Do not miss this excellent interview with Kenyan economist James Shikwati. Mr. Shikwati is very insightful and very unapologetic in his denunciation of foreign aid as the true cause of Africa's perpetual poverty and indolence. Some money quotes:
If the West were to cancel these payments, normal Africans wouldn't even notice. Only the functionaries would be hard hit. Which is why they maintain that the world would stop turning without this development aid.Ouch.[Much of the food] ends up on the black market where the corn is dumped at extremely low prices. Local farmers may as well put down their hoes right away; no one can compete with the UN's World Food Program.
Our politicians were overwhelmed with money... The late tyrant of the Central African Republic, Jean Bedel Bokassa, cynically summed it up by saying: "The French government pays for everything in our country. We ask the French for money. We get it, and then we waste it."
Why do we get these mountains of clothes? No one is freezing here. Instead, our tailors lose their livelihoods. They're in the same position as our farmers. No one in the low-wage world of Africa can be cost-efficient enough to keep pace with donated products.
...an applicant is needed who also speaks English fluently -- and, ideally, one who is also well mannered. So you end up with some African biochemist driving an aid worker around, distributing European food, and forcing local farmers out of their jobs.
I finally have an information sorcery machine at my residence again, so it's possible that posts may start to occur once more. But, mercy's sake! don't count on me! Go look at all the wonderful things Steve is thinking about!
