No Good Deed goes Unpunished.....
The law of unintended consequences has reared it’s ugly head once again. In the country of Niger, (and when did the pronunciation of this place change anyway?) there has been great ranting about a famine and starvation. So the international aid agencies rushed together a big package of food aid to send the country.
Now this famine was caused by a drought last year or two. This year there have been plentiful rains and the farmers are expecting a bumper crop of millet. Unfortunately for them, the food aid is arriving at the same time as their harvest so there will be plentiful food all across the country that is FREE. Thus driving the prices of locally produced food way down. So the farmers will be unable to sell their crops for enough money to pay off the debts they incurred during last years droughts so they will lose their farms, and go out of business. So guess what happens next year? Right, no food gets produced so there will be another famine. Not to mention the other negative effects that the collapse of the farmers will have on the already beyond shaky economy of the country.
Sometimes it doesn’t pay to try and do good.
Now this famine was caused by a drought last year or two. This year there have been plentiful rains and the farmers are expecting a bumper crop of millet. Unfortunately for them, the food aid is arriving at the same time as their harvest so there will be plentiful food all across the country that is FREE. Thus driving the prices of locally produced food way down. So the farmers will be unable to sell their crops for enough money to pay off the debts they incurred during last years droughts so they will lose their farms, and go out of business. So guess what happens next year? Right, no food gets produced so there will be another famine. Not to mention the other negative effects that the collapse of the farmers will have on the already beyond shaky economy of the country.
Sometimes it doesn’t pay to try and do good.
posted by exMI | 07:51
4 Comments:
It all comes down to red tape.
I hate bureaucracy.
OK, start reading Terry Pratchett and other light hearted things. You are getting too damn depressing.
Free enterprise is a horrible system. Adam Smith's invisible hand lacks much dexterity.
However, it works vastly better than letting people try to plan economies. We're just not that smart.
I second what anonymous said. Capitalism sucks, but the alternative is even worse.
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