CARE Rejects $46 Million In Food Aid
CARE joins a growing group of organizations who say U.S. agricultural surplus hurts local economies. The CARE decision to phase out grain donations began back in 2005 and is causing a stir as Congress debates the Farm Bill which is reauthorized every five years.
In her story, Katherine Houreld points out some of the unintended consequences of a food aid program that benefits everyone but the hungry. In a related editorial from Investor's Business Daily the point was made that both food aid and money act as a disincentive for stimulating local economies. When cash is siphoned off due to corruption and the food commodities are sold to those who can afford to pay for them, those who need a little of either – food or cash, are shut out.
Perhaps examples from the Grameen Bank might be instructive. Micro cash amounts paid directly into the hands of those who will do the most good with the money — the women of course.
According to the U.S.Government Accountability Office, American food aid takes an average of 4.5 months to arrive and that legal requirements mean two thirds of the money spent goes for packaging and shipping. Washington spends $2 billion a year. So two thirds of $2 billion is a lot of sizzle around not very much steak at all.
The close of the IBD editorial makes the case as always, for the correctness of the American way:
"Investment works, though, only when the rule of law is observed and corruption is kept to a minimum. In addition, markets have to be open, banking systems healthy, property rights protected, trade free, taxes low and the bureaucracy restrained.
If the West freely gives anything to poor nations, it should be the American style of government. Nothing can build and sustain economic growth better. Handouts can relieve short-term misery, but they should be limited only to the most urgent situations."
The LA Times Op Ed by Greg Critser titled "A Corn-Fed Farm Policy", pointed out that our $190 Billion Farm Bill subsidies for corn has spawned plenty of hand outs to go around for everyone. There's a veritable boon to the snack industry and the high fructose corn syrup HFCS is produces.
Our SICKO health management is another. Rising health care costs, already threatening many basic industries, now consume 16 percent of the nation's economic output — the highest proportion ever.
When you factor in the petrochemical fertilizers used to raise all that corn, the transportation to get it into our six-paks, and the eventual waste stream created, maybe there's a better way. Remember the American way – just free markets, no regulation. Won't someone please stop us before we snack again?!!
It reminds me of that reporter who upon Ghandi's first visit to England, asked him what he thought about Western civilization. Ghandi replied, "I think it would be a very good idea."
