a profitable non-business

antarchi's picture

It was Action Aid that put out a report a few years ago, rightly complaining about the fact that on average, between 75% - 90% (from memory) of 'international aid' in fact stays in the pockets of the donor countries. Mostly in the pockets of well-paid consultants, or in the form of contracts for western businesses. But then it is Action Aid that pays its chief executive about $172,000 per year (not including pensions!) - which works out at about $3,300 per week, or $471 per day. Action Aid is not alone, of course, and nor is it by any means the worst. But no-one in the UK needs $471 per day, every day, 7 days a week, in order to live comfortably*.
Is it really not relevant that every day that the chief executives of Action Aid, Save the Children, Oxfam, Unicef take home around $450, another 30,000 children die from poverty-related causes? Those are Unicef's figures.
And in Unicef's words, these children "die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death."
You can see the charity medium-wigs' salaries here. I am sure these are not the biggest wigs. Where is Amnesty International, for example?
P.S. The national minimum wage in the UK is £5.35 / hour. That works out at about $426 / week. That is what the government reckons we need in order to live comfortably in the UK.