The True Result of Foreign Aid and Debt Relief

At the risk of having less anally retentive locals tell me to lighten the hell up, I present this post from Don Boudreaux, letting us know that the misguided call for debt relief as the cure all for poverty is not a recent development. The truth is that debt relief as called for by the well-intentioned organizers of Live 8 serves mainly to line the pockets of and perpetuate the rule of despotic governments. Ultimately counterproductive. There's no amount of money that can eradicate poverty in Africa without serious reform. From Boudreaux's post:

Prosperity is goods and services to consume; not money -- not even `resources,`for resources must be transformed into desirable goods and services. And transforming resources into desirable goods and services requires productive creativity and productive effort. These, in turn, are unleashed (and properly channeled) only by a system of secure and exchangable private property rights defined and enforced under a strong rule of law. (And a strong rule of law is not necessarily the product of strong government.)

All that being said... nationwide, and indeed international exposure for Philly is always good, and getting Pink Floyd back together, even if it's just for the day, is pretty wicked cool. And it's such an awesome day out...

Maybe I should just grab a beer and lighten the hell up.