Indeed there would need to be a sound system to funnel this money through, and quite apart from governments’ normal systems of foreign aid. The topic of ‘self-sustainable’, however, is a right can of canaries once you open it. I mean, that’s basically what the Communists were trying to achieve in their isolated closed off little (large) world. Once you’re in the world and trading, the idea of “self-sustainable” tends to fall away in the great survival of the economically fittest and most dominating/ appeasing. Now of course, the ‘teach a man how to catch fish rather than just giving him a fish’ approach is a highly sensible one.

This is exactly why I get frustrated when I hear liberals complain about President Obama’s effectiveness. It’s not that I don’t agree he could be doing better it’s that I’m worried progressives are shooting themselves in the foot by, first, expecting too much of one man and, second, getting overly depressed about it.

Some good stuff has happened in the last year. More than you’d think if you talked to some people.