“The final communiques haven’t been written. But the word on the street is that when leaders of the Group of 8 industrialized countries meet in France this week, they will claim that wealthy countries have come close to fulfilling their 2005 promise to boost annual development aid by $50 billion by 2010. They are not even in the ballpark,” a New York Times editorial states, before noting data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development showing that aid fell $19 billion short of that goal.   

“The only good news, we suppose, is that the impulse to fudge the numbers suggests the leaders of the rich world do have some shame. It would be better if they told the truth and then made good on their commitments,” the editorial concludes (5/24).