Foreign aid - good or evil?

[Thorne]

Yes, I want to use other people's money. To be honest with you, I am reluctant to give all of my own, and, somehow, I don't think it would be enough anyway. I want to use your money, and everyone else's ... not all of it, but a reasonable amount. Maybe your standard of living will fall a little, but the standard of many other people would rise a lot. I think that's justification enough. So international aid by national governments working together is what is necessary in my view, and no-one can say it won't work, because it's never been tried - not seriously anyway.

Sure. Everyone's standard of living drops a little, and the desperately poor will get a little money. And next week, or next month, or next year, when all the money is gone and they are still desperately poor we'll do it all over again. Nothing is gained, but so much is lost. And the criminals, who prey on the poor, and the tyrants and dictators who prey on their own people, will get a little richer as they steal the money you so politely give them for redistribution. Great plan.

[MMI]

Sure. Everyone's standard of living drops a little, and the desperately poor will get a little money. And next week, or next month, or next year, when all the money is gone and they are still desperately poor we'll do it all over again. Nothing is gained, but so much is lost. And the criminals, who prey on the poor, and the tyrants and dictators who prey on their own people, will get a little richer as they steal the money you so politely give them for redistribution. Great plan.

Lives are gained - at least for a little longer, and nothing is lost, because when the money is spent it goers back into the economy. Hell, even when the criminals spend it, it goes back into the economy! I value those lives more highly than a tiny percentage of your salary, and I see no reason to stop paying while those people need our support in order to live. So to my mind it's a fantastic plan.

And if we can't outwit the criminals who divert aid for their own purposes - and it's happening far too much - it's our own fault for not making sure that the aid is handled by people and organisations which are accountable. If ever ther were a reason to effect a regime change, it's in the circumstances you describe. And none of us western nations are above a little regime change here and there are we?