Quote:
Originally Posted by khalleron
I just LOVE the way cynics and pessimists always describe themselves as realists, as though only bad things are true.
I'd laugh if it weren't so sad.
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What's really funny about it is that they assume the problem is all Africa and everyone over there is totally evil. We (and by that I mean the West) are actually the biggest part of why Africa is still so poor and war-torn. And I don't just mean colonization of by-gone days. I mean NOW.
We gave a lot of countries in Africa some of the worst, most scammish loans in the history of loans. The interest is positively explosive. These countries are trying - valiantly - to pay their debt. For the size of their economies, they're actually phenomenal at being good for their payments. But the interest is so high that they'll never be able to pay them off.
In addition to that, we did the loans under the condition that they have to live under an "austerity budget." They are not
allowed, under the terms of the loans, to expand their government and do things like build schools.
So not only can they never pay off their loans, but they can also never develop their countries.
There is no doubt there is a plethora of corruption in Africa. But if you want to know the root of most of it, look at your own government, not theirs.
Their governments are actually relatively good at distributing goods they're given - better than some American charities are. There's cases of fraud, and major ones, but they're not the rule.
This applies, contrary to most people's beliefs, to food aid as well. African governments that receive food aid usually DO distribute it, and they do it at the prices they're told to. So what's the problem?
The subsidized food we sell them is so cheap that whenever there's an influx of it, it puts African farmers out of business. So between shipments, there's no farmers, and everyone starves.
Once again, look to your own government, not theirs.