Martin Wolf in yesterday's Financial Times pulled out some frightening statistics.

The OECD countries -- essentially the world's 30 richest nations -- spent $311 billion on domestic agricultural subsidies in 2001. They spent $52 billion on aid to all countries. The 2001 GDP of sub-Saharan Africa was $301 billion.

Worse, the annual dairy subsidy in the European Union in 2000 was $913 per cow. The average income in sub-Saharan Africa was $490 per capita. The EU's annual aid to sub-Saharan Africa was $8 per person.

These are truly shaming figures.

Davos Newbies