[PEN-L:5229] Re: Foreign Aid

[ETCHISON.GC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (GC-ETCHISON, MICHAEL)]

R. Naiman writes 5/26:



>1) The purpose of US aid to other countries is not to improve the living

conditions of poor people in those countries but to prop up pro-US
elites,

subsidize US corporations, thwart independent economic development, and

pursue other US political objectives.



	"Purpose" makes an unnecessary assumption about motives.  Isn't it
enough to notice that

	a) it has the _effect_ of enriching those in power in the recipient
country, with little trickle-down benefit;

	b) by destroying any hope for local producers to enter into a market,
and little incentive to invest in future production for a market which
will likely continue to be glutted by foreign "aid," independent economic
development is thwarted; and

	c) the political objectives (including, as appropriate, "humanitarian"
as well as politico-military-economic motives) of the sponsors are
advanced?

	How did Peter Bauer and FM Lappe end up agreeing about anything?



Michael Etchison

[opinions mine, not the PUCT's]