Even better reason to release a chemical agent into the poor area's of the world to kill off thousand/millions of poor people. IE: AIDS. The wealthly live longer while the poor die quicker and give the wealthy more space to live... scary dont you think?

except that population is still growing. then again you dont have any free hospitals over there do you? Whereas we do so poor still live long time, rich just pay more to live that long time.

But if Afrika becomes rich, companies in the western world can sell more things there. There's a lot to gain from a rich third world.
Pharmacy companies don't earn a lot from AIDs medicines right now, but imagine how much medicines against old-people deceases they can sell when people in Afrika live long enough (and are rich enough) to need and pay for them?

Africa will never be rich. Even if they where, drug companies would never make large amounts of money off of them like they do in America. Noone makes money off third world countries unless they send their business over seas like a production plant or a sweat shop.

Why won't Africa ever be rich? It's rich with resources and there's plenty of agriculture. Corruption and bad government is holding back improvements (not the lack of aid, as those Live 8 morons want us to believe), but not all bad govenrments stay on forever, most are replaced by other bad governments, but in some cases it works.

Which resources? And agriculture is not a rich business. If Africa was such rich in resources you would see oil wells all over the place. Oil is the #1 resource on the face of the planet. He who has oil has money. Not he who has the most chickens or corn. If there was something in Africa to make money off of someone would already be exploiting it. Beside with AIDS so bad in Africa I dont see that country being very productive in the near future. I mean lets be real here.

And this is what happens when your country lack moral values
ONE IN THREE S. African 10-Year Olds Having Sex...

lol....I wish I'd had sex when I was 10.

Anyway, they do have mineral resources. Diamonds is the #1. I think there's Uranium and other heavy metals (gold). But.....corruption is like a way of life over there. As is dislike for white people, or so it seems. So they're going to keep screwing themselves into poverty for the forseeable future, and anyone trying to help them from Europe or the US will be discriminated against due to our color. Not sure what they feel of people of arabic descent (like they'll be giving any meaningful aid to Africa) or asians.

Personally, screw em. If they manage to build themselves a future, cool.
But I'm tired of sinking monkey into worthless bastards. If the people need help, they need to pick up some guns (there're tons available) and smash the bastards that are causing them to starve. I say we quit feeding the rich.

What do you define as near future? 10 years? Then you're right. But you have to look forward.

Nigeria has oil, but that's just one country. However I wonder how long oil we'll be the #1 resource, we're gonna reach peak oil before 2020, after wich prices will rise so high (it's already too high) that it's no longer viable as an energy resource (we'll have to switch to renewables and nuclear power).
There is a lot of diamond mining in Africa (not only South Africa but also in central Africa, many wars in that area are financed by it). There're also a lot of other minerals there. Agriculture is not yet a big business, but with a growing world population comes a larger demand. Also, I wonder how long rich countries will keep up their farm subsidies. Right now, farm subsidies account for over 40% of the EU budget, with only 4% of the EU population being in the business. The main reason the EU holds on to those subsidies, is because France rejects any proposals to reform it. The reason for that is because their president, Jaques Chirac, has always had a big supporter base among French farmers, but the Chirac era is finally ending (and no moment too soon, damn I hate that ass).
I'm not saying that we should pour money into Africa like those Live 8 morons want us to, but we should invest into countries in the area that have good governments, and actively try to oust dictators like Mugabe (not by military action, more Ukrain style revolts).
Those people are very capable of making profit, if you believe it or not. one third of the investments in the third world (that's not just Africa off course) comes from the third world itself, and a company like SAB (South African Breweries) is one of the biggest breweries in the world.

I have no doubt Africa is "capable" of being profitable. But if you had money to invest, would you invest in Africa? I wouldnt.

Not just a random African country, no. But in South Africa? I might consider. There's another country in central Africa that has improved a lot the last decade (can't remember which one though). It's off course not without risks, Zimbabwe was quite prosperous before that moron Mugabe took over (why doesn't someone just assasinate him). After that, he gave all land owned by succesfull white farmers to his own following, independence war veterans who have no idea about farming. I'm not too happy with South Africa's president Mbeki either by the way. He's got some dictatorish things about him, and he's just too stupid about AIDS, but unfortunately that idiot is elected. He doesn't wreck to much, however.

Oh man, his AIDS talk was priceless. Anyway, Africa, like any third-world country, is a high risk/high payoff investment. Still, I wouldn't put my money there.

Actually I disagree with you Arathorn. The concert held this year was to promote greater justice in Africa, not lack of aid. Geldorf believes that there is a three part plan. 1. debt cancellation, 2. Fair Trade and 3. Justice. Each of these will only work effectively if the others are addressed. The connection with G8 was to influence the world leaders in doing so.

I only heard them about money. Espescially the propaganda about the girl that was supposed to be rescued by the Live Aid 20 years ago was toe-curling.

hey, the US saved Europe (and the world) from fanatical fascist psychos twice in the last 100 years. Can we get debt cancellation? No? Then why should some two-bit, worthless, rat's asshole country in Africa get it?

Anyway, I stand by it, fuck Africa. Is some small country wants to become a US protectore (subject to US laws and taxation), then maybe. But I'd put some troops in there, dismantle most of its almost certrainly corrupt government and rebuild it from scratch, implement some universal healthcare financed by diamonds or something, mandatory AIDs testing and education, no immigration (hehe) and I'd ruthlessly smash any neighboring countries that even look at me funny.

Then again, we all know I'm a closet fascist.

Exactly why the only thing good that came out of G8 was pink floyd reuniting.