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The US decided to do some charity work and supply Haiti with rice after the earthquake. Now the rice market is collapsing in Haiti. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/

by TGJ 16y ago

The US decided to do some charity work and supply Haiti with rice after the earthquake. Now the rice market is collapsing in Haiti. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11472874 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11472874

Andrew_Quentin 16y ago
well the US could have given pasta!
hugh3 16y ago
Demonstrating the main problem with charity: as soon as people start getting good intentions, they shut their brains off. They care about throwing money at a problem, not making sure that the money is spent in a way that doesn't make the problem even worse. This is where the Gates Foundation really shines: they don't just give away huge sums of money, they carefully research how to spend it.
kenjackson 16y ago
Wait a second... my reading of the story is not that we're giving rice to Haiti for free, but that the rice we're selling to Haiti is cheap because we're subsidizing US farmers. I just don't want us confusing charity to Haiti (which apparently isn't happening from the US government yet) and subsidizing US farmers who can then underbid foreign farmers. Two very different stories.
brudgers 16y ago
The subsidies which destroyed the rice market predate the earthquake. As does the story. Here's the same sort of story from Al-Jazeera in 2008. http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/insideusa/2008/07/2008767111386154.html http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/insideusa/2008/07/20... Here's the same information in a report from 2004: http://www1.american.edu/TED/haitirice.htm http://www1.american.edu/TED/haitirice.htm Here's a copy of a Washington Post article from 2000 (original behind paywall) http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/217.html http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/217.html The story is getting traction today for the same reason as the one about Sims...journalistic sloppiness.

by TGJ 16y ago

Andrew_Quentin 16y ago

well the US could have given pasta!

hugh3 16y ago

Demonstrating the main problem with charity: as soon as people start getting good intentions, they shut their brains off. They care about throwing money at a problem, not making sure that the money is spent in a way that doesn't make the problem even worse. This is where the Gates Foundation really shines: they don't just give away huge sums of money, they carefully research how to spend it.

kenjackson 16y ago

Wait a second... my reading of the story is not that we're giving rice to Haiti for free, but that the rice we're selling to Haiti is cheap because we're subsidizing US farmers. I just don't want us confusing charity to Haiti (which apparently isn't happening from the US government yet) and subsidizing US farmers who can then underbid foreign farmers. Two very different stories.

brudgers 16y ago

The subsidies which destroyed the rice market predate the earthquake. As does the story. Here's the same sort of story from Al-Jazeera in 2008. http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/insideusa/2008/07/2008767111386154.html http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/insideusa/2008/07/20... Here's the same information in a report from 2004: http://www1.american.edu/TED/haitirice.htm http://www1.american.edu/TED/haitirice.htm Here's a copy of a Washington Post article from 2000 (original behind paywall) http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/217.html http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/217.html The story is getting traction today for the same reason as the one about Sims...journalistic sloppiness.