I shake my head and laugh at the mentality that says “anyplace people are poor
the West is to blame,” but I agree sending US troops probably won’t help.
2 Likes
Haiti got it resources drained pretty much since it’s inception.
Imagine how the US would have fared if early in the Republic it was forced to pay 40% of it’s income to England for nearly 150 years.
Haiti went from being the most lucrative colony in the World to one of the poorest nations on earth.
So while it is not the entirety of why Haiti is a failed State… it is important to realize that the plunder of Haiti is one of the big reasons it is the way it is today.
Sugar cane is a crop, not a resource. You ever been to Haiti?
Haiti has the least economic freedom of any country in the Western hemisphere.
Not surpassingly it is the poorest country in the western hemisphere.
It is on the same island as the Dominican Republic, has basically the same resources
but the Dominican Republic, ranks about average in terms of economic freedom and has a per capita income that is more than 6 times higher.
It must be America’s fault. (rolleyes)
Haiti is a ■■■■ hole inhabited by low cognative people.
The Dominican Republic didn’t have Billions drained away from it for a century and a half.
Haiti had enormous debt piled onto it by France at the point of a gun to pay reparations to the former owners of the Slaves there. And when Haiti couldn’t pay they were forced to take out loans from French banks to make the payments. This became known as the “Double Debt”
When the US took control of Haiti in 1903, they transferred the debt to American Banks. With 40% of the GDP of Haiti going to service this debt, it was paid off in 1947.
That was the price that Haiti paid to free themselves.
That didn’t happen in the Dominican Republic.
3 generations ago. And $billions have been poured into it since then with not 1 inch of progress
1 Like
Revisionist history. Haiti flourished as a slave colony (about 1/3 of the Atlantic slave trade was to Haiti) when sugar (which is a commodity, not a resource) was king. It spiraled downward quickly into poverty following the 1791 slave revolt and the subsequent abandonment first by England and then by France and their declaration of independence in 1804. Years of military and corrupt civilian leaders doomed them such that even the eventual move toward democratic rule (tongue in cheek) could not reverse the trend, particularly with the crash of the cane sugar industry. They have no good prospects; they have nothing to sell that the world wants to buy.
2 Likes
It’s not revisionist. It actually happened.
And if anyone has been reading what I have been saying… this isn’t the entirety of why Haiti is the way that it is… but having France drain Billions from it at the point of a gun… imposing a debt for freeing themselves that wasn’t paid off for 150 years means that the wealth that could have remained in the country didn’t. It certainly didn’t help Haiti out.
I am not saying anything that is controversial nor is it disputed by the historic record.
Yes it happened, but not quite as you suggested. Haiti’s poverty is not only related to the dept indemnification. If fact, that is a small part of it. The roots of their poverty are very deep.
How did all the black people get on one side of the island
and all the latinos on the other,
and why, here in the states, do the Haitians and Dominicans often seem to detest each other?
Just an odd coincidence I guess.
1 Like
I musta killed the thread,
I don’t know man… when 40% of the GDP is going to service a century old debt fueled by reparations for freeing yourself… that is not good for any country who has to go through that.
Again that’s not even close to being the whole story. Selective history is revisionist history.
2 Likes
It isn’t revisionist. It isn’t really selective… because I said that it isn’t the cause of all of the problems.
It also isn’t controversial to acknowledge that France imposing a debt on Haiti for freeing themselves is a thing that actively harmed Haiti.
The present progressive tense is used to describe an ongoing activity in the present; i.e., one that is currently happening.
Ah… we are at the grammar nitpick section… always a useful way to have a conversation…have a lovely night guys.
1 Like
Just pointing out that when Haiti, willingly took out loans from France a long long time ago in exchange for French recognition,
that does not mean in the current day Haiti is making massive payments to the US.
FACT Haiti is poor for reasons of its own.
FACT Sending American troops will not end their suffering,
FACT if we send troops, 200 years from now when Haiti is still poor their poverty will be blamed on america by the same type of America bashers.
Haiti is not helped one way or the other and
America’s interest is best served by letting the clock run out.
1 Like
