Global Rich List

I didn't have anything to do at work today so I figured it would be a good day to start posting to this thing. Unfortunately, my situation today is exactly like the last few weeks and the foreseeable future. Although this might turn some of us into cynical, complaining, grumpy monkees, it won't do that to me because I'm already there. However, this blog isn't about me, or rather today's blog isn't about me. It's about other people. In my internet travels today I found a story that said the richest 2% of the world own 1/2 of the worlds wealth. Linked to this, there was a web site called www.globalrichlist.com, which allows you to input your salary and gives where you fall in the global scheme of the world. I'm not sure where the data comes from, and complaining about statistics is a whole other blog.

However, the interesting thing to me was the first item on the globalrichlist was an item from Honduras, which is a beautiful country I happened to live in for a few years. The text is quoted as follows:
"$8 could buy you 15 organic apples OR 25 fruit trees for farmers in Honduras to grow and sell fruit at their local market."

My problem is not the accuracy of that, but the entire point. What is a Honduran going to do with 25 fruit trees? If you give a random Honduran 25 fruit trees, in order to make money he has to have money to maintain them (think irrigation, Honduras gets HOT!), he has to harvest the fruit, and he has to somehow get the fruit to a market where people are going to buy it. During mango season, nobody in my small town bought mangoes because everyone knew someone who owned mango trees and they just gave them away (I loved mango season, a fresh mango in Honduras is the best fruit experience I have ever had, even better than that adventure with the tomato, which might be a vegetable anyway who can remember). Anyway, th irrigation/harvest/transport/selling process requires an entire business plan, which the average Honduran probably does not have the experience for. So what would happen? Our trusty fruit vendor would probably end up selling his fruit to a middle man who would make the most money onthe process, and the middle man is probably already significantly wealthier than the Honduran you were trying to help. He may not be top 2%, but he isn't starving. Meanwhile, the poor fruit farmer may not be that much better off.

The website is pushing an organization called CARE, which may be a great organization but I think the entire issue is significantly oversimplified. It's Christmas, and that is a time a lot of people try to give to organizations and charities. I guess one point is to research where your money is going and think about whether or not it is actually going to help. I have seen a lot of money thrown at bad projects that failed, and a little money thrown at problems that succeeded. There is no magic formula, but there are better methods. I'll assume you are a smart person, just think about it.

I'll probably come back to the topic of development at some point on this blog. I don't really know much about it, but I like to pretend I do.