Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site amdahl.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!zehntel!dual!amdahl!gam From: gam@amdahl.UUCP (Gordon A. Moffett) Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Re: poor starving people Message-ID: <589@amdahl.UUCP> Date: Mon, 26-Nov-84 12:57:12 EST Article-I.D.: amdahl.589 Posted: Mon Nov 26 12:57:12 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 28-Nov-84 02:49:04 EST References: <642@amd.UUCP> Distribution: net Organization: Amdahl Corp, Sunnyvale CA Lines: 39 In article <642@amd.UUCP> Phil Ngai (amd!phil) writes: > Are the United States and other > countries expected to continually bail out countries which can't feed > themselves? I think there must be too many people living in Ethiopia. > I think there probably isn't any birth control there. > > PROPOSAL > The United States should send more food to Ethiopia, but all recipients > must consent to sterilization. I presume that certain countries like the USSR, US and Canada have much more productive land than others, and the productive croplands of the world are not evenly distributed; thus these countries' surpluses SHOULD be going to starving 3rd-4th-5th world countries. [ Now I will shoot my argument all to hell ] But aren't these countries more productive not because of geography but because of advanced farming technologies? American farmers produce more food per acre than anywhere else. [ Attempting to recover ... ] The Ethiopian famine is not a perpetual state for that country. They are asking for help in time of crisis. We are ethically obligated to help. [ Final question ] We have the power to feed countries like Ethiopia. What if their population continues to grow ``unchecked'' and they fall into perpetual famine? Is it not possible that by helping Ethiopia to survive we are prolonging the shortage of domestic food by maintaining a population Ethiopia itself cannot feed? -- Gordon A. Moffett ...!{ihnp4,hplabs,amd,sun}!amdahl!gam 37 22'50" N / 122 59'12" W [ This is just me talking. ]