Heart of Cheapness (Bono Says Solution To Africa's Problems Is To Pour MORE Money In)

New York Times ^ | May 31, 2002 | Paul ("DNC Talking Points") Krugman

[PJ-Comix]

Rush was talking about Bono and Africa yesterday. What Bono and idiotic liberals like Krugman won't face is the fact that the GOVERNMENTS in Africa skim most of the foreign aid money and/or food aid. Let's use the example cited by Krugman. A well doesn't cost all that much and provides great benefits. However, it costs a small fortune if FIRST a whole bunch of government bureaucrats have to be paid off. As Rush said, the BIGGEST cause of poverty in Africa is their very governments themselves.

[AppyPappy]

Bono loves to spend other people's money.

[Dales]

a dime a day per American

Of course, Krugman would never support a tax of a dime a day on every American.

[anniegetyourgun]

Where's the barf alert? And when was the last time Mr. Krugman sent some of his own money to Uganda?

[ikka]

Nutty article.

If a new well which might have cost $900 to put in is so good for the villagers, why can't the WHO and other people who get our money show thousands upon thousands of such wells in villages everywhere?

Reason: they don't want to spend the money on low and slow style projects, they want the big win, high dollar stuff.

[PJ-Comix]

Someone should flag this idiotic Krugman article to Rush. He was talking at length about Bono and Africa yesterday and made the point that the REASON for poverty in Africa is the CORRUPTION of their GOVERNMENTS. They skim off most of the foreign aid money for their own pockets.

[Semper Paratus]

Rush was talking about Bono and Africa yesterday.

Bono was confusing the Consitution with the Statue of Liberty inscription.
Please stick to the music making.

[PJ-Comix]

Reason: they don't want to spend the money on low and slow style projects, they want the big win, high dollar stuff.

Also to install that $900 well, they have to line the pockets of corrupt government officials to the tune of several thousand dollars.

[hchutch]

I thought that by now, Paul Krugman's name would have sufficed for a barf alert...

PJ-Comix, maybe we ought to sic Howard on this guy sometime. Really let Howard have at him. Krugman wouldn't last five seconds...

[N. Theknow]

Two things.

1. Africa is one of, if not the richest continent in the world.

2. Giving African nations foreign aid is like paying reparations for not enslaving them.

[PJ-Comix]

I'm hoping that Rush cites this stupid article today. After all, Rush was talking at length about Bono and Africa yesterday. The problem with Bono is that he doesn't want to confront the REAL problem of poverty in Africa---Corrupt governments. Does Bono want us to continue to pour money into Africa just so that government officials can keep on skimming off the aid in the silly hope that the trickle that actually gets down to the people will increase? Has ANYBODY even asked Bono if he thinks that government corruption in Africa is a problem? Most likely Bono would answer that he doesn't want to be "judgemental."

[randita]

I get very confused by the messages of liberals. When you watch nature shows, invariably there is a bias against the intrusion of western ways on the peaceful, nomadic simple life of natives in various parts of the undeveloped countries. Liberal celebrate the facts that these people live in squalid huts, eat all kinds of vermin and lack personal hygiene, but yet it's claimed that they are the truly happy among us. We're the ones who have it all wrong.

Yet these same liberals, like Bono, want us to spend untold trillions to modernize and westernize the undeveloped world.

The only conclusion I can draw is that liberals want us to stay in a perpetual state of guilt. Guilt that we're doing too much, guilt that we're not doing enough--guilt...guilt...guilt.

That's the only way to make sense out of the mixed messages liberals send and I've just chosen to ignore them.

[PJ-Comix]

1. Africa is one of, if not the richest continent in the world.

This is true but almost ALL the money stays in the pockets of African leaders and officials. Very little of it is ever seen by the people.

[finnman69]

Hey Krugman, why don't we just get taxed at a 99% rate so we eliminate all the world's problems? What?...You say that is not reasonable? Well, why is not reasonable to expect better results with the staggering amount of money we give for foreign aid each year? I mean have you not been harping and harping for months on how the economy cannot afford deficit spending? You think we should spend more now? HELLLOOOOO KRUGMAN!

How about you take your $50,000 in Enron consulting fees you eagerly took and donate it to an African charity that will surely spend every penny on helping people (sarcasm off).

This is going to be the liberal RAT attack. We are too cheap and tax cuts=death and suffering for Africans.This is so pathetic considering all of the hoopla about the deficit.

[Jethro Tull]

PAUL O'NEILL:
JUST ANOTHER EMBARRASSING REPUBLICAN

[DoughtyOne]

Was that pro-Bono?

[DoughtyOne]

Yes, they've adopted the Mexican model.

[Cleburne]

We could roll back the ban on DDT. That would save many lives and cost very little- and surely the liberals, who care about mankind so much, wouldn't mind.

[Bikers4Bush]

The problem is that we've stopped letting evolution take its own course and these days civilizations that should crumble and become extinct are being propped up by others.

Let the people of Africa figure it out for themselves and if they can't then maybe mother nature thinks they shouldn't be around anymore.

[Still Using Air]

"If the excess over $5 million were taxed at pre-2001 rates, the average taxed family would be left with $10 million — which doesn't sound like hardship to me — and the government would collect $20 billion in revenue each year. But no; the whole tax must go."

  So, unless I misunderstand (entirely possible), this guy sees nothing wrong with the government collecting 1/3 of the value of the property, simply because HE feels that $10M should be enough for anyone? ~whew~