Foreign Aid. I used to edit papers written by civil engineers before they were submitted for what they call peer review. This was at the engineering college of a big University which had a lot of interaction with development around the world. Doing this, I got glimpses into what I am going to call the molecular structure of foreign aid. One of the papers was about road development and maintenance in a small country in Africa, called Lesotho. The big foreign aid money that had come in to build paved roads in the highlands was causing havoc there. The roads were built, and paved. But in the climate, the paving (Macadam) soon buckled, and the cost for repaving the roads was astronomical - in every way you could measure it. Instead of having dirt surfaced roads that people could travel on, albeit at a slower speed, you now had roads that were IMPASSABLE. The fix for this that was being strongly argued for by all the U.S. contractor and supplier companies attached to the Foreign Aid grant was MORE BIG EQUIPMENT which could be brought up to the highlands through the jungles by building...more roads, ones that could withstand the passage of heavy equipment. People would of course have to be trained in the use of the heavy equipment so they could take over the job later, on their own. They would have to leave their villages for training for a rather extended period of time. The buckled pavement would have to be broken-up using specialized pounding machines, and new pavement laid down, and this would have to be done frequently. Far more frequently than it has to be done here, even, because there were a lot more freeze/thaw cycles in that particular environment, not to mention humidity and the composition of the soil, etc. Of course, then, the big special machines would break down -- so people would have to be trained to fix them. Everyone leaving their villages for this training would have to find other people to tend their flocks and take care of their crops while they were gone. And of course, people would need motor oil to lubricate the machinery. Naturally, these giant machines did not get many miles to the gallon, either. Now, most people in that area of the country, traveled by bullock cart, anyway, so its not like they really needed paved roads -- but at the top, where all the honchos get together and the international aid committees, and so on, to discuss these things and have photo ops, it had been thought a wonderful idea to help develop the interior of this mountainous country -- by building these roads AID TO AFRICA. You couldnt GET more saintly than THAT, could you? And most of the money would go back to U.S. contractors and equipment manufacturers specializing in over-seas work, anyway. THE PAPER I was editing -- which was being submitted to the American Society for Civil Engineers, was arguing that a dirt-paved road system for Lesothos interior was far preferable: maintenance did not require special equipment and could be done during the agricultural off-season. Of course, dirt-paved roads wash out under heavy rains -- but when they do, the material for fixing them is right at hand: more dirt. And Macadam paved roads wash out, too, but when they collapse it is even more catastrophic. Foreign Aid is, generally, NOT really a GIFT to other countries. It is very often a dirty-bit of deal-making between elites and power groups in our country and their country -- with lots of the money going right back into the hands of our own companies, and with not a WHOLE LOT of benefit accruing, really, to the actual people of the foreign countries. Thats why, sometimes, they dont always seem as grateful as we would expect them to, for the money weve given them. We give this money to other countries for a lot of reasons but often so that our companies can have access to spending it overseas. We buy the elites of other countries so that our rivals dont buy them. We own the ruling class. They owe their goodies to us. We tell them what to do. We tell them to OPEN THEIR MARKETS to our goods -- SPECIFIC GOODS we want to sell them -- and we give them a list. It might be stuff they do not need and do not want. NOT NEEDING and NOT WANTING is now NO LEGAL REASON for barring goods. I remember in the early days of the World Trade Organization, when the GATT -- General Agreement on Trades and Tariffs -- was being negotiated -- one of the things that came up was that, in Germany, shops closed at 6:00pm. I think they were closed on Sunday. One night during the week -- I believe it was Wednesday -- shops would stay open later. Youd think that would be a countrys OWN business, wouldnt you? OH NO, not any more. One of the demands coming from our sides negotiators was that German shops would keep longer business hours and be open on Sunday SO THAT PEOPLE WOULD BUY MORE. What Foreign Aid is, and THESE TRADE AGREEMENTS NOW, are the elites of the various countries TURNING EACH OTHERS PEOPLE over TO EACH OTHER, to SELL SHIT TO. Because if it wasnt SHIT you wouldnt HAVE TO RAM it down peoples throats. Our government gives Foreign Aid to other countries in order to gain access to those countries markets (their people.) Our country ALREADY has ACCESS to us. Do you not sit in front of your television 35 hours/week -- and see advertisements plastered over every square minute of your life? THEY DONT HAVE TO PAY US to GET ACCESS to US. They make US pay THEM!!!! And they take that money and use it to get access to OTHER people in other countries. Dont be jumping up and down, now, if youve read this far. Youve been perfectly happy with this situation feeling like a wronged Saint being taken advantage of by foreigners! This explanation of being the wronged saint/gentle giant has suited you quite nicely for decades!!! You can change it slowly, by being more intelligent --- slightly more conscious? -- about the money you spend. If you cannot stand to change something slowly -- then you do not have the RIGHT STUFF to STAY THE COURSE!! And youre just fantasizing about making the world the way you want it by clicking a button, like its a video game -- after which, you would go right back to sleep. That doesnt work. We are all in this together and we have made it so easy for people to rob us I dont see how you can even get angry at them. I have a MUCH BETTER idea about Foreign Aid, which I will unveil shortly.... Thank you.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Feb 2014 01:58:28 +0000
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