As the UK and the EU continue to seek to hammer out a deal for Brexit, the world watches as the flagellation surrounding the move intensify. In a June 2016 vote, the UK determined it would leave the EU as saw that its contributions to the union far outstripped many other nations and the looming…
Category: social commentary
Giving Good: Solution-Based Giving in the Information Age
In 2017 Charity Navigator produced a report that indicated that giving was on the rise. Over 400 billion dollars were given to charity in that year alone. However, most people are unaware that most charitable donations in the US goes toward places of worship. While such giving is admirable, perhaps funds might be better spent…
Game Over: How System Inequities Kill Growth
Not all flaws are seen immediately in engineered systems. Much like the flaw of wealth inequality, it seems as though the lesson is lost from one age to the next. The lesson we miss, is that when wealth calcifies, it almost certainly signals the decadence and demise of an empire. As wealth begins to funnel…
Italy’s Money Challenge: From Austerity to Freedom
Italy has faced a massive influx of foreign national and refugees to its shores, and recently made incendiary statements regarding Frances’ role in the continuing instability in Africa. Italy’s inflammatory statements likely comes out of a state of frustration and helplessness, as it grapples to handle its own economic instability and the steady consuming wave…
Making Small Farmers Count
In January of this year, Hawaii extended a series of workshops for the specialty crop block grant and marketing assistance programs. The workshops were in response to funds released by the U.S. Farm Bill and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to make local farmers internationally competitive in the area of specialized crops. The six…
Executive Steps, Quotidian Leaps: The Cause and Effect World
According to data from the U.S. Federal Register, the current president has signed 93 executive orders as of the second week of February 2019. At only three years in, he is on pace to meet or exceed his predecessors in the office. Most recently, two exective orders were signed with great import. The first was…
The Economics of Dominance: A New World Order
Just when it seemed a comprise had been reached between China and the US on trade; there was the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou. Arrested in Canada for extradition on December 1, Meng faces charges levied by the US Justice Department. The unusual case has come under scrutiny and garnered nervous murmurs from sectors…
Immigration: A Historic Cost in Dollars
As the world continues to connect via globalization, advanced communication and travel, immigration has continued to rise. Most notably immigration has rose exponentially in European and Western enclaves around the world. “You should see Paris now, it’s little Africa.” She said with a chuckle. The francophone African woman I was interviewing for a story was…
The West and the Rest: Growth and A Green-Eyed Monster
“The West vs. The Rest,” a term coined from the ideology of famed political science professor Samuel Huntington, seems to be a growing phenomenon in the world today. In Huntington’s book, the Clash of Civilization, he appeared to be more narrowly focused on the rise of the Mideast, rather than the growing dichotomy that has…
Here’s Why Today’s Hard Work Will Not Make You Rich
Perhaps one of the biggest myths is that hard work equals success. This is a concept strongly held in Western tradition, despite its historic and present day inaccuracies. The hidden assumption behind the hard work trope is that the “worker” will be able to enjoy the production value behind his/her own hard work. This is…
Make The Deal: A Case Study on Decision-Making
Making a good deal requires understanding what you will gain and what you must lose. Deal-making is almost as old as time. Part of what makes some people better deal-makers than others, is their ability to evaluate a deal beyond their emotions. Emotions are essential in making a deal; often emotions can signal red flags…
From Naija with Love: A Book Review
During my time in Lagos, Nigeria I had a chance to read a biography that gave me a window into colonial life in Nigeria. The book, A Train Ride to Zaria by Bankole Ososanwo was set in Lagos and it helped me to understand the history of the state as well as the names of…
