“In 1970, I rode a bus across Afghanistan with a Peace Corps worker who’d been there a year. After I commented on people drinking from sewage ditches, he told me his boss had tried to persuade the King to let the Americans drill wells to give the people a better water supply. ‘I can’t do that,’ the King said. ‘Babies have always died; my people won’t blame me when babies die. But they will blame me if there isn’t enough food. How can I feed all the babies who won’t die?'”
(…)
“The Gates Foundation will be able to cure a child of malaria for 25 cents, but Mr. Hobhouse points out that it will cost $500 in extra capital investment per surviving child to grow enough food. One million more malaria survivors per year need $500 million in start-up costs to feed themselves. $500 only pays for setting up a farm, it does not include teaching children how to farm, roads, courts, electricity, medical care, law enforcement, or any other social costs.”
