Foreign Aid Review

• By 2015 Australia will be spending 8 billion dollars on foreign aid
  
• Rich countries around the world are leaning towards the trend of spending money on helping poorer or third world countries
• The amount of money spent on foreign aid is being doubled roughly every 5 years
• Nobody knows why countries are spending so much on foreign aid whether its a cause of good morals or if the money is actually being wasted as it isn't allocated correctly
• A billion people around the world are living on $1.25 US or less
• Only 7% of Australian foreign aid goes to correct allocation (natural disasters etc)
  
• Poverty is being overcome, from 54% of the world in 1981 to 25% in 2005. This will be furthered cut down in 2015 to only 15% of the world living in poverty
• Since 1990, China has stopped half a billion people from living in poverty
• Australia spends the most amount of its foreign aid money on Papua New Guinea
• If poverty is being overcome so quickly, why are countries like Australia spending more and more on foreign aid
• Poverty is being overcome by economic growth, not foreign aid
• Many Australians and Americans are attached to the idea that poorer countries like Indonesia are to poor to sustain themselves
  
• A vast majority of the Western world are in deep denial about third world or poor countries becoming economically stronger
  
• Charity is an assertion of power
• Indonesia's GDP is now significantly higher than Australia's
• Many current or former powerful countries are now becoming more even with rapidly developing countries
• Poor countries development depend on social and political circumstances to grow so as they become better, their economy becomes stronger
• Many acts of charity are actually racist, e.g. Howard's plan to develop non-Islamic schools in Indonesia to combat the fear of terrorism

Personally, I think Australia is giving more foreign aid as an act of good intention not to assert their power. For example Australia was extremely quick to lend aid to Indonesia after the tsunami that occurred in 2004 to try and help the lives of many people. On the other hand, acts of power such as John Howard's plan to build non-Islamic schools in Indonesia to prevent terrorism as it is an obvious act of asserting Australia's power to try and protect 'ourselves'. Australia needs to spend more money on its own infrastructure rather than giving handouts on other countries as our government tries to improve relations between us and other countries aswell as trying to impress the U.S.A. The benefits of increasing poverty are only improving relations between us and other countries