Haiti's Real Crisis Is Poverty | Ian Vásquez | Cato Institute: Commentary

Haiti's Real Crisis Is Poverty | Ian Vásquez | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Despite receiving more than $8.4 billion in foreign aid since 1980, Haiti is poorer today than it was 30 years ago."

"The average annual number of victims per 100,000 population per rich country was 36; for the poor countries it was 2,879 even though rich countries experience the same amount of disasters"

"[Haiti] ranks in the bottom half of nations listed in the Fraser Institute's economic freedom index, and its rating has barely improved since 1980. The sustained lack of freedom goes a long way in explaining the precarious nature of Haitian's lives."

"Property rights are neither recognized nor protected by the state for the vast majority of Haitians. Bureaucratic regulations are stifling. According the World Bank, it takes 195 days and costs 228 percent of average income in legal and administrative fees just to legally start a business."

"Aid has helped keep Haiti poor. It has sustained poor government policies. It has led to debt, not development. The World Bank's qualification of Haiti as a country so highly indebted that it required debt forgiveness, is an implicit admission of aid's failure: all of Haiti's long-term debt was due to aid and government backed development schemes."