This post was written by Guest Blogger Tim I Gurung of ISSLCare and does not reflect the views of The Washington Outsider or its staff.
Before I start, let’s repeat the universal saying of ‘Prevention is always the better cure,’ and hoped that the world will heed it. The world’s ongoing refugee issues are not new. They started at the beginning of civilization, and yet, they are still as prevalent and serious as they might have been at the beginning of our time. However, it is not going to be solved anytime soon for two main reasons:
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America’s Christmas present from the “spend-and-tax” Liberals and “spend-and-don’t-tax” Conservatives is a budget compromise that mirrors all others. Domestic and military spending will, of course, increase thanks to this $1.8 trillion political deal at a time when the Fed is raising borrowing costs and just over four years after the US had its credit rating slashed for its fiscal irresponsibility. Instead of just rewarding themselves and their campaign contributors with tax incentives as US politicians did in last year’s so-called “Omnibus Bill,” our Washington procrastinators used the 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act to offer $680 billion in tax relief for businesses and the poor as they readied themselves for their winter break.
Not only is fiscal responsibility a very important issue for the American People, this US spending bill offers lessons for the Peoples of the world on how government should not spend money. Where US legislators proudly flaunted their self-proclaimed accomplishment, it is nothing more than a political compromise that fails to actually accomplish its objectives, i.e. serve the governance needs of the American People. After years of drama, shutdown threats, tough rhetoric, and last-minute bargains, Congress has returned to offering the same overspending and tax cuts that helped engineer the exploding National Debt that will eventually force the United States into bankruptcy. The world faces a myriad of problems. What it needs is leadership with the problem solving skills necessary to unravel the true nature of those problems and engineer viable solutions. From government to private industry, the tendency to equate experience, i.e. past success and knowledge of known solutions, to problem solving ability blocks the entrance of the true problem solvers who needed. The Yahoo drama over CEO Marissa Mayer’s poor performance offers the world some powerful insights as we struggle with economic realities that are not meeting the needs of more and more people across the globe.
Google has been a success story, because it entered a market where there was a clear deficit, i.e. information across the internet needed to better organized, while it happened to come across a revenue generating method that has worked extremely well. There is, however, an important lesson in business that many people never learn: just because someone has been successful does not mean they know how to continue to be successful or make someone else successful. The debacle of Google Glasses boldly exemplifies the shortcomings of a culture, which seeks to make fantasy a reality with little regard for cost restraints. The Paris Climate Change Deal and free trade agreements like the US-led Transpacific Partnership (TPP), Chinese-led Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), and the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) highlight the aspirations of the International Community. The ongoing failure to cope with mounting international crises, such as the Syrian Civil War and the Ukraine Crisis, which are dominated by backstabbing, infighting, and conspiracy theories, make progress on lofty goals like preventing global warming a welcome change.
Unfortunately, political deals that fail to implement economic and technological solutions will always create more problems than they solve, because they avoid the real problems and address them with superficial, feel-good policies. Although most advocates for public policy initiatives have noble intentions, their laser focus on solving the issues before them and often-combative relationships with constructive critics, who oppose their “solutions,” blinds them to the treachery of their own arrogance and the real solutions that can actually solve problems without creating unnecessary costs. The Syrian Civil War is possibly about to transition to a new phase. If Russian President Vladimir Putin’s renewed proclamations that Russia has, at least, provided air cover for the Free Syrian Army are proven true, the policy shift away from what the US-led Coalition forces believe was a pro-Assad campaign against Western-backed rebels should be praised.
Although the official spin on Putin’s statements suggests the Russian leader may have overplayed his overly complex propaganda game, support of the Free Syrian Army could be Putin’s way of hedging his bet in Syria. It could also be a means of controlling Syrian President Basher Al-Assad, who has recently said he will not negotiate with armed groups even as the so-called Riyadh conference officially unified rebels in the ouster of Assad. |
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