Newell-Fonda High School
Newell, Iowa
Teacher: Connie Doonan
America
does not need to be the world’s policeman or the grocery store the world comes
to when they’re hungry. Yet in
2001, the United States provided over $2.5 billion in humanitarian assistance
and food aid. In that same year,
the U.S. provided $11 billion in Official Development Assistance.
Much of this is taxpayers’ money.
Billions of dollars more were given to developing countries through
charitable donations, private capital, and donations to multilateral development
banks. But even with all of this
money being given to foreign countries, President George Bush wants to add
another $5 billion to foreign aid with his proposal of the Millennium Challenge
Account. “The Millennium
Challenge Account will complement [,] not replace [,] these existing efforts.”
The United States has neither the obligation nor the funds to increase
the commitment to foreign aid.
The
Millennium Challenge Account is a foreign aid program proposed by President
George W. Bush on March 14, 2002, which will spend $5 billion to help developing
nations. President Bush stated,
“The goal is to provide people in developing nations the tools they
need to seize the opportunities of the global economy … in return for this
additional commitment, we expect nations to adopt the reforms and policies that
make development effective and lasting.”
There will be sixteen indicators that each country will be rated on to
determine what nations will be possible qualifiers.
The countries will only need to score in the top fifty percent of half of
the indicators to qualify to receive the aid.
President
Bush stated in his proposal, “In Afghanistan, persistent poverty and war and
chaos created conditions that allowed a terrorist regime to seize power.”
Some people blame the tragedy of September 11th on the lack of
foreign aid to Afghanistan. They believe that an increase in foreign aid will
deter terrorism from growing in, and taking over, foreign nations. Some people
think that because of America’s success and prosperity, it is its duty to take
care of the rest of the world. How,
they ask, can the United States rightfully stand back and watch as the
governments and societies of developing countries crumble? Some believe that the
Millennium Challenge Account will benefit not only the countries that the money
goes to, but also the American people. These people argue that America can
afford to increase the spending on foreign aid.
Giving
money to developing countries won’t guarantee that the money will go to the
right place and won’t deter terrorism from growing. No matter what the U.S. does to try to control where the
money goes and how it is used, if the government is weak and unstable, the money
will more than likely fall into the wrong hands.
Those hands could be the hands of terrorists. Although the Millennium Challenge Account claims to give the
money to countries that score in the top half of the 16 indicators, one of which
is corruption level, there is no definite way to tell how much corruption there
is in a country’s government. Therefore,
if a country is able to disguise or hide its corruption somehow and receive the
aid, the money could easily go to fund a terrorist group.
The
United States’ primary concern should be its own people.
Before worrying about poor people in foreign countries, the U.S.
government needs to take care of the poor people living within American borders.
Nearly 33 million Americans have fallen into poverty.
That is almost one-eighth of the United States’ population that lives
in poverty every day. President
Bush stated in his Millennium Challenge Account proposal that the United States
is “a nation founded on the dignity and value of every life.”
Are the lives of foreigners more important than the lives of Americans?
Why worry about the problems of nations who have done nothing for the
U.S., when there are plenty of U.S. citizens who need adequate health care,
education, and food?
America
does not need to be prying into other countries’ affairs because it will lead
to the United States being portrayed in a negative form.
George Washington, one of the greatest leaders of the United States,
warned against becoming involved in treaties and entanglements with foreign
countries in his farewell address to the nation in 1796.
“The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in
extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political
connection as possible. So far as
we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good
faith. Here let us stop.” Whenever the U.S. government gives aid to foreign countries,
there are strings attached. Inevitably,
the U.S. will become involved in domestic and political affairs, which will lead
to problems. Implications and unintended consequences always occur when America
interferes. When the U.S. became
involved in the Middle East, the Middle Easterners thought of America as the
rich, greedy businessman who came into their country and drilled for oil,
leaving a path of destruction behind them with no regard for the people who
lived there. Therefore, Middle
Easterners don’t hate the individual Americans; they hate America as a whole.
The
United States cannot afford to take care of the rest of the world financially
nor should it feel required to. America
already leads the world in donating to foreign countries; it is time for other
countries to help out. The U.S. was
founded as a republic, not an empire. It
wasn’t America’s grand destiny to make the whole world its dominion.
It isn’t the responsibility of the United States to make sure that
every person in the world gets fed and educated.
The
United States Agency for International Development. “Millennium Challenge
Account Update.” 3 Jun. 2002 http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2002/fs_mca.html.
George
Washington. “The Farewell Address
of President George Washington.” 17
Sept. 1796 http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/washbye.html.
Q1 – President Bush claimed that
most funds for development do not come from international aid.
He mentions three things that do fund development.
What are they?
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?
It
requires citizens who are literate, who are healthy, and prepared and able to
work.
Q3 – When is money sometimes
counterproductive, according to President Bush?
Money is
counterproductive when it is not accompanied by legal and economic reform.
Q4
– Describe the Millennium Challenge Account and include in your description
what is anticipated from donors and recipients.
The goal of the MCA is to provide people in
developing nations the tools they need to seize the opportunities of the global
economy. The nations 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?
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.
Bush challenged development banks to provide up to
half of the funds devoted to poor nations in the form of grants, rather than
loans. I do not favor this idea
because giving them loans would encourage them to turn a profit, so that they
could repay the loan. A grant would
be just a lump of money given to them with no strings attached.
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.
I think the percentage could be around 5%.
.1% of our GNP is committed to foreign aid.
Q8
– Describe and defend a “Me First” attitude.
A “Me First” attitude would be the same as “take care of me first,
and then take care of everyone else afterwards”.
It is in a person’s nature to look out for himself or herself before
worrying about the rest of the world.
Q9
– Describe and defend a “Mutual Benefit” attitude.
This attitude carries the idea the both parties derive some benefit from
a particular agreement. One
party is willing to reach into their own pocket to help out the others in need.
Q10
– Describe three unsuccessful foreign aid programs operated by the U.S.
government or private American citizens.
“Guns
or Butter”- America won the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people while
giving financial aid to them. Then
in 1975, Americans were defeated when communists took over the country.
“Heart
of the Iran-Contra Affair” – In Central America the U.S. aided Sandinista
rebels illegally during the Reagan administration.
Foreign
aid has debatably destroyed state institutions in Africa.
The trend of rising foreign aid and diminishing state performance has led
some to believe that foreign aid is contributing to state failure in Africa.
Q11
– Describe three successful foreign aid programs operated by the U.S.
government or private American citizens.
“The
Marshal Plan” – The U.S. helped rebuild Japan and Germany and helped them
become successfully industrialized countries.
Through
foreign aid, we helped Taiwan and South Korea develop into an industrialized
society.
By giving
foreign aid to Israel, they have been able to withstand opposition from
surrounding countries.
Q12
– Steve Radelet, Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, believes
we can do both; take care of our 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.
I don’t believe we can offer aid to both because we
have not yet gotten rid of poverty in our own country.
There are thousands of Americans that cannot afford to feed themselves
and live on the streets. These people should be the primary concern of the American
government. Africans and Mexicans
should not be put before this country’s own citizens. America should take care
of its own people before trying to exterminate poverty in other countries.
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 U.S. foreign
assistance.”?
I think
that this idea of making countries write proposals is a good one.
It’s better than just handing them the money based on the 16
indicators. But who’s to say that they are going to follow their proposals
once they receive the money? Once
they have the money, we can’t really take it back, and they can use it in
whatever way they want.
Q14 – Which of Mr. Radelet’s three concerns regarding the MCA concerns you and why?
The
concern of Mr. Radelet’s that concerns me is the one he raises about the
required scores of countries on the corruption indicator.
He notes that there is a margin of error in the corruption indicator.
This means that a country that is observed to be just under the
corruption median could actually just over it.
Consequently, we may end up giving money to a corrupt country, instead of
a country that isn’t corrupt and also needs our money.
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.
We don’t
need to do either one; we need to concentrate on the needs of the American
people.
Q16
– What does the World Bank recommend as the United State’s “just and
appropriate share” to reach the Millennium Development goals by 2015?
Do you think our citizens can afford that kind of increase?
Defend your views.
The just
and appropriate share would be approximately $10-$15 billion annually.
We can’t afford that because that money would do wonders for our own
economy and the standard of living in this country.
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.”?
Americans pay taxes to the government, expecting to
get something in return. This has
usually been in the form of better roads, better schools, better cities, better
living in the U.S. Our tax money
should not go to other countries to make their lives better when we could use
that money to make our own lives better.
Q18
– How many countries would be affected positively y health-related investments
according to the Commission on Macroeconomics and Heath (CMH)?
83 countries
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?
$360 billion would be gained annually
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.
Representative Christopher H. Smith introduced the bill.
It was presented to ensure the substantial increase of resources
available for human development and poverty reduction in poor countries. Back