business & profess It Is Time For Competence W THAT'S RIGHT, I LIVE IN DETROIT I LIVE ON CADITOL DAK AT THE ALBERT Totally renovated, completely beautiful, world-class features and amenities bringing luxury living to the heart of the city. Schedule your viewing today. THEALBERTCAPITOLPARK.COM 1214 GRISWOLD I DETROIT CAPITOL PARK 313.410.9312 1950020 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111 Waterford Medical Associates would like to congratulate the merger of: Leib & Associates, PLLC And Jacquelyn S. Hess, PC EFFECTIVE NOVEMBER 1, 2014 The new firm name will be Hess and Leib CPA's PC Certified Public Accountants Accounting and Tax Services Located at 33533 W. Twelve Mile Rd Suite 180 Farmington Hills, Michigan 48331 248-952-9900 248-488-7676 248-488-7677 fax Jackie@jshess.com Eleibcpa@gmail.com 1.16 ,, 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111 24 e're beginning a new year. Maybe I'm off, but it feels like the world is more off kilter than usual. ISIS (or ISIL) is a worldwide terror threat with our emotions reaching the boiling point with each beheading. We're told the Ebola threat is a controllable problem since it is not airborne transmitted; but, at the same time, it is expanding its reach. Are we confident in our government's lead- ership (i.e. our White House, congress, mili- tary, CIA and Homeland Security) to protect us from these threats? Beyond our government, how confident are we that a coalition of governments can unite to successfully defeat ISIS and contain Ebola? To me, it's a question of compe- tence. Has our government dem- onstrated the level of competence needed to protect us? It seems with each dramatic event, we learn that our leader- ship "misjudged or miscalculated:' This issue rang true many times: weapons of mass destruction, 9-11, Hurricane Katrina and its after- math, the financial crisis, Iran's nuclear program, the failed effort to address the atrocities committed by the Assad regime, our failure to detect the ISIS threat, our response, as well as Ebola. Granted, there is no shortage of problems in our past and on our horizon. On ISIS, I have noticed a distinction. It seems to me that CNN — in its never-ending quest to be at the forefront of news coverage (or news creation. for that matter) always dispatches its news crew to the scene. We saw this with the recent Israel/Hamas conflict. No journalists, however, seem inclined to take the role of embedded reporter in Iraq or Syria. Don't get me wrong — I don't blame them. I just wonder what the chatter was in the CNN team meeting when the news director said, "Who is going to volun- teer to go to Syria and Iraq to cover the fight against ISIS?" Perhaps even the almighty CNN is frightened. We are the strongest nation on Earth — that is undisputed. Our military capabilities are second to none and our economic output is nearly double that of China, threefold of Japan and fivefold of Germany. What frightens me is our lack of competence. We totally failed to pro- tect our economy from the financial crisis, and we are constantly reminded of our failings to assess threats that are a direct challenge to the freedoms we cherish. The unemployment rate did fall to 5.9 percent last week, the lowest level since July 2008. While some cel- ebrated, others lamented that the labor force participation rate (those working or actively seeking work) has fallen to a three- decade low of 62.7 percent, (3.3 percent less than when the reces- sion began) and that most of the job gains have been in the low-pay retail sector. Do you feel confident that our leadership has taken the steps necessary to grow our economy long term and protect us from cata- strophic economic swings? Is there a solution on the horizon to the exploding student debt problem, rising tuition costs at our universi- ties or the ever-growing federal deficit? If so, it must be classified information. We've watched the publicly traded companies figure out how to reduce costs, survive and then grow in a difficult economy. The private sec- tor understands profit and directs its resources to achieve that end. They may be greedy, but they have demonstrated competence. If we hold our leadership to a competency standard, perhaps the uneasiness we are feeling as to glob- al security will shift to confidence in our future. One thing for sure, there is ample room for improvement. ❑ Ken Gross is an attorney with Thav Gross and host of Law and Reality that airs weekly at 8:30 a.m. Saturdays on WDFN 1130 AM, "The Fan" and 11 a.m. Sundays, on TV20.