A Place Like Home, and a New View of Abroad

I'm back in the glorious US of A, sharing a two-bedroom sublet with my girlfriend for two months. It's lovely and domestic, and I'm enjoying the luxury of staying in one place for a little while. I'm cooking good food, taking yoga classes, and trying to find people to pay me to freelance for them. It's a good life.

My new expanses of free time have launched new discoveries, as I attempt to figure out what sort of niche I want to make for myself in the developing world. I found this article very interesting.

http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/22-care-rejects-us-food-aid/

Basically, a major international aid organization rejected US aid this year. Why? Turns out that US aid in its current form is actually counterproductive. Instead of providing food based on the needs of people who are starving, it's providing food based on its own agricultural surpluses. A lot of the money that the US is theoretically "giving" in aid goes right back into its own pockets in the form of farm subsidies and internal transport costs. This self-interest in itself wouldn't be so bad if it were still providing good services to those in need. But the presence of foreign food being sold at low rates undermines local farmers in developing countries, which makes the countries less able to support themselves overall and makes them even more dependent on foreign "assistance."

Vicious cycle, yes?

I wonder what other charming pieces of news I'll learn while I'm here.