Haiti is mired in historic debt and in danger

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Two centuries ago, the political economist Robert Malthus postulated that a society in which the population grew too fast could reach a point where people simply could not be fed, leading to a total collapse.

Over the past five years, Haiti has not only met but exceeded the conditions for a Malthusian catastrophe.

The only things keeping the country from absolute disaster are imported food and charity.

With a global economic crisis afoot, the question is how long that can be sustained.

I had plenty of reservations about going to Haiti.

It is a place born out of the darkest days of slavery: a country where white people have always been regarded, with some reason, as the enemy, and where, in some areas, half of all women and girls have been the victims of rape.

Haiti is mired in historic debt and in danger of complete collapse tiny.cc/cLJuO

Jean Claude, May 26 2009, 6:48 PM

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