How Africa [not Europe] Underdeveloped Africa

Part One: How Economies [are Meant to] Work

This is a two-part article that shows how Africans are responsible for the problems in Africa. This first focuses on how an unhindered economy thrives, and the second reveals the three tools the governments in Africa (and in other parts of the world) use to impoverish their people.

Introduction

Experience has taught me that there is no end to the excuses politicians and ‘intellectuals’ make to explain away the failures of their policy. Many Nigerians I know blame the West for the economic problems to which we have grown accustomed. These same people do not hesitate to call for foreign aid from the same Western governments as reparations for perceived harms. Although the West is not entirely absolved of responsibility in this matter, most of Africa’s economic problems are self-imposed, and have little to do with the West. Introspection is something that is counter to human nature, and as such, when there are problems, we tend to look for external causes. Human nature – being what it is – leads us to blame those more successful ourselves for our woes. No one ever thinks, “I am poor because of my poor life choices, or inescapable circumstances”, rather they look to the one who has more than they and conclude “that rich man must be the reason I’m poor.”. This is sadly the dark part of human nature to which the socialists have given themselves over.

Simply put, Africa is bad because of African governments. African governments keep growing and consuming the lives and property of the African people. The same governments are kept alive, fed, and even worshiped by the same people it so brutally exiles, murders, imprisons, and subjugates.

To understand how the governments in Africa are responsible for its underdevelopment, one has to first understand how economies fare without government intervention. In understanding this, it is not too difficult to see how the African governments are responsible for the poverty that has kept most of Africa underdeveloped, and the misery it has brought its people.

 I will explain this using the case of an imaginary orange farmer from Benue state named Denen.

How Economies [are Meant to] Work: A Tale of Denen

Imagine a competent farmer named Denen who grows oranges. Denen cannot survive on oranges alone; he will also need meat, rice, bread, a house, and other commodities to survive. Thanks to money, Denen need not worry about producing these other commodities; all he has to do is focus on his orange production and then sell those oranges in exchange for money and use that money to buy all the other things he needs. With the money Denen makes from his sale of oranges, he can:

1. Give out his money (Voluntary welfare)

If Denen gifts his money to friends or family, or to charity, he improves the welfare of the people to whom he gives his money. This helps the people meet their needs and the people from whom they purchase their needs are also helped.

2. Buy the other things he needs to survive (Consumption)

He puts money in the hands of the baker, the car salesman, the landlord, the electricity company, and everyone else from whom he buys the things he needs. The people from whom he buys his needs also have money to buy things from other people and the cycle continues endlessly, and everyone is better off.

3. Expand his orange business (Investment/Increasing Productivity/Economic growth)

If he buys or rents land and or farm equipment to expand his business, he puts money in the hands of the landowner and the people from whom he purchased the equipment, who in turn have money to meet their own needs. If he employs more hands on his farm to increase his production of oranges, he also makes the new employees able to meet their own needs and everyone is happy. When Denen reinvest rather than spend his money, or have it taken in form of taxes, here is how society is helped

1. There are more oranges in the future, which means more people can enjoy orange juice, orange desserts, medicines, and anything else made from oranges.

a. This is the real definition of economic growth (i.e.,increasing number of goods and services)

b. This increased supply of oranges also means cheaper oranges and orange products thanks to Denen (This is reducing cost and improving standards of living).

2. Denen’s employees have more money to meet their needs, and so do the sellers of the land and equipment he bought (Denen is reducing unemployment by putting more people - directly and indirectly - to work)

3. Denen and his family are also better able to meet their own needs

Denen’s reinvestment benefits the entire society at large. There is really no telling the end of how much Denen’s reinvestment benefits the entire society. The chain of benefit is literally endless.

4. Keep his money for future use (Savings)

If Denen decides — for whatever reason – to neither consume or reinvest all of his earnings, but decides to save it in a bank, he also benefits the entire society. Here is how:

1. He creates employment for the bankers

a. These bankers will have their own money to spend, save or invest.

2. He makes loans available to other investors seeking to expand their businesses and to other consumers seeking to purchase products.

a. These loans mean more future products, more jobs/incomes for the other people.

If there is no man-made or natural disaster like fires, droughts, theft etc, it can be observed that by Denen just trying to meet his needs, he has increased the standard of living for the entire society by boosting productivity, creating employment, and by reducing the cost of living.

Let me point out that this process just illustrated using Denen the hypothetical farmer may not always go as I have described, but I will get to that later.

Important Observations from Denen’s Tale

In the illustration that above, you have learned how individuals can serve some of the stated economic goals of government in ways that are immeasurably more efficient than the government’s, without any of the downsides that are all too common with government ‘aid’.

Here again, is a summary of what Denen accomplishes with his orange production

1. He increases productivity

2. He creates jobs

3. He makes goods cheaper

4. He makes welfare payments

5. He provides non-expansionary (non-inflationary) credit for other investors

It should not be overlooked that in this illustration, Denen does not counterfeit any money like central and commercial banks do, he does not steal or extort from anyone, and his business activities do not restrict anyone else from doing his own business. Everything Denen does is voluntary, and has no negative effect on anyone; rather – as has already been made apparent – his absolutely voluntary actions are beneficial to the entire society.

This simple illustration is how economies [are supposed to] work. This simple system – if left as described – has the ability to produce incredible wealth for the benefit of all in a society.

When the government attempts to accomplish the same goals that Denen voluntarily and easily accomplishes, they have to extort money from people, stop people from doing their own business, and counterfeit currency, and – as evidence shows us – governments are in no way as efficient as the individual in carrying out the same goals.

In the next part of this article, I will address how governments (and African governments in particular) use extortion, oppression, and legalized counterfeiting to distort this peaceful and prosperous process, and bring about the misery to which its people have grown accustomed.

Thank you for your time.