Eat American: Food Aid Made in the U.S.A. News: Charity begins at home.
By Jonathan Schwarz August 16, 2007 Eight hundred fifty million people worldwide suffer from chronic malnutrition, according to the United Nations. Though some starve because of war or natural disasters, many go hungry simply because they cannot afford to buy food. The solution seems straightforward: Give cash to groups on the scene that can purchase and distribute food locally. That's how the European Union does it. But not the United States - We give more than half of the world's nearly $4 billion of annual food aid. Yet by law, the U.S. Agency for International Development and other federal agencies can't simply write checks to feed the hungry. Instead, they must buy American-grown food from American conglomerates; 75 percent of it must be shipped on American-flagged vessels. It's a great deal for domestic businesses, but not for the needy: The Government Accountability Office recently found that 65 percent of federal food aid expenditures are not spent on food. In fact, due to rising transportation and business costs, the amount of actual food delivered by U.S. aid programs has declined by more than 50 percent over the past five years. Now Congress is considering overhauling this system via a Bush administration proposal that would allow 25 percent of food aid to be distributed as cash grants. That move is opposed by shipping companies and agribusiness giants such as Archer Daniels Midland, as you might expect, but also by prominent congressional Democrats and nongovernmental organizations such as Feed the Children and the American Red Cross. Why would these groups be against helping the poor more efficiently? Turns out that when food shipments finally get to where they're needed, they're often given to ngos, which turn around and sell them to raise money. In the last three years alone, the groups sold off $500 million of American food aid. (Save the Children has criticized the practice; care has pledged to stop it.) Read the Full Report Here: http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2007/08/eat_american.html Recommended Resources <http://www.kpfk.org/> http://www.kpfk.org/ <http://www.commondreams.org/> http://www.commondreams.org/ Ara [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
