[kitchencabinetforum] IT’S NOT YOURS TO GIVE!

Squandering taxpayers' hard-earned money on Third World is ridiculous. It's not yours to give! There are many reasons for the failure of foreign aid. Foreign aid has a widespread record of waste, fraud, and abuse. Aid programs have built tennis courts in Rwanda, sent sewing machines to areas without electricity, and constructed hospitals in cities where a dozen similar facilities already sat half empty. http://venitism.blogspot.com

Uncle Sam is deeply concerned about the humanitarian emergency in the Sahel region of Africa. Around 10 million people are in need of emergency assistance due to erratic rainfall, failed harvests, high food prices and conflict across the region that includes Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger. In response to current needs, including protection and assistance for refugees, and to prevent a potentially much more serious situation, Uncle Sam provides huge assistance ot Sahel.

Frequently, the aid is stolen by corrupt foreign leaders. The Agency for International Development admitted that much of the investment financed by AID has disappeared without a trace. Even when aid reaches its intended beneficiaries, the results are often counterproductive. Just as domestic welfare prevents citizens from becoming self-sufficient, foreign aid keeps entire nations dependent. According to one internal AID audit long-term feeding programs have great potential for creating disincentives for food production.

A sensitive issue cannot be fully explained in a post, but only in a speech, in that magic eyeball to eyeball contact, baring my soul, and declaring truths that cause shock and awe. That's why I look forward to the invitation of your organization to speak at your conference. Basil Venitis, venitis@gmail.com

Uncle Sam is currently providing targeted humanitarian assistance that addresses acute malnutrition and hunger and builds resilience, and he is also focused on long-term approaches to establish lasting food security. Uncle Sam is making highly nutritious therapeutic food available for malnourished children. In addition to providing life-saving food, Uncle Sam is working to help vulnerable families and communities buy locally-available food and services, while developing small-scale projects and infrastructure that can help build the resilience necessary to withstand future drought.

Specific examples of counterproductive aid policies are easy to come by. For example, following a devastating earthquake in Guatemala, farmers trying to sell their surplus grain found the market flooded by the Food for Peace program. As a result, food aid stood in the way of development. Aid to Somalia aggravated the country's famine, disrupted local agriculture, and turned nomadic tribesmen into relief junkies.

Moreover, foreign aid has often been used to prop up failing socialist economies, preventing countries from moving to free-market economic policies. Yet, an examination of world economies clearly shows that those countries with free markets experience the greatest economic prosperity. Foreign aid is structurally bad because it undermines the incentive to take responsibility. The more aid a country receives, the less the government of that country has to answer to the people. http://venitism.blogspot.com

In partnership with other donors, Uncle Sam has taken early action in response to early warnings. Uncle Sam is targeting specific pockets of great need while working toward sustainable, longer term development. Uncle Sam is saving lives, mitigating impact, and building resilience.

We saw how unwise policies had an impact. Some policies that countries enacted with the hope of mitigating the crisis, such as export bans on rice, only made matters worse. They spurred panic buying and hoarding, which made rice unaffordable from East Asia to West Africa to the Caribbean. They also undermined countries' broader food security by discouraging farmers from increasing production. Rising food prices can have a positive effect if they send a signal to farmers to grow and sell more. But that can only happen if there is transparency in markets and stocks so signals about prices and supply are accurately received.

Now, there are few easy answers to the problems facing rural farmers, the majority of whom are women around the world, or those problems facing hungry people everywhere. And many of the new investments in agricultural development will not be evident for years. But we cannot let the complexity inhibit us. We cannot let the timeline of change deter us. We can't keep falling back on providing emergency aid just to put the band-aid on to keep moving forward to try to mitigate the damage insofar as possible.

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