More than half of the Haitians driven into tent cities and makeshift camps by the January 2010 earthquake have moved out of them, officially bringing down the displaced population to 680,000 from a peak of 1.5 million, according to the International Organization for Migration.
But what may seem like a clear sign of progress, officials warn, is also a cause of concern.
Very few of the people who left the camps — only 4.7 percent, by the group’s estimate — did so because their homes had been rebuilt or repaired. Instead, a vast majority appear to have been forced out through mass evictions by landowners, or to have left the camps on their own to escape the high crime and fraying conditions there.
Now, most of the former camp dwellers are doubled up in their friends’ or families’ homes, scattered at random in tents and improvised dwellings, or living in “precarious housing” that is dilapidated, damaged or partly collapsed, the organization says. In some cases, the cinder blocks that were toppled by the quake are being cobbled together to make walls again, only more unevenly and wobbly than before.
As for the camps (arguably a step better than the evolving status quo):
Where toilets are provided, each one is shared by an average of 273 people.
Compared to the international funds spent on Haiti’s reconstruction would it be perhaps cheaper to simply accept a lot more refugees by the donor nations? What’s the economics. How much does a refugee cost, say, the US (in the short run)? In the long run, unless I am utterly pessimistic, they ought to be at least something of an asset?
They need to emigrate to somewhere else like the Irish did during the famine.
Where toilets are provided, each one is shared by an average of 273 people
Not much worse than on an airplane
Happy Easter!
What ever happened to that offer by Senegal of taking Haitian emigres?
This sort of calculation (each toilet is shared by 273 people) shows a large degree of naivete.
Most of the people are practicing “open defecation,” people, not lining up for the toilet!
See, e.g., current Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.
Most Haitians are not very bright (average IQ in the 75-80 range). Without honest, competent, much more intelligent leadership they will never build the kind of nice homes and cities Americans do. If Haitians should emigrate to rich countries such as the USA they would exist there, admittedly in greater comfort, as permanent charity cases (even if they worked they would earn on average less than subsistence, making up the difference from welfare payments/EITC/etc.).
It would be folly to import Haitians to any advanced country. Indeed, the only really effective way to aid Haitians would be to impose a meddling protectorate on them (this is usually called “colonization” even if the representatives of the protecting power are not really colonists; that is, they don’t intend to settle their families permanently in the “colony” or protectorate).
However, imposing a protectorate on Haiti would be very difficult, since the Haitians would resist violently (which they would have a natural right to do– the right of all and sundry to go to Hell in their own ways).
Since neither inviting the Haitians to parasitize rich-country taxpayers, nor attempting to subjugate the Haitians to more competent imperial rule, seems appealing, I suggest we simply leave them alone except for such trade as they care to engage in– we should give them MFN status and deal with them in the friendliest manner possible while remaining politically aloof.
Do some of you call yourselves “libertarians?” Then you should support a truly libertarian policy– quit messing with the Haitians. Trade with them but don’t bother them otherwise. Missionaries and busybodies, including the Mrs. Jellyby types, may wish to send aid to the Haitians. So long as they do so from their private funds, libertarians should have no objections. The governments of the US and other rich countries should leave well enough alone– which will save their taxpayers from untold waste and abuse.
“Most Haitians are not very bright (average IQ in the 75-80 range). Without honest, competent, much more intelligent leadership they will never build the kind of nice homes and cities Americans do. If Haitians should emigrate to rich countries such as the USA they would exist there, admittedly in greater comfort, as permanent charity cases (even if they worked they would earn on average less than subsistence, making up the difference from welfare payments/EITC/etc.).”
Actually, what Haitian govt should do is promote homeownership by giving tax breaks for mortgage interests and forming institutions that help securitize mortgage loans.
Tyler, I think you should increment your NYT links throughout the month instead of numbering them all (1/20). I don’t know if you’re on 10/20 or 18/20 or 35/20 by now (although I have half a mind to look back and count), and I know you wouldn’t want to claim that more than 20 articles per month were worth “one of your twenty.”
Haiti is an example of a mix of international racism, U.S. intervention and disaster capitalism. It’s early development as a free republic was thwarted by “capitalist” France and the other racist “democracies” and it has been invaded and occupied by the U.S. more times than any other country and the present is the result of the past.
Haiti is an example of low average IQ and foreign aid.
I suggest we simply leave them alone except for such trade as they care to engage in– we should give them MFN status and deal with them in the friendliest manner possible while remaining politically aloof.
i think you article is good
あと、当然ですが、反応があった女の子にはちゃんと返信してください！理想はﾘｱﾙﾀｲﾑで返信するのがいいのですが遅くても、その日の内に返信しないと、他の男に取られる可能性が高くなります！そうならない為にも早めの返信を心がけてください。
Another problem: real estate prices in Haiti have skyrocketed recently as UN and NGO carpetbaggers have begun buying up lots. A small building plot without water or electricity that sold for about $5 USD (120 HTG) five years ago now has an asking price of $20,000 US Dollars. Haitians can no longer afford to buy land in their own country.
What’s your source on the IQ data above? Smells like BS to me, but assuming it has any credibility, I would hypothesize that the main reason test results might be low is chronic malnutrition among students, and low quality of education in what passes for schools there. Brains don’t function well when they’re starved for calories. Haitians I know who have a steady diet are just as intelligent as your average American, and probably moreso, as they typically speak two to four languages (Haitian Creole, French, English and Spanish).
Nutrition will bump them up a standard deviation. Hence the IQ gap between African blacks and American blacks.
“Haitians I know who have a steady diet are just as intelligent as your average American, and probably moreso, as they typically speak two to four languages (Haitian Creole, French, English and Spanish).”
LOL. Haitians: the Ashkenazim of the Caribbean.
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