Personal Essay - Evaluate me!

[KQNovice]

Question asks me to explain an area of public affairs I would like to change/ interested in.

Excuse any typos, first draft!

To fans, players, coaches,referees and anyone else that may be involved, it is referred to as ‘theBeautiful Game’. In the United States, its name is soccer. Everywhere else? Wecall it football. No matter its name, its appeal is universal.

I am a referee infootball and am an active participant in the referee mentor program for closeto a thousand referees in the south of the United Kingdom. I help in mentoringnew referees who often complain about the fact that their minds are unable toprocess all that may be occurring on the field at one time. They may be easilyconfused when the game is being played at a frantic pace; or they may beinsecure and afraid of confrontation when overbearing parents or aggressivecoaches criticise their decisions. As a mentor, these situations are all too familiarto me. Nonetheless, with time, I feel I have developed into a manager on thefield, having the ability to control the flow of a game, mustering confidencewhen making a call and truly enjoying myself. However, despite all thecoaching, encouragement and practice, some referees will remain timid. The samecan be said for the management of public debt in recent years.

The financial crisis of2008 has prompted the hazard of public debt to be a frequent theme ofdiscussion amongst policy makers. Looking across the world and it is fair tocomment that borrowing has spiralled. The economy, or the ‘aggressive coaches’has stagnated due to the recession and many countries who were spending heavilyto combat this crisis can no longer play at this frantic pace. Football andpublic debt. An apt marriage.

The collapses of theeconomy in Greece and Ireland are a very dangerous sign. The continual highlevels and mismanagement may cause a larger economy to fail and potentiallyhave a domino effect. The risk of sovereign defaults is heightened by the synchronisednature of the financial crisis and recession. These have led to an unprecedented surge in governmentborrowing globally which willcontinue even as the recession has ended. High debt burden statesare most exposed to payment difficulties and are the focus of market concerns. These countries also saw asurge in private-sector borrowing during the pre-crisis boom, with much of this debt now turning bad as aresult of the recession, with largebailout bills adding to governments' fiscal problems. Among thesepotential sovereign defaults, I am particularly concerned for emerging marketssuch as Pakistan. If public debt continues to grow relative to national income,it will be much more difficult to attract investments within the country to stabilisethe economic problems caused by growing public debt. As this debt grows, thegovernment, in its attempt to maintain fiscal sustainability, will be forced toincrease taxes. This increased causes a reduction in disposable income and thusless money is spent upon goods and services.

My career goals are intrinsicallylinked with the notion of public debt. My aspiration is to maintain consistentlevels of economic development in emerging market economies such as Pakistan byensuring capital investments are being made. To gain or maintain, as it may be,economic development in such states, investment is critical. Governmentdeficits have a significant impact upon proposed investment within a state, andthe more it grows, the farther capital investments become. Based on the famousKeynesian model, a large public debt and further spending prompts greater movementin the economy but this has proven to be unrealistic in some states.

My perception is thatpublic debt ought to be a long thought-out process, particularly in less developedcountries. Granted, occasionally governments will run deficits to in order tomeet short-term economic or political targets but surely this process is notsuitable for the long term. I would like international organisations such asthe International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to intervene at a muchearlier stage to prevent over-reliance on debt capital and deficit spending.

I would like to see twoprimary aspects to be employed or its use to be encouraged, as it may be, whenconsidering public debt. Firstly, I would encourage a greater degree of foreigndirect investment. Working collaboratively, I would want a state to promotedevelopment of its industries by allowing new capital but restricting capitalinflow in industries where the state is competitive itself. This is important asmany emerging economies will provide no barriers to entry and home grownindustries will not prosper. I believe this reliance on solving problems ‘inhouse’ will provides greater management and more balance in preventing economictroubles. The IMF and World Bank ought to work alongside emerging markets tofinalize a plan that will determine how this state will attract greater investment,monitor its benefits and how the state ought to become stronger on the back ofthis.

Secondly, I wouldlike to see an ability to restructure debt capital. Greece is a prime example.It was not permitted to do so but instead was bailed out, following an almostcollapse of the entire European financial system.