Western Civilization

Here’s a map which ranks the various countries of the world from light to dark, from least corrupt to, well, Somalia.

Pop quiz:   Of the lighter-colored (i.e. least corrupt) countries, find the common thread.  (Hint:  it’s in the title of this post.)

For those who are surprised at the relatively-low ranking of the United States among the civilized nations, I would suggest that we would rocket upwards with the conviction of Bill and Hillary Clinton, the dissolution of the Clinton Foundation and the imprisonment of all its officers.  To reach the top of the charts, we’d have to convict all members of Congress (active and/or retired) who became millionaires whilst earning only a Congressional salary.

And by “conviction”, of course, I mean this:

Stupidity

Sometimes I fear for us all.  In an otherwise-interesting article on the world’s “vanishing countries” which talks about how China’s population growth is slowing, we also see examples of foolishness such as this:

China is relaxing its one-child policy — but it may be too late. In addition to lacking workers, a fifth of China’s homes are empty, reported Bloomberg news — more than 50 million apartments and houses have no inhabitants.
Fertile countries have a far brighter future. They are a good place to invest your money, said Hans Rosling, a Swedish professor and demographic “prophet” who died in February.
“You will find an emerging China in Africa,” he told the BBC in a final interview. “Go there to invest if you want to earn money, if you want to have nice pensions when you retire, place part of your capital there because there you will see fast growth.”

Clearly, Rosling never set foot on the African continent, where there’s never been a shortage of workers, only a shortage of honest government.  Allow me to revise his statement for you:

“Go invest in African countries if you want to lose money, if you want to have no pensions when you retire, and place part of your capital there if you want to see fast growth in African politicians’ bank accounts and not in yours, and to see no tangible results from your investment.”

That’s the reality of investing in Africa.

It reminds me of that old, withering observation:  “Your suggestion is so stupid, so devoid of commonsense and logic that it could only have been made by an academic or intellectual.”  (Note that the latter two are not synonymous.)

And these are the people who are regarded as the intelligent ones, who advise governments and tell us how to run our lives.

Flattery, Imitation Being Sincerest Form Of

Roger Simon, that eeeevil rayciss, thinks we should Let Central America Sink.

For as long as any of us can remember, those Central American nations have been failed states teetering on the brink of civil war (or over it) or awash in corruption and gangsterism, their peoples impoverished.
Foreign aid, of which they have had plenty, hasn’t helped.  After all this time, it is likely that in these instances the reverse has been true.  Foreign aid has hurt the development of these countries, creating a dependency that impeded progress.  It also — inadvertently, one hopes and assumes — encouraged conditions that allowed the corruption and drug dealing to flourish.

The best hope for Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and even Mexico is that they learn to fend for themselves.  In most of the cases, it could take a long time with considerable pain, but it is the only path that will succeed.  Further aid, with exceptions for emergencies, physical and medical, will only make matters worse.

Most of all, it will continue to support and deepen a dependency culture that is terrible psychologically for the recipients  The aid is not loving.  It’s self-interested on the part of the donors in a variety of ways for a variety of goals, few of them beneficial.

Now… where have I heard a similar sentiment before?

Oh, and by the way, Roger old buddy:  ixnay on the mergency-ay.  All the (good) drugs sent to Africa haven’t done diddly in terms of fixing anything;  I very much doubt that Central America would have a different outcome.

Throwing Money Into The Pit

When I wrote Let Africa Sink all those years ago, one of my main arguments for so doing was that giving aid to Africa just didn’t work, and was a waste of money.

Needless to say, I was called a “racist”, “stupid” and “heartless” (among other names) by the Bleeding Heart Set.

Well now, lookee here:

Proof that foreign aid DOESN’T work: Scathing report reveals £11million scheme backed by Bono failed to reduce poverty or hunger

Feel free to read the details for reasons why, but if you’re pressed for time, don’t bother.  It’s just the usual African catalog of corruption, venality and inefficiency.

So the next time some celebrity asks you to give money to some fashionable charity, save your money and spend it on something that actually provides a benefit to someone — you (e.g. with a new gun, fine liquor or similar).  Or if you’d rather invest the money, head to a casino because your odds of winning there are better than your donation to Pore & Starvin Inc. making a difference.

Yeah, I’m heartless.

History Lesson

Not a bad little pocket history course on South Africa over at Ammo.com.

Telling the Afrikaners to “go home” is a nonsensical statement. They are not Dutch. They do not hold Dutch passports, nor would they at any point have been welcomed back by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In many regions of South Africa, the Afrikaners have been around longer than the Bantus and have a stronger claim on the land, having purchased it from Khoisans. On the other hand, traditionally Bantu land was conquered from other Bantu tribes or taken by the Bantus from the Khoisans.

Go ahead and read it all — it’s a short piece — and you’ll be well informed on the topic in future.