The End of Poverty, Again

I've blogged about this before, but now I want to quote the excellent splinters. 'The current issue of Time Asia features Jeffrey D. Sachs' article "How To End Poverty" as its cover lead - a brilliant exposition and call to action to solve the world's poverty problems in less than 5000 words. It's culled from his new book The End Of Poverty, which I'd love to read. Sachs bluntly points out how the USA's rhetoric for helping the poor remains just that - the USA gives less than virtually every other developed nation in the world to the poor despite Bush's grandstanding - and also punctures the received wisdom in the First World that poor nations squander the money they are given, so they are simply beyond help. (The fact that the International Monetary Fund has systematically fucked over every nation it was meant to help doesn't, er, help - here in Thailand, there was a day of national celebration last year when the country became free of its IMF debt). He understands the meta-arguments that are going on behind the scenes of poverty, the wheeling and dealing between nations, the constant flux that always threatens to render aid programs invalid. Reading Sachs, I did actually feel there is something that could be done. It was genuinely, to use that hideous word, empowering. The only thing that puts me off buying this book is that it's got a foreword by Bono.'