What is the aim of aid?What is the point of aid?
Does aid work?
Things that hinder aidHow can aid have any meaningful short or long term effects in the following environment.
Country's like Zimbabwe formally Rhodesia use to be called the food basket of Africa. Look at it now the people who use to run the farms were driven off by Mugabe and the land lies idle.
Does aid treat the symptoms or the cause?Giving people minimal food, who have no means of supporting themselves otherwise, but have the ability of children, is just snowballing the problem.
Not all aid is equal some is effective, some is not, some comes in the form of sustenance and some in the forms of helping the suffering improve their circumstances like education.
Some will undoubtedly work, but it will be a minority as the main aim is to alleviate symptoms, not cure the problem.
Does aid at least help?Aid is not good for a countries pride, that they are seen as unable to cope themselves gives a sense of hopelessness.
Some criticisms of aid, are that is:
Does aid hurt?
Who's problem is the poverty in other countries?ResponsibilityWho causes these catastrophes, do countries bring it on themselves?
Unless one country directly caused another countries problems, they are not responsible for their problems and therefore have no obligation to give to the other country.
If country A has no control over the activities of country B, Country A is not responsible for what happens in country B.
A question to ask in terms of responsibility, if a parent cannot support child why do they have them? Both in developed and non-developed countries. It is a form of child abuse.
Private individuals can give aid, it is not governments responsibility to do so.
Priorities
Is aid moral/Just?Aid is completely moral and just if it is given voluntarily, however, large portions of it are given by governments that confiscate the money off its citizens.
Also not all aid is equal
Some say that U.K must give aid to atone for its history of colonialism
Is aid Legal?Taxes under the law of the U.K can only be used on behalf of the people of the U.K . As stated in the Magna Carta of 1215 a contract between the people and the Crown and The Bill of Rights 1689, a statute enacted by parliament.What is the solution then?Quote 982
"As society becomes wealthier, large families become less necessary because children are no longer an economic necessity. Some campaigners suppose that societies must limit their population in order to become wealthy, but it is the other way round: wealthy societies limit their populations." -- Masden Pirie
Trade not aid
More people have been raised out of poverty in the last 20 years through opening up trade than aid has ever done.
There are a multitude of examples, from China to Brazil and Vietnam to name just a few. No poor country which has become rich achieved it without trade.
Is the population too high to sustain?
Is there a possibility of voluntary population control like birth control?
China has tackled too high population growth successfully.
Can technology like GM crops help?
Why don't countries co-ordinate aid?
Aid with conditions.
Aid is something personal and should not be the governments duty, instead all aid money should be given to NGO's (non-government) OR to the poor directly.
Nations, as with people in general, should learn to stand on their own two feet. ConsistencyAgencies who give to the poor don't get taxed on their earnings, but the poor that recive this money get taxed on their income. that seems a little inconsistent.
Alternatives
Quotes -- Ron Paul
"We wouldn't like people to prop up a dictator in our country, so why do we do it to other countries"
-- Ron Paul “Africa is addicted to aid,” she says. “Like any addict, it needs and depends on its regular fix, finding it hard, if not impossible, to contemplate existence in an aid-less world.”
-- Author Dambisa Moyo (Dead Aid)
ReferencesLinksLink474Case against foreign Aid
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