In the stating-the-obvious department, TIME?s latest issue mentions a key problem associated with African food-aid programs:

Nearly a quarter-century ago, an outright famine led to Live Aid, an international fund-raising effort promoted by rock stars, which produced an outpouring of global generosity: millions of tons of food flooded into the country. Yet, ironically, that very generosity may have contributed to today’s crisis.

Over time, sustained food aid creates dependence on handouts and shifts focus away from improving agricultural practices to increase local food supplies.

Now that TIME has discovered the law of unintended consequences in the case of food aid, perhaps its reporters can tackle the same phenomenon as it?s applied to government meddling in biofuels, state regulation of health insurance, misuse of red-light cameras, and many other aspects of public policy.