In this case I'd guess the DOGE cuts to foreign aid are a massive, massive contributor to the problem. A lot of third-world countries heavily relied on USAID et al to keep basic sanitation and healthcare going.
They are. This is why the billionaire tech class is complacent in this disaster. Musk is already a mass murderer due his illegal sabotage of USAID (estimates of 600000 deaths already [1]) this new outbreak adds to his death toll.
This is a valid strategic conclusion. It would require America ceding Africa and probably the Middle East as strategic theatres to China and, to a lesser degree, Russia and maybe France. (This may be worth the cost.)
It would also require trade and travel decoupling from both China and Europe, as well as from the Middle East and probably South America and Canada, too, given the transmission vectors inherent in those flows. (This isn’t worth the cost.)
So yes, if Americans accept lower living standards this equilibrium theoretically works. (Even if it’s stupid.) If we want to capitalize on global trade, and be able to vacation and do business wherever we please and have a reasonable expectation of being allowed to return home, on the other hand, and pay a fraction of the gains from the former to safeguard our health, this strategy fails.
The alternative being to tell your neighbour to tell their neighbour to stop defacating in the river or you'll stop paying their bills to bring the analogy closer to home...
Wow, why hasn't world leader China and progressive Europe stepped up to make up the difference? Don't they care about their own safety? They should be tripling funding to the WHO. This lies directly at their feet.
> why hasn't world leader China and progressive Europe stepped up to make up the difference?
Why should we expect anyone to step up? The default state of diseases is that they are not managed.
And as China (and maybe even Europe) do pivot, I'm not sure why they'd prioritise preventing it from spreading to Americans (we have troops stationed in the region) versus to their own homelands.
Le all-mighty dollar, it tastes best when given freely no?
> It's almost as if the double standard is off the charts.
I agree. I love how the same people will typically call for US withdrawal from any/all military theatres; whilst promoting sending <FORCED> aid at the end of a needle. I think a lot of these people were of the "lock them up for their covid heresy" category...
If this was China exerting influence I'm sure we'd start complaining there's poison in the needles, bribery and how they should go back and focus on China.
USAID provided funding for a lot of stuff, but specifically with regards to infectious disease control, providing funding for infectious disease control in countries that don't have the resources or priorities to do it on their own addresses the risk that such diseases are not controlled and spread to the US and also the risk that such diseases spread and result in (negative) economic impact for the US.
The disease control interventions really are a mix of teaching and doing. In acute situations, experts are brought in to do (some of) the things. But mostly it's training and outreach and supplying equipment to do routine disease control and surveillance of issues that need help.
No, it raises the question of what is going wrong if you've spent the last x years teaching them to fish and they still refuse to. Either your approach, their willingness or something else has clearly gone wrong here.
Them not willing to fish still puts your people at risk. At the end of the day you guys still haven’t managed to build the wall and keep “aliens” away…
> how about countries with these risks take action to reduce these risks
With what money? There's a reason they're dependent on USAID.
> I'm sure there's a parable about teaching someone to fish rather than feeding them
Unfortunately the priorities of USAID (and European foreign aid as well) aren't exactly aligned with that paradigm. It's the worst expressed in agriculture because we just dumped our excess production on Africa to keep our prices stable, but foreign aid being sustainable is a relatively new and not really widespread requirement.
> With what money? There's a reason they're dependent on USAID.
How much does BASIC hygiene cost it's like manners. It's education (which is more than well funded at a "throw cash at it problem".
> we just dumped our excess production
Well in a nutshell, yes we'd dumping quite a lot on Africa, that doesn't mean we should shore up the system with yet another western derived screw-up. At this point I'll go for the good old star trek perspective of impacting a cultures development by suddenly advancing their technological position.
which is the statement being made to cancel the money since after X years there are almost zero deliverables rather than being the a&e dept for the world, in countries where leaders have fleets of sports cars whilst their people die of situations not far from cholera.
To hell with your historical collective guilt machine.
I honestly dont care what people did before I was born. I had absolutely no decision in anything of theirs. Had no choice in any of that. Nor did I enslave or torture or murder people. My parents didnt either. Their parents didnt either.
And somehow, Im responsible for shit that happened hundreds of years ago? Whatever.
I dont mind helping and working collectively for a human cause. But im also not going to be an emotional collective guilt tampon because people before I was born did bad things.
Id say "Take it up with them", but theyre dead. Thats why you flail at anybody and try to make them feel responsible.
I will not answer to idiocy like "your bloodline X generations back".
I am not feeling guilty simply because I am not guilty.
And I do not feel guilty about historical happenings I did not have a hand in. They are things to read about to understand how we got here. But caring? No. More like dispassionate historical context.
I fight against shit like "Collective Historical Guilt". Liberals here in the USA use this crap, like in worthless land akcnowldgements but do absolutely nothing.
Ive also seen a lot of republican and MAGA types also have their 'white' ethnicity weaponized. Its obvious when 1 side blames you on a demographic you cant change (skin color). You vote against them.
I will never support collective guilt/punishment. And I will not 'care' about some historical wrongs.
Im forced to engage in this system of capitalism. I am not a capitalist. My political power is 1 vote, aka basically nothing.
Because Im forced to engage, Im somehow responsible for the horrors others do. I absolutely reject this absurd line of thought.
Do I try to limit damage on voluntary things I do? Absolutely. Do I also try to help where help is wanted? Yes, I do. Thats also being a good human to fellow humans.
You mention: arms trade, mining, mercenary armies.
Ive never traded weapons. I dont even own any guns.
Mining? Im in the process of rewilding my property back to more forest. Im also getting rid of invasives previous owners planted (english ivy, etm).
And thanfulky, Im not a mercernary army. Ffs, really?
I have absolutely 0 sway on any of these topics. And I wont ever. Im not a politician, whose votes really do count.
> Sure enough, if you close your eyes hard enough you can pretend your wealth is well earned and unrelated the ills of the world.
I guess youre one of those types that because I might identify as "white" thats im a millionaire or otherwise abuse people at scale to make billions.
Protip: im not. Most of the jobs I worked was in food service or factory work. And all your accusatory platitudes are as deep as a porta-potty.
And yeah, there is no ethical consumption in capitalism. Its all exploitation, at every scale and measure. Dont have a whole lot of choices about it. Cry harder.
The United States predates you, and will almost certainly outlive you.
You, an individual with a microscopic lifespan and negligible influence in the grand sweep of history, do not in fact share any guilt for the things your ancestors did, nor do you deserve credit for the greatness they wrought. The United States, however, deserves blame where guilty and praise where worthy for what it did during its lifespan, which expands hundreds of years into the past, and with luck will continue into the future.
I'm not blaming victims, I'm blaming those in charge of helping the victims at the first order of blame. how dare you be so callous as to drop to an emotional attack as a discussion point. please look inwards at your sorry self.
