richh.com | a personal + political blog by rich halvorson

Fasting Builds a Water Well in Liberia - Generosity Water - Jordan Wagner

Because of your fasting and donating the cost of 500 meals, there are 500 people in Liberia who will have clean water for the rest of their lives! The total cost to build the water well is $3,000. Our partner charity, Generosity Water, will pass along 100% of these funds and ensure that the water well is completed -- even sending us photos when it is complete! 

As a part of Global Fast, you are literally changing lives through fasting just one meal per week. Please see the video below -- Rich Halvorson of Global Fast giving the first "big check" to Jordan Wagner of Generosity Water. 

More Resources:

Photo Gallery - Generosity Water Completed Wells | Generosity Water Main Site  |  Why Water? - The Clean Water Crisis - on Global Fast main site | Global Fast home page

Economic 'Stimulus' is False Growth

When the US government creates policy that tries to shape the economy, trillions of dollars can move from certain industries towards others. The problem is that any growth in jobs or GDP based on these policies is bound to be false demand leading to apparent growth -- but both will fall away as soon as the funding stream ends.

Over the last decade, "pro-housing" policies pushed literally trillions of dollars towards the real estate industry. What it created was a huge malinvestment of capital -- overbuilding and overpricing of homes and commercial real estate. The policies created false demand that was not sustainable by the underlying real demand for homes and properties.

Similarly, wherever Uncle Sam points his finger next -- in the form of a nearly $1 trillion stimulus package -- any jobs or 'growth' created will be temporary, and not sustainable. As soon as good ol' Uncle stops footing the bill, those jobs will disappear, the economy will sag again, and we will be looking for our next economic fix.

Why do we continue to turn to various forms of "economic steroids" that create the impression of growth instead of the real thing? .... Their effects cannot last, and every dose weakends the dollar and our nation's ability to grow and succeed in a high-speed global economy.

Why the hunger in Haiti?

In the news this week is the worsening hunger crisis in Haiti -- attributed to rising food prices. But why are food prices rising? ... To read most reports on the matter, the prices of food seem to be a mystery. While there are current trends that are causing these specific fluctuations, longer-term policies are the real problem.

The truth is that food prices could be much, much lower than they are in Haiti and around the world, except for Farm Bills and agriculture policies (especially in the US and EU) that protect Big Farming companies, and pay others not to farm at all. The bills also put a limit on food imports from other regions.

These policies not only keep food prices higher than they need to be in the US and EU, but they force global food prices up higher than they would be, and therefore are responsible for a significant portion of the malnutrition in nations like Haiti. With a global farm policy more friendly to trade, prices would fall all around and make food more available to the global poor as well as the US and European working class. Why do these policies remain then? ... Because they have strong lobbies who push (and payoff) legislators to keep them in place. ... Until these legal barriers are removed, the world -- and especially the poorest of our brothers and sisters -- will needlessly suffer higher food prices.

For many in Haiti and other poor nations, those prices aren't just inconvenient, they are fatal hunger pangs caused by the criminal negligence of first-world legislators.

Euros Accepted in New York City

With Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, New York City is a global symbol of the American Dream. But, it is no longer so friendly to the falling US Dollar.

Merchants in New York City are beginning to accept Euros and other currencies besides the dollar. What have we done to our precious currency that it has devalued so much, and weakened so much that we will take other currencies in lieu of our own?

There was a time when the US Dollar was the most stable currency in the world. Now, we're on a significant downward slide that weakens the dollar against everyone else. This is a direct result of overspending and overprinting our money.

Sadly, many people view a 'weak dollar' as a benefit because it 'boosts our exports'. The reality is that a weaker dollar is a weaker economy -- the import-export issue hides the fact that a weaker dollar and weaker economy means that we are likely producing lower-value goods rather than higher-value ideas and innovations.

The trend toward cheap money continues because we treat money as cheap -- we print dollars like nobody's business, artificially lower interest rates, give easy credit, and then overspend on all fronts. If we can reverse this trend, treat the dollar as valuable, we can stabilize our currency and some of the central levers of our economy.

Reuters: Euros Accepted signs pop up in NYC

Venezuela: Who wants a President-for-Life?

In the US, many of us on both sides of the aisle are skeptical of the consolidation of power and violations of civil rights that have persisted under the Bush administration. American Lefties have railed against GWB tactics, and been suspicious of him 'going after oil wealth' since day one of his reign. What's amazing, however, is that these Lefties and the US media are too shortsighted to criticize similar -- or far, far worse -- consolidation of power elsewhere.

Can you imagine the reaction of US media if GWB wrote a law allowing his Presidential term to continue for life? .... And then it passed the Congress and Senate unanimously?

This is exactly what just happened in Venezuela, and hardly a peep of worry from the mainstream media. If a national declaration of Mother's Day passes unanimously, we don't need to be suspicious. But when a supposedly 'free' legislative body votes *unanimously* to enthrone a President-For-Life, we have to wonder -- and ask poignantly -- whether real freedom is practiced under the regime.

What if GWB passed laws to dismiss congress and replace them with his own hand-picks, to annex our nation's largest corporations into the government, or to take complete control over the Federal Reserve (ie, the people who control the US dollar)?  All this is happening in Venezuela. The power abuses we observe in the US are incomparably mild when viewed alongside the attacks on freedom in Venezuela and other nations who rail against the US.

Dictators like Chavez, who constantly scream about "US imperialism" are misdirecting attention away from their own mistreatment, violence, and injustices against their people. Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Cuba, and Iran all love their rants against the US -- and their people all suffer worsening poverty and live in fear of violent theft or raids by their own government via hired thugs.

The US Real Estate Market

You need a $2.5 million home mortgage... 

             Bad credit? No problem!
             No income? No problem!

After buying up homes under this mantra for years, bidding up prices against one another, and telling ourselves it's an "investment," the housing market is on a scary precipice. The early fallout of the US subprime (ie, 'bad loans') housing market is already causing ripple effects around the globe, in prime loans and other debt markets.

Does this all sound arcane? Basically -- we've spent far more than we're producing, and the jig is up.
Some conservative observers worry about a 'correction' or 'recession'. Others foresee a full-fledged 'depression' spreading across the US economy. By nature, I'm very optimistic, and I don't want to see a depression. But let's just say, after years of overspending, there are dark clouds on the horizon.

Africans to Bono: 'For God's sake, please stop'

No one can blame Bono for bad intentions. It's clear he wants the best for Africa -- and he has done a lot to raise awareness for fighting poverty. Sadly, his solutions won't work. Bono has been duped by 'celebrity economist' Jeffrey Sachs, the IMF, and the World Bank -- all of whom have put forward the same failed solutions to Africa's malaise for 50 years.

At a recent anti-poverty conference in Africa (the TED conference), Bono was shouted down by Africans, pleading that he stop stumping for aid, grants and loans. This excellent article by Jennifer Brea tells all:

   Africans to Bono: 'For God's sake, please stop'  ( or PDF )

Unfortunately for Bono and others, good intentions are no longer enough. After 50 years of failed aid policy that has left Africa far poorer and its dictators far richer, the burden of proof is on aid proponents.

And, given the dismal record of foreign aid -- that's a heavy burden. Perhaps too heavy. Has anyone questioned whether this is really the right approach? 

For those who continue to prescribe bad medicine, the blood of thousands is on their hands. Please, listen to Africa. Please, re-think all the failed aid policies. For God's sake, please stop.

> See also: The White Man's Burden by William Easterly (2007)

Human Rights Progress in Asia

In a step forward for global human rights, a regional summit of nations based in Manila, Philippines (ASEAN), is now moving forward with plans to create a human rights board. The ten-member summit includes five nations that lag behind the others in terms of human rights guarantees. Fostering greater protections among these ten nations would not only improve domestic conditions (especially in Myanmar / Burma), but foster a regional trend towards freedom -- one we can hope might put more pressure on China to liberalize politically as it does economically.

(Jul 31) ASEAN bites bullet on human rights
ASEAN Secretariat (home)

Land of Opportunity

While America remains the world's promised land of opportunity, many Americans themselves are looking East for their pot of gold. As China's economy has surged, it has become a beacon for attracting business and investment from developed nations around the world.

The newly released Doing Business in China is by one of the key Asian correspondent s for The Economist. The heady magazine is among the best, and this correspondent's guide will not disappoint. The author also does not shy away from the challenges - especially those of political corruption and unfreedom. We can only hope and pray that these advances follow in the wake of real economic advances.

World's Worst Dictators - Failed States

One of the best magazines ever is Foreign Policy. A recent article chronicles the stories and statistics of the world's worst failed states.

These nations belong in a Hall of Shame all their own -- not the citizens, but their governments. Failed states are not an accident, they are the result of dictators, gangs and poverty pimps who sell out their people and culture for greed and gain.

Sadly, groups like the IMF and World Bank have often subsidized the worst of these dictators -- by providing huge aid grants and loans to the poorest nations. The monies are handed over to the government, and promptly pocketed by the nation's oppressors.

Crazy enough, many academics, celebrities and politicians in wealthy nations continue to "demand" this aid all the more -- even though it will go directly to these evil rulers who starve their people on purpose, take away basic human rights, and often harass or murder their political opponents. These demands are pure negligence - failed governments are not to be entrusted with more money. If they handled it properly in the first place, they wouldn't have failed.

As R.J. Rummel writes in his new book (linked below), "Most of the world's people have been robbed of their freedom by tyrants. In the twentieth century alone, 272 million of them were shot, burned, stabbed, tortured, beaten, starved to death, blasted to death, buried alive, or whatever other ways of murdering their slaves these thugs could imagine."

For more on this issue see:
Article: "World Bank Policy: 50 Years of Failure"
Article: "Comparing Success and Failure in Africa"
Article: "Predatory Politics"

Book:  "Death by Government" by R.J. Rummel (1997)
Book: "The Blue Book of Freedom" by R.J. Rummel (2007)
Book: "Prosperity Versus Planning" by David Osterfeld
             ( >> difficult to find, but worth every penny!)