The nerve that Royal Carribian has, to actually bring people to Haiti to spend their money on goods & services of the haitians that actually want to work and not wait for humanitarian supplies. How dare they! Haiti should only survive off what we give them, otherwise we might feel like we are not needed and wont feel as good about ourselves when we give money. I cant believe Royal Carribian is actually trying to keep the Haitian economy going. They need to go somewhere where people have too much money and no disasters, so that the rich can get richer. How are we supposed to keep the haitians poor if businesses keep bringing their business there!?! http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100119/ts_ynews/ynews_ts1063
There is something really fishy that Haiti is all of a sudden dying of thirst and hunger, I think people are realizing that. There is too much focus being put on charity but the problem is much bigger. Haiti has to import food even though it is extremely fertile, its local agriculture has been destroyed by subsidized american rice. The country was already having massive problems with food shortages, and when the earthquake hit and the whole economy paralyzed, well no worked anymore to afford the imported food! It will be pretty funny how this whole situation will go and how the media will report (or hide) the facts, because this is far more than a humanitarian crisis, it's an economic crisis.
I do understand some aspects of the controversy. Celebrating whilst others are rotting in the streets. But I agree it supports their economy and they need it. Lets take it a step farther. Why not have developers, like Trump, come down and cut deals with the government to get some resorts developed. The government could require the developer to put in infrastructure like builders in the US must. It's worked for Jamaica and other poor Caribbean nations why not them? How about making them the mecca for offshore banking? Or do they just want to continue being a handout nation?
Look, I am as pragmatic as it gets. But the symbolism here isn't irrelevant. Showing complete apathy to human suffering isn't good PR. If the people on the ship were so concerned with utilitarian ethics they would have volunteered to help deliver aid in port-au-prince. I simply couldn't enjoy myself knowing that resources were wasted on my over consumption when the marginal utility of another hamburger would be far higher for a starving haitian. It's called being a good human being.
Just a thought; the people in Darfur and Sierra Leone that have been starving, dying of AIDS and civil war, malnutrition and tainted drinking water for *DECADES* - did they stop you from enjoying your last vacation?
So, does that mean that because you havent gone to Haiti to help them that you are not a good human being? It costs less than 500 bucks to fly to Haiti which nearly everyone here (if you are a trader) should have in your bank. How can you enjoy your life when you have 500 bucks just sitting around and you could be going down there to help them? I bet you are eatting hamburgers right now. I bet you are not cutting your meals down so you can send more money to Haiti. Hypocrite
Haiti's official GDP before the earthquake was 6.9 billion per year. They just got a billion dollars in a few days with this earthquake and people are sending more and more everyday. Basicially they got the equivilent of 2 months GDP in just a few days. Haiti hit the financial lottery with this earthquake.