Quote Originally Posted by lucy View Post
The first world doesn't help the third. We don't help, we exploit. Not as brutal as in colonial days, today it's more subtle: Closing our borders for agricultural products so a couple of American sugar farmers can have a good living is just one of many examples. Same with rice, meat, just about every agricultural product is protected by taxes in the western civ, while we demand from the developing countries that they open their borders for our services and technological products. There's a good reason why Brazil, India and some African countries brought down the newest round of the World Trading Organization talks.
Yes, which is one reason I'm strongly opposed to protectionism like this. I would love to see all the tariffs and subsidies eradicated, but there are too many votes to be bought by keeping them.

About sending doctors: Screw that. Screw that big time. In fact what happens right now is that America, Britain, Canada and to a lesser extent other countries of the western civilization are actually draining medical personnel from developing countries such as Ghana and Malawi. There are more Ghanese nurses working outside of Ghana than there are in Ghana, same with Malawian doctors.
No. Absolutely not. I hate this sort of speech, because of the implicit assumption that when someone chooses to move from one place to another this represents an asset - property - being taken from its owner. I may live in the UK, and bear a British passport, but I am not the property of the British government: if I choose to lead a better life elsewhere, that is my decision and my right. I am not being "drained" or "taken": I am under no obligation whatsoever to stay or work here - and any country which I choose for myself is entirely blameless. The notion that being born in Ghana or Malawi should somehow oblige me to stay there rather than lead the best life I can is not just absurd to me, but smacks very much of slavery or feudalism. Not to mention hypocrisy, as you complain about barriers to free movement of goods, then complain about a lack of barriers to movement of people!