Don't believe me? Well, just look at how much $600 billion in aid has helped Africa. And wow, that Live 8 crap sure did wonders didn't it? I mean, not one life has been improved, but we made a bunch of preppy spoiled brat suburbanites across the western world feel good about themselves!
Thus, whilst those on the left complain that the US does not give enough money as a percent of its GDP I'd like to point out two things with the following chart;
1. We give more private money than most of those in Europe who do the majority of the bitching.
2. The smartest people in this chart as far as I'm concerned are the Italians who know their money will be wasted and the most guilt tripped are the Norwegians who are stupid enough to piss away their money.
I'd also like to point out that it isn't always "poor countries" that need be the recipients of money to make it charitable. How interesting the left failed to pick up this data and parade it around;
Disagree with you on this one... as does the brilliant Jeffery Sachs.
ReplyDelete0.2% of GDP is NOT a lot. And most of it doesn't even go to the right concentrations. Fact of the matter is that all the G8 countries (including Bush himself) have pledged to give 0.7% of GDP as part of the Millenium Development Goals. But, they're nowhere near it.
Read Sachs book for a better understanding of how that money could be put to use.
Oh, no, I'm aware of Sach's work, I disagree with it.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that will help these people is by leaving them alone and IF we intervene it is through FDI in the private sector.
Public aid is just a waste.
Not to mention that some African economists have suggested that foreign aid needs to stop since all it does is enrich the cronies of the rulers and does nothing for the poor.
ReplyDeleteHow long do you think Mugabe would last without foreign aid? Maybe thirty minutes?
Poor countries tend to be poor because of government corruption.
ReplyDeleteLook at Mexico; enormous resources, and government corruption makes business and development almost impossible.
Mexico *depends* on the wages of illegal immigrants to the US. How long do you think the Mexican government would last without this "safety valve?" Maybe 15 minutes.
Giving a blank check to dictators and corrupt regimes isn't Sach's solution either.
ReplyDeletePresident Bush's Millenium Challenge Accounts do a good job of working with countries that work towards Democracy. However, congress has cut funding for those programs to almost nill.
But there ARE pro-Democratic, fairly uncorrupt governments who have famine, AIDS, and other problems to deal with. Sustainable development is necessary. Give the private sector a good enough boost that the people can actually save their money and invest it for the future.
Not doing anything (which is basically what giving 0.2% of GDP is doing) just creates a larger epidemic.