Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

CGI 2011: Haiti Development Workshop

[updates and edits, especially in the 4th-6th grafs] “The winner” in Haitian development created 12,000 jobs in the garment industry in the past eight years in Haiti.  Seems as if all of the participants today will be garment manufacturers, though WJC notes that companies such as Coca-Cola and Newmont Mining are also considering investment. When […]

Clinton Global Initiative, Day 2 – Plenary Session

The second day of the conference, and the first full of the Initiative, is devoted primarily to E&E. Random notes: President Clinton noted in his opening statement that the Haitian disaster’s immediate effect was to eliminate (kill) 17% of the Haitian workforce. Melinda Gates notes that her efforts are mostly aligned with MDG #4, but […]

More Haiti

The flak started quickly. Rusty suggested taking Red Cross training and being part of the solution—the very solution that can’t reach the country. kharris compared me (un?)favorably to The Drudge Report for saying (after Robert Gates did) that the delivery obstruction was “deliberate.” The problem is the evidence keeps mounting—and it’s all on my side. […]

New Orleans, without the SCA

Via Constance, I see that the donations are pouring in. Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders), Partners in Health, even the American Red Cross. There is supply. And there is clearly demand. But it appears that delivery is being deliberately impeded: As life-saving medical supplies, food, water purification chemicals and vehicles pile up at the […]