The Re-building Effort
I was listening to NPR this evening on my way home from work and there was a report on the re-building of Afghanistan. In the past 4 years, Afghanistan has received about US$2 billion a year in foreign aid to help re-build the country destroyed by the Taliban and the war. However, despite the large sums of money that have supposedly gone into the effort, not a whole lot of re-building can be seen around the country. There are many places that still do not have clean water, power and a lot of the basic infrastructure. Meanwhile, many foreigners belonging to NGOs (non-governmental organizations) who are supposed to be there to help with the re-building effort are driving shiny new cars, living in expensive accommodations and eating fancy meals that each costs more than the monthly income of an ordinary Afghani.I also heard this other report on the re-building of the Gulf Coast in the U.S. A lot of money has been promised for the re-building effort. But it seems the contractors given projects to re-build New Orleans are from outside of Louisiana. And it was already announced earlier that no bidding is necessary (so the projects are just assigned) and the workers will be paid half of the minimal wage… So that means that the ordinary people of New Orleans will get paid a pittance to re-build their city while some contractors, probably buddies of Bush, Cheney and that bunch, will get a fat wallet…maybe even drive shiny new cars, live in expensive accommodations and eat fancy meals that each costs more than the monthly income of an ordinary New Orleans local. And after all that ‘re-building’, I won’t be surprised if there will still be a lot of areas in New Orleans where there will not be clean water, power and a lot of the basic infrastructure. Hmmm, that’s kind of like having our own private Afghanistan right here in the U.S.! Well, since the same people are in charge, I really shouldn’t be surprised!
posted by Anne-Gigi @ 10:09 PM
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