More than 8 million children die each year because of the polluted water they drink and air they breathe. To those in absolute poverty in the developing countries, daily life means another day of suffering. To be sure, aid is no substitute for good governance at home and economic expansion abroad, but it can provide the poor with a bridge as they await those larger changes. The real tragedy is that aid spending is being reduced to trivial amounts just as knowledge about how to eliminate poverty has reached new heights. Far from being a waste of money, development assistance can be successfully allocated to responsible governments and nongovernmental organizations that make anti-poverty programs a priority.
Aid works when it's effectively targeted.
If we are to craft a humane response to globalization's meltdown, aid budgets must be increased. Without increases, it is hard to imagine what sort of world the Western allies expect to build. Of all our foreign-policy instruments, aid is the only one that targets the most vulnerable. These are the people we have a vital interest in assisting if we are to create a peaceful world of vibrant democracies and free markets. Many consider foreign assistance a waste of taxpayer money.