mrstickball said:
Zucas,
You act like Haiti never had any aid or help prior to the earthquake. The fact is, Haiti was up to its neck in debt by the world bank. Haiti owed 13% of its entire GDP to the world bank due to loans it had taken out. I believe it even had its debt cancelled because it was too poor to pay back the half a billion dollars that was owed.
The problem is that humanity sucks. They are very flawed, therefore you can't always use idealistic caring for people and assume that it will relieve them of all debt and poverty. After all, if that were true, Western nations would not have so much poverty.
The key to human development isn't giving aid, but giving education and influencing cultures to become smarter and better with resources. It's like the old adage 'Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime'. The issue with Haiti and other countries is that many people merely give them fishes and assume that helps them. It does far from it - it merely encourages the status quo of corrupt government, and lack of productivity by citizens.
Furthermore, in some countries, you can even go as far as teaching a man to fish, only to have corrupt leaders take the fish, the means of life, away from the populace. Zimbabwe is a great example of that - murdering white farmers to give the land to political cronies and assume they have the means to produce from the land.
Ultimately, the key to developing poor countries is, as I said, through encouraging them to remove corrupt leaders, improve government and business practices, enhance education, and improve farming and the climate for basic needs. In the case of Haiti, the cause of the destruction wasn't entirely a 7.0 earthquake. It was the lack of building codes, corrupt builders, and a poor infrastructure. A 7.3 earthquake hit Landers California in 1992. Two died from heart attacks.
And I got to ask this on a personal note, Zucas, when was the last time you:
- Worked at a soup kitchen
- Helped at a homeless shelter
- Donated to the Salvation Army
- Worked at a food pantry or food bank
- Taught a financial management class to low-income people
- Donated to a clothing shelter
Just curious.
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