
How Can We Help the World’s Poor? - robg
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/books/review/Kristof-t.html?ref=books
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Mz
"The new synthesis should embrace specific interventions that all sides agree
have merit, while also borrowing from an important insight of the aid critics:
trade is usually preferable to aid."

I am happy to see the above remark. I makes me feel like "There may be hope
for the world yet." Having done a lot of volunteer work, therapy for my own
personal issues....etc, ad nauseum... I have concluded that heroics and
"saviors" typically cause more problems than they solve. For example, welfare
and many other programs require recipients to psychologically identify
themselves as pathetic enough to merit such help and actively encourage them
to keep failing in some significant way so as to continue to qualify for aid.
The harm to identity and self esteem and the bad habits they encourage are
likely to cause long-term harm in the form of learned helplessness.

A couple of good books with relevant points:

 _Diet for a Small Planet_ \-- One of the points it makes is that foreign aid
to prevent starvation often comes in the form of foreign foods which cannot be
grown locally and therefore aren't locally sustainable or economically viable
once the locals are hooked on them.

 _Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have
Failed_ \-- In essence, this explores some of the problems with top-down
solutions and how unrealistic they so frequently are.

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joeycfan
1 - see them good stuff for fair prices. cell phones especially

2 - hire assassins to kill their incredible corrupt crap leaders.

