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Opposing Views: Obama is trying to do his best.

Abstract:
A lot has changed in a year.

Or has it?

We all remember the night Barack Obama was elected president.

The excitement in the air was almost palpable - people were dancing in the streets and TV stations were jammed with tearful interviews expressing disbelief and hope....

2/03/10
It's hard for poor nations to get a break from the rich ones. While the rich may offer foreign aid with one hand, the actions of the other hand more than negate that aid! So they've helped the poor to avoid starvation, but done nothing to help them with their long-term problem of producing their own food.
Not only that, but the IMF and other international lenders are often willing to provide loans to these poor countries to help their people--but part of the price is that these countries have to lower their import barriers and "liberalize" their economy. And the effect is usually that cheaper foreign food and goods (from the U.S. and other wealthy countries) flood into the poor country, meaning its own agriculture and industry have a very hard time getting off the ground.
So the poor survive on the "aid" of the rich, but just barely, while rich Western politicians make speeches about how much they're trying to help the poor, but how little effect it seems to have and how their aid is wasted. Well, some certainly is, but it's the entire system of "aid" that's the problem!
Ted Rudow III,MA
class of 1996