July 14, 2004
CHUMP CHANGE:
Report: $1.3 billion needed to completely rebuild Haiti (MICHAEL A.W. OTTEY, 7/14/04, Miami Herald)
Haiti needs more than $1.3 billion over the next two years to revive its economy, jump-start basic services, strengthen democracy and improve its government, according to a World Bank report released Tuesday.The report by more than 200 Haitian and international experts after a months-long assessment came as Haiti continued to grapple with extreme poverty, lack of services, health and security issues.
Haiti's interim government has said that it has $440 million. A donors conference Monday and Tuesday at World Bank headquarters in Washington will seek pledges for the lacking $924 million.
Among the agencies that will participate are the European Commission, Inter-American Development Bank, United Nations and World Bank. Secretary of State Colin Powell, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue are scheduled to attend.
Last month, Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., submitted a bill that would nearly double the $54 million pledged by the Bush administration for food, clean water, housing and job-creation. A House vote on the bill is expected Thursday.
''The Bush administration is spending hundreds of billions of dollars to install a new democracy halfway around the world in Iraq and to rebuild that country, while at the same time neglecting a struggling democracy only 700 miles off our shores,'' Meek said last month.
$1.3 billion? That's barely the size of a Federal bookkeeping error. We should just fubd the whole deal. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 14, 2004 10:07 AM
What you mean "we" kemosabe.
Mighty generous of you OJ. I stand in awe of such a humanitarian. You should run for office.
I think I'll pass, thank you.
Posted by: h-man at July 14, 2004 10:39 AMOnly if we dissolve the so-called Haitian government and put the whole place under receivership. Call it a colony, I don't care, but let's stop pretending that some areas are capable of self-government.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at July 14, 2004 10:47 AMNice try, Orrin, but I prefer to confine the skepticism to Haiti (a geography, or perhaps a political entity) alone. I am in agreement with Raoul. Call it empiricism.
Posted by: Bruce Cleaver at July 14, 2004 11:05 AMThe Dominican Republic is fine.
Posted by: oj at July 14, 2004 11:11 AMCorrect OJ, its just Haiti that can't get it right.
Posted by: jefferson park at July 14, 2004 12:06 PMThe Dominican Republic isn't asking us to subsidize them for the rest of their life are they OJ? If they are, then I say no to that also.
No, Jefferson Park, not just Haiti. Sierra Leone, Liberia, Congo, Zimbabwe, Rwanda... Burma, and others.
By the way, all of those countries are "capable" of governing themselves. But for some dang reason it seems the US is expected subsidize them forever, instead of them respecting the rights, property, dignity of all their citizens. Surely you agree that would be a prerequiste for governing yourself, and it wouldn't cost any money on the front end. If that occurred, perhaps they wouldn't need any money.
Personally, I think that we would be justly criticized for acting unilaterlly and that we should let the French pick the tab for this one.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at July 14, 2004 2:29 PM"If they ask, help"
Well since you put that way, what the heck give em 2 Billion. No reason for them to fret unnecessarily or anything.
Posted by: h-man at July 14, 2004 4:38 PMSending in the Marines worked pretty well in the '20s.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 14, 2004 4:48 PMWhy not?
Posted by: oj at July 14, 2004 4:49 PMHarry:
Yeah, we've hardly had to worry about the place since...
Posted by: oj at July 14, 2004 4:53 PMOJ
I don't know what ails Haiti and not Jamaica, and not the Bahammas, and not Belize, and not many others of African descent. The Haitians like all people will be tested by life, and they either organize their society to meet those tests or they don't and apparently they have chosen not to.
I think they can accomplish whatever they set their minds to, but apparently you apparently feel it's a lack of capital. It's not, because like Julian Simon said human capital is what's important and they have that don't they.
They'll get the money referred to above and if history is any guide, they will get more later on and more after that. Nothing will change until they take those actions that will make them prosperous and self-supporting. Haitians don't need my advice and they don't need my tax money either.
On this board, there has been discussion of our trade deficit with China and the amount of manufacturing jobs that have moved there. It would seem to me that Haitians would have a considerable advantage over China. What about the manufacturing jobs that have moved to Mexico? Why not to Haiti?
Posted by: h-man at July 14, 2004 7:12 PMSt. Orrin--patron saint of noble, but lost, causes. Why not make the Middle East the project of the 21st century and save Haiti for the 22nd? That'll give them time to build a solid base for democracy--like figuring out how to pay the water bill.
Posted by: Peter B at July 14, 2004 7:14 PMPeter:
For $2 billion you can probably build a desalinization plant or two.
Posted by: oj at July 14, 2004 7:39 PMRe: geography. Chuck Noll said (upon becoming coach of the Steelers) "losing has nothing to do with geography". He proved himself right.
The problem is whom to trade or cut in Haiti. The Marines can bring order, but they can't really answer the question.
Posted by: jim hamlen at July 14, 2004 8:33 PM. . . they left.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 15, 2004 7:24 PMexactly
Posted by: oj at July 15, 2004 8:44 PM