Unintended Consequences (#547)

<p>The picture above is of the dying forest where Wayne's father lives. It is the unintended consequences of shutting down the lumber industry 20 years ago allegedly to protect the forest. But the opposite happened. It's a fitting metaphor for what charity is doing to many third-world economies. Sometimes our most well-intentioned actions have devastating impact we do not foresee and would not have chosen. Wayne recently watched a documentary called <em>Poverty, Inc</em>, and it lays out in stark terms how misguided approaches to helping poorer nations can actually make them more impoverished by destroying their local economy. The industry that surrounds world poverty is structured on obsolete premises and yet continues to exist because it benefits third-world warlords, the banking industry, and agri-business in the first world. This is a powerful movie that will change how you view poverty and failed government and charity polices. We need to empower people in poverty to employ their own creativity to building an economy, rather than use their need to line our own pockets. Perhaps unadvisedly at the end the wade into the current political climate of the U.S.</p><p><strong>Podcast Notes:</strong><br> Wayne's blog on <a href="http://www.lifestream.org/best-video-economic-development/">Your Help is Hurting</a><br> You can view Poverty, Inc at Netflix and <a href="http://www.povertyinc.org">read more about the people behind it here</a>.<br> There are still a few more slots available if you want to join Brad and Wayne on their <a href="http://itcisrael.wix.com/thegodjourneyisrael">Trip to Israel</a><br> You can find our <a href="http://www.lifestream.org/progress-pokot-one-year/">latest update on our work in Kenya here.</a><br> Add your voice to our question/comment line&nbsp;via&nbsp;Skype at "TheGodJourney"</p>