Sunday, September 4, 2011

"I oppose all foreign aid on principle...."

"I oppose all foreign aid on principle, for reasons I detail in a later chapter.  Foreign aid is not only immoral, since it involves the forced transfer of wealth, but it is also counterproductive, as a ceaseless stream of scholarship continues to show.  Foreign aid has been a disaster in Africa, delaying sound economic reforms and encouraging wastefulness and statism.  We should not wish it on our worst enemy, much less a friend.  Moveover, since the aid has to be spent on products made by American corporations, it is really just a form of corporate welfare, which I can never support. 

Only those with a very superficial attachment to Israel can really be happy that she continues to rely on over $2 billion in American aid every year.  In the absence of such grants, Israel would at least be under pressure to adopt a freer economy, thereby bringing about greater prosperity for her people and making it easier for her to be self-reliant.  Foreign aid only inhibits salutary reforms like this, reforms that any true friend of Israel is eager to see.  As a matter of fact, the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies in Jerusalem argues that "foreign aid is the greatest obstacle to economic freedom in Israel." " -Pages 34 & 35 of The Revolution, A Manifesto

No comments:

Post a Comment