andrewfontenelle's review
5.0
We all too familiar with the images we see daily of poor people across the world, but we never stop to ask ourselves why are these people so poor when they are living in the most resource rich places on the globe? Why is it that Western Governments continue to applaud themselves for giving large sums of aid to the poor nations, but abject poverty continues to be a scourge in the 21st Century. Is it just fate, mismanagement by the leaders of these nations as many would have us believe or something more sinister?
In "BANKRUPTING THE THIRD WORLD", the authors show precisely what is wrong with the aid industry, which mask scams that leave fragile nations paying more than they receive in foreign aid. Part one of the book shows all the ways that Western institutions (organisations, private companies and banks) rip-off those most in need. The two case studies in the second part of the book, demonstrate how people living in the vicinity of great wealth are made to lose control of their own resources and so left destitute.
This is a well written and thought provoking book. We should all be questioning the aid policies of Western Governments which not only provide little benefit to the poor across the world, and results in much of the money donated by many ordinary people, together with the aid budgets (which come from the taxes we pay), being left in the hands of private companies and central banks. Recommended reading.
In "BANKRUPTING THE THIRD WORLD", the authors show precisely what is wrong with the aid industry, which mask scams that leave fragile nations paying more than they receive in foreign aid. Part one of the book shows all the ways that Western institutions (organisations, private companies and banks) rip-off those most in need. The two case studies in the second part of the book, demonstrate how people living in the vicinity of great wealth are made to lose control of their own resources and so left destitute.
This is a well written and thought provoking book. We should all be questioning the aid policies of Western Governments which not only provide little benefit to the poor across the world, and results in much of the money donated by many ordinary people, together with the aid budgets (which come from the taxes we pay), being left in the hands of private companies and central banks. Recommended reading.
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