Welcome to the IGO Watch Monthly Newsletter for August

The summer period has always been the least active for IGO’s around the world because bureaucrats are enjoying their taxpayer funded time in the sunshine. But that doesn’t mean that we here at IGO Watch let our guard down!  Here’s a brief overview of what our favourite taxpayer-funded money wasters have been up to in the past month.

 

Creative Thinking

European Union (EU) leaders have never lacked creativity when it comes to conjuring up with new taxpayer burdens to fund the massive European bureaucracy. Here’s the latest in the line of ideas – let’s tax ships even more than before for “polluting the environment”! Taxing an industry that carries 80 percent of global trade volume would only inflame trade tensions at the worst moment for the global economy, while primarily hurting low-income consumers who rely on affordable products. But hey, the EU promised to become the first carbon-neutral continent, and the money has to come from somewhere, right?

Someone should suggest to the EU that a good idea for raising funds is not wasting them in the first place. For example, take a look at this campaign banner promoting the EU’s Next Generation recovery plan, hanging outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels. The European Commission admitted production, installation and removal of the banner cost a staggering €11,000, which is actually less than the average of €14,000 it had cost in previous years. That’s around €11,000 down the drain every time the EU wants to put up a new banner that nobody even notices.

 

Aging UNgracefully

On the 75th anniversary of the United States (UN), reforming the bloated and corrupt organization has never been more critical. The UN has turned into an inefficient bureaucracy, characterized by political nepotism, waste of resources, and outdated mandates. The global bureaucracy is in dire danger of losing its very sense of purpose by bogging itself down in waste and frivolities. Instead of demonstrating to the world what real leadership looks like, here what the UN has been up to over the past few weeks:

  • After years of struggling with allegations of sexual misconduct and hiding behind an excuse of confidentiality, UNAIDS has decided to make the whistleblower Martina Brostrom a villain, firing her for reporting that she had been sexually assaulted by a senior colleague.
  • The UN has also been accused by some of its staff of racism after it issued a survey that included a question asking how they identify themselves and offered “yellow” among the possible responses.

 

Who will lead the failed WHO?

Tensions are rising within the World Health Organization (WHO) after the U.S. announced their withdrawal from the organization. According to the WHO Director-General, who has developed a habit of reminding everyone about the WHO’s lack of funds, the U.S. should come back to the global health agency because of “leadership abroad”. The fact that the U.S. is the organization’s largest donor by a large margin is strictly coincidental and has nothing to do with the Director-General’s pleas. Meanwhile, U.S. efforts to lead the reform process of the health agency is being rebuffed by other countries, leaving the future of the WHO uncertain.

 

Partner Spotlight: The Australian Institute for Progress

The Australian Institute for Progress (AIP) advances the discussion, development and implementation of public policy for Australia’s future from its base in Brisbane. It is politically unaligned and funded through membership, donations, and consultancies.

The AIP promotes the classic rights – freedom of expression, freedom of association, property rights, freedom of worship, and freedom of markets. AIP believes that human ingenuity is indomitable and lies at the heart of human progress. We believe that individuals – not governments – are best placed to direct their own futures, and that it is their ideas and efforts that help shape a collective future.

 

See Something? Say Something!

We’re always looking for regional coordinators from countries around the world to help us distribute information on social media, write blog posts and op-eds, and provide us with on-the-ground information from their regions. If you have any tips about stories, or would like to become a regional coordinator, please send us an email!

Until next month,

IGO Watch Team

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