We’ve had the privilege of seeing U2 live in concert on several occasions, most recently when the band swung through the American Southland on its 360 tour three years ago (concert review here).
Our founding editor grew up on U2 … and has loved them ever since scooping up the band’s War album on vinyl when he was only nine years old.
And while we haven’t always agreed with U2’s lead singer Bono – he’s been a champion for increasing foreign aid to developing nations (which we oppose) – we have always respected the passion with which he has advanced his beliefs. A lot of U2 fans don’t like Bono’s activism, but whether you agree with him or not – his ONE foundation has emerged as one of the most potent celebrity activist organizations in the world.
And unlike knee-jerk lefties like George Clooney, Bono has emerged as one of the most thoughtful, credible celebrity activists in the world.
That’s why we were pleased to see Bono’s recent remark during a speech at Georgetown University …
“Aid is just a stopgap,” he said. “Commerce (and) entrepreneurial capitalism take more people out of poverty than aid.”
We wholeheartedly concur …
Obviously this is just one remark in one speech – and to our knowledge Bono hasn’t repudiated his longstanding support for foreign aid. But this underlying acknowledgment – that market forces, not government intervention, drives economic growth – is a critical recognition on his part. In fact we would argue government intervention – including foreign aid – only makes things worse.
Looking for some statistical evidence to back up that assertion? Check out this excellent column written on the subject last spring by Howard Rich.
Anyway, we’re glad Bono has at least acknowledge this immutable economic reality. Let’s hope it’s the first of many similar steps in his evolution as a thinker.
35 comments
Saw this on Drudge several days ago and glad to see you picked it up as a point of debate. Nothing says it better than this endorsement from a person like Bono who has seen the strife first hand and has the street creds and experience to prove his point.
Saw this on Drudge several days ago and glad to see you picked it up as a point of debate. Nothing says it better than this endorsement from a person like Bono who has seen the strife first hand and has the street creds and experience to prove his point.
WOW…….cadets at the Citadel. Just think what WIl Folks is fawning over in this article..?
How does this make him look like a ROYAL IDIOT…??
Cadets if you would…read this article (and my comment)..if you would….
http://www.adweek.com/videowatch/youtube-hijacked-notorious-adware-company-151829#intro
So, if you sit back in your Cyber war classes that Nancy Mace obviously has failed at….what do you think Wil Folks should be really telling his readers in this article..?
What does he fail to illustrate about Bono..?
Just think…..cadets……WIl Folks has the gall and nerve to applaud Bono in this article but fails to educate readers on what tactics to use against the media in Egypt…?? …or shall we re-focus here in our state and say the Post and Courier or State…or Herald-Journal….or Tara Servacious..??
Cadets….this is a classic illustration of what you will be walking into in any country that you are sent too. So, how do you prepare the very troops you will command that may DIE…?? Remember,if you win the hearts and minds before you drop a boot on the ground then will you even have to fire a shot..!?>??
Wil Folks is SO wrong with this article that he is actions are correct according to the “Art of War”..!!
Question is……cadets…..do you know how to squeeze Brian Hicks with this “information” as you sit in class at this very moment…?
Ka—-booom…..
Has anyone figured out what Mr. Branton is talking about?
Colonel,
I’m still working on it. It could all be some super-clever anagram that mere (sober) mortals are incapable of deciphering.
+3 hahahaha
Nahh. . .no one fucking cares.
WOW…….cadets at the Citadel. Just think what WIl Folks is fawning over in this article..?
How does this make him look like a ROYAL IDIOT…??
Cadets if you would…read this article (and my comment)..if you would….
http://www.adweek.com/videowatch/youtube-hijacked-notorious-adware-company-151829#intro
So, if you sit back in your Cyber war classes that Nancy Mace obviously has failed at….what do you think Wil Folks should be really telling his readers in this article..?
What does he fail to illustrate about Bono..?
Just think…..cadets……WIl Folks has the gall and nerve to applaud Bono in this article but fails to educate readers on what tactics to use against the media in Egypt…?? …or shall we re-focus here in our state and say the Post and Courier or State…or Herald-Journal….or Tara Servacious..??
Cadets….this is a classic illustration of what you will be walking into in any country that you are sent too. So, how do you prepare the very troops you will command that may DIE…?? Remember,if you win the hearts and minds before you drop a boot on the ground then will you even have to fire a shot..!?>??
Wil Folks is SO wrong with this article that he is actions are correct according to the “Art of War”..!!
Question is……cadets…..do you know how to squeeze Brian Hicks with this “information” as you sit in class at this very moment…?
Ka—-booom…..
Has anyone figured out what Mr. Branton is talking about?
Colonel,
I’m still working on it. It could all be some super-clever anagram that mere (sober) mortals are incapable of deciphering.
+3 hahahaha
It is only the middle of the month and Sic Willie is already pimping Howie Rich.
It is only the middle of the month and Sic Willie is already pimping Howie Rich.
Dear Tara Servacious,
WOW, you sure did use your position behind a microphone this morning in a very twisted way..! We wonder if Wil Folks woke his sorry tookus up to listen to your salvo…?
Tara, why do you think I never use your employers website..? Why do I only use Fitsnews and Brian Hicks..? Do you even care enough about your own craft to think about it..!? What is very depressing is the fact that your program manager is not maximizing your profit potential that is costing you and your family income..!!? Tara, just think for a moment, how often do you sit down with the WTMA webmaster to look over the analytics..? Heck, what position does Fred Story really hold at the station..? LOL…
Tara, you can “promote” Nancy Mace all you want too. You can rub her face in the “Fitsnews” crapper all you want too. The real question to your school age kids (as well as mine) is why you are not grilling Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott and Nancy Mace on their knowledge of “Benghazi history”…!? Tara, do you have a clue what investment to make in Tarir Square..? Do you..?
Tara……you may never attain the position you really deserve…and why..? …because you want to please your station manager instead of the wallets of your listeners..?
What type of regret is that…?
Dear Tara Servacious,
WOW, you sure did use your position behind a microphone this morning in a very twisted way..! We wonder if Wil Folks woke his sorry tookus up to listen to your salvo…?
Tara, why do you think I never use your employers website..? Why do I only use Fitsnews and Brian Hicks..? Do you even care enough about your own craft to think about it..!? What is very depressing is the fact that your program manager is not maximizing your profit potential that is costing you and your family income..!!? Tara, just think for a moment, how often do you sit down with the WTMA webmaster to look over the analytics..? Heck, what position does Fred Story really hold at the station..? LOL…
Tara, you can “promote” Nancy Mace all you want too. You can rub her face in the “Fitsnews” crapper all you want too. The real question to your school age kids (as well as mine) is why you are not grilling Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott and Nancy Mace on their knowledge of “Benghazi history”…!? Tara, do you have a clue what investment to make in Tarir Square..? Do you..?
Tara……you may never attain the position you really deserve…and why..? …because you want to please your station manager instead of the wallets of your listeners..?
What type of regret is that…?
Most of our so-called “foreign aid” dollars are not used to help raise the health and standard of living of unfortunates abroad. Instead, the money is spent within the US in the form of checks written to corporations who then funnel arms and weapons to fat, corrupt dictators who run our client states with an iron fist.
What’s left over is used to service the debt to international banks. Occasionally a few dollars remain to fund the pet projects of the elites in those repressive countries.
So either way, Bono was right. “Foreign Aid” dollars such as they are, do less than having the inherent population devoted to their own industry if only their dictators and other interfering corrupt entities would give them leave to do so….
Lest readers assume what you imply, that foreign aid only buys “arms and weapons”, there is a great deal of it spent on US agricultural items such as farming implements, seed, etc. You do recall “teach a man to fish” don’t you?
Yes, of course a portion goes to good deeds. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. Most people are unaware that such an large portion goes, in the form of direct payments, to corporations who supply military hardware.
I wonder to what degree Monsanto has a say in how US agricultural aid is disbursed?
Actually most of the military money is given in the form of credit to buy US Arms and munitions. Very little of the money “given” to Egypt actually stays in Egypt. if you look at the armored vehicles in the news, you’ll discover that many of them are US M113 APCs made by United Defense in Anniston, Alabama. CNN’s lead story on Egypt today has about 20 of them shown in the first picture accompanying the story.
Selling weapons to client states gives our weapons manufacturers something to do between contracts to produce weapons for the US. We’ve sold them AH64s, M1 and a slew of other equipment. Usually it is less capable that the top of the line vehicles we keep for ourselves but not always (They get M1A1s, not the state of the art M1A2 SEP TUSK)
Not only do US producers get the sales but by law, US carriers get the contract to carry the materials to Egypt. It’s just another form of corporate welfare that has the side benefit of keeping our weapons producers like General Dynamics Land Systems and General Dynamics open just in case.
Thus the pressure to continue this aid continues in the myriad of US congressional districts which depend on weapons contracts to keep our own population employed.
Decades ago the MIC saw that the way to assure continued and increased spending on arms was to diffuse the myriad of contracts throughout our economy…thus forcing elected representatives into the untenable position of hurting their own local economy should they choose to pursue limits on military spending, cancellation of unnecessary weapon systems, or (heaven forbid) initiatives leading to worldwide peace and reconciliation.
Exactly
Most of our so-called “foreign aid” dollars are not used to help raise the health and standard of living of unfortunates abroad. Instead, the money is spent within the US in the form of checks written to corporations which then funnel arms and weapons to fat, corrupt dictators who rule our client states through fear, intimidation, and murder.
What’s left over is used to service the debt to international banks. Occasionally a few dollars remain to fund the pet projects of the elites in those repressive countries.
As to Howard’s assertion that socialistic European states are collapsing under the weight of their welfare programs, that is pure hogwash. The collapse was centered largely on the southern tier of nations which brought into the deregulation of the banking sector…with disasterous results. The northern tier of states refused to go along with this deregulation scheme and weathered the storm quite well.
When Will refers to Howard Rich’s column as “excellent” I can only surmise that Mr. Sic’s threshold for excellence is very low indeed. Or, could it be that the “Type Will Personality” was pegged almost a century ago by the great socialist writer, Upton Sinclair:
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon not understanding it.”
So either way, Bono was right. “Foreign Aid” dollars such as they are, do less than having the inherent population devoted to their own industry if only their dictators and other interfering corrupt entities would give them leave to do so….
Lest readers assume what you imply, that foreign aid only buys “arms and weapons”, there is a great deal of it spent on US agricultural items such as farming implements, seed, etc. You do recall “teach a man to fish” don’t you?
Yes, of course a portion goes to good deeds. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. Most people are unaware that such an large portion goes, in the form of direct payments, to corporations who supply military hardware.
I wonder to what degree Monsanto has a say in how US agricultural aid is disbursed?
Actually most of the military money is given in the form of credit to buy US Arms and munitions. Very little of the money “given” to Egypt actually stays in Egypt. if you look at the armored vehicles in the news, you’ll discover that many of them are US M113 APCs made by United Defense in Anniston, Alabama. CNN’s lead story on Egypt today has about 20 of them shown in the first picture accompanying the story.
Selling weapons to client states gives our weapons manufacturers something to do between contracts to produce weapons for the US. We’ve sold them AH64s, M1 and a slew of other equipment. Usually it is less capable that the top of the line vehicles we keep for ourselves but not always (They get M1A1s, not the state of the art M1A2 SEP TUSK)
Not only do US producers get the sales but by law, US carriers get the contract to carry the materials to Egypt. It’s just another form of corporate welfare that has the side benefit of keeping our weapons producers like General Dynamics Land Systems and General Dynamics open just in case.
Thus the pressure to continue this aid continues in the myriad of US congressional districts which depend on weapons contracts to keep our own population employed.
Decades ago the MIC saw that the way to assure continued and increased spending on arms was to diffuse the myriad of contracts throughout our economy…thus forcing elected representatives into the untenable position of hurting their own local economy should they choose to pursue limits on military spending, cancellation of unnecessary weapon systems, or (heaven forbid) initiatives leading to worldwide peace and reconciliation.
Exactly
What’s the difference between God and Bono?… God doesn’t go around Ireland thinking he’s Bono .
What’s the difference between God and Bono?… God doesn’t go around Ireland thinking he’s Bono .
This is not the first time Bono has said this.. Both he and Ali take this stance. They tried implementing it years ago with Ali’s clothes line EDUN, which provides jobs in African countries.
This is not the first time Bono has said this.. Both he and Ali take this stance. They tried implementing it years ago with Ali’s clothes line EDUN, which provides jobs in African countries.
funny, but Bono doesn’t think he’s God. He actually tries to emulate Jesus as the scriptures say we should. He’s a very reasonable person in reality and extremely intelligent. Bono doesn’t mind growing and changing as he progresses through experience. Whatever his stance on action for global good, right or wrong, he means well. He has a heart for God and a special burden for Africa.
funny, but Bono doesn’t think he’s God. He actually tries to emulate Jesus as the scriptures say we should. He’s a very reasonable person in reality and extremely intelligent. Bono doesn’t mind growing and changing as he progresses through experience. Whatever his stance on action for global good, right or wrong, he means well. He has a heart for God and a special burden for Africa.