Post by Elfie on Jul 5, 2005 20:06:14 GMT -5
I wrote this a while ago. Basically it's just me expanding on a position, but I figure if I start with a post of a great deal of substance it will give others stuff to work off of when they disagree and promote a better debate:
Here's how I see us fixing Africa.
Currently the one thing Africa can actually produce with any ease is agriculture. Farming is a relatively simple practice that the people there can fairly easily undertake. It is irrelevant whether or not we put Africa in poverty. Instead, it is time for us to realize that our own trade practices, especially in farming, are keeping Africa from fully developing.
Case in point: The CAP, or Common Agricultural Policy for Europe. It's a method of subsidizing food production in Europe to make sure that Europe remains self-sufficient. What does that mean for Europeans? Their governments take their tax money and use it to pay farmers to sell their goods cheap enough that they can undercut any business. Tie this in with tariffs against outside farming producers and it guarantees that European farmers feed Europeans.
This sounds fine, but it inevitably causes problems for people in Africa. Europe, with its higher cost of living, would be an excellent place for Third World producers to sell crops and actually maintain a successful agricultual business rather than just subsistence farming. This, in turn, would put money into local African economies as these farmers begin to want to use the money they make to buy other things. Essentially, if the CAP were dismantled, Africa would begin to fix itself, and Europeans wouldn't lose their money to subsidize inefficient farming. In fact, if that money were given back to Europeans or put into social programs, Europe's growth rate would probably start to pick up again.
However, Europe is not the only place engaging in unfair trade practices that hurt Africa. The United States maintains the right to subsidize or put tariffs on any item for "national security" purposes. Most notoriously, the US has subsidized sugar production in Wyoming while putting tariffs against sugar imports. Sugar is another great crop for fledging farmers to grow, but they are cut off from a whole extra market where they could compete for better prices on their goods. The result is similar to the CAP. The American government spends taxpayers' dollars subsidizing the farming industry, which costs the average American money, and meanwhile the Third World farmer can't make the money he should.
If these trade practices were revised and the whole globe was given a chance at free trade, we would see three immediate positive results:
1) Governments of developed countries would no longer have to spend money subsidizing industries, which would mean more money to pay down debt, to fund social programs or to give back to the people in the form of tax cuts, depending on their political slants.
2) People in developed countries would be able to get basic items like food cheaper because there would be no tariffs stopping cheap goods from reaching their grocery stores. This in turn would leave them with more money to spend on other things and as a result would grow the economies of developed countries even more.
3) The Third World would become a market worth investing in. Farmers in the Third World would start to have disposable income, which would mean there would be demand in Africa, which would be filled by either start-up African businesses or direct foreign investment, either of which would provide jobs for more Africans, which would create a cycle of demand that would propel Africa forward.
However, this solution is not without its losers. We're talking about a mass agricultural outsourcing. This means farmers in the developed world will lose their jobs. Overall, their nations will be better for it, but they personally will suffer, much like those who lost their jobs in the Industrial Revolution due to mechanization. Remember though, we have progressive countries. There is a social safety net here for those who lose their jobs, whereas those who can't get a job in Africa starve to death. We can get the people who lose jobs here back into the workforce, which is more than African governments can do right now for a variety of reasons.
This should be a simple case of special interests. Our governments are propping up industries that can't survive on their own, which is something we as a people frown upon. Meanwhile, others are starving, another thing we frown upon. This should be a matter of forcing our farmers to play fair on the world market, yet we refuse to make it one, and as a result, Africa stays poor and our pockets are getting drained to subsidize our farmers.
Here's how I see us fixing Africa.
Currently the one thing Africa can actually produce with any ease is agriculture. Farming is a relatively simple practice that the people there can fairly easily undertake. It is irrelevant whether or not we put Africa in poverty. Instead, it is time for us to realize that our own trade practices, especially in farming, are keeping Africa from fully developing.
Case in point: The CAP, or Common Agricultural Policy for Europe. It's a method of subsidizing food production in Europe to make sure that Europe remains self-sufficient. What does that mean for Europeans? Their governments take their tax money and use it to pay farmers to sell their goods cheap enough that they can undercut any business. Tie this in with tariffs against outside farming producers and it guarantees that European farmers feed Europeans.
This sounds fine, but it inevitably causes problems for people in Africa. Europe, with its higher cost of living, would be an excellent place for Third World producers to sell crops and actually maintain a successful agricultual business rather than just subsistence farming. This, in turn, would put money into local African economies as these farmers begin to want to use the money they make to buy other things. Essentially, if the CAP were dismantled, Africa would begin to fix itself, and Europeans wouldn't lose their money to subsidize inefficient farming. In fact, if that money were given back to Europeans or put into social programs, Europe's growth rate would probably start to pick up again.
However, Europe is not the only place engaging in unfair trade practices that hurt Africa. The United States maintains the right to subsidize or put tariffs on any item for "national security" purposes. Most notoriously, the US has subsidized sugar production in Wyoming while putting tariffs against sugar imports. Sugar is another great crop for fledging farmers to grow, but they are cut off from a whole extra market where they could compete for better prices on their goods. The result is similar to the CAP. The American government spends taxpayers' dollars subsidizing the farming industry, which costs the average American money, and meanwhile the Third World farmer can't make the money he should.
If these trade practices were revised and the whole globe was given a chance at free trade, we would see three immediate positive results:
1) Governments of developed countries would no longer have to spend money subsidizing industries, which would mean more money to pay down debt, to fund social programs or to give back to the people in the form of tax cuts, depending on their political slants.
2) People in developed countries would be able to get basic items like food cheaper because there would be no tariffs stopping cheap goods from reaching their grocery stores. This in turn would leave them with more money to spend on other things and as a result would grow the economies of developed countries even more.
3) The Third World would become a market worth investing in. Farmers in the Third World would start to have disposable income, which would mean there would be demand in Africa, which would be filled by either start-up African businesses or direct foreign investment, either of which would provide jobs for more Africans, which would create a cycle of demand that would propel Africa forward.
However, this solution is not without its losers. We're talking about a mass agricultural outsourcing. This means farmers in the developed world will lose their jobs. Overall, their nations will be better for it, but they personally will suffer, much like those who lost their jobs in the Industrial Revolution due to mechanization. Remember though, we have progressive countries. There is a social safety net here for those who lose their jobs, whereas those who can't get a job in Africa starve to death. We can get the people who lose jobs here back into the workforce, which is more than African governments can do right now for a variety of reasons.
This should be a simple case of special interests. Our governments are propping up industries that can't survive on their own, which is something we as a people frown upon. Meanwhile, others are starving, another thing we frown upon. This should be a matter of forcing our farmers to play fair on the world market, yet we refuse to make it one, and as a result, Africa stays poor and our pockets are getting drained to subsidize our farmers.