This news report shows precisely why aid given at any level - person to person, organization to organization, nation to nation, whatever - is supposed to give people a hand up, not a hand out.
Phay is among millions across Africa who have seen their lives upended after the U.S. aid cuts. In Liberia, the American support made up almost 2.6% of the gross national income, the highest percentage anywhere in the world, according to the Center for Global Development.
“The impact of USAID in Liberia cannot be overstated,” said Richlue O. Burphy, who worked for USAID projects for over a decade and manages the National Lottery, a government body. “Everywhere you go, you see the USAID (signs). And almost all the government institutions ... had some kind of USAID partnership.”
The sense of betrayal runs deep in Liberia ... Following civil wars and an Ebola epidemic, Liberia’s survival has depended largely on foreign aid, mainly from the U.S. and the World Bank. Despite abundant natural wealth, six out of 10 Liberians live in poverty, according to the World Bank, and Liberia is among the world’s 10 poorest nations.
There's more at the link.
I'm very sorry for the people of Liberia, and for their suffering (and yes, it really is suffering) brought on by the sudden removal of the aid on which they've relied for so long. However, the reality of Liberia (which can be confirmed by anyone who's been there for long - and yes, I've been there) is very simple:
- Aid arrives from international sources.
- At least half of it, and often two-thirds to three-quarters, is promptly stolen or misused by government ministers, bureaucrats, and corrupt businessmen.
- The remainder trickles down to the people in the form, not of money, but of things they need, for much of which they have to pay up front, even though aid is supposed to be free of charge to them.
By continuing to provide aid under such circumstances for so long, the USA and other donors have effectively allowed the corruption to be perpetuated. If you wonder why Liberia can't provide medication, etc. from its own resources, it's because those same corrupt leaders who stole most of the foreign aid are doing the same thing with the nation's tax and tariff income. They don't care whether their people are suffering. They have their standard of living to maintain - and that's far more important than helping their people stay alive and healthy. Their people see only pennies on the dollar of the nation's income.
That's the simple, honest truth about why Liberia is experiencing these problems . . . but it doesn't fit the politically correct line that all its troubles are the fault of President Trump for ending USAID, so the truth will never be found in the mainstream media.
Peter
14 comments:
Friends of ours got obsessed with feeding hummingbirds in So. Cal. Lots of feeders, she cooked up 5 pounds of sugar with water, a day to keep all the feeders loaded. They went on a month long vacation, when they got back, they were all gone but a few. The neighbors told them that shortly after they left, the hummers started searching around their house, a little while later they disappeared.
So. Cal. is semi arid, not much around for too many hummers. Most of them likely died.
Don't feed the bears, they get lazy and stupid.
I think you will find the same rate of "overhead costs" on grants to states here in the US. The money is siphoned of as administrative cost, new positions created to implement compliance, HR and accounting duties and other not specified costs.
That's how welfare ALWAYS works! Man or beast.
The issue is that the "aid" isn't used to bootstrap them out of the poverty and position they are in, but rather as a way of living.
Much like the hummingbirds discussed in the above comment, they become dependent on it and soon cannot survive without someone else providing at least a portion of their needs.
They trap themselves. Rather than get ahead, they stay where they are with someone else feeding and clothing them.
Shortsighted, but that is africa and the african culture.
When you give people "free" stuff they ALWAYS quickly become addicted to it. All "aid" does is foster dependence on the government...which politicians always want.
Human nature wins again. If your government is run by tribesman who are loyal to their family/clan/tribe in that order none of the largesse coming in will ever make it down to others not of their tribe. Having loyalty to the Nation or to the Rule of Law over your tribe is a white European aberration.
When you donate to your pet charity do you know the actual percentage going to the Research or how much goes to "administrate" work. Look to the salary of the very top person. Bono's charity was found to use 95% on something and 5% went to the actual charity. Nice side gig for him and he didn't even have to do anything.
Doing some special honoring the first LiveAid. Millions of funds that never got to the people, kinda like Hillary's charity to Haiti. And so it goes.
Even if there wasn't waste, if all that aid wasn't helping make these people independent and self-sufficient, it was nothing more than welfare for foreigners. And taxpayers are angry about domestic welfare, let alone for foreign countries. If you can't carry your own weight, you certainly aren't owed anything by people who can.
When I worked at Goodwill, store workers would bundle up all the clothes and goods they could not sell in the stores and ship it overseas. They stopped that after a few years - because they found that when they were giving away clothes to the impoverished of Africa or wherever, they were taking business away from microbusinesses, entrepreneurs who made shoes or clothing or jewelry or whatever. That meant all those little seedling businesses died.
That's why it's a bad idea to just provide medication, etc. to impoverished nations. Sure, the warlords and corrupt officials take the bulk of it for themselves. But it poisons the groundwater. It eliminates the reason to make medication or clothing or other necessary goods, the impetus to create a thriving economy at the bottom - and these places don't need handouts, they need good economies. It's the end result of giving a man a fish, instead of teaching him how to fish.
End ALL foreign aid, hell at this point and all foreign interaction that doesn't involve just killing people who so much as think of messing with us.
Periodically though, in the undeveloped countries of the 3rd world they still get to take their leaders down to the beach, tie them to poles driven into the sand and use them for rifle practice. I sort of wish that would happen everywhere it is needed but most places seem to have lost the knack after Mussolini.
Africa in a nutshell... "They don't care whether their people are suffering. "
The tribe of the ones in charge are taken care of just fine. Its just members of Tribe A don't care a whit if everyone in Tribe B starves to death.
The website Charity Watch makes for fascinating reading for private charitable organizations.
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