"What Do You Think Has Held Africans Back?"

James T. Harris, a conservative Republican blogger, thinks that Zambian-born conservative economist Dambisa Moyo's (pictured) indictment of foreign aid to Africa in her best-selling book Dead Aid - where she calls for a finite timeline to wean Africa off aid, in a New York Times interview where she is called the "anti-Bono" - could be applied to African Americans on social welfare: "O.k. I'm smitten. Not by Dambis[a] Moyo's beauty, but by her ideas! I linked to this article in my last post but it deserves to stand alone. As you read it, ask yourself this question: Has the same thing that held Africans back be holding Americans of African descent back? I think yes. Liberalism has made American of African descent depend[e]nt and disfuctionional [sic]. The only way back is to cut off support. Something that the dependent and those who thrive on their support (Democrats) will never do."

More: "Dambisa Moyo grew up in Zambia. She holds a master’s degree from Harvard, an MBA from American University, and a doctorate from Oxford, and has worked for the World Bank and Goldman Sachs. Oh yes, she's also has a whole hell of a lot more knowledge and experience than Bono, Geldof, the Chocolate Jesus and all the Democrats in [C]ongress rolled into one."

Booker Rising response: A few Booker Rising readers have made a similar argument. While potentially applicable to poor black American neighborhoods, the analogy to Black America as a whole doesn't work. It is common for aid to make up 70%+ of a sub-Saharan African country's budget. Meanwhile, "only" 12% of black Americans are on welfare. It bears repeating: 74% of black Americans are not poor. However, 24% of black Americans do work for the government (federal, state, or local), so one could argue that there are vested black interests in Big Government. While we're on the subject of Dr. Moyo, don't forget that she will be on CNN tomorrow (1pm & 5pm ET) discussing how foreign aid has hindered Africa's progress.