Unbelievable! US government pays itself generously for Haiti relief?

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
1/12/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Government pledged over $1 billion only to spend most of the money on itself.

Charity and philanthropy are pillars of a compassionate society. When disaster strikes, as it did in Haiti in 2010, Americans tend to show their best and give generously to relief efforts. Americans pride themselves that their money, resources, and service is spent to relieve the suffering of millions. Therefore, it may come as a shock to know just how ineffective these most sincere efforts have proved.

The people of Haiti clearly need the aid more than the US government.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - US relief to Haiti totaled more than $3 billion. Actual Haitian people, the victims of the disaster who needed the most help - got less than 1 percent of that money. That means 99 of every 100 dollars sent to relieve the suffering of the Haitian people and rebuild the country, ended up in the hands of people for whom it was never intended.

Instead, the US government has used the disaster to pay itself.

Most will be quick to blame notoriously corrupt Haitian government officials and profiteers who swooped in to capitalize on the disaster for personal gain, but ironically, much of the money went to the US government, aid organizations, various other NGOs, and contractors.

Virtually none made it to the people.

Very little of the money pledged by Congress in the Haitian Rebuilding and Relief Act was allocated to the Haitian people by the end of 2010 according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Of the 1.14 billion $655 million was allocated to the Department of Defense to reimburse them for relief efforts and the deployment of troops.

Another $220 million was sent to the US Department of Health and Human Services, $350 million for "disaster assistance" which could be anything from medical care, to food, to sanitation. An additional $150 million went to the US Department of Agriculture, and a final $15 million was given to the Department of Homeland Security for immigration fees and airfares.

All this means that the US government spent most of the money allocated to Haitian relief on itself.

Robert Fatton Jr., professor of government and foreign affairs at the University of Virginia explained "In the end, if you read the reports - the UN Report and so on - you'll see that actual Haitians got less than 1 percent of all the American money pledged. He continued, "99 percent of [the US money spent] went back to the US military, the State Department, NGOs and contractors. The money was clearly intended for Haiti, but it ended up returning to the same place it came from."

Ultimately, Congress and government officials can say they did a great service to people in need, which sounds good during election time, but in reality they gave virtually nothing to the Haitians.

When aid money is spent in Haiti, it seems it is not being spent very wisely. For example, in the early 1980's, Haiti once produced nearly all of its own rice, importing very little to meet demands.

Now, Haiti imports cheap, subsidized rice from the US. Aid money is being spent to purchase this rice, which feeds the people but does nothing to rebuild infrastructure. Experts suggest the money would be better spent on redeveloping agriculture in the troubled country so that Haiti could once again feed itself without dependence on foreign imports. Then again, creating self sufficiency in Haiti may not be as desirable to US government officials as finding a market for US produced food.

Despite the revelations and reports, public outcry seems entirely non-existent. Few Americans seem to realize their government has duped them into believing that humanitarian aid was provided to the people of Haiti on a charitable basis. Americans gave generously only to have their government pledge support, then reclaim its contributions.

In any case, despite the tremendous outpouring of generosity and support, the people of Haiti continue to suffer needlessly. The American people have responded generously to their plight. Sadly, their government has not been as kind.

� 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Corruption, Haiti, earthquake, relief, NGOs, aid, humanitarian

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1 - 10 of 12 Comments

D. Austin
1 year ago
January 22nd, 2012 9:50 pm

To all of you who thought that I was a "Big Talker": There it is the Catholic International Report two years later about "Haiti Relief Mission". Something I already pronounced myself on and denounced three months after the Haitian bloody tragedy of Januaey 12, 2010. During the momentum I was time and time again denounced this obsolete and corrupt mismanagement system of these INGO's. Please take good note people of Haiti and citizen all over over the World about this corrupt system of management of the so call "International Non Governmental Organizations (ONGO's) International It will happen again and over again, if we the people in the world don't stand together to play our partition to make each asd every one of the responsible of those Organizarions accoumtable for their mistakes and wrong doing.

Daniel Austin, Economist, Strategist, Developper
"VOICE OF AN INDEPENDENT ECONOMIST"
D. Austin
1 year ago
To all of you who thought that I was a "Big Talker": There it is the Catholic International Report two years later about "Haiti Relief Mission". Something I already peonounced myself on and denounced three months after the Haitian bloody tragedy of Januaey 12, 2010. During the momentum I was time and time again pronounced mand denounced this obsolete and corrupt mismanagement system of these INGO's. Please take good note people of Haiti and citizen of over the World about this corrupt system. It will happen again and oveain if we people in the world dont play our partition to make each asd every one of the responsible of those Organizarions accoumtable for their mistakes and wrong doing.
vance
1 year ago
This is a wonderful article because this is a clear example of how government operates when it gets into the welfare game. The Marxists beat their gums about taxing the productive to give to the non-productive by using rhetoric that it is compassionate and moral. But government does what this article points out. It takes $100 out of the pocket of the hard working person, stuffs $95 in its pocket, and gives $5 to the welfare recpient. The exact reverse is true with private charities. This is why corrupt government needs to get out of the welfare business.
Tom
1 year ago
....and just where would the Haitian people spend the cash had it all been sent directly to them instead of being spend for their benefits with various US Government departments and agencies? I doubt there were any Walmarts or Home Depots or grocery stores open to accept the cash. Are they supposed to burn it for heat? Use it to wipe their butts? What?

Reporting like this confirms that the Catholic community has lost it's way and reminds me why I'm no longer a part of that community.
Jared
1 year ago
Any money I gave was not exactly intended for "the people". I wouldn't want relief agencies to swing by someone's wrecked house and say. "Here's $100 bucks, good luck!". I would rather that person have his roads fixed so that relief can get through, plumbing fixed to prevent disease, medicine distributed to those who need it, water and food for the hungry, etc. Those things cost money. If my money went to those things, and those goods and services got to the victims, it is all good. I see no problem.
Slats Grobnick
1 year ago
This article is extremely strange. The author seems to suggest that the only proper way to distribute aid in a natural disaster area is to go and hand money to the people affected by the disaster. If, instead, the money is paid to a non-haitian company or aid organization to build houses or distribute necessary goods, then apparently, this does not count as aid to the people. Of course, the people who are living in the house or using the goods might disagree.

What possible difference does it make that a non-haitian aid group built the house or distributed the goods? Particularly when a country like Haiti may have very few companies capable of building houses on a large scale,it makes considerable sense to use the most efficient companies to get the job done. Because the dollars to build the house went to a US builder does not mean that the Haitian people received NOTHING. They received a house rather than cash.

The point about aid displacing local agriculture is well taken, and has been discussed for many years. The problem is that it may take many months or years to rebuild agricultural infrastructure, while people need to eat every day. It's difficult to properly balance these two needs, and I don't understand why the author leaps to the worst possible interpretation of the motives of those who made the decision.
Bulbajer
1 year ago
Democrats, Republicans. It doesn't matter much when it comes to bureaucracy. This is disgusting.
Bryan
1 year ago
I don't know why anyone would be surprised that our current administration would use the Haitian disaster as a way to increase government spending. Heck, they use the suffering of women in crisis pregnancies to do the same thing.
Rob
1 year ago
If our government allocated tax dollars to pay for expenses that were expended for Haiti, I'm not sure I see the issue unless they blantanty misappropriated the money. If the author is saying that none of the agencies that received funds did nothing, then I can see where we need to be outraged, but if we were merely paying the bills for the efforts expended in Haiti, I don't see what point the author is trying to make? Need more information.
binoy
1 year ago
The message is loud and clear... This aid concept is only a farce for finding employment of the Armed forces and other Govt. Departments. Why do people forget that GOD sees everything, knows everything? All of us have become too busy or secularised to even think that HE is there HE is very much Alive and watching our actions and reading our hearts and minds. Nothing ever escapes HIM...ever!

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