Newell-Fonda
High School
Newell, Iowa
Teacher: Connie Doonan
To
every problem, there is a simple solution.
Whenever the United States has a problem or when the United States wants
to help another country with a problem, the solution always seems to deal with
money. But the well-known truth is
that money can’t solve every problem that there is.
Yet the United States and many other countries have become dependant on
this simple solution. What would
happen if someday there would be no money to help anyone?
What would be the next simple solution?
Who would everyone turn to for help?
How would everyone solve his or her problems?
The United States shouldn’t always be the one responsible for
distributing money and solving other countries’ problems.
The
Millenium Challenge Account was set up to help the underdeveloped countries.
If the money is well taken care of, the people in these countries won’t
have to live in the awful conditions like they’ve been forced to in the past.
This extra money can be used to help them learn to read and write or to
learn how to perform medical tasks. Starvation
is also a major problem. Many
starving countries don’t have the resources available to grow their own crops.
A majority of the time they just haven’t been taught how.
If they could learn to grow their own crops, then they could feed their
people, and starvation wouldn’t have to be a problem anymore.
Another useful thing they can do with the money is build infrastructures.
These would help them distribute the food they grow to all parts of their
country. Infrastructures can also
create many job opportunities and will give the people something to do.
The
United States has been giving money to these countries for years, yet no results
have been seen. Where has all the money gone?
What did they use it for? Did
the people even see the money, or did it stay in the government?
That may be the problem right there.
When the United States provide money to the countries, it is meant to
help the people and better their living conditions, but it doesn’t always
happen that way. Governments tend
to hoard the money and refuse to share it with their people.
Therefore, the government gets richer and the people get poorer.
Many citizens in these countries may not even realize that the United
States is donating money to them because sometimes the only news they get is
from what their governments tell them. They
aren’t as lucky to have a television set to learn about what’s going on.
They can’t watch CNN to see what’s happening in the rest of the
world, or even in their own country. This
allows citizens to be brainwashed by their government, and then the governments
have their people exactly where they want them.
Some countries actually want to keep their countries poor so the
government can stay powerful. People
should be able to trust their government, not fear it or be cheated by it.
A majority of the food that the United States sends to other countries
doesn’t even get distributed to the people.
It sits on the docks until it rots, and then it has to be thrown away.
Other times when the United States has sent countries food, they hadn’t
the knowledge to know what they were suppose to do with it.
Not
all people in these countries are poor. Rich
people do exist in these underdeveloped countries.
These people should be helping their own people, but instead they let
them starve while they live a luxurious lifestyle.
The poor definitely outnumber the wealthy.
There is no way that the small amount of wealthy people could support all
of the poor people, but a small donation never hurt anyone.
President
Bush thinks he has a foolproof plan that won’t let any of the countries use
the money in any way that they aren’t suppose to, but no one said the
governments would agree to one thing, then do another.
What makes him and everyone else so sure that the governments won’t
hoard this money too? They say
they’re going to spend the money one way, but until the results are present,
it’s hard to believe. Some
countries will be honest with the money, but there will still be governments
that want to keep complete control over their citizens.
In
his speech, President Bush said, “We work for prosperity and opportunity
because they’re right. It’s the right thing to do.
We also work for prosperity and opportunity because they help defeat
terror.” As the United States
continues to work for prosperity and opportunity, hopefully other countries will
continue helping as well. United,
we can make this world a better place.
Q1-
President Bush claimed that most funds for the development do not come from
international aid. He mentioned three things that do fund development.
What are they?
A1-
They are domestic capital, foreign investment, and especially from trade.
Q2-
President Bush reminded his audience that successful development in a third
world country requires more than funds. What
two items did he mention in this regard?
A2-
The two items are education and health.
Q3-
When is money sometimes counterproductive, according to President Bush?
A3-
Money is sometimes counterproductive when nations refuse to enact sound policies
because it subsidizes bad policies, delays reform, and crowds out private
investment.
Q4-
Describe the Millennium Challenge Account and include in your description what
is anticipated from donors and recipients.
A4-
The Millennium Challenge Account will help to expand our fight against AIDS,
bring computer instruction to young professionals in developing nations, assist
African businesses and other people to sell goods abroad, provide textbooks and
training to students in Islamic and African countries, and apply the power of
science and technology to increase harvests where hunger is greatest.
The goal is to provide people in developing nations the tools they need
to seize the opportunities of the global economy.
In return, the donors and recipients are expected to adopt the reforms
and policies that make development effective and lasting.
Q5-
What are the three broad standards that President Bush expects the leaders of
the developing nations to adopt?
A5-
They include ruling justly, investing in their people, and encouraging economic
freedom.
Q6-
Describe President Bush’s challenge to development banks and explain why or
why not you favor it.
A6-
President Bush challenged the development banks to adopt a growth agenda, which
would increase their support for private sector enterprises and focusing more on
education, as the Inter-American Development Bank has done.
He also challenged the banks to provide up to half of the funds devoted
to poor nations in the forms of grants, rather than loans.
I agree that the development bank should adopt a growth agenda because it
would focus more on education. Education
is very important in having a developed country, and the lack of education has
been a major reason for poor countries. I
also agree that the banks should provide up to half of the funds in the forms of
grants because they wouldn’t be able to back out of anything they promised to
the poor countries.
Q7-
What percentage of our national income (GNP) do
you think the United States government committed to foreign aid in 2002?
First answer this question and then
use the Internet to find the answer.
A7-
I think the United States government committed approximately two percent.
The United States actually committed 0.1 percent.
Q8-
Describe and defend a “Me First” attitude.
A8-
A “Me First” attitude is putting your needs before another.
I think the U.S. needs to have a “Me First” attitude because we have
our own people to worry about too. There
are people here in the U.S. who also need support.
At the same time, I think we can afford to help needy countries.
Q9-
Describe and defend a “Mutual Benefit” attitude
A9-
A “Mutual Benefit” attitude is receiving what you give out.
If you do a favor for someone else they should find a way to do a favor
for you. I think the U.S. needs to
have a “Mutual Benefit” attitude because we’re helping countries out so
much and we should get something in return.
If we don’t expect or ask for anything in return, then some countries
might take advantage of that and keep asking for money thinking knowing that
they don’t have to give anything in return.
Q10-
Describe three unsuccessful foreign aid programs operated by the U.S.
government or private American citizens.
A10-
(1) AID programs in Guatemala have failed partly because some Guatemalan
government officials oppose improving the plight of the rural poor.
(2)
The Peace Corp has good intentions, but it is now largely providing bureaucrats
and technicians for foreign governments, thereby reinforcing political control
over development.
(3)
The U.S. Agency for International Development has routinely failed to benefit
the foreign poor in agriculture, economic planning, and food assistance.
Q11-
Describe three successful foreign aid programs operated by the U.S.
government or private American Citizens.
A11-
(1) The Peace Corp delivers medical equipment to places after there is a natural
disaster.
(2)
The American Red Cross helps with global issues, they initiate projects,
they’re part of the emergency disaster response, food programming, primary
health care problems, as well as many other things.
(3)
United Way helps with disaster relief efforts and makes gifts to other approved
organizations around the world.
Q12-
Steve Radelet, Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, believes we
can do both take care of out own people and lend a helping hand to citizens of
less developed countries. Explain why you think we can or cannot offer aid to both.
A12-
I think it’s possible to offer aid to both, it just depends on how much
we’re going to save for our country and how much we’re going to give to
other countries. I don’t think
that anyone should have to live on the streets, without food or water, or
uneducated. I believe that everyone
deserves an equal chance in life, but I don’t think it’s right to just hand
out money to those people who’ve messed up their own lives.
I just think we need to be careful to who we give the money to whether
they’re Americans or not.
Q13-
What do you think about Mr. Radelet’s assertion that “the administration is
leaning towards a system in which eligible countries would write proposals (or
business plans) describing their objectives and strategy, how they would use the
money, the benchmarks used for evaluation.
Giving recipient countries this responsibility is a revolutionary change
in the US foreign assistance.”?
A13-
I think it’s a good idea to make the countries write down what they plan to do
with the money. In addition I think
they should also have to sign something that says they will use the money how
they said they would. This way the money won’t go to waste and it’ll be spent
on the things that the U.S. has approved of.
Q14-
Which of Mr. Radelet’s three concerns regarding the MCA concerns you and why?
1.
as more countries in this income range become eligible, there will be
fewer MCA funds available for the poorest countries that are implementing sound
development strategies.
2.
the make-or-break requirement may unneccessarily eliminate some
countries.
3.
the separation of US foreign assistance into two agencies could lead to a
lack of coordination and overlapping functions.
A14-
The fact that there are more and more countries becoming eligible for foreign
aid concerns me for a few reasons. First
of all, we’re not going to be able to keep supporting all of the newly less
developed countries forever because in time every country is going to need
assistance. We can’t support the whole world. It also saddens me that more and more countries are in great
need of help, but it makes me wonder what’s happening in all those countries
that makes them so poor.
Q15-
There is evidence of an increase in negative world opinion towards U.S. foreign
policy, not necessarily the American people.
To counter this negative perception of the U.S. some people want the U.S.
to concentrate more on weapons of mass assistance (WMA) and less on weapons of
mass destruction (WMD). Please
comment.
A15-
I think we should concentrate on the one that helps the United States the most.
Q16-
What does the World Bank recommend as the United State’s “just and
appropriate share” to reach the Millenium Development Goals by 2015?
Do you think our citizens can afford that kind of increase?
Defend your views.
A16-
If the U.S. is going to reach the Millenium Development Goals by 2015, the World
Bank suggests that the additional foreign aid required would be somewhere near
$40-$60 billion a year. I definitely do not think that the U.S. citizens can afford
this, primarily because we are in tough times of our own. I don’t think that we should have to be the ones to support
the governments so greatly. If it
were to increase that much, I think the President should ask the people if they
would be willing to do so. It may
sound crazy to do so, but he needs to keep his own country in consideration too.
Q17-
What do you think about the request of Faith Action for People Centered
Development Policy’s request that tax dollars be used to fund, not only
government-sponsored foreign aid programs, but “that funds also go to NGOs and
grassroots organizations.”?
A17-
I think that the NGOs and grassroots organizations are influential enough that
tax dollars can be given to them as well.
Q18-
How many countries would be affected positively by health-related investments
according to the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health (CMH)?
A18-
Eighty-three countries would be affected positively.
Q19-
According to the CMH, how much would be gained annually between 2015-2020 due to
saved lives and increased economic growth, if an increased investment were made
in global AIDS and other health services?
A19-
Between 2015-2020, $360 billion would be gained annually due to lives saved and
increased economic growth.
Q20-
Use the Internet for your research and name the two congressmen who introduced
H.R. 4524. Give a 2-line synopsis
of that bill.