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Not a DreamWorks motion picture, or a Disney Fairy tale, furthermore the American Dream includes housing. The white picket fence maybe an outdated style, but the sentiment still exist. It appears housing is becoming a dilemma, and daunting dream not to mention access and affordability. How does one define affordability is also a concern? Often times the decision to rent or own a home is based on many factors. First, the prospective home buyer or renter needs to have job security to afford living in the home or apartment. The next hurdle for housing is credit. According to Housing Secretary Dr. Ben Carson, data shows an average net worth of a renter is $5,000, while the average net worth of a homeowner is $200,000. That is a disturbing difference and wide gap of disparities that requires adjusting for access. Housing is a human right, which right now is in a crisis all across America. From New York to New Orleans, and in the District of Columbia, the revitalization and beautification projects are pricing many people out. So the prospective home buyer is already frightened from even considering purchasing a home. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development has been the agency responsible for providing various housing accommodations and resources to many Americans. The Hill hosted "Affordable Housing and the American Dream," with a dynamic panel featuring Representative Emanuel Cleaver, Representative Steve Stivers, along with others determining the future of America's housing market. The housing market has certainly changed in more ways than one. However, the access appears to be the biggest barrier for many. The style along with the price of a home has changed. People now have the option to live in a condo, container home, duplex, apartment, or single-family home. Even the building material has changed. The option of solar panels for electricity exist, along with broadband built into the homes structure. Not to mention the home appliances which are equipped with many censors and automatic settings. Congressman Cleaver is very compassionate about erasing the housing gap for those of color. "Why the issue burns so hard, I didn't live in a house with electricity or pluming until 8 years old. Stayed in public housing," he stated during the discussion. Congressman Cleaver also pointed out how rural America and urban America are very similar with regards to the federal school lunch programs. Congressman Stivers still believes bias exist in the housing market and some discriminatory parts with some intention is part of the problem. Which is why Housing Urban Development goal was to correct the problem "we still have it, it's still there," he says of the bias barriers in housing. Changing the narrative to homeownership could be a start to access and opportunity through education. Bias in real estate behavior and discrimination in employment are also barriers. On the phone, the realtor is ready and interested in showing the property, however when the person shows up the interest isn't there. It is fundamentally right being played out in DC, and people are being pushed out systemically suggest Andre Perry, panelist and David M. Rubenstein Fellow. "Invest in property, not people, you get gentrification," said Perry during the panel discussion. Hopefully many American's will be able to dream about homeownership again, and perhaps a definition to accompany affordable housing would be a great place to start. With the signing of Executive Order Establishing a White House Council on Eliminating Regulator Barriers to Affordable Housing, the American Dream doesn't look as doubtful. On June 25, President Trump signed the Executive Order and stated "Today, we begin a bold new initiative to bring down the cost of housing for American families. So important." Secretary Dr. Ben Carson will be the Chair of the new Council. Secretary Carson stated at the signing "The Council, which consist of members across eight federal agencies, will lead federal efforts to engage with state, local, and tribal leaders across the country to remove obstacles that impede the production of more affordable homes, namely the enormous price tag of burdensome government regulations." The mission of the Council is to break down barriers and to clear the path for the millions of Americans to pursue their American Dream.
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On June 13, in Washington, DC, outside The Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, "Stop killing civilians in Sudan" was the chant coming from a group of peaceful protesters. Changing all social media avatars to #BlueforSudan has become a social media trend, in showing support and recognizing the horrific treatment people in Sudan are currently facing. The conditions even sparked celebrities like Rihanna to repost a post regarding the whats happening on her Instagram feed. The humanitarian crisis stems from a transfer of power. Former president Omar Al-Bashir found himself leaving in the same position he arrived with overthrowing the elected government, however a coup overthrew him in April of this year.
Sudan, also known as "land of the blacks," according to Britannica, is located northeastern of Africa, and is the largest African country. Khartoum is the capital of Sudan and is located roughly in the center of the country at the junction of the Blue Nile and White Nile rivers. Egypt is north of Sudan, and Ethiopia is south by South Sudan. Before Al-Bashir was ousted in a military coup on April 11, 2019, he was appointing by the Revolutionary Command Council for nation salvation in 1993. A coup is a change in power from the top that merely results in the abrupt replacement of leading government personnel. WHO will now help the humanitarian crisis in Sudan? The US Capitol Visitor Center was the place to be for the critical conversation "Antitrust Lesson's from No Poach case in Silicon Valley" and documentary viewing "When Rules Don't Apply," hosted by Public Knowledge, who works to shape policy on behalf of the public interest. What's Free but Not A Fair Market? "A means to an end," is the most commonly used phrase in the marketplace. But what happens when there is no point of entry to executing your meaningful business plan? To really put into perspective, perhaps your business solely relies on the digital platform market industry. In fact, just think about it from a short-term goal. Transitioning your business to align with the All-Inclusive Google Ecosystem which is inescapable; no matter which tools to consider evaluating for implementation and use of your business practices. Furthermore, we can now examine Google from the lens of a railroad company perspective theory. Carrying all the world's data on their networks to undisclosed cloud space locations for storage. In one railway direction headed west, Google Incorporation is carrying the web browser, digital advertising, search engines, mobile operating systems, emails, and gaming consoles. While headed east Google railway Limited Liability Company establishes its presence in the District of Columbia for any potential competition. This dynamic duo combination is very unique considering Google Incorporation generates most of the revenue for parent company Alphabet. Moreover, these particular Google railroads don't have privacy insurance; in the event data gets damaged on its way to delivering search results, syncing smartphone contacts, or sending an email. Not to mention a potential network outage. Stopping the Fumes on the Railways before any Flames To assist with pointing policy makers, Congress, and industry market professionals in the right direction to appeal to the legislative body to shift dynamics to delivering some guidance for the future protection of competition in a free marketplace, holding hearings as solutions, along with limiting forced arbitration. "Antitrust Lesson's from No Poach Case in Silicon Valley," panel discussion presented by Public Knowledge comes at a critical time especially since many businesses use some facet of technology in their operations, and more business will be expected to use these technology in the coming years. The anticipation of 5G alone becoming apart of a business bundle deal. Not just that, ensuring through enforcement these dominant country size technology companies aren't violating Antitrust Laws, allowing competition and not stifling services for political bias or slowing down the innovation occurring in the market. Using the Google railroad perspective theory, a simple Google search on their search engine, using the Google web browser should yield many results in relation to Antitrust Law if typed in. In particular, the results relating to Google and Antitrust Law violations dating back to 2009. The Department of Justice received reports that several leading technology companies in Silicon Valley were colluding to harm the very people responsible for their wealth and success: their own employees. With more than 64,000 tech workers represented in the class action suit alleging that executives at different companies sought to reduce operating cost and retain critical personnel by Shutting Off employment opportunities. They secretly shared salary information and stopped recruiting each other's employees according to the DOJ case. This arrangement may have originated with Apple's CEO Steve Jobs, who pressured other CEO's including Google's Eric Schmidt, to join the conspiracy. The Department of Justice and California Office of the Attorney General named Google and other tech companies in a criminal complaint for violation of Antitrust Law. The companies agreed to end the arrangements but no compensation was provided to their employees. In 2013, a class action suit was certified seeking $3 billion in lost wages, $435 million in damages for the 64,000 tech workers with the case being settled out of court. The class included engineers, designers, and other technical profession from the offending Silicon Valley Companies. In the documentary "When Rules don't Apply," which exposed tech companies in particular Google and Apple with making secret packs to harm employees, further suppressing wages. Former employees of Google exposed in the documentary they looked at employees as assets and property, not humans. Because competition spurs innovation, Google wouldn't be born if the government had not applied antitrust pressure on Microsoft, according to an expert in the documentary. The Law along the Railways Although the Delaware Corporation Google antitrust violations date back to 2010, the Sherman Law has been around for much longer period of time. The law and its practice can now be search and viewed on Google web browser. According to the statement of Albert H. Walker of New York, a jurist in 1912 during The Sherman Law and The New England railroads, and writer on questions in the interstate-commerce law and The Sherman Law. Mr. Walker understood that the question before the House Committee on Rules is whether it shall recommend the House to appoint a special committee to make an investigation into certain points of fact. The House has jurisdiction to investigate matters only where it has jurisdiction to take action in prosecution of whatever facts it may learn with certainty. That action may take the form of legislation or the action may take the form of impeachment of unfaithful executive officers. The Sherman Law enacted by Congress in 1890, every contract, combination in the form of a trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several states or with foreign nations is hereby declared to be illegal. In 1908, President Roosevelt brought two new suits for illegal combination under the Sherman Law, one against the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad company for having acquired the Boston and Maine railroad, and one against the Union Pacific Railroad Company for having acquired the control of the Southern Pacific. Those suits were pending at the end of his administration. Walker suggest during his testimony to the Committee, it is plain that whenever anything is brought to the attention of Congress which is worthy of consideration, and which lays foundation for a suspicion that there might be some propriety in impeachment proceedings, Congress has jurisdiction to at least investigate the charges. The Sherman Law has two sections, in theory upon which that action was based; a new corporation the Northern Securities Co., was organized in the State of New Jersey and that Corporation purchased all the stock of the Great Northern Railway Co.; and all of the stock of the Northern Pacific Railway Co., with the view of running the two railroads as one system. The suit reached the Supreme Court of the U.S. in 1904 that it was an illegal combination, because it violated section 1 of the Sherman Law. Future Examination of Antitrust Law With a better understanding of the law, lets get back to the future panel discussion of "Antitrust Lessons from No Poach Case in Silicon Valley." One of the questions presents during the Q&A was "What are some priorities that Congress should be looking at, some areas for change that we want to encourage Congress to pay attention to?" President and CEO of Public Knowledge Gene Kimmelman, suggest start by saying "where is the labor department? The expert agency that's supposed to be taking care of the rights of workers in the marketplace." He expressed using all the tools that we have to really weigh in on these issues and make sure the marketplace is functioning. "I just think its critical, and Congress has oversight over all of this and its Congress, it could be the White House. We were hoping it would be the Obama White House, it wasn't. They weren't always there to focus on this." Mr. Kimmelman also suggest one thing that is important to know about a criminal case verses a civil case is the level of intent you have to prove its much higher burden, risk factor, and complications of litigation. Sandeep Vaheesan, Legal Director of the Open Markets Institute response to the question was "addressing the radical dis-empowerment of workers is going to be the responsibility of many agencies, obviously not limited to Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission. Both agencies could be doing a lot more, and Congress has to use its oversight and appropriations power to really compel them to do everything they can." Bringing criminal prosecution against all the player cartels is always a corrective measure, moreover agencies have to start reviewing mergers for the labor market effects not just prime market effects, Sandeep suggest. Mr. Kimmelman thinks the best approach would be holding hearings, calling people up, hearing issues and open availability are the solutions for digital marketplace. Riding the Google Antitrust Digital Railroad headed East In the algorithm line with your business class boarding ticket usual requires your consent through clicking the terms of service on all platforms whether from your Android powered by Google to your emails which are tailored by Google and prioritized for your business organization preferences. Although you're not aware, Google just might keep track of the footsteps it took to reach your desk to send an email. What happens when your business expectancy goal to carry out a marketing campaign on YouTube, a service provided by Google, finds that the speech doesn't align with their All-inclusive ecosystem? Or what happens if certain search results are given specific ranking factors over another users content? Moreover, making common sense of how the Ad sense monetize mechanism is measured - suppose Presidential election campaigns can generate more revenue depending on how much discourse they want to sow. The DOJ Antitrust enforcement task force can end these challenges and barriers presented by the Google ecosystem in the market, marginalizing and intimidating competitors wanting to enter into the marketplace. Change can happen a swift. In 2013, Kamala Harris was the Attorney General to bring the Antitrust case against Google, and now 2019 she is running for President of the United States. Not sure if she has plans to add Antitrust enforcement as a platform pitch appeal on the campaign trail. In the meantime, DOJ is laying the tracks for railways into imminent Antitrust probe station with domination driving the competition engine. Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim had some remarks for the "Antitrust New Frontiers Conference," in Tel-Aviv Israel on June 11th. The Antitrust Law establishes the rules of a competitive employment marketplace. Free and open market are the foundation of a vibrant economy. The current landscape suggest there are only one or two significant players in important digital spaces, including internet search, social networks, mobile and desktop operating systems, and electronic book sales. At the conference Asst. Attorney General Delrahim suggest "the right question is whether a defined market is competitive. That is the province of the Antitrust Laws." Many have been paying attention to the digital economy and way that Israel promotes competition to foster an ecosystem of innovation. At the conference Asst. Attorney General Makan Delrahim determined that in digital markets, the competition is for user attention or clicks, and competitive transactions in the digital economy, particularly acquisitions of early stage companies. Section 1 of the Clayton Act prohibits mergers and acquisitions, where the effect may be substantially to lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly. Asst. Attorney General Delrahim expressed it is not possible to describe in the conference each way that a transaction may harm competition in a digital market, but he suggest "the potential for mischief if the purpose and effect of an acquisition is to block potential competitors, protect a monopoly or otherwise harm competition by reducing consumer choice, increasing prices, diminishing or slowing innovation, or reducing quality." Where competition is harmed, consumers and markets lose with higher prices, lower quality, lower rate of innovation, less free speech, and even lower privacy protections. Protecting competition means protecting all of those dimensions of competition, Delrahim stated during the conference. Hopefully the antitrust task force has their strategy and plan of execution for prosecuting violations mapped out. Any moment the Google Incorporation or Google Limited Liability company railroads can run into a "simple glitch" "mistakenly interference" interrupting the business expectancy of competition in the free marketplace. 2019 is the year of the entrepreneur! Elevation, everything intriguing and innovative. "LiveAtState" press briefing held on June 5th, provided all the details for that which exudes entrepreneur, and elevation from the 2019 Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in the Hague Netherlands where Ambassador Maureen Cormack, Senior Advisor for GES Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, shared some of the ways entrepreneur's can help continue making a difference moving the world forward. GES aims to showcase inspiring entrepreneurs and investors from around the world creating new opportunities for investment partnership and collaboration, connect American entrepreneurs and investors with international counterparts to form lasting relationships. The summit includes a wide range of workshops, panels, ignite talks, pitch competitions and much more. Given a description of an entrepreneur can have various meanings. However, they all have the common goal of demonstrating leadership skills, along with the necessity of gaining access to capital, helping jump start their company. An entrepreneur, often misunderstood since the individual uses their talents and abilities with the pursuit of a passion driven by creative expression, on a mission to provide a sustainable lifestyle, and they know their purpose, is how I describe an entrepreneur. In its 9th year, the U.S. Department of State has sponsored the Global Entrepreneurship Summit and President Trump along with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced together plans of the summit in July of 2018. GES 2019 venue was beautifully decorated. The ambiance had the absolute feeling of an Amazon Room which was turned into the jungle, to interactive rooms in order for debates and solution stages to take place. The five areas of focus for the 2019 Global Entrepreneurship Summit are:
People need to build relationships, and look at business plans was one of the 2019 GES goals. Organizers plan to conduct a survey in order to gauge the outcomes of the summit to really track the results. Ambassador Cormack closed the press brief with expressing "I want to encourage our interlocutors, both themselves by given entrepreneurs support in the media, in the public; also by encouraging their governments to create the kind of framework that allows people to explore their ideas, to help develop the future." Countries around the world have smart people who want to do these things but the framework that they operate in often determines whether they aren't or whether they come to some place like the U.S. right? Suggest Ambassador Cormack. It was a packed room at the National Press Club for the distinguished panel discussion "U.S., Turkey, and NATO: A Changing World," hosted by the Turkish Heritage Organization, Center of Turkish-American Relations. The Turkish Heritage Organization is a young independent, nonpartisan non-profit organization that promotes discussion and dialogue around Turkey's role in the international community and issues of importance in the U.S.-Turkey bilateral relationship. The dynamic discussion was moderated by Geoffrey F. Gresh, Department Head of International Security Studio. The distinguished panelist included General (Ret.) Wesley K. Clark former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, and Cagri Erhan, President at Altinbas University. Here are a few notes from the dynamic discussion:
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