Correcting Mistakes 7-21-24

The first step in Strategic Planning is to make a thorough study of current conditions.  At a national level, this includes a list of failures and successes. It also includes a steely-eyed assessment of capabilities and a listing of immediate priorities. 

When I look at the data on countries I can see countries with very high populations, very few advantages. I can see very low household incomes and high levels of poverty. A few of these have very low productivity.

I see countries with low Labor Force Participation Rates and unused Agricultural Land who are Importing food and I wonder why they are not making what they consume. In most cases this is due to droughts and inadequate irrigation. Their further development is impaired by lack of funding that could be supplied by a private sector that has yet to be developed.  

I realize that governments have conflicting priorities that require keeping a low Debt to GDP while dealing with poverty and nutrition deficiencies. In these cases, the populations should have the motivation to increase food production. But every earthquake, volcano eruption, hurricane and other natural disasters interrupt any progress being made.

My best frame of reference for overcoming all of these impediments is the History of countries that have made the journey from poverty to prosperity. These countries must have had the right leaders and alert populations who made right decisions in how they went about making progress. They had to overcome set-backs and return to the task without losing heart.

Incentives including family land ownership and the opportunity to gain generational wealth were critical in motivating Colonists to succeed in developing the economy of the British Colonies in North America. This economy was built on demand for timber and extended to agricultural crops, sugar, cocoa, tobacco and cotton.

Now, poor countries continue to earn a living by selling raw materials including oil, minerals and agricultural products, but these commodities are subject to fluctuations in price based on supply and demand.  Oil prices are high, but could soon be lower as supply exceeds demand.

The best example of raw material producing countries that moved forward to produce what they consume is embedded in US History. They used Tariffs to fund a small government and encourage manufacturing of furniture and other goods for domestic use that were produced in the US. Developing US industries saved transportation time and cost. The US government provided infrastructure in the form of canals and roads to accommodate private sector efforts to expand the US economy.

The most striking advantage the US had was a shared vision of expansion, with the government and the citizens sharing the same goals and their activities were mutually beneficial. This is lacking in the governments of troubled developing countries across the globe.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader