#11
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How To Solve Africa\'s Hunger Problem
1. Hire assassins to put a bullet in the head of every African leader robbing his country blind starting with Mugambe of Zimbabwe.
2. Change their centrally controlled economies to free market economies. 3. Invite entreprenuers from the west to move to their countries, start businesses, and make investments. 4. Pass laws so that entrepreneuers moving to these African countries won't get ripped off which has happen to investors in 3rd world coutries for the last 35 years. If necesssary exercise some gun boat diplomacy should an Africa country attempt to nationalize (aka steal) from the foreign investors. What not to do: a. Have the world bank loan more money that will be stolen by dictators and invested in stupid projects that lose money. b. Listen to any advice from the Live 8 promotors. |
#12
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Question about debt relief
To anyone in the know...
If the world bank relieves these countries' debts, does it destroy their credit rating? Will this stop any future inflow of private capital that would take place, or are there some provisions to negate this effect? |
#13
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Re: How To Solve Africa\'s Hunger Problem
[ QUOTE ]
1. Hire assassins to put a bullet in the head of every African leader robbing his country blind starting with Mugambe of Zimbabwe. 2. Change their centrally controlled economies to free market economies. 3. Invite entreprenuers from the west to move to their countries, start businesses, and make investments. 4. Pass laws so that entrepreneuers moving to these African countries won't get ripped off which has happen to investors in 3rd world coutries for the last 35 years. If necesssary exercise some gun boat diplomacy should an Africa country attempt to nationalize (aka steal) from the foreign investors. What not to do: a. Have the world bank loan more money that will be stolen by dictators and invested in stupid projects that lose money. b. Listen to any advice from the Live 8 promotors. [/ QUOTE ] Great, these policies have worked so well in the Middle East and South America, let's try them in Africa too! Who's going to send a gun boat there? I hope you're not counting on the US military to show much support. NT |
#14
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Re: Live 8 The big lie.
I know how you feel, I was told it was 8 last night and that was a lie, more like 5.5
[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] |
#15
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Re: How To Solve Africa\'s Hunger Problem
All we have to do is cut off all aid to Africa then when these despots no longer have the money flowing in to sustain their tyrany the people will revolt. After that we can consider sending aid again.
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#16
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Re: Live 8 The big lie.
[ QUOTE ]
They realized sometime between the last one and this one that their governments' policies were the biggest obstacle to a better Africa [/ QUOTE ] If by "Their governments policies..." you mean the corrupt policies of African leadership as in Nigeria, you would be almost certainly correct. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] U.N. estimate on how much money has been stolen/wasted in ONLY Nigeria since independance = [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 400 BILLION |
#17
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Re: Live 8 The big lie.
[ QUOTE ]
Therefore this concert is to put public pressure on governments, which is much more important than collecting $100,000,000. [/ QUOTE ] Too funny, do you have a clue on how much money .7% of USA GDP is? You're way off, orders of magnitude off. Also giving billions of dollars to someone like Mugabe would be criminal. |
#18
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Re: How To Solve Africa\'s Hunger Problem
[ QUOTE ]
3. Invite entreprenuers from the west to move to their countries, start businesses, and make investments. 4. Pass laws so that entrepreneuers moving to these African countries won't get ripped off which has happen to investors in 3rd world coutries for the last 35 years. If necesssary exercise some gun boat diplomacy should an Africa country attempt to nationalize (aka steal) from the foreign investors. [/ QUOTE ] I kind of agree with you except for these, I don't think European and American companies sucking all the money out of these countries will help much at all. As for Nationalising public companies this happened recently in the UK with the rail network, it was privatised then re-nationalized 5 or 6 years later, this kind of behaviour is hardly unique to Africa. Edit: I do think solid property rights are essential if peoples lives are to really improve. Regards Mack |
#19
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Re: How To Solve Africa\'s Hunger Problem
What rocks is capitalism... yeah, yeah, yeah
By Mark Steyn (Filed: 05/07/2005) 'To sneer at such events," cautioned The Sunday Telegraph apropos Live8, "demeans the generosity which they embody". Oh, dear. If you can't sneer at rock stars in the Telegraph, where can you? None the less, if not exactly a full-blown sneer, I did feel a faint early Sir Cliff-like curl of the lip coming on during the opening moments of Saturday's festivities, when Sir Paul McCartney stepped onstage. Not because Sir Paul was any better or worse than Sir Elton or Sir Bob or any other member of the aristorockracy, but because it reminded me of why I'm sceptical about the "generosity" which these events "embody". Seven years ago, you'll recall, Sir Paul's wife died of cancer. Linda McCartney had been a resident of the United Kingdom for three decades but her Manhattan tax lawyers, Winthrop Stimson Putnam & Roberts, devoted considerable energy in her final months to establishing her right to have her estate probated in New York state. That way she could set up a "qualified domestic marital trust" that would... Yeah, yeah, yeah, in the immortal words of Lennon and/or McCartney. Big deal, you say. We're into world peace and saving the planet and feeding Africa. What difference does it make which jurisdiction some squaresville suit files the boring paperwork in? Okay, I'll cut to the chase. By filing for probate in New York rather than the United Kingdom, Linda McCartney avoided the 40 per cent death duties levied by Her Majesty's Government. That way, her family gets all 100 per cent - and 100 per cent of Linda McCartney's estate isn't to be sneezed at. For purposes of comparison, Bob Geldof's original Live Aid concert in 1985 raised £50 million. Lady McCartney's estate was estimated at around £150 million. In other words, had she paid her 40 per cent death duties, the British Treasury would have raised more money than Sir Bob did with Bananarama and all the gang at Wembley Stadium that day. Given that she'd enjoyed all the blessings of life in these islands since 1968, Gordon Brown might have felt justified in reprising Sir Bob's heartfelt catchphrase at Wembley: "Give us yer fokkin' money!" But she didn't. She kept it for herself. And good for her. I only wish I could afford her lawyers. I don't presume to know what was in her mind, but perhaps she figured that for the causes she cared about - vegetarianism, animal rights, the usual stuff - her money would do more good if it stayed in private hands rather than getting tossed down the great sucking maw of the Treasury where an extra 60 million quid makes barely a ripple. And, while one might query whether Sir Paul (with his own fortune of £500 million) or young Stella really need an extra 15 million or so apiece, in the end Linda McCartney made a wise decision in concluding that her estate would do more good kept out of Mr Brown's hands, or even re-routed to Africa, where it might just about have defrayed the costs of the deflowering ceremony for the King of Swaziland's latest wife. And that's why the Live8 bonanza was so misguided. Two decades ago, Sir Bob was at least demanding we give him our own fokkin' money. This time round, all he was asking was that we join him into bullying the G8 blokes to give us their taxpayers' fokkin' money. Or as Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd put it: "I want to do everything I can to persuade the G8 leaders to make huge commitments to the relief of poverty and increased aid to the Third World. It's crazy that America gives such a paltry percentage of its GNP to the starving nations." No, it's not. It's no more crazy than Linda McCartney giving such a paltry percentage of her estate - ie, 0 per cent - to Gordon Brown. And, while Britain may be a Bananarama republic, it's not yet the full-blown thing. Africa is a hard place to help. I had a letter from a reader the other day who works with a small Canadian charity in West Africa. They bought a 14-year-old SUV for 1,500 Canadian dollars to ferry food and supplies to the school they run in a rural village. Customs officials are demanding a payment of $8,000 before they'll release it. There are thousands of incidents like that all over Africa every day of the week. Yet, throughout the weekend's events, Dave Gilmour and Co were too busy Rocking Against Bush to spare a few moments to Boogie Against Bureaucracy or Caterwaul Against Corruption or Ululate Against Usurpation. Instead, Madonna urged the people to "start a revolution". Like Africa hasn't had enough of those these past 40 years? Let's take it as read that Sir Bob and Sir Bono are exceptionally well informed and articulate on Africa's problems. Why then didn't they get the rest of the guys round for a meeting beforehand with graphs and pie charts and bullet points in bright magic markers, so that Sir Dave and Dame Madonna would understand that Africa's problem is not a lack of "aid". The tragedy of Live8 is that its message was as cobwebbed as its repertoire. Don't get me wrong. I love old rockers - not for the songs, which are awful, but for their business affairs, which so totally rock. In 1997, David Bowie became the first pop star to hold a bond offering himself. How about that? Fifty-five million dollars' worth of Bowie "class A royalty-backed notes" were snapped up in minutes after Moody's in New York gave them their coveted triple-A rating. Once upon a time, rock stars weren't rated by Moody, they were moody - they self-destructed, they choked to death in their own vomit, they hoped to die before they got old. Instead, judging from Sir Pete Townshend on Saturday, they got older than anyone's ever been. Today, Paul McCartney is a businessman: he owns the publishing rights to Annie and Guys & Dolls. These faux revolutionaries are capitalists red in tooth and claw. The system that enriched them could enrich Africa. But capitalism's the one cause the poseurs never speak up for. The rockers demand we give our fokkin' money to African dictators to manage, while they give their fokkin' money to Winthrop Stimson Putnam & Roberts to manage. Which of those models makes more sense? |
#20
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Re: Live 8 The big lie.
I was misunderstood a bit obviously based on some of the responses.
Moral responsibility I don't hold the western governments solely responsible for the problems in the poorest countries. In fact most of the damage done in these countries is caused internally. Typically by civil wars and/or corrupt governments. Solution Although the problem is not made by western governments they have the solution. Their economic, military and diplomatic powers can be used to get some countries back on track. I don't think that it can be done by the US government just transfering 0.7% money to those goverments. The western powers must find the cause to the problems and solve that while providing aid. Size of foreign aid Since other countries have managed to allocate more than 0,7% of GDP I can't see any sensible reason why the same should not be possible in USA. The opposite is very passive thinking, this situation requires action, every global citizen will benefit from this. And finally, it is possible, poor countries have progressed earlier. You seem to have lost faith, guys. Fight on! P.S. I am fully aware of the challenges with getting the help to the right place. I was part of a expedition that went to a dictatorship to deliver money to a children's hospital. It was really a tough fight to get those money out from the bank there and make sure it ended up in the right place for the right purpose (local allies were needed for spy-like monitoring of the project, but it was in the end a big success). Without close follow up (like transfering money to the government), I am certain the money would have been spent for champagne and nice cars elsewhere. |
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