

"For God's Sake, Please Stop the Aid!" - African "aid" actually actively destructive - jey
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,363663,00.html

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DaniFong
I think that the man has a point. I think (and luckily, I'm holding no public
office, so I can think what I want) the effect includes criminal
organizations, in places other than Kenya.

I've been swayed by Joe Stiglitz's account (read, for example,
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalization_and_Its_Disconten...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalization_and_Its_Discontents)).
I'm no expert, but I've done a fair bit of reading, and my take is this:

The problem isn't the aid -- it's the onerous terms placed on extremely
fragile societies. This is somewhat akin to tough VC terms on startups, except
a thousand times worse - rarely do startups have military junta evolved
specifically to plunder said sources of funding.

Often, the only organizations surviving a calamity are criminal organizations
(threats on one's wellbeing are, unfortunately, one of the only dependable
crediting strategies in an economic collapse), which then grab up most of the
funds, and a self-reinforcing pattern emerges: the most corrupt organizations,
those most effective at looting aid, are in the best position to do it again.

But aid is not bad, wholesale. Ethiopia refused IMF aid, and eventually turned
it's fortunes around after an incredible period of adversity. But if they
could have taken a loan at less punitive rates, without stripping their
economy of the regulations that would eventually serve them, their economy and
population would not have suffered so miserably.

~~~
rms
I strongly recommend the book Confessions of an Economic Hitman. I was
searching to find an NPR interview with the author, where he summarizes the
book very well. Instead, I found the whole book.

[http://www.scribd.com/doc/19489/Confessions-of-an-
Economic-H...](http://www.scribd.com/doc/19489/Confessions-of-an-Economic-
HitmanJohn-Perkins)

