Bono: Friend of Poverty, not the Poor
Charles Johnson
Last Updated: 5/1/08 Section: News
Beneath all these programs remain subtle flaws that, once examined, become so large that they threaten to undo all of their good. Like all good con artists, Bono understands the power of names. His clothing line "Edun" plays on Eden, from the book of Genesis. Unlike Eden, Edun's fashion line carefully (and paternalistically) selects the locale for producing the clothing.
Bono never considers the real barrier to Africans establishing their own business: government and the absence of the rule of law. Edun does little to empower them. They're not encouraged to start their own businesses addressing their own market concerns, or to put profits into expanding business and improving their tax basis. Bono's Edun makes Africans little more than workers in his scheme,
Africa is poor because Africa's governance is poor. For instance, the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the most resource rich countries on the planet, has its resources mismanaged by a capricious government, more intent on using their own country's resources as a personal piggy bank than on expanding opportunities through the rule of law. In so doing, Bono avoids the real issue: regime uncertainty - the fear that government will not only make life harder for you through red tape, but kill you if you rock the boat.
Bono will never challenge the actions of these governments because he doesn't want to incite their ire. Bono, ever the cultural relativist, is unwilling to upset those directly responsible for African poverty. By angering them, he will end up denying his own access - and that of his many businesses - and so he picks an easy target. Recently, he has gone after such groups like as International Monetary Fund for failing to eliminate Liberian debt. Bono knows full well that that kind of "mau mau"-ing pressures them to acquiesce to his demands and the cycle continues.
Implicitly, Bono's support for debt relief permits countries to experiment with systems of government-socialist, kleptocratic, or Islamic-historically known to fail. In turn, this deviance will hurt everyone even after the dictators have been removed from power.
Bono never considers the real barrier to Africans establishing their own business: government and the absence of the rule of law. Edun does little to empower them. They're not encouraged to start their own businesses addressing their own market concerns, or to put profits into expanding business and improving their tax basis. Bono's Edun makes Africans little more than workers in his scheme,
Africa is poor because Africa's governance is poor. For instance, the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the most resource rich countries on the planet, has its resources mismanaged by a capricious government, more intent on using their own country's resources as a personal piggy bank than on expanding opportunities through the rule of law. In so doing, Bono avoids the real issue: regime uncertainty - the fear that government will not only make life harder for you through red tape, but kill you if you rock the boat.
Bono will never challenge the actions of these governments because he doesn't want to incite their ire. Bono, ever the cultural relativist, is unwilling to upset those directly responsible for African poverty. By angering them, he will end up denying his own access - and that of his many businesses - and so he picks an easy target. Recently, he has gone after such groups like as International Monetary Fund for failing to eliminate Liberian debt. Bono knows full well that that kind of "mau mau"-ing pressures them to acquiesce to his demands and the cycle continues.
Implicitly, Bono's support for debt relief permits countries to experiment with systems of government-socialist, kleptocratic, or Islamic-historically known to fail. In turn, this deviance will hurt everyone even after the dictators have been removed from power.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 12
chromeplatedmachine
allan pearson
posted 11/07/07 @ 12:30 AM PST
biased, venomous, and absolutely terrible
this writer ought to be banned if the newsmag wants to retain its integrity
Aditya Bindal
posted 11/08/07 @ 8:19 AM PST
Well, I wonder who is biased: the author who presents a logical and clear flow of arguments based on solid evidence, or the post which shouts out without any backing, purely acting on emotional basis (like our Irish friend, perhaps?)
Also, keep in mind that the author has not touched upon several other criticisms of Bono. (Continued…)
Charles Johnson
posted 11/08/07 @ 1:21 PM PST
Typical. Ban a writer? Shame on you, Mr. Pearson. Shame on you. Address the substance, if you can.
Simon Ruf
posted 12/02/07 @ 7:40 AM PST
This article is horribly bad researched. While you state that "Ireland [is] one of the poorest developed nations in the world" quite the opposite is true. (Continued…)
Charles Johnson
posted 12/06/07 @ 4:46 PM PST
Thank you, Mr. Ruf. You are quite right. After years of flawed, Socialist taxation policies, Ireland has made the right decision and moved towards fair and flat taxation. (Continued…)
Muhammad
posted 2/14/08 @ 9:03 PM PST
Why cannot someone, like Bono, choose to exercise his efforts however he sees fit. You argue that the Red Campaign has brought in less money than Bono spent developing it, but maybe the campaign is about more than money. (Continued…)
Debt relief
posted 4/15/08 @ 12:54 PM PST
Well he is a great man and he also has reasons to be considered that way. I appreciate all the efforts, there are many people who should learn for him. (Continued…)
jake Richardson
posted 5/12/08 @ 2:56 PM PST
While I agree wholeheartedly that the plans Bono makes may not be quite as economically sound as we at CMC may wish, why on earth would you criticize a man who steps out of the mold of self involved rock frontman to become, at worst, a self involved large scale philanthropist? I sat next to you all semester in Economics while you spoke with your holier-than-thou tone about what you knew to be economic truth. (Continued…)
Charles Johnson
posted 5/13/08 @ 8:49 PM PST
Mr. Richardson,
I think the person you wanted to send this is Charles Sprague. I am that inhuman "red head" who he debated.
I wonder if you actually read the article as I never made some of the points you are making. (Continued…)
Storm
posted 5/26/08 @ 8:05 AM PST
Maybe his plans aren't the most concrete, but he's able to raise awareness - he's motivated a bunch of high-schoolers (me included) to take a look at ourselves and how we spend our money - and I for one, think that's a good thing. (Continued…)
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