Governments around the world have been taking extensive measures in an attempt to reverse the global economic decline. Aid agency representatives are now asking governments to provide as much in aid for struggling nations. They say that the $123 billion spent by the US government in bailing out the insurance company AIG is “twice that needed to achieve the internationally agreed Millennium Development Goals.”
While this is certainly a quotable statement, I am not sure that it is possible to say how much it would cost to achieve the millennium development goals. The goals are: end poverty and hunger, universal education, gender equality, child health, maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, environmental sustainability, and global partnership. While some of these goals can be addressed with money, most of them require cultural, political and social changes.
Assisting people in the world’s poorest countries is like trying to fill a leaking bucket. Adding more water usually does some good, but sometimes it just makes the leaks larger. In order to address poverty permanently, it is necessary to plug the leaks. Wars and insecurity have to cease. Corruption has to be driven out. Cultural practices which create poverty have to be abandoned. These issues are a lot more complex and require a lot more of our attention than just sending money.