Should we give aid to HIDC?

[tino]

Should we give aid to HIDC?

[tino]

Hi,

With the G8 meeting soon and Blair's policy to relieve Highly indebted countries what do you think on the matter? Will it help? What else can we do? The following article gives a few views and in general I tend to agree with what is being said.Economist article

G8 Countries won't stop debt by just canceling the debt as the Governments are corrupt and will probably just go into debt again there is no incenitive for them to get out of debt and Relieve ABSOLUTE Poverty.
I think personally we should open our markets like stated in the above article and have alot more free market no matter what the consequences our to our own economy (eg Farmers and the stupid buffer stock system) It means that we do not have to make great economies of scale to the extent they do and also leaves these countries dealing with goods that are highly volitile. What do you think should be done?

[Rocky]

I think china should cancel out the the US debt we owe them...

[ScutMonkey]

Pure Western PR.  Forgiving this debt will do nothing but quiet the howling of those who say the west neglects Africa.  It will do nothing to resolve their ethnic conflicts, their repressive third world regimes, lack of education, or AIDS.

However, it's not like we're going to ever see that money again.

I dunno.  I'll be curious to see when/if Central and South American countries start howling for their own debt relief.

[tino]

you mean like the Congo? What was Africa like before colonistation? We took over these countries used there wealth to develop then left when things got to bad? Surely we should at least try and help? The US attacked iraq to get rid of a corrupt Government, Why cant they do it in Africa where it will actually help the countries? Absolute poverty is horrible and anything we can do to relieve this should be done imo

[powder]

quote:
Originally posted by: Tino
you mean like the Congo? What was Africa like before colonistation? We took over these countries used there wealth to develop then left when things got to bad? Surely we should at least try and help? The US attacked iraq to get rid of a corrupt Government, Why cant they do it in Africa where it will actually help the countries? Absolute poverty is horrible and anything we can do to relieve this should be done imo

As was pointed out in Black Hawk Down, the various regimes in Africa will not simply throw down their weapons and accept American democracy.  Remember that Iraq is just one small country while Africa is an entire continent.  Installing new governments in all or most of those countries would just lead to further civil war.

[iamjack]

I think its only fair to inform everyone that as soon as Tony Blair sees the publicity drain from this charitable drive he is on (most likely after the G8 demonstration/ concert) then he will drop it faster than a hot WMD dossier.  Anyone from the UK remember his 'famous' environment speech after the movie "The day after tomorrow" came out at UK cinemas?

[tino]

OK so Blair will forget about it when the Publicty dies down, but should't we at least try to do somthing? I know we have pumped billions into Africa already but the  simple thing is we can stop people going to bed hungry I think thats more improtant no matter what the other motives there might be behind it.

[Bishop]

There was an interesting article on the BBC this morning regarding this. The speaker stated that removal of debt alone will do little to relieve suffering in Africa. There has been a mountain of money poured into Africa over the past 50 years and what you see today is a demonstration of what little effect this has had. What is needed is investment in infrastructure - power, roads, water, industry and a better level of education to improve the standards within the populations of each country. Debt relief would only be useful if the monies freed up is invested wisely. I think the west can help best by providing expertise and support in ensuring this money is invested for the long term benefit of each country. The biggest help I think we can provide is to show a long term interest & commitment in improving infrastructure and education rather than handing out large sums of cash.

[Vik]

I think all the banks should cancel their credit card debt--