Under the all-encompassing aid system, too many places in Africa continue to flounder under inept, corrupt and despotic regimes who spend their time courting and catering to the demands of the army of aid organizations.
Ask most people who live in a home and have a mortgage on it whether they own their own home and the answer is almost guaranteed to be a resounding 'yes'. Yet it's the wrong answer. Technically speaking, until they have paid the mortgage off, they don't own it. Herein lies the difference between reality and illusion, between ownership and control. This confusion lies not only at the individual level, but also at the heart of government thinking.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the common misconception of ownership versus true control, especially in the context of home mortgages.
Dambisa Moyo's quote delves into the distinction between the perception of ownership and the reality of financial obligations. Many individuals believe they own their homes while still paying a mortgage, but true ownership is only achieved when the mortgage is fully paid off. This reflects a broader theme regarding societal misunderstandings of property rights and control, illustrating how this confusion can extend beyond personal finance to influence governmental perspectives on ownership and authority.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a financial literacy workshop to encourage understanding of homeownership and mortgages.
More from Dambisa Moyo
All quotes →Too many African countries have already hit rock-bottom - ungoverned, poverty-stricken, and lagging further and further behind the rest of the world each day; there is nowhere further to go down.
I am fortunate: my parents told me the world was my oyster, when they could have said I wouldn't make it for a lot of reasons - rural, girl, small African country. So, no regrets.
I wish we questioned the aid model as much as we are questioning the capitalism model. Sometimes the most generous thing you can do is just say no.
China is attempting the death-defying feat, which no one has attempted in the history of the world, which is to move a billion people out of poverty. When I speak to Chinese policy-makers, the thing that annoys them the most about Western policy-makers is that they're not given any credit for anything.
The western mindset erroneously equates a political system of multi-party democracy with high-quality institutions... the two are not synonymous.
Similar quotes
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It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge. War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner. That is the way it was and will be. That way and not some other way.
The Papacy is not other than the Ghost of the deceased Roman Empire, sitting crowned upon the grave thereof.
A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.
After the horrific massacre Wednesday at the French weekly satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, perhaps the West will finally put away its legion of useless tropes trying to deny the relationship between violence and radical Islam.
The Book of Life begins with a man and a woman in a garden. It ends with Revelations.