U.S. Refusal on Global Aid
Your editorial reiterates the plight of poor people in developing countries, who might benefit more greatly from programs of the International Development Assn. of the World Bank if the U.S. government wasn’t so flagrantly blase about supporting them along with the other donor countries.
The soft loans from IDA help developing countries to fund cost-effective programs in primary health care and agricultural development for the poorest of rural peoples.
Such programs are essential if developing countries are going to be able to become self-sufficient members of the world economy and if their citizens are ever going to be able to rise above the consuming quagmire of endless poverty to enjoy at least a minimally decent standard of living.
Will Nero fiddle while Rome burns? Will the Reagan Administration continue to squabble over a few dollars or over veto rights that probably will never have to be used, while the developing countries sink deeper into debt and dependence on the West and while other donor countries continue to have opportunities to question the United States’ willingness to be a leader in world development and stability?
MICHAEL P. TYLER
Temple City
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