A Feeble Economy, Knocked Flat

A Feeble Economy, Knocked Flat

online.wsj.com

The earthquake in Haiti deals a devastating blow to a tiny economy already struggling to emerge from the aftermath of several hurricanes and decades of political instability.

Haiti's $7 billion economy—roughly a quarter the size of North Dakota's—is a collection of subsistence farming and small-scale production of apparel primarily for export to the U.S., the nation's largest trading partner.

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Haiti has little economy, mostly agricultural and that was severely affected in 2008 by a hurricane:

"The nation, where 80% of the population lives under the poverty line, has yet to recover from a spate of four hurricanes in 2008. The storms wiped out roughly 15% of the country's gross domestic product, and killed 165,000 goats, 26,000 cows and 60,000 pigs."

My guess, Haiti will be an ongoing recipient of US and world aid. How do you rebuild an economy that has little basis already? This will be an ongoing situation with a much politician and political discussion!

online.wsj.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 14/1/10 by plumranch]

Ya, Help them with the American tax dollar.. You know its not like American need it.. Really What did those damn Americans do to deserve to use their tax money for things they need... Ohh right.. They paid into it..

Sucks to be American dont it?

reply to post by ThichHeaded

Ya, Help them with the American tax dollar..

OK, the reason the US helps Haiti with dollars and help is to keep Haitians in Haiti.

Remember back in Bill Clinton's time the Haitians were coming here by the boat full with AIDS and unsavory political refugees and Clinton was in favor of letting them in for political reasons?

Again, there is a very good and viable reason for Haitians remaining in Haiti!

Are you saying all Haitians are Criminal AIDS cases?

Wow!

Nothing like generalizing and dehumanizing an entire populace while they go through a natural disaster.

reply to post by plumranch


And all I was saying is we could help our own over here wit the billions we are going to give to them...

Meh whatever.

Funny thing, when I saw the title of the OP, I was expecting to read about the US economy! It truly fits Haiti, I was just expecting it to be about us.

reply to post by whatukno

Are you saying all Haitians are Criminal AIDS cases?

Hardly! No, Haiti is doing relatively well reducing its rate of AIDS from about 6% to 2 to 3% of the population.

What the US and the world doesn't want is a constant stream of boats overloaded with desperate Haitian emigrants headed for anywhere but Haiti. That may happen again as it did in '92!

[edit on 14/1/10 by plumranch]

Haiti's feeble economy is a direct result of years of feeble government reign. Amazingly, Haiti's economy is in such a stark contrast to that of their neighboring Dominican Republic. The D.R. had a GDP of nearly $87 billion in 2007 with tourism as their single largest revenue stream.

Nothing but an imaginary line and an inept Haitian govt. separates the two nation.s. Same beautiful Caribbean location, same crystal blue water.

Haiti has been in a shambles for decades and most recently since we started messing around down there in the mid 90's with Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

Sadly, the people have suffered the most under this govt. and now they have this disaster to cope with.

[edit on 14-1-2010 by jibeho]

reply to post by jibeho

Haiti's feeble economy is a direct result of years of feeble government reign.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. It has been a travesty of mistakes and natural circumstances. Sociology, government, environment have all contributed and Haiti is always compared to its successful neighbor Dominican Republic.
Haitian personal income for instance is 20% of DR's. DR has rich productive forests, Haiti used to but they are gone now, used for firewood, the land exposed and eroded. Tourists who go there come away amazed and discouraged.

Rebuilding Haiti will be a big challenge. Perhaps it is a possibility for positive change as disasters always are but not without proper leadership/ direction. Another Chavez type leader in Haiti for instance would be disastrous.

Originally posted by plumranch
reply to post by jibeho

 

Haiti's feeble economy is a direct result of years of feeble government reign.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. It has been a travesty of mistakes and natural circumstances. Sociology, government, environment have all contributed and Haiti is always compared to its successful neighbor Dominican Republic.
Haitian personal income for instance is 20% of DR's. DR has rich productive forests, Haiti used to but they are gone now, used for firewood, the land exposed and eroded. Tourists who go there come away amazed and discouraged.

Rebuilding Haiti will be a big challenge. Perhaps it is a possibility for positive change as disasters always are but not without proper leadership/ direction. Another Chavez type leader in Haiti for instance would be disastrous.

Hi Plumranch,

The DR is one of the problems for Haiti, like Mexico/US.
Haitians cross the border due to starvation, and they work in DR sugar cane fields as indentured labor, not legally, but in practice.

Rebuilding will be almost impossible. Anyone that does not recognize Haiti as a strategic neighbor of the US is not looking. The DR is an ally of the US.

Haiti could wind up becoming part of the DR, due to necessity, it would not be pretty. But still a strategic "win" for the US. It can also just as easily voluntarily become an American territory, again a strategic win but not a good thing.

It's a huge responsibility for the US to take a major role in the future of Haiti.

It's in our best interest.

The primary, and most important reason to help Haiti, is humanitarian, the second is self interest, and finally regional stability.

Anyone that thinks Obama is kowtowing, or grandstanding is asleep, and has no sense of compassion.

It's worth every penny, and will offset the immigration that is sure to follow in the aftermath of this earthquake.

What people should contrast if they want to be ignorant but at least have a rational baseline is the response to Katrina by the previous administration.

Should something happen here, at least we know the President will take quick ,and prudent action.

Cheers,

Ziggy Strange

Cigars from the DR are great, maybe Haiti should grow tobacco and learn to roll cigars
But seriously, I think the only way to rebuild their country and strengthen their economy is to encourage more trade with Haiti, and maybe encourage manufacturing of goods in Haiti. If the Haitian government can make at least the coastal regions safe, perhaps tourism could be a part of the future economy there.

reply to post by ziggystrange

Should something happen here, at least we know the President will take quick ,and prudent action.

You're faith in the current administration is impressive! The US waits patiently for Obama to do something quick and with prudence!

reply to post by AnonymousMoose

Cigars from the DR are great, maybe Haiti should grow tobacco and learn to roll cigars But seriously, I think the only way to rebuild their country and strengthen their economy is to encourage more trade with Haiti, and maybe encourage manufacturing of goods in Haiti. If the Haitian government can make at least the coastal regions safe, perhaps tourism could be a part of the future economy there.

I'd like to be optimistic but. Cigars from the DR are good because DR has some of the most fertile valleys anywhere plus it gets plentiful rainfall. Haiti is neither fertile nor gets natural rain (blocked by the high mountains between the countries). Haiti has nothing to trade, no economy to speak of. And why go to Haiti as a tourist when you have DR and a host of other great island destinations?

Haiti's economy in large part is fueled by the U.S. with Hatians living and working abroad here.

There is a huge Hatian community here in Miami and most of them support relatives back in Haiti and most of them once they can establish legal citizenship travel back and forth quite a bit from here in the U.S. to Haiti.

When I lived in Los Angeles decades ago at the time there were more El Salvadorians living in L.A. than El Salvador!

The money that relatives earn here and send there doesn't count as part of such nation's economies but it is a lot of money!

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler

Haiti's economy in large part is fueled by the U.S. with Haitians living and working abroad here.

A lot like Cuba and the American Cuba community. Those dollars sure help out!

Above all, Haiti needs a stable government free from corruption if anything is ever going to be accomplished. Haiti has decades of history full of in fighting and civil unrest amongst its wide array of 15 or 16 political parties.

France and the US have been routinely involved in all matters pertaining to Haitian strife and unrest.

Rebuilding is going to be a political and logistical mess. Another nation is going to have to maintain a permanent presence if anything is going to be accomplished.

When it is all over and the nation is rebuilt they will have to focus on tourism to start generating revenue once again. The nation has been stripped of any other resources. Hopefully that will give them a sound foundation to develop other companion industries once again.

reply to post by jibeho
Sarkozy calls for International Donors Conference

France has sent in planes and 2 ships and water treatment. Looks like France is coming with a good response.

France has historic ties to Haiti. It was among the first countries to send aid to the small island. So far, Paris has dispatched several planes loaded with emergency teams and relief supplies, and will be sending two military ships and a water treatment center shortly. The international community has also pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Haiti.

Can you imagine what it must be like with 10 million people, all the plumbing broken in a tropical country? Whew!

What they really need is shiploads of caterpillars and track hoes to move the debris out of the way so supplies can move in!






[edit on 15/1/10 by plumranch]

Originally posted by plumranch
reply to post by ziggystrange

 

Should something happen here, at least we know the President will take quick ,and prudent action.

You're faith in the current administration is impressive! The US waits patiently for Obama to do something quick and with prudence!

Thank you for the response.

I felt the statement was valid. In your case I was mistaken.

Let's hash it out elsewhere.

Ziggy Strange

reply to post by ziggystrange


Hi Zig,

A year from now we will have a better perspective. The only thing we know about Obama so far is that he kept the country guessing about the Afghanistan commitment for a couple of months. Many, many people were very unhappy about that lack of commitment and inability to come to a decision!

I had the impression that you were going to bring up Katrina and the 5 days it took the Louisiana democratic governor and New Orleans city mayor to ask for Federal assistance. But you didn't.

Now prudence isn't what has gotten Obama into the "least popular president in history" position. But I won't prejudge him, I'll let history decide.

This $100,000 commitment that Barack has made to Haiti is like conducting a military campaign without the weapons. How fast, how effective, how well planned and executed this is done remains to be seen. Maybe Barack brought some experience along these lines with him from his years in Chicago politics but it does make a person nervous!



[edit on 16/1/10 by plumranch]