The ethics of foreign aid is a major issue in my book Profits of Doom. This interview is one of the most thorough of my work and thesis thus far:
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has abolished AusAID as a free-standing agency and folded it into the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He has also announced more than $4 billion in cuts to the aid budget, prompting protests from church and charity leaders. But does foreign aid help those in need or does it enrich corrupt government officials and the multinational corporations that win lucrative aid contracts? And what are the ethical problems that arise from corporations that swoop into countries that have been wracked by disaster or conflict to make profits. Antony Loewenstein, author of… Profits of Doom: How Vulture Capitalism is Swallowing the World, discusses the issues with Andrew West.