No Thanks, And Keep Your Farm Aid

The international humanitarian organization, CARE, rejected $45 million in aid from the US government, suggesting that dumping huge amounts of wheat and other US-grown crops into developing markets only drives local farmers out of business and aggravates poverty. According to Joel Stein, Los Angeles Times columnist, the US insists on a distribution system that “only a huge bureaucracy or a really dumb money launderer would concoct”: The US gives money to CARE, but insists the group purchase US grain, ship the product overseas, selling it for the highest price and only then using the revenue, about 75 percent of the original amount, to purchase food for the poor. That process takes more than four months.The fastest, most efficient way to help people devestated by drought, tsunamis or other disasters is to send cash and assist local farmers. With the new farm bill, President George Bush has proposed re-directing a portion of aid to purchasing crops within the developing world, but the Democratic Congress is in a protectionist mood. CARE officials hope that their decision will spur US politicians to re-think aid distribution and end the unnecessary subsidies that limit innovation and competition among major agribusinesses. As Stein’s essay suggests, charity that hurts the poor makes no sense at all. – YaleGlobal