United Utah Party to hold special convention to nominate 3rd District Congressional Candidate
What: United Utah Party Third Congressional District Special Convention
When: Tuesday, July 17 at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Provo Library (550 N. University Ave. in Provo), Room 302
Melanie McCoard has dropped out of the race for the Third Congressional District for health reasons, so the United Utah Party is holding a special convention to choose her replacement. Three individuals - Ben Bramhall (Orem), Rebecca Ortinez (Provo), and Tim Zeidner (Cedar Hills) have expressed interest in competing for the UUP nomination.
All registered members of the UUP in the Third District are automatically delegates to the convention and are eligible to run as candidates.
The event is open to the press.
For more information, visit unitedutah.org.
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Gov. Herbert, Legislative Leaders, and Salt Lake City Council Members to Discuss Consensus Recommendations for Utah Inland Port
What:
Gov. Gary R. Herbert will join legislative and local elected leaders to discuss consensus recommendations for the Utah Inland Port. A short question and answer period will follow.
Who:
Gov. Gary R. Herbert
Senate President Wayne Niederhauser
House Speaker Greg Hughes
Salt Lake City Council Chair Erin Mendenhall
Salt Lake City Council Member Charlie Luke
Salt Lake City Council Member James Rogers
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The Best Deals are the Deals that Develop Peace
by Wim Laven
1325 words
As an educator of politics and conflict resolution I’ve spent decades examining deals as they relate to conflict and peace. Negotiation is a key skill of statecraft because successful diplomacy can save millions of lives and avoid trillion-dollar military engagements that may cause years of suffering and still not be anywhere close to a resolution, like in Afghanistan. The study and assessments cannot make guarantees for predictions of future performance or outcomes, but there are many truths in the field.
One great frustration I’ve had is that Donald Trump, both as a candidate and as President, continues to get my field wrong. I have written about the damage caused by Trump blowing up deals, and what Trump has gotten wrong about the Iran Deal (among others). He does a tremendous disservice to those working for the causes of peace and justice around the world, and I would like to push back against these misconceptions and resist the normalization of his dangerous practices. They can perhaps work in his ruthless business deals but in statecraft the same game is potentially lethal to millions of human beings.
In his ghostwritten book, Art of the Deal, Trump outlines strategies he credits with delivering great contracts, the book’s author calls Trump “deeply disturbed” and “utterly untrustworthy.”
For the average contract the cost of litigation may be prohibitive to redressing damages. Indeed, Trump put small businesses out of business when he refused to pay in full, and the cases were not isolated. One of the strategies mentioned is to get your adversary back harder than they got you. It is a “teach them a lesson” behavior, and the functionality and failure of this strategy can be laid out clearly.
In my field we call the zero-sum-game distributive bargaining. In short this posits that there are winners and losers. The more you get, the more you win, and the less you get, the more you lose. Contracts are fixed events, and can be judged in this way. Real estate or used car sales work this way when a buyer and seller are unlikely to have future relationships with one another. It is normal for parties to “bargain” over costs and values. It is abnormal for parties to be dishonest or break agreements, but Trump also promotes the renegotiation of debt. Trump says 'I'm smart' for not paying taxes, and he doesn’t recognize an obligation to living up to his end of agreements. For him, the simple math is “the more I win, the more you lose.” There is only so much and every bit you get is a bit I lose. This is not true at all in the world of nation-state wellness.
Where “winning” and “losing” are part of normal competition, and it should be noted that competition is normal and healthy in the marketplace, is should also be noted that Trump’s behavior better models coercion—the practice of persuasion using force or threats. When the practitioner is free from moral inhibition, this is the practice of deception, hostage taking, and terrorism. Terrorists, just like Trump, achieve great success in distributive bargaining by maximizing leverage with pressure points. Boko Haram kidnaps girls because it sees “Western education as sin;” Donald Trump enacts policies separating children from their parents in order to try to achieve political ends and funding for a border wall. Coercive persuasion is frequently effective because of a moral component that is leveraged against one party. It is why parents rarely try to bargain over the cost of the life-threatening treatment required by a child when they can afford to pay it.
Sometimes “winning” is not about saving money, sometimes “winning” involves other interests like saving lives. This is called interest-based, or integrative, bargaining. This is particularly fruitful in its promise of collaborative—win-win—solutions. You may think of the doctor being interested in seeing the health of her patients and not just a healthy bank account, or of building a long-term business relationship on the basis of fair pricing and dependable trustworthiness. Profit can be a motive, but there is value to business relationships. Maybe instead of renegotiating the debt after the job Trump should have tried to get a better price by promising future work instead of relying on the ability of his attorneys to drive up the costs of litigation.
Collaboration is not for all disputes; one cannot partner with a Nazi, but it is great for addressing problems where relationships matter. The focus on mutually beneficial agreements will increase trust between parties and make those agreements more durable. Think of your neighbor. If you asked to borrow a hammer and promise to bring it back tomorrow, are they more likely to let you borrow it again if you bring it back as promised—or a month late? We build trust when we make and keep agreements.
Now think of Canada, or NATO, or any other trade partner. Canada is the U.S.’s neighbor, and they’ve been slapped in the face with steel tariffs and had lies told about trade deficits, are Trump’s efforts at “winning” strengthening relationships or building trust? If I were Canada I don’t think I’d let Trump borrow a hammer, he’d probably use it to brag about how he’d made a great deal on it. He tries to use distributive bargaining in an integrated world, and he misses three basic truths.
1. There are significant opportunity costs involved in treating international relations and diplomacy as zero-sum. Great losses are experienced when opportunities for mutual benefit are missed. We can think of Canada offering to pool resources with the U.S. in addressing a common threat. Take Russian involvement in elections amongst western nations as an example. Distributive bargaining might suggest the U.S. wins when they contribute the least possible in combatting Russian intervention. Trump might refuse to cost share stating that other NATO nations are not paying enough. The end result: The U.S. gets no help from Canada or Europe and they get no help from us; we are divided and conquered. Integrated bargaining, however, looks at complementarity and mutual gain. The larger the alliance, the greater the benefit…
2. Distributive bargaining focuses on getting your share of the pie, but there is no pie in international relations. When Trump complains that countries are not paying their fair share to NATO, for example, he acts like they owe the U.S. or have gotten the U.S.’s share of the pie, but they haven’t. The strength of the alliance is that all members in the alliance get all of the benefit, period. No country is stealing value or benefit from the U.S. There is a clear solution to the free rider problem (though Trump himself brags that non-payment is smart when he talks about his taxes) and that is getting rid of free riders. The real question is whether or not NATO is meeting the U.S.’s need or not? If it is then the U.S.’s 22 percent share of cost is a pretty good return on investment. And indeed, the common defense clause—the core value of NATO—has only been invoked once since its 1949 founding, to assist one nation attacked—the US, on 9.11.01.
3. There are a finite number of states and allies. Trump’s strategy of abusing those who did contract work for him in real-estate only worked because there were more contractors at his disposal. When he put one out of business, simply put, he could find another. The same is not true at the state level. The U.S. has two neighbors, Canada and Mexico, and they cannot take an infinite amount of abuse and bullying. If Trump doesn’t like this Mexico, he can’t just find a new Mexico.
Trump needs to understand that value to citizens is delivered in terms of quality of life and not shareholder profit; it is a country not a corporation. He also needs to understand the exceptional potential costs for his failures. Relationships are not disposable, and should not be treated as conveniences or luxuries. But also that the costs of war are high. His distributive approach to North Korea—where Kim mopped the floor with him—was a complete failure, and we’re lucky there has not been more significant fallout, and his alienation of U.S. allies only creates new obstacles to the development of peace. Most fundamentally Trump needs to understand that real leadership is about making the world a better place and his myopic MAGA focus on Making America Great Again continues to fail both U.S. and global interests.
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Wim Laven, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is a doctoral candidate in International Conflict Management at Kennesaw State University, he teaches courses in political science and conflict resolution, and is on the Governing Council of the International Peace Research Association.
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USDA Partners to Improve Rural Water Infrastructure for Nearly 250,000 People in 103 Communities
Projects in 35 States Will Improve Quality of Life and Build a Foundation for Rural Prosperity
WASHINGTON, July 16, 2018 – Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development Anne Hazlett today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $267 million in 103 infrastructure projects (PDF, 298 KB) to upgrade water and wastewater systems in rural communities.
“Robust, modern infrastructure is foundational for quality of life and economic opportunity – no matter what zip code you live in,” Hazlett said. “Under Secretary Perdue’s leadership, USDA is committed to being a strong partner in addressing rural infrastructure needs to support a more prosperous future in rural communities.”
USDA is making investments in 35 states through the Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant program. The funds can be used to finance drinking water, storm water drainage and waste disposal systems for rural communities with 10,000 or fewer residents.
Below are some examples of USDA’s partnerships in water infrastructure:
In FY 2018, Congress provided a historic level of funding for water and wastewater infrastructure. The 2018 Omnibus spending bill includes $5.2 billion for USDA loans and grants, up from $1.2 billion in FY 2017. It also directs Agriculture Secretary Perdue to make investments in rural communities with the greatest infrastructure needs.
Rural community leaders can apply for these funds electronically by using the interactive RD Apply tool. They can also apply through one of USDA Rural Development’s state or field offices.
In April 2017, President Donald J. Trump established the Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity to identify legislative, regulatory and policy changes that could promote agriculture and prosperity in rural communities. In January 2018, Secretary Perdue presented the Task Force’s findings to President Trump. These findings included 31 recommendations to align the federal government with state, local and tribal governments to take advantage of opportunities that exist in rural America. Increasing investments in rural infrastructure is a key recommendation of the task force.
To view the report in its entirety, please view the Report to the President of the United States from the Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity (PDF, 5.4 MB). In addition, to view the categories of the recommendations, please view the Rural Prosperity infographic (PDF, 190 KB).
USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities and create jobs in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community services such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural areas. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov.
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4 Ways Businesses Can Survive
Disruptions Beyond Your Control
Business plans – like all plans – can go awry when events beyond the control of the business owner disrupt the everyday routine.
Such disruptions could be because of a dip in the economy, a natural disaster that creates havoc, a shift in the public’s buying habits, or new technology that can do what you do better.
“Interruptions within a business are as much a part of life as breathing and blinking,” says Raméz Baassiri, author of Interrupted Entrepreneurship: Embracing Change in the Family Business (www.ramezbaassiri.com). “They are viewed by some as hiccups, challenges, or even crises.”
Baassiri, a board member of AHB Group, a multinational and multigenerational family business, says such moments can prove deadly to a family business, which about 80 percent of all businesses in the United States are. But those disruptions also can be the catalyst for even greater success, depending on how they are handled.
He says a few things family businesses can do when life upends the daily routine include:
“Controversial thoughts are where innovation thrives,” Baassiri says. “They were the origin of the telephone and the car, the airplane, and spaceships. By asking questions, by thinking beyond the given and looking at the possible (or even the impossible), we grow, and in growing, we thrive despite the disruptions.”
About Raméz Baassiri
Raméz Baassiri, author of Interrupted Entrepreneurship: Embracing Change in the Family Business (www.ramezbaassiri.com), is a board member of a multinational, multigenerational family business. An author and graduate of a doctoral program, Raméz is a firm believer in education through storytelling—a concept that can, and does, change the world for the better.
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Busiest Part of Hurricane Season Hits Mid-August - Is Your Business Prepared And Protected?
Hurricane season arrived on June 1, but the busiest period is fast approaching - typically mid-August to mid-September generates the most hurricanes in the United States. Home homeowners are already pricing generators, restocking hurricane supplies and getting ready for Mother Nature’s annual visits.
But what about businesses? What should they do to prepare for hurricane season – or for any disaster that could strike and potentially upend the business?
Peter J. Strauss, a captive insurance manager and author of the book The Business Owner’s Definitive Guide to Captive Insurance Companies (www.peterjstrauss.com), says the time is now for businesses to prepare.
“A remarkable number of business owners will spend a lot of time preparing their homes, but very little time preparing their businesses,” Strauss says. “Once a storm is on the radar, there is barely time to prepare your home – let alone your business.”
Experts from Colorado State University — regarded as the nation’s top seasonal hurricane forecasters — recently predicted 2018 will have seven hurricanes among 14 named tropical storms. Both numbers are above the average of six and 12, respectively.
Strauss says some preparations a business needs to take include:
Strauss stressed that procrastination is not your friend when it comes to hurricanes. “Once a storm is approaching, everything moves twice as fast as you think it will. Generators, water and plywood will go fast,” he says. “Gas lines will get longer sooner. You can save yourself a lot of headache and worry by being prepared.”
About Peter J. Strauss
Peter J. Strauss (www.peterjstrauss.com) is an attorney, captive insurance manager and author of several books, including most recently The Business Owner’s Definitive Guide to Captive Insurance Companies. He is the founder and managing member of The Strauss Law Firm, LLC, on Hilton Head Island, S.C, and also the founder and CEO of Hamilton Captive Management, LLC. A graduate of the New England School of Law, he holds an LL.M. in estate planning from the University of Miami and speaks regularly at public seminars
