As Lebanon recovers from a deadly explosion in its capital city, Beirut, much of the country has a serious request for the world: Please, whatever you do, don’t give aid money to our government.
The reason is few trust Lebanon’s leaders to use such funds wisely. They mismanaged the economy for decades with a Ponzi-like scheme that whisked away the hard-earned money of Lebanese people from banks to keep the government afloat and line the pockets of those in charge. The troubled policy screeched to a halt after the country’s banks simply ran out of cash last year, meaning Lebanese workers lost savings they’d stored in accounts and expected to be available when needed.