Let's concoct some overly optimistic growth statistics for how this will stimulate the Kenyan economy. Let's say 19% for the first 10 years, then 15% for 10 more, then 12% for the next five.
Based on those fudged figures, we'll convince the government to take on excessive debt to pay for water development, etc. projects. Since the figures are fudged, and since we'll do this hand in hand with local elites / kleptocrats, they'll never be able to repay the debt.
We'll funnel this money right back to Western consulting and construction firms.
When locals who are having their lives destroyed by the development projects start to demonstrate, we'll squeeze them until they turn to violence and call them terrorists.
When the real international terrorists join in to fight the evil imperialists (us), we'll drone-strike, death-squad, and black-site them, citing our earlier failure to act in Sudan.
Can you tell I've been reading _Confessions of an Economic Hitman_? I am excited about the new iPhone, though.
I had only been in 5 or 6 countries in Africa, I want to visit way more. I had seen lots of good from foreign people (some of them giving their lives to others expecting nothing in return) so your comment is almost an insult.
Don't read books, don't listen to other cynics like you. Go see yourself, go to Africa.
You will discover and learn lots of things. In Africa there are things that don't work, but there are things that do. Most Americans have no friends, in Africa communities are very important.
I wasn't trying to insult the people who are doing good work. It's just an observation that individual good work can be completely dwarfed by broken or exploited systems and industrial scale leverage.
Overall, I'm actually quite positive re: human development.
Your advice to meet people and travel is well taken.
Regarding not reading, etc. Overvaluing personal experience vs. what has been observed by others is the basis of many classic flaws in human thinking. It's great for building empathy, though -- which we could use more of.
Think of bottom-up vs. top-down. There's tremendous knowledge to be gained from the bottom up, but often direct observation does not speak to the why of things. When you get an insider's account of events that have been obscured and have affected millions of people, it's not something that should be ignored.
Finally, I don't particularly like people, but I do like systems. I can better add value by fixing broken systems than by chumming around with more people (except to understand them, so I can fix systems).
fwiw, I can tell you haven't watched hans rosling recently either.
We seem to have lost perception of it, but with all the crappy meddling from businesses, UN, ill-managed or bad willed NGOs etc.. life expectancy in sub saharian africa has doubled in the last fifty years, infant mortality has halved or more and many nice things have been happening along the horrible ones.
I do not care for the new iPhone though, that may explain my different world perception.
I took it to be reflexive satire based on a deep cynicism of anything 'good' being allowed to benefit the African people.
Africa is complex, it's broken, and it is rich in resources. People from outside Africa have been exploiting it since wooden ships took its people to be their slaves to the present day where China signs "exclusive" mineral contracts with thugs.
I heard a little cry of anguish that the poster has to watch something that could do great good get crapped upon by unsavory external influences.
Resource thing is not quite true, parts of sub-saharan Africa have valuable resources and parts don't. Resources play a larger factor in African economies because they have little else. For example, while South Africa has gold mines but this place appears to lack water.
Resources play a large role elsewhere too. Norway is stinking rich because it has oil (and is able to manage this well and distribute the riches among the population). Large parts of Europe try to be at least somewhat friendly with Russia because it has oil, etc. etc.
Let's concoct some overly optimistic growth statistics for how this will stimulate the Kenyan economy. Let's say 19% for the first 10 years, then 15% for 10 more, then 12% for the next five.
Based on those fudged figures, we'll convince the government to take on excessive debt to pay for water development, etc. projects. Since the figures are fudged, and since we'll do this hand in hand with local elites / kleptocrats, they'll never be able to repay the debt.
We'll funnel this money right back to Western consulting and construction firms.
When locals who are having their lives destroyed by the development projects start to demonstrate, we'll squeeze them until they turn to violence and call them terrorists.
When the real international terrorists join in to fight the evil imperialists (us), we'll drone-strike, death-squad, and black-site them, citing our earlier failure to act in Sudan.
Can you tell I've been reading _Confessions of an Economic Hitman_? I am excited about the new iPhone, though.