Politically incorrect musings

So Time thinks that naming Bill (and Melinda!) Gates, plus Bono, as People of the Year is clever? They couldn't be more out of touch. In the year of the Orange and Cedar Revolutions, of Iraqis voting not once, not twice, but three times in democratic elections that could reshape the Middle East, of Palestinians getting autonomy, of Libya disencumbering itself of WMDs, they choose pseudo-philanthropists? As many have remarked, Time is no better than People or Entertainment Weekly if they think that that trio really shaped the news more than any others.

Astute bloggers have also noted a subtext: Gates was Public Enemy Number One when he was making money selling software. Now that he is giving it away, he is Person of the Year. Give me a break! This is stealth anti-capitalism, as much as I don't like Bill Gates. And naming his wife is lame. She certainly wouldn't have millions to give away but for him. And I am not sure that absent the tax incentives (and ego gratification) for doing so, that he would be so beneficent, but that's a matter for him and God.

Bono is a joke. He is not the principal mover and shaker among rock musician philanthropists (give that title to Sir Bob Geldof), but at least recognize that, good intentions aside, the actual effect on preventing poverty and starvation in Africa has been negligible.

Which gets us to the linked article. It may seem hard-hearted to say so, but these appeals to send aid to Africa, to forgive debt, to make periodic dumps of goods, is NOT helping. In fact, it is actively harming. Destroying the incentive for indigenous markets to develop continues the cycle, and then some do-gooder does the charity dump to applause from the bien pensant, only to start the cycle over again. Corruption can't be cured with charity.