In today's New York Times, the leftist writer at the paper, Nicholas Kristof, has a wonderful expose of how leftists think. The title of his piece is 'Foreign Aid has Flaws, So What?" The piece is a critique of the superb economist's, William Easterly's, new book that points to how foreign aid does NOT help the world's poor.
First, Mr. Krsitof acknowledges the following…
Don't tell anyone, but a dirty little secret within the foreign aid world is
that aid often doesn't work very well.
Well there is a shock. As I have written before and Kristof cites in his piece, the countries who are flooded with aid wind up poorer in the future (Niger) and those who are not wind up rich in the future (China). Next he points to the left's disregard for the facts…
Mr. Easterly… has tossed a hand grenade at the world's bleeding hearts -- and,
worst of all, he makes some valid points.
God forbid, a conservative economist is actually correct!
Mr. Kristof then tells us on the right that we shouldn't read it.
Let me say right off that stingy Republicans should not read this book. It might
inflame their worst suspicions.
Mr. Krsitof exposes the left's dirty little secret. The argument that leftists always fall back on is that conservatives are stingy and greedy. We don't want to spend money on foreign aid or for local welfare programs because we do not care for poor people's welfare. However, the truth is that we believe welfare and aid actually hurts people. On top of this, we feel that US citizens shouldn't be forced to fund programs that destroy communities and small countries in Africa. In fact, foreign aid finances consumption (as opposed to investment) which makes those countries dependent on foreign aid or it finances corrupt dictators who allow his/her people to starve on the streets. Welfare also has disastrous effects. It discourages ambition and innovation at the same time it promotes inefficiency and laziness.
Mr. Kristof continues his piece by agreeing with all the flaws of foreign aid discovered by Easterly, Rajan, Subramanian, and other economists. Kristof admits that…
All these findings can be pretty shattering to a bleeding-heart American.
But Kristof tells the lefties to cheer up because…
Some other studies indicate that aid does improve growth (economists don't agree
about this any more than they agree about anything else). And whatever the
impact on economic growth rates, aid definitely does something far more
important: it saves lives.
Interesting that he now chooses to stop citing ACTUAL economists or ACTUAL studies when he wants to make HIS point.
He goes on to point out that all Americans should do as the righteous Mr. Kristoff does…
For my whole adult life, I've sponsored children through Plan USA, and in
visiting my ''adopted'' child in places like the Philippines and Sudan, I've
seen how the kids' lives are transformed by American sponsors. Aid is no
panacea, but it is a lifesaver.
This is my favorite part because, without realizing it, Mr. Kristof has proven the point of Milton Friedman and other conservative economists. The point is that PRIVATE charity is the best form of help for the poor in the world. Private charities have efficient practices that make sure aid is not abused by kleptocrats because the money is dependent on donors seeing results. This is the result of people having the CHOICE to give. Forced charity will never work and we must all continue to state this fact so that Mr. Kristof and his ilk do not continue to try to steal from the rich and give to the poor (which, unfortunately, is a transaction that hurts all individuals involved).
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