African Immigrant: The Unspoken Victims of the Recession (Reloaded)

The US unemployment numbers continue to hover around 9%. Worse still, the fact that zero jobs were created by the US economy this month leads much to be desired. The zero jobs score card may have been a blessing in disgiuse as Washington politicians appear to begin to do something concrete to mitigate the situation.

President Obama was right to posit that the US economic woe is a manmade problem that could be resolved if our leaders put aside short-term partisan/corporate interests and put ahead the interest of the American people. It saddens me to hear the public outcry for lack of leadership in Washington.

Our president has stepped up to the plate repeatedly but he was often greeted by recalcitrant/intransigent Republican-led Congress whose cadinal preoccupation is to make president Obama a one-term president even if it mean sacrificing the economic survival of the American people. Similarly, the president's kind and compromising traits have equally been his own enemy in a sense that hitherto, his common sense/meet-me-half-way approach has rendered most of his policies ineffective and half-measure at best. It seems he has learned his lesson the hard way and he is ready to draw the line in the sand--his decifit reduction speech yesterday signals the new Obama we are going to witness.

As bad as the US economic outlook appears, things are much worse when one takes the trouble to delve into the demographics. Data shows the the distribution of the jobless and foreclosure pain is skewed against American minorities. For example, with national unemployment rate of 9%, the unemployment rate among minorities and age cohort of 25-35 is close to 20%. suffice it to say that if things are so bad for native-born American minorities , what about the foreign-born immigrants?

Surprisingly, no one even talks about how things are shaping up for the immigrants. We have to remember that immigrants are vital component of the American story. The contribution of immigrants to this great nation cannot be gainsaid--for example, 2 in every 5 invention is by an immigrants, not to mention great American immigrants such as Albert Eintein. I challenge our leaders to pay special attention to immigrants who seem to be the most vulnerable among the the group affected by this economic doldrums. We have to keep the American/immigrants dream alive!














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Is African Union on wrong side of history on Libya?

Libyan rebels advance into Tripoli for the most part came as a surprise to the World. Gaddafi's spin machine was at its best in scaring the hell out of the rebels of the dreadful encounter awaiting them in Tripoli. However, thanks to the braveheart of the rebels and good judgement of residents of Tripoli, the encounter was more or less a drive-through.

Now pondits, Libyan Transitional National Government and other policy makers are debating post-Gaddafi' Libya.

One conspicuous missing link though is the voice of the African Union in all of this. South Africa for example has not been particularly thrilled by the turn of events over the last few days. They actually moved to block a vote at the UN enabling the Libyan TNC funds to settle in.

Much as we all abhor the west meddling in internal African affairs, we have to understand that the Libyan experience is what can be considered blueprint for such operations. Gaddafi is a mad dog who has oppressed his own people for over 42 years, period.

It is about time African Union tilt to the right side of history and support their brothers and sisters in Libya.

Can migration be a positive- sum game for Africa?

The last two decades have witnessed mass emigration of young talents from Africa and other developing countries en route to the North. Experts are quick to point to brain drain (as it is labeled) as one of the factors impeding progress in developing countries. Africa is said to have lost a great deal of its highly skilled talents particularly in the medical field as a result of brain drain.

Critics of brain drain tend to take aim at both the migrants as well as their host nations for enticing and syphoning the best human resources from poor countries who need these talents the most. In truth, Africa has fallen victim to loss of qualified medical doctors, nurses, lawyers, engineers, and recent university graduates to countries like the United Kingdom, U.S. and the like.

The effect of this vacuum has been amply documented and much talked about.
ome hospitals for example are without qualified doctors and nurses to take care of patients. What I beg to differ is the long term impact brain drain can have on these countries at the receiving end.

Financial returns (running into billions of dollars) in terms of remittances have gone a long way to cushion these economies at a time when donor countries are cutting back thier commitment to Africa. If properly managed, this can go a long way to circumvent any short-term loss due to brain drain.

Another positive impact of brain drain is the skill set these immigrants bring back to thier countries down the road. the reality of this debate is that most of these professionals return later on in thier lives. They often bring to bear their rich experience from their host countries. Most returnees are making a big difference in the medical, education,political and other sectors of the African economy.

In effect, my sense is that, brain drain may not be all that bad.

African Immigrant: Is Good Politics Bad Economics?

African Immigrant: Is Good Politics Bad Economics?: "One would think politics and economics go hand in hand or better still complement each other--afterall, economics was born out of politics a..."

Is Good Politics Bad Economics?

One would think politics and economics go hand in hand or better still complement each other--afterall, economics was born out of politics and it is politicians who implement economic models. However, politics and economics in today terms are set against each other as if they are mutually exclusive.

If you follow the US political debate, you would clearly notice how politics and economics have been striped of their scientific orientation and have now become mere subjective disciplines depending on whose interest it is serving.

It is amazing to listen to the Republicans sheepishly advocating for supply-side stimulus i.e low tax rate for the rich contrary to what their own conservative economists are prescribing--this is clearly not motivated by economics but a political move to please their rich base. In negociating the debt ceiling, the Republicans have indicated they are not interested in the economic welfare of the country, they are only interested in making their rich clientele happy--they have made it clear that tax increase of any kind is off the table but cutting entitlement such as social security and medicare is the way forward.

It is a commonplace in today's democracy to see the opposition incentivised to sabotage the incumbent's economic policies to enable it to take over power--in doing so, innocent citizens get hurt economically and the country loses its pride and stature. This is pointedly not the way democracy was made to function--opposition captures power by dint of presenting credible alternative to the incumbent's policy.

If the advanced democracies are such murky, one can only imagine how it is playing out in Africa--there are reports that in Ghana, government officials are altering vital statistical information to make the incumbent look good.

Politicians should stop manipulating economics for their short-sighted goals.

Politics, Class Struggle and Rock and Roll

As student of politics, it breaks my heart to see how modern day politics is badly played out to the extent that people vying for public offices are shying away from being labeled politicians! Don't get me wrong, politics has always been associated with the game of cat and mouse from the beginning of creation--I remember in my politics 101 class, the first question I encountered was, Politics is a dirty game, dicusss. What is alarming these days though is the frequency and magnitude of lies, deceptions, and misrepresentations we see in politics.

This trend is not only peculiar to Third World democracies such as Ghana where both the ruling and opposition parties are gilty of manipulating facts to serve their end goal. Here in the US, politicians are seen misinforming, inciting, and scaring the public everyday on issues ranging from tax increases, immigration, national deficit, and the President's birth certificate, all in the name of appealing to their base.

The sad part of all these is that most of these issues our politicians are toying with affect the very survival of the working class. If this is not a classic case of class struggle where corporations sponsor politicians to dance Rock and Roll then I personally do not know what this is all about.

Social Media and Africa's Youth

Just over a few years ago, the term "digital divide" was ubiquitous diagnosis for growth and development in poor countries--fast forward to 2011 and one would wonder whatever happened to all the hypes about digital divide?

It must be acknowledged that some progress have been made over the years. People in Africa are using social network such as Facebook, LinkeIn, Twitter and Skype to connect to the rest of the world like never before-- it is indeed refreshing for those of us living miles away from the continent to get such instant access thanks the power of the internet.

I strongly agree with people who think that the dotcom revolution is the best thing to happen to developing countries. Imagine students, workers and leaders from Africa sharing knowledge and information with the rest of the world in real time--I bet my college days would have been less stressful if I had such access to information.

Arab Spring has shown us that the internet has a leg of its own and that no one can stop it. Empowering citizens from poor countries (often saddled with authoritarian regimes) with such vital tool will clearly cut everyone's job out for them. The internet business in Africa and other developing countries must transition for its present awareness stage to critical mass stage. It is up to the world to make this happen.

You know what we say in Africa, when you walk alone, you walk fast but when you walk together, you walk far--lets share this revolution togther.