Financial aid to impoverished nations' governments should be ceased.

Development cannot be characterized by GDP alone. GDP is a factor, but you also have to take into account things like birth rate, infant mortality, percent of non-agricultural economy... all sorts of social factors are involved as well. Increasing production of raw materials will not stimulate development. In fact, stimulating production of raw materials will INCREASE a trade deficit that is originally caused by the fact that the country exports raw materials and imports finished goods! 1) I do not mean to suggest here that your argument in and of itself is irrelevant - but it IS irrelevant to my first point in Round 1. I spoke of government corruption. Loans to Haliburton do not have any bearing at all on the corruption at the governmental level that is the root of the problem. 2) Yes - and when it makes the price cheaper for us consumers, it leaves the producers with less money, which is a bad thing as far as their development is concerned, and supports my rationale for giving the developing countries LESS financial aid to their governments. Actually, in practice, the people that receive microfinance loans are just as likely to pay the loan back as you or me. They are not receiving loans of several thousands of dollars, but rather only a couple hundred. When invested in things like livestock and agriculture, the initial investment repays them many times over. Loaning more to women than men may be sexist, but it is also realist - the women are less of a credit risk than men, and do more for the community. Actually, the developed world doesn't need to make sacrifices for the developing world to develop. It simply needs to realize that the Western model and economic approach doesn't work in all cases. What we're seeing here is a contrast between a power structure that looks like a triangle with the wide side at the base. There are only a few number of people with power. The monetary structure is the reverse - with the tip at the bottom. This creates much of the internal imbalance, and financial aid from the developed world only increases this contrast. What is needed is to begin putting the money towards things like infrastructure, education, and institution-building. Currently, we're doing things like shipping combines to Ethiopia. They sit in the mud and rust because there are no roads to drive them on... this is a HUGE problem, and the reason why the West is doing more ill than good at the moment. We don't need to make sacrifices to change this - we simply need to put the money where it WILL matter - not where we THINK it will matter. Using our aid to help developing countries won't necessarily drive the price of raw materials up. When demand is high, and availability is high, the price goes down. When nations develop, their production of raw materials will increase anyway, but they'll have the infrastructure and resources to lower their cost of production without changing the price they charge, which will increase their profits. No monetary sacrifice needed on the part of the developed world at all. Only the will to admit that the Western model didn't work and we need a new one.