On Saturday I watch the movie Poverty Inc. It was a very well produced documentary about how there has become a “poverty industry” that makes a profit by providing aid to poor countries, and it does not help the countries, and can sometimes even hurt them. For example, an organization that provides clothes to poor areas can put local businesses who produce clothing out of business. Then when the clothes are gone, there are no local businesses to provide more.

I was a little upset coming away from the film however, because there didn’t seem to be a good way to stop this kind of thing from happening. The director that we talked to suggested not donating to aid organizations, but I don’t think that everyone in the world will stop donating to these organizations. He also suggested to look into the products we buy before buying them, but I still don’t think it is readily apparent which companies are good or bad. The documentary talked about TOMs shoes, and how they put shoe manufacturers out of business, and I feel bad now for supporting the company, but I don’t think you could have known that by just researching the company.

One thing he did say that resonated with me was that you vote with your dollar, and I want to pay more attention in the future to what I’m buying, and what I’m voting for.