streetseen
04-11-2005, 09:49 PM
The U.S. government is undermining international efforts to end extreme poverty by 2025 by ignoring development issues and spending too much money on its military, a leading economist said on Sunday.
Jeffrey Sachs, special adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and one of the world's best-known economists, argues in a new book that the world could be just 20 years away from dragging 1.1 billion people out of "poverty that kills".
He notes that a growing number of countries, mostly in Europe, are committing more time and money to the problem.
"I believe there is a growing global consensus to do this, but it does not include the United States right now," he said.
"The reason it can be brought to an end by the year 2025 ... is that the world is rich," he said in London, where he is promoting his book "The End of Poverty".
But he also warned: "The book starts by saying this is not a forecast. There's no guarantee that it will be accomplished."
One major hurdle is U.S. reluctance to make aid and poverty reduction policy priorities, according to Sachs.
One problem is that the American people are unaware of how little of their money goes to aid. In his book, Sachs says 0.15 percent of U.S. gross national product is spent on aid, compared with a commitment by donor countries to give 0.7 percent.
"The American people think that they give many times more than they do. When was the last time President (George W.) Bush explained this to the American people? Never."
He also estimated that U.S. military spending in 2005 will be around $500 billion, or more than 30 times the $16 billion that will be spent on aid.
"A 30-to-1 ratio is really a problem ... As long as the United States is outside the growing development consensus, we're not really going to be able to make this breakthrough."
MILLIONS DYING
Sachs estimates that around 30,000 people die every day because they are too poor to stay alive.
But there are reasons for optimism, including the fact that the proportion of people in abject poverty is now roughly one fifth of the world's population, compared with one half just two generations ago.
However, while some countries and regions have dragged themselves out of the poverty trap, others are unable to do so without outside assistance.
The worst-affected region is Africa, which Sachs puts down to three main factors; low-productivity agriculture reliant on rainfall rather than irrigation, diseases such as malaria and AIDS and the geographic isolation of large numbers of people.
"You can see solutions in each of these areas but they cost money. If you're impoverished because of these problems, and yet those problems require money to overcome, then you can see the vicious circle."
Sachs said the key to effective assistance was targeted aid with a full understanding of what a country needed.
Labelling countries "corrupt" or otherwise was not always constructive, and was too often used as an excuse not to give.
Both he and rock star Bono, who wrote the foreword to the book, sounded a warning to policy makers who ignored poverty.
"Africa is not on the front line in the war against terror, but it soon could be," anti-poverty campaigner Bono wrote
Jeffrey Sachs, special adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and one of the world's best-known economists, argues in a new book that the world could be just 20 years away from dragging 1.1 billion people out of "poverty that kills".
He notes that a growing number of countries, mostly in Europe, are committing more time and money to the problem.
"I believe there is a growing global consensus to do this, but it does not include the United States right now," he said.
"The reason it can be brought to an end by the year 2025 ... is that the world is rich," he said in London, where he is promoting his book "The End of Poverty".
But he also warned: "The book starts by saying this is not a forecast. There's no guarantee that it will be accomplished."
One major hurdle is U.S. reluctance to make aid and poverty reduction policy priorities, according to Sachs.
One problem is that the American people are unaware of how little of their money goes to aid. In his book, Sachs says 0.15 percent of U.S. gross national product is spent on aid, compared with a commitment by donor countries to give 0.7 percent.
"The American people think that they give many times more than they do. When was the last time President (George W.) Bush explained this to the American people? Never."
He also estimated that U.S. military spending in 2005 will be around $500 billion, or more than 30 times the $16 billion that will be spent on aid.
"A 30-to-1 ratio is really a problem ... As long as the United States is outside the growing development consensus, we're not really going to be able to make this breakthrough."
MILLIONS DYING
Sachs estimates that around 30,000 people die every day because they are too poor to stay alive.
But there are reasons for optimism, including the fact that the proportion of people in abject poverty is now roughly one fifth of the world's population, compared with one half just two generations ago.
However, while some countries and regions have dragged themselves out of the poverty trap, others are unable to do so without outside assistance.
The worst-affected region is Africa, which Sachs puts down to three main factors; low-productivity agriculture reliant on rainfall rather than irrigation, diseases such as malaria and AIDS and the geographic isolation of large numbers of people.
"You can see solutions in each of these areas but they cost money. If you're impoverished because of these problems, and yet those problems require money to overcome, then you can see the vicious circle."
Sachs said the key to effective assistance was targeted aid with a full understanding of what a country needed.
Labelling countries "corrupt" or otherwise was not always constructive, and was too often used as an excuse not to give.
Both he and rock star Bono, who wrote the foreword to the book, sounded a warning to policy makers who ignored poverty.
"Africa is not on the front line in the war against terror, but it soon could be," anti-poverty campaigner Bono wrote