especially speech on any subject not ideologically neutral, as
nearly as possible independent of consciousness... ultimately it was
hoped to make articulate speech issue from the larynx without involving
the higher brain centers at all. This aim was frankly admitted in the
Newspeak word 'Duckspeak' meaning 'to quack like a duck.'" [emphasis
added] For a thorough analysis of Slavespeak, see Report #TL07A: THE
ANATOMY OF SLAVESPEAK I'm also introducing here the concept of
"fraud-word." I'm saying that certain words are fraudulent in
themselves. You don't even have to use them in a sentence; the word
itself is a lie. For example, the word "King." We have a perfectly good
word "man." When a man calls himself "King," he's lying as did John-the-
stranger above. The word itself is a fraud. In his superb book Restoring
the American Dream, Robert Ringer devoted an entire chapter to how
"government" is kept in place by certain words - Chapter 8: "Keeping It
All in Place." Here is my list of statist fraud-words: "government," "state,"
"country," "nation," "U.S.A.," "empire," "commonwealth," "republic,"
"society," "emperor," "king," "queen," "prince," "princess," "president,"
"prime minister," "law," "constitution," "public interest," "national
interest," "fair share," "common good," "national security," "social
contract," "public policy," "mandate from the people," etc.
The power of the government is derived from violence all of the worst
atrocities throughout history have been committed by governments,
the affs acceptance of the term legitimizes violence
Mann 02 (Frederick, BA in communications from Stanford University,
Report #TL07B: The Nature of Government version 4, January 2002,
www.buildfreedom.com/tl/tl07b.shtml)
Ultimately, political power comes from the barrel of the gun - as Mao
said. The last resort of the monsters who masquerade as "government"
is terror and violence. That's why they need the IRS, the ATF, the FBI, the
CIA, etc. They have to threaten, terrorize, punish, and kill to retain their
coercive power. Make examples out of those who question, threaten, or
challenge their so-called "authority." That's why it's appropriate to call
them "territorial gangsters" or "territorial criminals" or "terrocrats" -
monsters who use fraud, coercion, and violence to claim "jurisdiction"
over a certain area, and the people who happen to be in that area. The
monsters do so in order to control and dominate, and to live like
parasites or cannibals off the values created by their victims. The
foregoing is another very useful definition of "government!" Serial Killing,
War, and Mass Murder See "WAR IS THE HEALTH OF THE STATE": ITS
MEANING. The following quote and references are worth repeating: "By
far the most numerous and most flagrant violations of personal liberty
and individual rights are performed by governments... The major crimes
throughout history, the ones executed on the largest scale, have been
committed not by individuals or bands of individuals but by
governments, as a deliberate policy of those governments... that is, by
the official representatives of governments, acting in their official
capacity." -- John Hospers



Off Case
CP Canada Do It
Notes
CIDA = Canadian International Development Agency which is a Canadas
public microfinance program
Solvency
Canada can do microfinance experience
CIDA 07
Canadian International Development Agency, 2007, CIDAS
MICROFINANCE GUIDELINES:
SUPPORTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF INCLUSIVE FINANCIAL SYSTEMS,
http://www.acdi-
cida.gc.ca/INET/IMAGES.NSF/vLUImages/Microfinance/$file/Microfinance-
EN.pdf

Since its inception in 1968, CIDA has supported micro- finance and the
development of microenterprise.2 Traditionally, CIDAs support of
microfinance has been linked to microenterprise development (MED),
which aims to generate sustained income for poor women and men by
establishing local enterprises. By providing services such as business
development (skills training and marketing), social intermediation (group
formation and development of self-confidence), microcredit, and credit
with education programs (literacy training, health education, etc.), CIDAs
MED programming aimed at creating employment, improving household
income, decreasing vulnerability to external shocks, and increasing
empowerment, particularly for women.

Canada solves better focuses on women
CIDA 07
Canadian International Development Agency, 2007, CIDAS
MICROFINANCE GUIDELINES:
SUPPORTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF INCLUSIVE FINANCIAL SYSTEMS,
http://www.acdi-
cida.gc.ca/INET/IMAGES.NSF/vLUImages/Microfinance/$file/Microfinance-
EN.pdf

CIDA provided early support for microfinance in many countries, building
solid partnerships with and responding to various Canadian, international,
and multilateral institutions and organizations in order to contribute to the
reduction of poverty. CIDAs strength lies in its extensive experience with
these partners in providing retail-level microfinance services, the
development and support of large microfinance networks in West Africa,
and the global development of the cooperative/credit union model. CIDA
has also demonstrated an ongoing commitment to focus on women, not
only as clients, but also as members of the staff and management of micro-
finance institutions.

Empirics prove CIDA empowers women
Ellmen 5/16
Eugene Ellmen, National Director for Oikocredit Canada, the Canadian arm
of Oikocredit, one of the largest private funders of microfinance in the
world., 5/16/13, Microfinance: Ensuring an ethical basis for Canadas
international development agenda,
http://socialfinance.ca/blog/post/microfinance-ensuring-an-ethical-basis-
for-canadas-international-developmen

Microfinance has been a part of CIDAs mandate ever since it was
established in 1968. Working in partnership with Canadian church and co-
operative organizations, as well as international NGOs and multilateral
institutions, CIDA has developed expertise in microfinance and
microenterprise development. The CIDA program has shown particular
strengths in retail microfinance services, large microfinance networks in
West Africa and the global development of cooperatives and credit
unions. In keeping with the clear link between international development
and womens empowerment, CIDA has funded many microfinance
programs aimed specifically at women, often supporting womens credit
unions to encourage local saving and asset accumulation.
CP Nigeria
Notes
Nigeria and Mexico are in the same situation in terms of their problems
with micro financing exploitation and there is no reason starting with
Mexico is key. The NB to doing the plan in Nigeria could be the Mexican
Politics DA.
1NC
CP Text: The United States federal government should fund low fixed-
interest microfinance in Nigeria and require significant debt relief on
existing accrued interest for companies in the United States.

1. CP Solves case Nigeria is in the same position as Mexico in areas of
micro financing. No reason starting in Mexico is uniquely key. That's
MacFarguhar from the 1AC
2NC Solvency
CP solves all of case. It empowers the women of Nigeria in the same way
that the aff empowers women in Mexico. There is no reason why women
in Mexico are more important to empower than anyone else in the world.

Nigeria has extremely high interest rates and exploitation in micro
financing
MacFarquhar 10 [Neil Graham MacFarquhar has been the United Nations
bureau chief of The New York Times since June 2008. From November 2006
to May 2008, he was a national correspondent, based in San Francisco, for
the Times. He was the Middle East correspondent for the paper, based in
Cairo, from 2001 until 2006. Banks Making Big Profits From Tiny Loans
The New York Times, April 13, 2010
http://microrate.com/media/downloads/2012/04/New-York-Times-Banks-
Making-Big-Profits-From-Tiny-Loans-13-April-2010.pdf]

Like Mexico, Nigeria attracts scrutiny for high interest rates. One firm,
LAPO, Lift Above Poverty Organization, has raised questions, particularly
since it was backed by prominent investors like Deutsche Bank and the
Calvert Foundation. LAPO, considered the leading microfinance
institution in Nigeria, engages in a contentious industry practice
sometimes referred to as forced savings. Under it, the lender keeps a
portion of the loan. Proponents argue that it helps the poor learn to
save, while critics call it exploitation since borrowers do not get the
entire amount up front but pay interest on the full loan. LAPO collected
these so-called savings from its borrowers without a legal permit to do so,
according to a Planet Rating report. It was known to everybody that they
did not have the right license, Ms. Javoy said. Under outside pressure,
LAPO announced in 2009 that it was decreasing its monthly interest rate,
Planet Rating noted, but at the same time compulsory savings were quietly
raised to 20 percent of the loan from 10 percent. So, the effective
interest rate for some clients actually leapt to nearly 126 percent
annually from 114 percent, the report said. The average for all LAPO clients
was nearly 74 percent in interest and fees, the report found. Anita
Edward says she has borrowed money three times from LAPO for her hair
salon, Amazing Collections, in Benin City, Nigeria. The money comes
cheaper than other microloans, and commercial banks are virtually
impossible, she said, but she resents the fact that LAPO demanded that she
keep $100 of her roughly $666 10-month loan in a savings account while
she paid interest on the full amount. That is not O.K. by me, she said.
It is not fair. They should give you the full money. The loans from LAPO
helped her expand from one shop to two, but when she started she
thought she would have more money to put into the business. It has
improved my life, but not changed it, said Ms. Edward, 30. Godwin
Ehigiamusoe, LAPOs founding executive director, defended his companys
high interest rates, saying they reflected the high cost of doing business
in Nigeria. For example, he said, each of the companys more than 200
branches needed its own generator and fuel to run it. Until recently,
Microplace, which is part of eBay, was promoting LAPO to individual
investors, even though the Web site says the lenders it features have
interest rates between 18 and 60 percent, considerably less than what
LAPO customers typically pay. As recently as February, Microplace also said
that LAPO had a strong rating from Microrate, yet the rating agency had
suspended LAPO the previous August, six months earlier. Microplace then
removed the rating after The New York Times called to inquire why it was
still being used and has since taken LAPO investments off the Web site.
At Kiva, which promises on its Web site that it will not partner with an
organization that charges exorbitant interest rates, the interest rate and
fees for LAPO was recently advertised as 57 percent, the average rate
from 2007. After The Times called to inquire, Kiva changed it to 83 percent.
Premal Shah, Kivas president, said it was a question of outdated
information rather than deception. I would argue that the information is
stale as opposed to misleading, he said. It could have been a tad
better. While analysts characterize such microfinance Web sites as well-
meaning, they question whether the sites sufficiently vetted the
organizations they promoted. Questions had already been raised about
Kiva because the Web site once promised that loans would go to specific
borrowers identified on the site, but later backtracked, clarifying that the
money went to organizations rather than individuals. Promotion aside,
the overriding question facing the industry, analysts say, remains how
much money investors should make from lending to poor people,
mostly women, often at interest rates that are hidden. You can make
money from the poorest people in the world is that a bad thing, or is
that just a business? asked Mr. Waterfield of mftransparency.org. At
what point do we say we have gone too far?
AT: Perm do Both
1. Perm links to the NB. Including portions of the aff means that energy
reform in Mexico cant be passed.
Politics
Link
Spending offsets guarantee gridlock over how to pay
CongressNow, 08 (1/7, lexis)
Lobbyists and think tank experts tell CongressNow that partisan bickering
could stop timely relief from reaching taxpayers. Several observers
suggested Congressional pay-as-you-go budget rules that mandate tax cuts
and spending increase be offset could slow action. "If you look at the way
the politics of paygo works out, it is almost a guarantee of inaction when
issues like this [stimulus package] arise," said Michael Franc, vice president
of government relations at the Heritage Foundation. "It's almost a
guarantee of gridlock ."

T/O DA
1NC
Cross apply plan trades off within the budget
Merida initiative is key to combat drug violence, Mexican instability, and
societal problems
Seelke and Finklea 13, Congressional Research Service, 6/12/13, U.S.-Mexican Security
Cooperation: The Mrida Initiative and Beyond, http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41349.pdf

Brazen violence perpetrated by drug trafficking organizations and other criminal groups is
threatening citizen security and governance in some parts of Mexico, a country with which the
United States shares a nearly 2,000 mile border and $500 billion in annual trade. Although the
violence in Mexico has generally declined since late 2011, analysts estimate that it may have
claimed more than 60,000 lives between December 2006 and November 2012. The violence has
increased U.S. concerns about stability in Mexico, a key political and economic ally, and about
the possibility of violence spilling over into the United States. U.S.-Mexican security
cooperation increased significantly as a result of the development and implementation of the
Mrida Initiative, a counterdrug and anticrime assistance package for Mexico and Central
America first funded in FY2008. Whereas U.S. assistance initially focused on training and
equipping Mexican counterdrug forces, it now places more emphasis on addressing the weak
institutions and underlying societal problems that have allowed the drug trade to flourish in
Mexico. The Mrida strategy now focuses on (1) disrupting organized criminal groups, (2)
institutionalizing the rule of law, (3) creating a 21st century border, and (4) building strong and
resilient communities. As part of the Mrida Initiative, the Mexican government pledged to
intensify its anticrime efforts and the U.S. government pledged to address drug demand and
the illicit trafficking of firearms and bulk currency to Mexico.
Mexican state failure triggers escalating warsdraws in the US
Debusmann 9 senior World Affairs columnist (Bernd, Among top U.S. fears: A failed
Mexican state New York Times, January 9 2009,
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/world/americas/09iht-letter.1.19217792.html)

What do Pakistan and Mexico have in common? They figure in the nightmares of U.S. military planners
trying to peer into the future and identify the next big threats. The two countries are mentioned in the
same breath in a just-published study by the United States Joint Forces Command, whose jobs include providing an
annual look into the future to prevent the U.S. military from being caught off guard by unexpected
developments. "In terms of worst-case scenarios for the Joint Force and indeed the world, two large and important
states bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse: Pakistan and Mexico," says the study -
called Joint Operating Environment 2008 - in a chapter on "weak and failing states." Such states, it says, usually pose chronic,
long-term problems that can be managed over time. But the little-studied phenomenon of "rapid
collapse," according to the study, "usually comes as a surprise, has a rapid onset, and poses acute
problems." Think Yugoslavia and its disintegration in 1990 into a chaotic tangle of warring nationalities and bloodshed on a
horrific scale. Nuclear-armed Pakistan, where Al Qaeda has established safe havens in the rugged regions bordering Afghanistan, is
a regular feature in dire warnings. Thomas Fingar, who retired as the chief U.S. intelligence analyst in December, termed Pakistan
"one of the single most challenging places on the planet." This is fairly routine language for Pakistan, but not for Mexico, which
shares a 2,000-mile, or 3,200-kilometer, border with the United States. Mexico's mention beside Pakistan in a study by an
organization as weighty as the Joint Forces Command, which controls almost all conventional forces based in the continental United
States, speaks volumes about growing concern over what is happening south of the U.S. border.
Vicious and widening violence pitting drug cartels against each other and against the Mexican state have
left more than 8,000 Mexicans dead over the past two years. Kidnappings have become a routine part of Mexican daily life.
Common crime is widespread. Pervasive corruption has hollowed out the state. In November, in a case that shocked even those (on
both sides of the border) who consider corruption endemic in Mexico, the former drug czar No Ramrez was charged with accepting
at least $450,000 a month in bribes from a drug cartel in exchange for information about police and anti-narcotics operations. A
month later, a Mexican army major, Arturo Gonzlez, was arrested on suspicion that he sold information about President Felipe
Caldern's movements for $100,000 a month. Gonzlez belonged to a special unit responsible for protecting the president.
Depending on one's view, the arrests are successes in a publicly declared anticorruption drive or evidence of how deeply criminal
mafias have penetrated the organs of the state. According to the Joint Forces study, a sudden collapse in Mexico is less likely than
in Pakistan, "but the government, its politicians, police, and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault
and pressure by criminal gangs and drug cartels. How that internal conflict turns out over the next several years will
have a major impact on the stability of the Mexican state." It added: "Any descent by Mexico
into chaos would demand an American response based on the serious implications for homeland
security alone."
Turns Case
Initiative key to decrease human trafficking and kidnapping in Mexico
Seelke and Finklea 13, Congressional Research Service, 6/12/13, U.S.-Mexican Security
Cooperation: The Mrida Initiative and Beyond, http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41349.pdf
The violence and brutality of the Mexican drug trafficking organizations escalated as they have
battled for control of lucrative drug trafficking routes into the United States and local drug
distribution networks in Mexico. U.S. and Mexican officials now often refer to the DTOs as
transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) since they have increasingly branched out into
other criminal activities, including human trafficking, kidnapping, armed robbery, and
extortion. From 2007 to 2011, kidnapping and violent vehicular thefts increased at even
faster annual rates than overall homicides in Mexico.9 The expanding techniques used by the
traffickers, which have included the use of car bombs and grenades, have led some to liken
certain DTOs tactics to those of armed insurgencies.10
Yes it solves
Merida initiative key to solve human rights violations, drug trafficking, and
organized crime
DOS 13
US Department of State, Merida Initiative, http://www.state.gov/j/inl/merida/
The Merida Initiative is an unprecedented partnership between the United States and Mexico
to fight organized crime and associated violence while furthering respect for human rights and
the rule of law. Based on principles of shared responsibility, mutual trust, and respect for
sovereign independence, the two countries efforts have built confidence that is transforming
the bilateral relationship. Enhancing Citizen Safety Under the Merida Initiative, the United
States has forged strong partnerships to improve citizen safety in affected areas to fight drug
trafficking, organized crime, corruption, illicit arms trafficking, money-laundering, and
demand for drugs on both sides of the border. Bilateral efforts are being accelerated to
support stronger democratic institutions, especially police, justice systems, and civil society
organizations; to expand our border focus beyond interdiction of contraband to include
facilitation of legitimate trade and travel; and to build strong and resilient communities able to
withstand the pressures of crime and violence.
K2 National Security

Increase in drug-related crimes threaten the national security of the US
COHA 09
Council on Hemispheric Affairs, 3/5/09, As Mexicos Problems Mount: The Impact of the
Economic Recession on Migration Patterns from Mexico,
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/03/05-3

Implications for Mexico and the United States Evidently, through migration, remittances, and NAFTA-induced trade integration, the
Mexican economy has become increasingly dependent upon that of the United States, making the former
extremely vulnerable to the effects of the current financial crisis. The decrease in migration flows and remittances is thus
implicit in the current debate about Mexico's descent into being a "failed state." A Mexican economic
collapse, spurred by a decrease in the migrants and remittances upon which the country' s economy is reliant, would
weaken the state's capacity to finance counter-narcotics activity, increase pay-rolls to prevent
political and military officials from corruption related to drug trafficking, recuperate the depressed economy, and keep
their best and brightest at home. These series of developments would have a negative consequence
for the United States economy and the Obama administration, as well. Mexico is the United States' third
largest export market, and the cheap labor that Mexican immigrants provide, although not nearly as coveted given
the current recession, is an important part of the national economy. Additionally, Mexico's potential
economic and military collapse deserves to be viewed as a national security threat to the U.S., given
the spread of drug-related violence to border states such as Arizona, where authorities blame a rise in home invasions and
kidnappings on organized crime from south of the border.

T Economic Engagement
1NC
Economic engagement is limited to expanding economic ties with a
target country
elik 11 Arda Can elik, Masters Degree in Politics and International
Studies from Uppsala University, Economic Sanctions and Engagement
Policies, p. 11

Introduction
Economic engagement policies are strategic integration behaviour which
involves with the target state. Engagement policies differ from other
tools in Economic Diplomacy. They target to deepen the economic
relations to create economic intersection, interconnectness, and mutual
dependence and finally seeks economic interdependence. This
interdependence serves the sender stale to change the political behaviour
of target stale. However they cannot be counted as carrots or inducement
tools, they focus on long term strategic goals and they are not restricted
with short term policy changes.(Kahler&Kastner,2006) They can be
unconditional and focus on creating greater economic benefits for both
parties. Economic engagement targets to seek deeper economic linkages
via promoting institutionalized mutual trade thus mentioned
interdependence creates two major concepts. Firstly it builds strong trade
partnership to avoid possible militarized and non militarized conflicts.
Secondly it gives a leeway lo perceive the international political atmosphere
from the same and harmonized perspective. Kahler and Kastner define the
engagement policies as follows "It is a policy of deliberate expanding
economic ties with and adversary in order to change the behaviour of
target state and improve bilateral relations ".(p523-abstact). It is an
intentional economic strategy that expects bigger benefits such as long
term economic gains and more importantly; political gains. The main idea
behind the engagement motivation is stated by Rosecrance (1977) in a way
that " the direct and positive linkage of interests of stales where a change in
the position of one state affects the position of others in the same direction.

Violation: The aff increases economic engagement with women in poverty
in Mexico

Vote Neg for Limits. Aff interpretation is bad for debate because it
explodes the topic to include economic engagement with small groups of
people or non-government organizations.

Extra topical the plan mandates debt relief for US companies which
independently explodes limits by allowing the US to engage with any US
private companies. This is a separate reason to vote neg.
2NC Violation
The plan goes directly to the poor
Opportunity International 12
Opportunity International, 2012, What is Microfinance?,
http://www.opportunity.org/what-is-microfinance/#.UfcIe2R8Jz0
Microfinance is the provision of financial services such as loans, savings,
insurance, and training to people living in poverty. It is one of the great
success stories in the developing world in the last 30 years and is widely
recognized as a just and sustainable solution in alleviating global poverty.
2NC Mexico = State/Government
Mexico refers to the United Mexican States, composed of states and the
federal district not individuals or private organizations
Encyclopedia Britannica No Date
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/379167/Mexico
Mexico, country of southern North America and the third largest country
in Latin America, after Brazil and Argentina. Although there is little truth to
the long-held stereotype of Mexico as a slow-paced land of subsistence
farmers, Mexican society is characterized by extremes of wealth and
poverty, with a limited middle class wedged between an elite cadre of
landowners and investors on the one hand and masses of rural and urban
poor on the other. But in spite of the challenges it faces as a developing
country, Mexico is one of the chief economic and political forces in Latin
America. It has a dynamic industrial base, vast mineral resources, a wide-
ranging service sector, and the worlds largest population of Spanish
speakersabout two and a half times that of Spain or Colombia. As its
official name suggests, the Estados Unidos Mexicanos (United Mexican
States) incorporates 31 socially and physically diverse states and the
Federal District.

Mexico refers to the United Mexican States
Wordnet No Date (Word Database for Princeton)
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=mexico
S: (n) Mexico, United Mexican States ( a republic in southern North
America; became independent from Spain in 1810)


2NC AT: Sub Checks
1. No it doesnt substantial is arbitrary especially in terms of economic
engagement
2. Substantial increase must be at least 50%
UNEP 2 (United Nations Environmental Program, 10-2,
www.unep.org/geo/geo3/english/584.htm)

Change in selected pressures on natural ecosystems 2002-32. For the
ecosystem quality component, see the explanation of the Natural Capital
Index. Values for the cumulative pressures were derived as described under
Natural Capital Index. The maps show the relative increase or decrease in
pressure between 2002 and 2032. 'No change' means less than 10 per cent
change in pressure over the scenario period; small increase or decrease
means between 10 and 50 per cent change; substantial increase or
decrease means 50 to 100 per cent change; strong increase means more
than doubling of pressure. Areas which switch between natural and
domesticated land uses are recorded separately.

3. Total U.S. Mexico goods and services trade totaled $500 billion
Office of the United States Trade Representative, 13 (Executive Office
of the President, 2013, http://www.ustr.gov/countries-
regions/americas/mexico, accessed 7/16/13, JF)
U.S. goods and services trade with Mexico totaled $500 billion in 2011
(latest data available for goods and services trade). Exports totaled
$224 billion; Imports totaled $277 billion. The U.S. goods and services
trade deficit with Mexico was $53 billion in 2011.

Violation: The plan doesnt increase engagement with Mexico by $250
billion

2NC Limits
Allowing small affs like microfinance for women explodes the topic and
research burden for the neg. It is impossible to research every possible
small, non-government organization or group that the aff could increase
engagement with.
Microfinance = Private
Microfinance institutions are private organizations not the government
Mi 10
Microfinance Information Exchange, 2010, FAQs on Microfinance,
http://www.themix.org/about-microfinance/FAQ
A microfinance institution (MFI) is an organization that provides
microfinance services loans, savings, maybe even insurance to the
worlds poor. An MFI can operate as a nonprofit such as a non government
organization (NGO), credit cooperative, non bank financial institution
(NBFI), or even a formal, regulated for profit bank.
MFIs differ in size and reach; some serve a few thousand clients in their
immediate geographical area, while others serve hundreds of thousands,
even millions, in a large geographical region, through numerous branches.
Many MFIs offer services beyond loans and savings, including education on
business and financial issues and social services focused on health and
children.