Lords of Poverty: The Power, Prestige, and Corruption of the International Aid Business

Rating:
Summary: Foreign Aid Corruption
Review: In his book Lords of Poverty, Mr. Graham Hancock offers a very detailed account of the so-called Aid Industry. Unfortunately, the case study he presents is completely out of date (the 80's). This is the year 2000 and, hence, fresh figures, new dates and new names are needed.

The other flaw of his book is that, like every one else who has written on the subject of foreign aid, Mr. Hancock bases his account on his experiences in India and in some other regions of Africa. But what about the rest of the world. What we need is a much broader and deeper look of the foreign aid industry as the self perpetuating industry that it actually is, particularly with regard to the secret internal modus operandi of bureaucratic institutions such as the UN, World Bank, OAS, USIAD, etc, etc. In other words, we want the true inside story. It is the only way to really know what's going on.

Few people are aware that these organizations are ran mainly by "political rejects" who after having been thrown out from their own countries accused of becoming political trouble makers, or misfits, they find "haven" in those international aid organizations. Sort of like "dying and going to haven".

The fact that the head of the World Bank or the Secretary General of the UN might have been a head of state before he was rewarded with the current top job does not mean in any way that he is fit for the job that he is holding now. Those top positions and other of lesser importance, are usually regarded as political favors. The same holds true of those professionals who are looking for a place to land a good paying job that requires little or no work at all. To keep a good paying job with private industry, professionals would be required to work very hard, something that many of them don't have to do at the UN or any other international aid organization. These are the "technicians", the "experts" who come to poor third world countries to "straighten things out", as they say, when in fact all they are doing is enjoying officially sponsored vacations with all their expenses paid for with taxpayers money from the industrialized nations. That, I believe, is one of the reasons for the high rate of failure of such organizations: bureaucratic incompetence. It is for this reason that I also believe that some form of tight government control and public scrutiny should be implemented in order to make foreign aid agencies fully accountable for every dime they spend. Otherwise they will continue to function as international clubs of free-loaders.

I guarantee that any American taxpayer would be infuriated to know that the great majority of the employees of these international aid organizations headquartered in the U.S.A. do not, I repeat, do not pay any form of local and/or federal income tax because these organizations (UN, OAS, PAHO, IDB, etc.) are not required by law to report salaries paid to their employees. Therefore, the IRS does not have any way to know who's earning what and who owes what. But even those employees who, by some special circumstance, must file a tax return will do so with the understanding that the organization will not only compute their own taxes, but will also issue them a check for taxes owed on their income. Oh yes, no matter how you cut it, "working" in any of those international organizations is like dying and going to haven; or almost like wining the lottery.

V.P.Reyna Guatemala, Guatemala [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: damning criticism of corruption in the `aid` industry
Review: Lords of Poverty presents a very coherent argument, backed up by lots of specific experiences *and* data. It is by no means sensationalistic.

People (such as myself) who have grown up overseas, and have moved in expatriate circles have encountered many examples of abuses and stupidity in the name of `development`. It is widely known and acknowledged that this is a serious problem. But Mr. Hancock has gone beyond giving a handful of anecdotes as examples of what is typical: he has investigated the entire infrastructure supporting this corruption and stupidity. He gets to the heart of the problem and exposes it, rather than just showing a few symptoms. I highly recommend this book. It is intelligently written, for the intelligent reader. Yes it may have a tone of anger at times, but it would be heartless not to be angry at the way in which the peoples of less developed nations are abused and used to make `aid` workers rich.

Furthermore, solutions *are* given, at least if you *look* for them. The author points out that smaller independent aid organizations--generally grassroots community or church-based groups--*are* effective. They are not without faults, of course, but nothing of the magnitude that typifies the large government run agencies.

While I have not worked with large government run agencies, I do know of a professor here at U of M who has worked for them, who admitted to a close friend of mine that the claims of this book are true.

Read the book and see for yourself if the argument stand up. And if you still doubt it, do some investigation. What you'll find will amaze you.

Rating:
Summary: One part fact, one part rant
Review: The first half of this short book is a relatively informative overview of the responsibilities and functions of major aid and development agencies, although the statistics are now well out of date. That said, little of any of this is primary research and the author relies fairly selectively on sensationalistic quotes and facts that tell the part of the story he wants to tell.

The second half of the book, however, is little more than a rant during which the author mocks and insults aid and development workers for about 100 pages. The vitriolic quality of writing makes one wonder if an aid worker dumped him at some point. You could skip this whole part of the book and be better off for it.

Maybe I take it personally since I'm an aid worker, but I can tell you with authority that Mr. Hancock really doesn't have any idea what he's writing about - he mischaracterizes the lives and personalities of most aid workers and oversimplifies the challenges and complexity of the work. He's angry and bitter about something and I don't think it's corruption or incompetence.

And just for the record: Reviewer Viola P. Reyna doesn't have command of the facts either. Most foreign aid workers are required to pay taxes in their home countries while living abroad. Americans living abroad for more than 330 days a year, whether they are aid workers or oil drillers or whatever, are not required to pay taxes unless they make over $80,000. Everyone is still, however, required to report their incomes and file their tax returns. So contrary to what Viola says, the US Government knows exactly what everyone is making.

Rating:
Summary: All your suspicions will be confirmed
Review: This book is getting a little dated now, but remains a classic critique of the international aid business. Using colourful anecdotes and solid stats, Graham Hancock convincingly demonstrates how the IMF, World Bank and other international aid/development agencies effectively worsen Third World poverty. What they do is transfer wealth from the poor to the rich in donor and recipient countries alike. In the 1st world, taxes of mainly not-particularly-rich people finance these international organizations, whose administrators often lead lives of incredible luxury. In the 3rd world, money from the organizations helps to sustain corrupt regimes and swell the bank accounts of their leaders, while in many cases the money eventually has to be repaid with interest by taxes which again tend to come mainly from the poor, thereby creating an extra burden for the people it was supposed in theory to help. Meanwhile the projects financed by the money are often wholly irrelevant to the needs of the recipient country, e.g. expressways in countries where only a rich minority own cars, and often the infrastructure is built by companies from the donor country (tied aid) and proceeds to fall to pieces long before the debt incurred has been paid off. This book caused a fair bit of controversy when first published, but was soon forgotten. It's been business as usual for the IMF etc ever since. Meanwhile Graham Hancock got so depressed with uncovering corruption in big aid agencies that he abandoned the field entirely and switched to writing all those speculative books about lost cities of the gods etc. -- yep, it's the very same Graham Hancock in case you're wondering.