This winter, many in the United States are struggling harder to put food on the table, to hold on to a job, to secure a warm home month-to-month. For many, debts have become harder to pay, and some are faced with a wrenching choice between paying the mortgage and paying for food or heat. In a sense, many impoverished countries face the same desperate decisions. Each day the world’s poorest countries pay more than $100 million to rich creditors—money that would be better spent on health care or basic education.