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Foreign Aid

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Fifty billion dollars, a number so big most people cannot even fathom. However, that is how much America gives in foreign aid each year. It is a number that has more than doubled in 13 years; it is likely to only increase with time. The problem is many countries have only gotten worse since we began sending them money. Subsequently, America is in debt by seventeen trillion dollars (a fourteen figure number). America is not in the place to be providing financial aid to other countries until our own country is stable.
Perhaps our focus to Africa should be more on the communities and individuals than on its country as a whole. It has been know that people of all ages are in danger in Africa due to the way of the government. So why then would we send our money to the African government? In Why Foreign Aid is Hurting Africa, Dambisa Moyo states her feelings on governments receiving foreign aid:
A constant stream of "free" money is a perfect way to keep an inefficient or simply bad government in power. As aid flows in, there is nothing more for the government to do -- it does not need to raise taxes, and as long as it pays the army, it does not have to take account of its disgruntled citizens. No matter that its citizens are disenfranchised. All the government really needs to do is to court and cater to its foreign donors to stay in power.
There are plenty of other ways for us to help countries in need. Money can be given to organizations that closely watch what happens with the money and if it is effective. This is the safest way to help, until Africa’s government is improved. A country does not come out of something through aid. A country is built on production and trade; it is built by its citizens. However, without the freedom t...

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... positive change in the long run. Not only are we putting other countries in debt, we are also sending money that we do not have and sending ourselves down farther.

Works Cited

Easterly, W. The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done so Much Ill and so Little Good. New York City: Penguin, 2006. Print.
Ibrahim, Mo. "How and Why Africa Should Solve Its Problems." - Perspectives. Tony Blair African Governance Initiative, 25 July 2013. Web. 22 Nov. 2013.
Lal, Erika. "A Hurting Hand: Why Foreign Aid Does Not Work." Academia. N.p., 26 Apr. 2011. Web. 05 Dec. 2013.
Moyo, Dambisa. "Why Foreign Aid Is Hurting Africa." Wsj.com. Wall Street Journal, 21 Mar. 2009. Web. 22 Nov. 2013.
Omotola, J., and Hassan Saliu. "Foreign Aid, Debt Relieve and Africa's Development." South African Journal of International Affairs 16.1 (2009): 87-102. Print.
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