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Mises Economics Blog

A Foreign Aid Disaster in the Making

January 6, 2005 7:47 AM by Thomas DiLorenzo | Other posts by Thomas DiLorenzo | Comments (5)

In the wake of the tsunami disaster in Indonesia, governments throughout the world are doing what governments always do: throwing money at the problem. This natural disaster has already led to a burgeoning growth of the U.S. foreign aid bureaucracy, and such growth will continue for years, along with all the undesirable, if not disastrous effects that are inherent in all forms of "foreign aid." [Full Article]

Comments (5)

  • Jim Clark

  • A Foreign Aid Disaster in the Making


    It will be interesting to "follow the money" in future months and years. I'll be interested to see on whose corporate income statement our tax dollars sent by the U.S. Gov't as aid for tsunami relief, finally come to rest.



    Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins, explains in some detail just who benefits from government foreign aid programs...and it's not the poor souls devastated by this natural disaster.

  • Published: January 6, 2005 1:48 PM

  • Jonathan

  • Agreeing with all the logic of articles such as this how is one to act in the face of events such as the recent tsunami? To voluntarily give money to non government organisations to deliver food, shelter and medical aid etc seems the 'right' thing to do. It will definitely save many thousands of lives, conservatively.
    Nearly all the problems associated with aid addressed above seem to be aid with a governmental flavour.

  • Published: January 6, 2005 7:08 PM

  • Timothy Terrell

  • This article (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,143698,00.html) has an interesting statement by the Thai PM saying that the tsunami wiped the beaches clean of unregulated building, allowing the regulators a fresh opportunity to regulate growth. Crisis does breed government expansion, as Higgs noted.

  • Published: January 7, 2005 4:57 PM

  • Tim Gillin

  • Some of the tribal people of the Tsunami ravaged Andaman Islands have greeted aid choppers by shaking spears at them.

    See here

    Maybe they know something the rest of the region doesn't.

  • Published: January 8, 2005 10:30 PM

  • Yang Chenping

  • More about foreign aid (aka subsidy...)

    http://tinyurl.com/5nt5l

  • Published: February 28, 2005 2:15 PM

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