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The world produces excess of food but the distribution costs are very high for example. Would you go into debt sending food to another country or are you relyin
by vlovich123 2y ago
The world produces excess of food but the distribution costs are very high for example. Would you go into debt sending food to another country or are you relying on the government to bear the burden of that through taxes? There’s a secondary factor which is that we’ve learned through efforts in the 80s that charity breeds dependence and the food aid drives often had a paradoxical effect of preventing those countries from building up their own local farm base which is more harmful long term for everyone involved. I don’t think it’s quite clear and dry as you paint it and that every famine is the result of one group intentionally trying to starve another.
- shadowgovt 2y agoWell, that's the thing, right? If we were thinking about humanity as a global populace, the second (bear the burden of that through taxes) would be the obvious answer, for precisely the same reason Americans in Florida pay taxes into a FEMA system to address wildfires in California, even if they never visit California. Besides ideological reasons, there's also the practical that that same FEMA is going to help Florida the next time it's hurricane season. The concern about suppressing local agriculture is relevant (although I do wonder if one can make the same argument regarding FEMA and "suppressing local blue-tarp manufacturing"). But if food rots while people starve, the taxes probably aren't high enough. We've recognized (in the US, at least) the role of government in distribution and management of distribution policy since at least the Great Depression.
- DrillShopper 2y ago[flagged]
- vlovich123 2y agoWhile the Ireland famine was a political act, the main driver of most other famines in modern times tends to be economical rather than political which is the rebuttal I’m making to the claim that ever famine is political.
- dang 2y agoCould you please stop posting unsubstantive comments and flamebait? You've unfortunately been doing it repeatedly. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
- skyyler 2y ago>we’ve learned through efforts in the 80s that charity breeds dependence Is this the sort of thinking that led to the famine walls being built? Why do people think this?
- vlovich123 2y agoI doubt it. I’m specifically referencing the numerous studies done on foreign aid to Africa that decimated their ability to sustain local agriculture.
- skyyler 2y agoCan you link to one of these studies please?
- vlovich123 2y agoThis is from a 2 second Google search. I'm sure you can go to scholar.google.com and find your own - it's not my job to do your research. https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2000/12/verheye.htm https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2000/12/verheye.h...