Foreign aid won’t make a difference

Written by Stefan Ming Friday, 29 January 2010 08:00

The United States has been involved in foreign affairs for countless decades. We’ve donated billions of dollars to poor nations for many years.  But yet, these nations are still poor.

We all know the latest news. Haiti was struck by a terrible earthquake, killing roughly 150,000 people. While nobody deserves something like this ever, I think we tend to overreact when it comes to lending a helping hand.

Our attempt to help foreign countries through foreign aid has failed. The relief is rarely efficient. Most of this money is misused and goes straight into the hands of the countries’ governments where they either pocket or mismanage it.

Throughout the aftermath of the earthquake there were plenty of reports on the news of how money, food and clothes were not getting to the people that need it most. People were not cooperating and progress was delayed.

The money we donate supports bad governments, kills free markets and keeps people poor. We’ve been doing this for years in Africa, Asia and South America, and it has left people poor.

A 2006 study by the National Academy of Public Administration called “Why Foreign Aid to Haiti Failed” shows that the more foreign aid was spent on Haiti, the more the funds were misused by the Haitian government. In 2005, Kenyan economist James Shikwati said, “The countries that have collected the most development aid are also the ones that are in the worst shape.”

Instead of throwing billions of dollars at these problems, why don’t we take a look at our own laws? Restrictions on free trade and protectionism help keep these nations poor.  What we need are fewer restrictions on trade with these countries, to end farm subsidies and to end tariffs.

San Francisco experienced a 7.0 quake back in 1989 like this one, but only 63 people died. The reason countries like Haiti experience such high death totals during catastrophes is because their countries are so poor.

Haitians can’t afford to build quality buildings and sturdy structures. They also don’t have the quality health care or emergency equipment that we have here in the U.S., yet these are things Americans always seem to take for granted.

The earthquake in Haiti is only partially to blame for the tragedy. Poverty, trade restrictions, and misused foreign aid makes the current situation even worse.

Stefan is a sophomore studying journalism.