Kathryn, they want the US government – not you – to spend much more money debt relief and foreign aid. (I guess they figure that money won’t be raised by taxing you; I guess they figure the Bush administration can hold bake sales or something.)

Bob Geldof is the organizer of the Live 8 extravaganza, as he was the organizer of Live Aid 20 years ago. I traveled around Ethiopia with him about that time (I was a NY Times foreign correspondent in Africa in those days). He’s a nice man. His heart is in the right place. He’s probably doing some good by calling attention to poverty and suffering of Africa. But he and his friends don’t understand that Africa’s problems cannot be solved by debt relief and foreign aid – not even in mega amounts.

Development requires private property rights, tort law, an independent judiciary, market access, disincentive to corruption and other attributes that foreign aid – particularly government-to-government foreign aid – seldom encourages.

Listen to the music if you wish but don’t watch – instead I’d recommend reading David Landes’ “The Wealth and Poverty of Nations.” I’d recommend that Bob Geldof and his friends read it, too.