As we learned when we studied price floors and price ceilings, when the government intervenes in the free market, it often makes matters worse. Causing unforseen hardships when trying to fix a problem is known as the "Law of Unintended Consequences." Just such a thing is happening in Haiti. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that we shouldn't help others in times of need, but we should also fully realize the consequences of that help. Read the article and comment. Come up with at least one other example of "unintended consequences."
38 comments:
there are a lot of "unintended consequences" happening in Haiti right now. Yes all the giving of food and living necessities do hurt local businesses. But another "unintended consequence" would be making life easy for Haitians. With all these free stuff for all these people, it might be hurting them in the long run. These Haitians might be a little to dependent on free items and goods to survive. All these Haitians who need food and shelter temporarily might be a little to needy. So basically helping the Haiti is a good thing, but the Haitian people need to start working and getting money and spending on local businesses in order to better the economy.
Haiti faces unintended consequences when other country relief agencies give free items such as water to aid the victims. Another example of an unintended consequence would be when Indonesia was hit by a tsunami. United States sent food and water for the victims in that country.
The unintended consequence of giving aid to Haiti is that they might lose the drive and/or ability to fend for themselves. Giving food and shelter to those who need it is all fine and dandy, but giving the means to give THEMSELVES food and shelter would be the best solution. No unintended consequences there. Also, the Haitian government could start a habit of calling on the US for help and aid every time they are in a bit of a pickle. The US wants to be the knight in shining armor, so yes will be theo nly answer. This puts us further in this little economic hole we've dug for ourselves.
Another unintended consequence from the relief effort in Haiti would be the backlash from Americans who will suffer from their government's decision to pledge millions of dollars to Haiti. During a time of high unemployment, the jobless will feel as if their government is not doing enough to help them, the taxpayers, and spending money that we do not have. With the national debt steadily rising, the government does need to step back and see if we are in the position to always be the country that comes to the rescue.
The unintended consequences that the Americans provided Haitians, hurt small businesses even though the intention is meant well. Another example of an unintended consequence is when america decided to use taxpayers' monies to bail out banks in jeopardy of going bankrupt. Although the government had good intentions of saving banks to help the US economy, it was at the price of the innocent citizen.
Haiti faces many "unintended consequences" at the moment. With countries offering aid, it could turn around and hurt the helpers. Just like with the Iceland dilemma going on right now, if a country helps another, there is a mutual belief that the receiver "pays back" the giver some way. This is currently not the case with Iceland, as the country was polled to not pay back all of the debts they owe. Haiti should not be like Iceland and should take help in a time of need, and be prepared to return the favor.
The relief effort in Haiti has yielded some adverse effects than were intended. In trying to help the country rebuild, foreign countries (including the U.S.) have hurt Haiti's market and the local business owners who so desperately need to survive. The foreign aid has hindered the flow of money from the people of Haiti to the local businesses that could be benefiting by providing items that are in high demand. Another example of an "unintended consequence" can be found with the Hurricane Katrina disaster--the aid given to the state of Louisiana ended up hurting the state, and the areas around New Orleans specifcally. Still today New Orleans is struggling to excape poverty and is trying to recover.
By giving so much free aid to Haiti, many unintended consequences have occured. With the free stuff handed out, local businesses are hurt because no one will buy their product if it is being handed out for free. It also discourages other Haitians to start their own businesses. Also, the US has promised a lot of money and resources to Haiti, taking away from American taxpayers. Haitians will have to take the initiative to start helping themselves or the economy will never recover.
How can we teach the Haitians the American Dream if we hand out copious amounts of aid? Providing food and sheler to the Haitians may seem like the noble thing to do, but in fact our aid would treacherously, though unintentionally, be depriving the people of Haiti of the opportunity and drive to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. If we wish any sort of prosperity on Haiti, then the American thing, the Right thing, to do is to refrain from being too charitable.
Kathleen Clark
Okay, my real post is soon to come, but i had to post this. Mr. Pye you have to watch this. How Iceland responds to crisis:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/56633/saturday-night-live-update-bjork
I definitely agree that the charity we give to Haiti is hurting its economy and that taxpayers are harmed from the misuse of this money. But it is also important to consider the global effects this aid to Haiti will have on its traders. Once Haiti's economy loses its growth, all of its traders will have less business with Haiti, which will decrease their growth. Just like in WWII, beaten countries take a long time to recover damage and form relations with others to improve their economy from the help they get by those who won, an "unintended consequence" to fixing the situation.
there are many unintended consequences that are impacting Haiti due to America's response to the hardships in Haiti. Although yes, we are lending out our humanitarian hand, were not taking into consideration that the Haitians must support themselves in building back up and cannot solely rely on our aid. Of course its a charitable thing for America to do, but how will they stabilize themselves if we dont give them the opportunity to try?
Our nation was founded on the principle of Rugged Individualism- a principle we are not instructing the destroyed Haiti to follow. Our own country, established in turmoil, struggled to recover from the debt and social aftermath of the Revolutionary War. However, we did it as an independent nation - we succeeded by instituting policy and government that fit our people best, a government that would remain stable for centuries. I see little if this in Haiti's future. If we had been given handouts upon our Founding, our success would rely only upon others' aid. In Haiti's case, their economy cannot take off because domestic businesses cannot compete with free foreign goods. In all, if we hope to help Haiti establish a strong government and economy, they will have to do it on their own accord by deciding what will work best for them in the long-term, just like our founding fathers did. This proposal will alomst definitely NOT be adopted by our government or society, which is filled with misguided, but generous citizens and politicians who obssesed with a reputable PR image.
By helping Haiti, we have caused many undesired consequences. By giving Haitians so much free stuff, we are hurting small business owners. Now no one will buy their products. Also, by giving so much money to Haiti, we are hurting ourselves. In a time when the national debt is rising, we need to focus more on bringing the nation out of recession.
Invisible hand smack down!....adam smith is not going to be a happy camper right about now.not helping the haitian economy is the big unintended coinsequence. the tsunami relief was somewhat the same deal where nations worldwide joined forces to help those little asian nations. i would think the law of unintended consequeces would be evident in the wake of any catastrophe, natural or otherwise.
anju joes
period 7
What do you think would supplying free food do to the workers mentality? Well I see U.S acting as a communist country now. U.S government is buying food and other stuff from here and are supplying freely to those who don't have them. Isn't this what communism really is? Well not really. But it seems similar.
When Haitians get free food, they would feel a lack of responsibility and will be discouraged to work. If relief is sent to Haiti for long enough time, then they would never work again for money. Well money doesn't have any importance in free food supply. So later, when they have to work, they might riot. who knows, they may even break into go downs and rob all food supply. This could be one unintended consequence.
Well, the countries that are supplying is not really helping Haiti, but are actually pulling it further down into poverty. Especially the fact that France supplied rice that they bought from local market and U.S BRINGS RICE FROM AMERICAN MARKET, proves this. If aid is needed, buy stuff from locality if they are of adequate quality. Only if quality is low, bring from other countries. This idea, as revealed to me by the article is true.
Foreign aid given to Haiti has had many unintentional consequences. For example, by handing out free goods in Haiti, the United States has taken customers away from local struggling businesses. No fiscal Haitian would spend their money on something they could otherwise get for free. Many Haitian business owners realize this fact, and they are thus discouraged from starting their own businesses because they feel that they are doomed to failure. Also, the aid the United States has provided is coming out of the taxpayers pockets.
Global aid is all fine and dandy for the Haitians right now, but if we continue to give them free bees, we will stunt their future growth. By giving out goods for free, we are crippling Haiti’s economy. This competition we are creating is an unintended consequence of our humanitarian efforts. So while it is ok to supply goods imported from other countries right now, we must use the Haitian goods as soon as local businesses are able to produce enough to support themselves. Another example of unintended consequences is the government bailout, we saved jobs but added a huge amount of debt to our federal deficit.
The aid groups are all definately aware of the neeed to purchase locally but the problem is making the transition. One issue which was mentioned is finding reliable local buisnesses. Another is that many are still closed because of damage from the earthquake and don't have the start-up capital to rebuild and begin hiring before profits can be made again. It also doesn't help that aid is already depressing prices and hurting these companies so that they don't want to start up or do not look capable of filling out the orders of the agencies. However, as aid agencies beegin to spend dollars in Haiti the effect should be exponential as each dollar which they spend is spent several times over by Haitians allowing buinesses to get past the starting point and encouraging more spending and so on. The law of unitended consequences is everpresent and seemingly omnipotent. My example is one of the more humorous that I have heard of. Apparently Green Peace activists were trying to save baby seals from the seal hunt by throwing dark green permanent dye on their valuble snow white fur, however, they ignored the fact that one of the main reasons they have this fur is for camoflouge. The polar bears were very greatful for the activists work.
There are many "unintended consequences" by giving foreign aid to Haiti right now. If people could get dinner for free from someone, why would they struggle to buy their dinner from a local convenient store. Because American is giving free water and food to Haitians, local businesses in Haiti are losing the business. Why pay for something when you can just get it for free? Another "unintended consequence" could be that because of the damage of local businesses from all the charitable offerings, locals will be less likely encouraged to start their own business, which could hurt the economy in Haiti in the long run.
Haiti is facing many unintended consequences right now. The aid form the United States is taking away from the small business owners because the Haitians are not purchasing from them because we are giving them everything for free. Therefore,the United States should cut back and give them a chance on their own because if we keep giving them everything then they won't want to work on their own, and will have no motivation. If they want to get back on the right track, they need to help themselves and try to get their country back in order.
Another unintended consequence of the aid to Haiti is the fact that the US and other countries will be indirectly funding the corrupt Haitian government. If the government had been left to fend for itself the people would have gotten angry and probably would have kicked it out.
The preservation of humanity relies on the recognition, by the strong, to not aide the weak and dilute natural selection. Currently, 300,000 random people were killed by the earthquake, unjust and understandably so. However, it is the duty of the weak to solve their own problems. They obviously were left with standing businesses, and therefore have, or at least had, the means to resurrect their own country without help. Now that the world has come to their aide, their best hopes of economic recovery are being run out of business by larger entities, such as developed nations, which are able to “sell” goods below cost. We ought to discontinue all forms of aide to Haiti for their benefit, and to preserve our national credit card which is hemorrhaging into debt. The cash for clunkers program hurt the free market when it encouraged those who were already looking for a car to buy one, and then discourages those who were later on the fence until such a program comes along again. The whole program is flawed and has done nothing more than cost the free market business, in the long run, and further generate debt on the national credit card.
The unintended consequences in Haiti are unavoidable if the country wishes to use foreign aid. The people of Haiti who are complaining about these consequences should keep their mouths shut and be thankful for the fact that the rest of the world decided to help rebuild their country.
Another example of unintended consequences would be when the U.S. government gives handouts to poor Americans. By supplying these people with a source of income and taxing them at lower rates, the government is giving them no reason to take initiative and start working for themselves. Therefore, the poor are more likely to remain poor and unhelpful to society because of government handouts.
"There is no free lunch".That's the first thing that came to my mind when I read the article. The American government does not mean to produce such "unintended consequences intentionally." If nothing is free, why should Haitians get it for free? I think, in the case of Haiti, we should just give a push, an initiative to reestablish the normal economic cycle in the nation. Another "unintended consequence" would be the American invasions in the middle east, the actions of America after the tsunami of 2004, and even the food stamps.
I understand that businesses in Haiti are in a very tight spot. However people their are starving and the need immediate aid. I do however think it is not to much to ask for the foreign governments to buy the supplies from Haitian merchants who already have the goods in question. I firmly believe that we should continue the relief effort but we should also take into account the long term effect of our actions on an undeveloped country.
While the national aid flowing to Haiti from all around the world may seem like a blessing, the free goods are out-competing local businesses, many of which need funds to repair damaged capital goods and stay afloat in this time of crisis. If these entrepreneurs go under, it could severely damage any ability Haiti has of standing on its own two feet after this quake. But if the UN keeps its word and slowly transition to buying relief goods from Haitian suppliers then all might be well.
An example of another unintended consequence would be welfare payments. While the intentions behind them are good, the dependents in these programs often lose any drive they had at improving their situation, and become dead weight in the economy.
Indeed these "unintended consequences" are hurting Haitians in relation to their businesses. How can these people make sales, when foreign aid is providing the resources the Haitians need? Business owners cannot hire the much needed employees since sales are so weak. The nation of Haiti cannot recover economically if their sole proprietors can't make sales and hire employees, due to the "unintended consequences." Even though foreign aid is very crucial to their survival, the other nations including the U.S. shouldn't take full responsibility of a nation that needs to get back on their feet.
giving food and other such relief items is good because we can kinda help haiti get back on its feet but we tend to over do it with our unintended consequesnces the people tend to depend on us way too much and they get lazy and they will not take the innitiative to do things themselves
giving food and other relief items are helpfull expecially since haiti is in such a distressed state they cant help them elf giving items like this will assist them in getting up on their two feet but when we kep helping them the result is unintended consequences they dependd on us so much that they get lazy and rely on the us instead of doing it themselves
giving food and other relief items are helpfull expecially since haiti is in such a distressed state they cant help them elf giving items like this will assist them in getting up on their two feet but when we kep helping them the result is unintended consequences they dependd on us so much that they get lazy and rely on the us instead of doing it themselves
giving food and other relief items are helpfull expecially since haiti is in such a distressed state they cant help them elf giving items like this will assist them in getting up on their two feet but when we kep helping them the result is unintended consequences they dependd on us so much that they get lazy and rely on the us instead of doing it themselves
By funding the Haitian government, the U.S. government is supporting the corrupt government. Furthermore, the giving away of free goods discourages small local businesses. Why would Haitians buy goods when they can get them for free? We need to teach the country of Haiti some good old fashioned rugged individualism.
Our expanding national debt has become a major topic of concern for many Americans. We can no longer afford to be the "safety net" for nations to call on when they are experiencing a crisis. Though cold hearted, it is necessary for us to turn a blind eye to countries in distress, so that we might put that money into our own economy and regain our own footing.
Although we tried our very hardest to ban together (in quite the valliant display) to help our ocean-sharing neighbors, we have unintentionally promoted further dependence on foreign aid. America has yet again established a precedence that we will aid whomever, whenever, despite our own econimic status. Should the time come for us to revert to that dear (and first) forefather's idea of non-interventionism (not to be confused with isolationism... ), we would face denigration and ultimately lose the respect commanded from other nations.
The considerable effort and money other nations have put into transporting food, water, and other essentials to Haiti has come with unforeseen ramifications. Among these consequences is the fact that domestic Haiti businesses cannot possibly compete with free products provided generously by the world wide relief effort. Thus, effective long term recovery for Haiti could be severely undermined because of the trouble local companies have of keeping up sales (which in turn means that numerous jobs would be lost) and stimulating the Haiti economy.
As far as unintended consequences go, the situation in Haiti is similar to the one we face here in the U.S. with dependency on financial aid. In our case, we have made many people dependent on government welfare checks which we, as tax-paying people, are paying out of our pockets for. If the situation in Haiti continues, we may make them dependent on financial aid from many countries, making it harder and harder for them to bring themselves out of poverty and to prevent a similar situation from happening again.
Kathleen Clark
Pd. 7
With the preexisting poverty, prevalent in Haiti, any industry that can get back on it's feet is a step in the right direction. As the U.S. provides pro bono aid to the devastated country, these slowly recovering industries face the difficulty of competing with the free-for-the-taking, American hand outs. More good would surely come from pushing the baby bird out of the nest, so to speak. You can't baby a country and expect growth to arise. The hope is that companies will get back on their feet due to the necessity of business, without the help of the U.S.
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