Quote Originally Posted by collins View Post
However, tax dollars spent there have produced no fruits which is why inconsider it a waste. Hope this makes sense.
Our government is doing everything possible to make sure that money spent on Haitian relief is not actually going to the Haitian gov't.

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14282845?source=rss


PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Less than a penny of each dollar the U.S. is spending on earthquake relief in Haiti is going in the form of cash to the Haitian government, according to an Associated Press review of relief efforts.
Two weeks after President Barack Obama announced an initial $100 million for Haiti earthquake relief, U.S. government spending on the disaster has nearly quadrupled to $379 million, the U.S. Agency for International Development announced Wednesday. That's about $1.25 each from everyone in the United States.
Each U.S. relief dollar roughly breaks down like this: 42 cents for disaster assistance, 33 cents for U.S. military aid, 9 cents for food, 9 cents to transport the food, 5 cents for paying Haitian survivors for recovery efforts, just less than 1 cent to the Haitian government, and about half a cent to the Dominican Republic.
The U.S. aid is part of nearly $2 billion in relief aid flowing into Haiti — almost all of it managed by organizations other than the Haitian government, which has been struggling to re-establish its authority since the quake. On Wednesday, a defensive President Rene Preval acknowledged his country's reputation for graft but said aid money isn't lining the pockets of government officials.
Relief experts say it would be a mistake to send too much direct cash to the Haitian government, which was already unstable before the quake and routinely included on lists of the world's most corrupt countries.
"I really believe Americans are the most generous people who ever lived, but they want accountability," said Timothy Knight, a former U.S. Agency for International Development assistant director who spent 25 years distributing disaster aid. "In this situation, they're being very deliberate not to just throw money at the situation but to analyze, based on a clear assessment, and make sure that money goes to the best place possible."

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_1428284...#ixzz0dwgnTDqW [/article]

I think most people who do send money should be careful that the money they send isn't going to the government but to the NGO's that are doing the actual work. I would probably give to the organizations like the Red Cross or the Salvation Army, but I wouldn't donate via text message to some phone number I found on a random TV commercial.