According to the Associated Press, tribal leaders don't think President Clinton's
plan to increase Indian funding from 8.2 billion to 9.4 billion dollars is
enough to meet their needs. In this country, there are approximately 2.4 million
people who identify themselves as Indians. The Native American Press estimates
that about 20% of that number, or about 500,000, are tribal members living on
reservations where the vast bulk of the funds are directed. If we divide the 8.2
billion dollars provided last year by the 500,000 reservation tribal members, we
find that last year the federal government spent almost 16,400 dollars per
reservation tribal member or 65,600 dollars for a family of four.
These
65,600 dollars don't include any state and local expenditures or foundation
grants. It doesn't include casino profits, which might almost double the 65,600
by themselves. It doesn't include profits from other tribally owned businesses
such as stores, motels, gas stations, commercial fishing or farming enterprises.
It also doesn't include income from timber leases, gas and oil leases, mineral
leases, and farm and range leases. Added together, these income sources easily
run well into six digits for a family of four. Of course, only a small fraction
of this amount, some estimate around 5%, actually reaches the average tribal
member on the reservation.
How
can grinding reservation poverty exist in spite of such massive infusions of
money? A recent study of 60 countries by the World Bank might provide some
answers. The study called, "'Voices of the Poor' found that poor people
were victimized by some of the very systems intended to ameliorate their lot."
The President of the World Bank concluded, "pervasive and systemic
corruption at the grassroots level on a global scale among civic and
governmental organizations makes it very difficult to lift the congenitally poor
out of poverty." He also said, "Corruption hampers economic growth,
burdens the poor disproportionately, and undermines the effectiveness of
investment and aid." Does this sound familiar to anyone?
Most
of this country enjoys a system of free, private enterprise that not only
provides comfortably for the needs of the individuals and families involved but
also provides tax support for governmental functions (including that 8.2 billion
for reservations). In contrast, reservations have been saddled with a political
and economic system that was purposely modeled after Communism. This typically
includes concentrated governments that control both the political process and
communally owned assets. In spite of, or perhaps because of, all the government
"help" they receive, very few reservations have any hope of becoming
self-sustaining. Very few even consider self-sufficiency a worthy and realistic
goal.