I'd feel a whole lot better about this aid to Pakistan if I hadn't just read this article that indicates most Pakistanis, particularly the wealthiest, pay no taxes.
the politicians who make the rules are also the country’s richest citizens, and are skilled at finding ways to exempt themselves.So how are we to know whether the $7.5B over the next five years actually goes to the places it's needed rather than into the pockets of government officials and their friends? Posted by Linkmeister at July 19, 2010 01:16 PM | TrackBackThat would be a problem in any country. But in Pakistan, the lack of a workable tax system feeds something more menacing: a festering inequality in Pakistani society, where the wealth of its most powerful members is never redistributed or put to use for public good. That is creating conditions that have helped spread an insurgency that is tormenting the country and complicating American policy in the region.
It is also a sorry performance for a country that is among the largest recipients of American aid, payments of billions of dollars that prop up the country’s finances and are meant to help its leaders fight the insurgency.
Foreign aid SUX0RZ.
Posted by: Rob McMillin at July 19, 2010 03:01 PMYup. 1.5% of overall budget actually goes to help other countries fight AIDS and malaria. To help them grow food. To create power grids. To do a lot of other things.
What on earth are we thinking?
(Which is not to say if we wanted to use the $3B we give Israel and the $3B we give Egypt as leverage to do things we approve of I wouldn't object.)
Posted by: Linkmeister at July 19, 2010 03:22 PM