The building
blocks of an economy
By Rick Leatherwood -
ERBIL
SOMA Paper - Issue No.34 Monday,
November 24, 2008 - Sunday,
December 07, 2008
The US
is not going to continue to foot the
bill for Kurdistan for much longer.
And putting the Kurdish future into
the hope that oil revenues from
Kirkuk will pick up the tab is
potentially a disaster.
The United States of America is the
world's largest economy and it is
also a very strong economy. One of
the biggest differences between the
American economy and the Kurdish
economy is that the American economy
has a foundation. It is the
foundation of the American economy
that enables the rest of the
country's economy to grow and
prosper.
Unlike the Kurdish economy, which
has no internal foundation, the
foundation of the American economy
is protected and well taken care of
by the federal government. Though
industry, manufacturing,
international technology, mass
communications, etc. are all part of
the American economy, they are not
the foundation. These various parts
of the American economy are what the
rest of the world sees and enjoys.
But these other parts can only exist
because of the foundation that is in
place.
The hopeful thing is that within
Kurdistan there are similar
resources as to what the economic
foundation in America is built upon.
What is this foundation? It is
agriculture. That's right. America
feeds itself and exports surplus
food all over the world. Unless the
KRG comes to understand it is their
responsibility to help Kurdish
farmers build a strong foundation
that is capable of feeding itself
and is not dependent on the outside
world, the rest of the Kurdish
economy will never prosper. That is
the bottom line. You may want to
read it again.
What exactly am I talking about? In
America, the rural school system is
every bit as good as the urban
centers. Farmers children across
the United States enjoy the same
advantages as do the children who
live in the cities. The homes of
American farmers all have water and
electricity. These are the basics.
But American farmers also receive
tax benefits and are heavily
subsidized by the federal government
as the American people and the
congress understands that farming
under girds the whole American
economy.
That may sound incredible but it is
true. And putting all of the Kurdish
future into the hope that oil
revenues from Kirkuk will pick up
the tab is unwise at best and
potentially a disaster. It is now
extremely vital that the Kurdish
government does everything it can to
persuade farmers to come out of
Erbil, Slemani, Kirkuk, and Duhok
where they have been for the last 10
years and go back onto the land or
the Kurdish economy simply will
never have the necessary foundation
to grow and develop.
What is needed? First would be the
construction of new primary schools
in strategic agricultural areas.
Farmers in the city need to see that
their childrens education will be
taken care of if they move back onto
the land. The KRG needs to realize
it would cost less than US$20
million to fulfill such a plan,
giving inspiration to Kurdish
farmers, boosting the present
economy, and in the end providing
over a thousand jobs for teachers
and administrators. To even the most
casual observer it is obvious there
is enough money to build these
schools.
So the question will be, is there
the leadership and political will to
do so? It is fine that there is
going to be fancy schools like in
Europe for the wealthy who are going
to live in Dream City. But what the
wealthy people who presently have
access to the funding coming in from
the outside need to realize is that
this outside money they are living
off of will one day stop and without
the foundation of a new Kurdish
economy to fall back on, they will
go bankrupt and become weak with the
rest of the people.
But it is not just the politicians
and privileged people who need to
wake up. How about the farmers
themselves? Yes, they need and
deserve financial assistance from
the government, but they too must
see the essential role they play in
the future of Kurdistan and want to
be a part of the future. Socialism
does not create wealth. Listen
again. Socialism is not a system
that creates wealth. God gives men
the ability to work hard and create
wealth and without farmers who are
willing to work Kurdistan will
remain weak and dependent on its
neighbors.
Where is the will and determination
of the Kurdish people? The socialism
now practiced in Kurdistan is a dead
end street. The whole nation must
wake up and seize the economic
opportunity now at hand. In the last
century, Germany lost two world wars
and at the end of World War II had
been reduced to ashes. But only 40
years later, Germany had become the
third strongest economy in the whole
world.
How could this be? Though their
nation and economy were in ruins at
the end of World War II, the German
foundation was still in place. And
so through hard work (historically
known as the Protestant work ethic),
Germany began to build its economy
again upon this foundation. It is
not likely that in the near future
that Kurdistan is going to replace
Singapore, Hong Kong, or Tokyo, in
the manufacturing,
telecommunications, or international
technology industries.
So what is the future for the
Kurdish economy? One thing is
certain. Without a foundation, other
parts of the Kurdish economy, what
ever they might become, will have
little chance of succeeding. The
Americans are not going to continue
to foot the bill for Kurdistan for
much longer. And putting all of the
Kurdish future into the hope that
oil revenues from Kirkuk will pick
up the tab is unwise at best and
potentially a disaster.
The Kurds need an economic
foundation that is renewable and has
an infrastructure to support it. A
little forethought on the part of
Kurdish decision makers can go a
long way.
Rick Leatherwood has lived in
Kurdistan for four years and is the
Director of KRDI, Kairos Relief &
Development Inc.