[dog breath]

It is funny that one of the most massive foreign aid programs in human history occurred without the government, but was done by humble dishwashers, gardeners, maids and carpet layers.

[txhurl]

Oh, but it did occur with the government, biggest sweetheart labor deal since the rum slave trade: how bout we send our campesinos up North so your businessfolks won’t be bothered by tax, benefit, vacation etc expected by your indigenous people in exchange for our border-jumpers financing our physical and social infrastructure [via remittance] that we frankly don’t wish to empty our own cash vaults for.

Banks take a 3% cut of the remitted cash, big Tele rakes it in with long-distance phone cards, lottery owners and beer distributors: it’s win-win-win-win-win-win-win.

[paudio]

It is funny that one of the most massive foreign aid programs in human history occurred without the government, but was done by humble dishwashers, gardeners, maids and carpet layers.

I don't see remittance as foreign aid. Some of them might be obtained illegally, but majority got the money from some form of work. Americans, or whoever hired them, at least received some kind of values. In contrast, foreign aid to Egypt, for instance, only contains one street flow: from the US taxpayer to Egyptians, without any return.