Suddenly we’re inundated with images of pitiful refugees.  A human wave has washed up on Europe’s shores and everyone asks how did this happen?  What’s the plan?  Actually this crisis has been building for quite awhile. The Syrian Civil War started back in 2011 and in the ensuing years over 7.6 million Syrians have been internally displaced and 4 million are now refugees.  The turmoil has spilled over into Iraq, while bordering Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon have pretty much reached their humanitarian limits. Israel seeing the trend is building a fence to deter any movement in their direction.  This river of refugees is being further fed with new streams from the now failed Libyan State and North Africa.  Afghanistan facing western withdrawal is another growing tributary. Europe having difficulty dealing with the immigrants they already have is faced with the real possibility of destabilization.

It didn’t have to be this way.  We pointed out in in our “SSSSHHHH” posts going back to November of last year and expanded on in our “But Admiral the Wind has Changed”  post, that there were things that should be done and the time was ripe to do them.  First, the Arab league as a whole needs to allow open immigration and  civil rights to all Arabs.  For centuries Arabs considered themselves as one people.  They share language, customs, history and to a large part religion.  We may never comprehend how Arabs  ignore the plight of their fellow Arabs, but maybe nobody pushed them to live up to their humanitarian obligations.  Now is the time to do just that.  The main players in the Arab World need us more than we need them.  Oil now is a limp club.  On the other hand Iran looms as a monster threat. Our protection or not is a stick, but Europe could provide the carrot with financial help in settling the refugees.  This has to be cheaper and far less disruptive than taking them all into Europe.  It’s simply too expensive for these welfare states to take in vast number of refugees. Syrians, Palestinians and Iraqis released from wasted lives in refugee camps could actually invigorate their new host countries to the benefit of all.  History surely points in that direction

Second, aid the Kurds in setting up buffer zones around their territory for displaced minorities such as the Christians and Yesidis.  Some progress has been made in this endeavor  but much more can be accomplished.  Every person who finds safety and protection under the Kurdish wing, is one less refugee in a camp in the adjoining nations or ending up in Europe.  It is well past the time that we realize the opportunities possible in a closer relationship and quiet alliance with the Kurds.

Talking about France and Britain taking in thousands of refugees when the problem is in the millions,shows the futility of the cries for Europeans and even the U.S. do more.  Even those thousands are politically unsustainable and could result in governmental upheavals.  The rise of extreme parties in  Europe parallels the increase in migrants.  Donald Trump’s rise in the polls is hardly a signal that the U.S. can do a lot more.  Our position always has been that it is essential to solve a Mideast Problems in the Mideast and Muslim Problems in the Muslim World.  Never has this been more true than it is today.

We, of course, expected cries of war mongers about our position on Iran, but we stand by it. The alternative is far worse.  On the other hand, people who might agree with our stand on zero tolerance for rioters in Baltimore or anywhere else, still ask what would you do about the underlying problems that lead to these protests?  In order to  provide answers we have to move from commentary to actual policy proposals.  To do so, we need help from some notables both living and dead.  The first one we turned to was President Obama who when faced with a long entrenched policy he felt was at a dead end said ” I do not believe we can keep doing the same thing for over five decades and expect a different result.”  While he said in reference to Cuba, the point was well taken. Instead of doing the same unsuccessful things decade after decade, it just might be worthwhile to head in a different direction.  Baltimore like many other of our cities have had one party rule for decades.  That means a certain political philosophy has governed the decisions and the general direction that have brought them to their present deplorable state.  Democrats who ruled all these years, adhere to a big government creed that goes back to the great depression.  Then It received its economic gravitas from John Maynard Keynes who proposed that government action could ameliorate the negative aspects of the business cycle.  After his passing, like minded economists such as John Kenneth Galbraith expanded on this government primacy philosophy to a system where government was the supreme arbitrator between Capital, represented by Big Business, and Labor represented the unions.  On the level of cities like Baltimore this has come to mean unaccountable positions for public employee unions, such as the police and teachers unions. They provide the money and reliable voters to for democrat politicians to prevail. The cost is unfunded pensions and an inability to fire bad or unproductive employees.  Businesses close to City Hall get contracts, zoning and tax breaks in return for their support.  How else can you explain more than 2 billion dollars Stimulus money not making any notable difference in Baltimore’s major problems in education,employment and overall economic growth.  Only the politicians, crony capitalists and unions seem to  made out.  Freddie Gray’s Sandtown-Winchester  neighborhood just continued its downward spiral. John Maynard Keynes was never without contemporaries who pointed to a different path forward.  Chief among them was Friedrich von Hayek, who saw this government dominance as leading us down “the Road to Serfdom” in the book by that name.  Later the Neo–Keynesians moved us further down this road, but also had opposition and one who stood out was Milton Friedman along with his collaborator wife  Rose.  From Ronald Reagan to today’s majority of the Nations Governors, his smaller government individual centered way forward has offered an alternative to the philosophy that has brought Baltimore and similar cities to their present dire circumstances.  In light of this we may do well to ask what would Milton and Rose do? Even though both he and Rose are gone, they left us with starkly different policy proposals from those practiced in these faltering cities.  Education, employment and and how a city achieve economic growth were all tackled by the Friedmans.  It was Milton that said “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.” Continue reading →