Ethos – Page 10 – Go Lean…Caribbean

Category: Ethos

Forging Change – Opposition Research: Special Interest

Posted on January 30, 2020 in Ethos, Government, Social

Go Lean Commentary

The best offense is a good defense.

This is a winning strategy in football, yes (think NFL), but in nation-building as well. The actuality of the 30 Caribbean member-states is that we are losing … to the competition and opposition:

We cannot attract and retain our young people to Stay Home in the region.
We cannot muster the political will to reform or transform our societal engines (economics, security and governance).

Who exactly are our competition or opposition?

What do we know of their motives or designs?

How can we overcome their hindrance?

These are important questions to consider – and answer – if we want to succeed in reforming and transforming the societal engines in our region. This activity is referred to as Opposition Research, where we study and gather intelligence on any adversarial opponent that may challenge us from reaching our goals. See the formal definition here:

In politics, opposition research (also called oppo research) is the practice of collecting information on a political opponent or other adversary that can be used to discredit or otherwise weaken them. The information can include biographical, legal, criminal, medical, educational, or financial history or activities, as well as prior media coverage, or the voting record of a politician. Opposition research can also entail using “trackers” to follow an individual and record their activities or political speeches.^[1]

The research is usually conducted in the time period between announcement of intent to run and the actual election; however political parties maintain long-term databases that can cover several decades. The practice is both a tactical maneuver and a cost-saving measure.^[2] The term is frequently used to refer not just to the collection of information but also how it is utilized, as a component of negative campaigning. – Source: Retrieved January 30, 2020 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_research

Politics, discrediting, negative campaigning … these sounds so ominous, so malevolent!

But for the movement behind the 2013 book Go Lean … Caribbean, there is no evil intent. On the contrary, this is part of our effort to lower the “Push and Pull” factors that lure our citizens away from the homeland to seek refuge in foreign destinations. (“Push” refers to societal defects that compel people to leave; “Pull” refers to the perception that life is better abroad). Like any political campaign, we simply want the people to vote – with their wallets and their feet – for us rather than the “other guy”, our opposition.

There is a name for our pain; there are named opponents that hinders us; one of them is the United States of America. This is NOT a Declaration of War; rather this is just an acknowledgement that many of the policies and practices of America works counter-productive to Caribbean hopes and dreams. We are frenemies; see the full definition here:

“Frenemy” (also spelled “frienemy“) is an oxymoron and a portmanteau of “friend” and “enemy” that refers to “a person with whom one is friendly, despite a fundamental dislike or rivalry” or “a person who combines the characteristics of a friend and an enemy”.^[1] The term is used to describe personal, geopolitical and commercial relationships both among individuals and groups or institutions. This term also describes a competitive friendship.

What do we know of the motives or designs … of our frienemy, the USA?

For one, they do NOT play fair. They do NOT play fair in the global sandbox; they want all the marbles and for you to have none! To them “Up is Down and Down is Up”; “Right is Wrong and Wrong is Right”. They have even distorted “common sense”. For example, remember this reality in modern times:

The Haves and the Have-Nots

Well for America, the principle that they advocate, promote and message is different … and deceptive; see VIDEO here depicting this messaging:

There are no “Have-Nots”; there is only “Haves” and the “Soon-To-Haves”

VIDEO – Rubio: “We Are A Nation Of Haves And Soon-To-Haves” – https://youtu.be/WiKrCUiP-fg

Senator Marco Rubio
Published Dec 16, 2011 – During a Senate floor speech this afternoon, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (FL-R) offered his perspectives on his first year in office and the challenges that remain unsolved going into 2012. Below are excerpts from the speech. Rubio: “We have never been a nation of haves and have-nots. We are a nation of haves and soon-to-haves, of people who have made it and people who will make it. And that’s who we need to remain.”

Category: News & Politics

Is this the American Dream?! Well, this is the problem right here. Common Sense dictates that there will always be winners and losers in any pursuit. Yet, with messaging like this, “hope springs eternal” that people will get to America and will someday be among the “Haves”.

This “Dream” is a fallacy! As a result, rather than empowerments to help the poor to elevate from poverty or programs to strengthen the middle class, there are only mandates that help the rich get richer – think tax cuts. So more Income Inequality is the end-result; see this actuality in the Appendix VIDEO below.

Who is the opposition? Needless to say, we are not talking about the common people on the street, rather we are referring to Crony-Capitalistic stakeholders in the country: Special Interest, Big Business, Corrupt Politicians. This is the Opposition.

The Late Great Comedian and Social Commentator George Carlin quipped that “you have to be asleep to believe the American Dream”. – follow this link to that VIDEO.

Reducing taxes on the rich while placing the tax burden on the middle class; this sounds like a good deal … for the rich.

The Opposition wants you Caribbean people to “beat down the doors” and get out of your beloved homeland and “Come to America” to join their workforce. The more people in the labor pool – the Supply – the more downward pressure on the wages for the available jobs – the Demand. This is Economics 101, when Supply exceed Demand, prices drop. This is how the rich get richer; alas, in this scenario, the middle class lose their bargaining power and wages become stagnate – in some cases people have lost their high-paying Union-backed jobs only to find near-minimum-wage service jobs.

How can we overcome the hindrance of the Opposition?

Answer: We overcome their hindrance by Forging Change in our society; we reform and transform the economic, security and governing engines despite the local opposition. We get the public to want the manifestation of this vision. We get the political leaders to lean-in this roadmap. This way we have Bottoms-Up and Top-Down pressure to make this roadmap succeed. Lastly, this dissuades our citizens from leaving the homeland as well; thereby sparing them from the American “nightmare” as the only available Dream – Caribbean people have dreams too!

This commentary is the continuation of this January 2020 series on the Art and Science of Forging Change in society. This entry is 2 of 4 for this series, unmasking the true Opposition to Caribbean progress. We must overcome these hindrance and obstacles to make progress on this roadmap. Other Forging Change considerations are presented in this series; see the full series catalog here:

Forging Change – By Building Momentum
Forging Change – Opposition Research: Special Interest
Forging Change – Public-Private Partnerships (PPP)
Forging Change – Labor Movement Cautionary Tale – Backlash: Going too far

This is all about Forging Change. This is not an easy assignment; it is both an Art and Science. But, the Art and Science gives insights on “how” the stewards of a new Caribbean can persuade people, establishments and institutions to forge change in their communities. We want change, but we do not want to be America; We Want To Be Better.

The previous entry in this series presented a YouTube VIDEO where advocates identified the corrupting “ring of influence” over elected leaders – in Congress et al. The goal for that advocacy group is to neutralize Special Interest Groups that were curtailing the needed progress … in the USA.

The research has now been done, we have the answers, we must move from the status quo to mitigate the designs of the opposition. One way or another, Change is Gonna Come. This thought of Forging Change has been a common theme for the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean for more than 5 years. Before this series, there were 13 previous blog-commentaries that detailed approaches for forging change; see the full catalog here (in reverse chronological order):

Forging Change – ‘That’s What Friends Are For’ (July 9, 2019)
Forging Change – Corporate Vigilantism (March 29, 2018)
Forging Change – Soft Power (February 21, 2018)
Forging Change – Collective Bargaining (April 27, 2017)
Forging Change – Addicted to Home (April 14, 2017)
Forging Change – Arts & Artists (December 1, 2016)
Forging Change – Panem et Circenses (November 15, 2016)
Forging Change – Herd Mentality (October 11, 2016)
Forging Change – ‘Something To Lose’ (November 18, 2015)
Forging Change – ‘Food’ for Thought (April 29, 2015)
Forging Change – Music Moves People (December 30, 2014)
Forging Change – The Sales Process (December 22, 2014)
Forging Change – The Fun Theory (September 9, 2014)

Forging Change is not easy; some strategies work with some people while others may be unmoved. This is why there is the need for so many different strategies, tactics and implementations. As evident by these foregoing 13 commentaries, the Go Lean movement presented a roadmap to “leave no stone unturned” for reforming and transforming the region. “Reforming and transforming” means making our Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play.

We hereby urge all stakeholders to lean into this Go Lean roadmap. 🙂

About the Book
The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Who We Are
The movement behind the Go Lean book – a non-partisan, apolitical, religiously-neutral Community Development Foundation chartered for the purpose of empowering and re-booting economic engines – stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the ccidence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

———————-

Appendix VIDEO – What does wealth inequality look like? – https://www.cbsnews.com/live/video/20200131132211-wealth-tax-floated-as-solution-to-americas-growing-wealth-inequality/

Posted January 31, 2020 – The growing gap between rich and poor Americans is one of the U.S.’s biggest challenges, with the top 1% controlling more wealth now than at any time in the last 50 years. A recent survey found that over half the country thinks it’s a problem, though most people might not know exactly what wealth inequality looks like. Tony Dokoupil speaks to Americans to see if they know what their “share of the pie” looks like.

https://www.cbs.com/shows/cbs_this_morning/video/7qsoOCpUsvJicQVaszWVcERqEwTgb72b/americans-know-wealth-inequality-is-a-problem-but-what-does-it-look-like-/

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Forging Change – By Building Momentum

Posted on January 30, 2020 in Ethos, Government, Social

Go Lean Commentary

There are two kinds of changes:

Revolutionary
Evolutionary

If the goal is to change society – to reform and transform the societal engines – which approach is better?

American Civil Rights icon Martin Luther King (MLK) asserted that the best time to correct an injustice is always NOW, thereby alluding to revolutionary change. In fact, when innocent people are oppressed, repressed or suppressed, there should be no gradual migration from “there to here”. The MLK quote is actually:

“I Have A Dream” speech, Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963
“We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.”

If only we can Forge Change immediately here in our Caribbean homeland, but our reality is different, where change is gradual, it builds to a momentum – some people here and some people there – until finally … boom! The change becomes legally manifested … and codified in law. So both evolutionary and revolutionary change is the reality.

This is the subject of this commentary by the movement behind the 2013 book Go Lean … Caribbean. Every month, we present a teaching series; for January 2020, the focus is on the Art and Science of Forging Change in society. This is entry 1 of 4 for this series, detailing the process of Building Momentum to get evolutionary change to become revolutionary.

While this is an American example, it does bear on the manifestations of change in the Caribbean – notice how all the social issues in this VIDEO – starting first with the corrupting influences of Big Money distorting campaigns and the will of the people; this also relates to Caribbean life:

VIDEO – Unbreaking America: Solving the Corruption Crisis – https://youtu.be/TfQij4aQq1k

RepresentUs
Published on February 27, 2019 – Our government is broken, and we have to fix it. RepresentUs board member Jennifer Lawrence and Director of RepresentUs Josh Silver, walks through three lines that show what’s wrong with legal corruption in our government, how we fix it and what you can do about it. Find out how you can get involved at http://represent.us.
Sources for video: https://act.represent.us/sign/Unbreak…

Category: Nonprofits & Activism
License: Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed)

Other Forging Change considerations – gleaned from this foregoing VIDEO – are presented in this January series; see the full catalog here:

Forging Change – By Building Momentum
Forging Change – Opposition Research: Special Interest
Forging Change – Public-Private Partnerships (PPP)
Forging Change – Labor Movement Cautionary Tale – Backlash: Going too far

The foregoing VIDEO relates how hard it is to apply changes to America’s fundamental laws – to amend the US Constitution. The gradual change must start at the local level, then State levels and only then, after building momentum, is federal action engaged.

The US Constitution does not apply to most Caribbean member-states, but the model of evolutionary change does relate to all societies. Everyone has had to contend with the Art and Science of Forging Change. This Art and Science give insights on “how” the stewards of a new Caribbean can persuade people, establishments and institutions to Forge Change in their communities.

This thought of Forging Change has been a common theme for the movement behind the book Go Lean book for almost 6 years. See the full catalog here of the previous 13 blog-commentaries that detailed approaches for Forging Change (in reverse chronological order):

Forging Change – ‘That’s What Friends Are For’ (July 9, 2019)
Forging Change – Corporate Vigilantism (March 29, 2018)
Forging Change – Soft Power (February 21, 2018)
Forging Change – Collective Bargaining (April 27, 2017)
Forging Change – Addicted to Home (April 14, 2017)
Forging Change – Arts & Artists (December 1, 2016)
Forging Change – Panem et Circenses (November 15, 2016)
Forging Change – Herd Mentality (October 11, 2016)
Forging Change – ‘Something To Lose’ (November 18, 2015)
Forging Change – ‘Food’ for Thought (April 29, 2015)
Forging Change – Music Moves People (December 30, 2014)
Forging Change – The Sales Process (December 22, 2014)
Forging Change – The Fun Theory (September 9, 2014)

As related in these commentaries, Forging Change in the 3 societal engines of a community – economics, security and governance – is not easy; it is actually heavy-lifting.

We may not be able to manifest the changes we need, want and deserve in “one fell swoop”. (Even though injustices should be immediately remediated). This is why Forging Change is presented as an Art and a Science.

These past commentaries align with the Go Lean roadmap – a plan to leverage the 30 member-states of the political Caribbean region by creating a federal government, the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) – described in the Go Lean book. This will allow for the economy-of-scale to fund and implement the solutions to make our Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play.

The foregoing VIDEO urges us to join us in the Momentum Building activities, starting on the local level, and then to continue to press hard as the messaging leads to a crescendo, at the CU federal level. Let us get going with this plan here in the Caribbean. We urge all stakeholders – citizens and leaders – to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap to Forge Change … finally. This quest is conceivable, believable and achievable.

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the ccidence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

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Remembering Auschwitz – Still Relevant

Posted on January 27, 2020 in Ethos, Social, Tactical

Go Lean Commentary

75 years ago today – January 27, 1945 – was the Big Reveal …

There were rumors, accusations and suspicions of cruel atrocities against victims behind the German lines during World War II. Nevertheless, there was also a degree of doubt as well. Nazi Germany had deniability … until this day 75 years ago. This is when Soviet troops liberated the Concentration Camp in Auschwitz, Poland:

“The cat was out the bag”.

See a summary and highlights of Auschwitz here:

Title: Auschwitz Concentration Camp
The camp was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschwitz I, the main camp (Stammlager) in Oświęcim; Auschwitz II–Birkenau, a concentration and extermination camp built with several gas chambers; Auschwitz III–Monowitz, a labor camp created to staff a factory for the chemical conglomerate IG Farben; and dozens of subcamps.^[3] The camps became a major site of the Nazis’ Final Solution to the Jewish Question.

After Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, sparking World War II, the Schutzstaffel (SS) converted Auschwitz I, an army barracks, into a prisoner-of-war camp for Polish political prisoners.^[4] The first inmates, German criminals brought to the camp in May 1940 as functionaries, established the camp’s reputation for sadism. Prisoners were beaten, tortured, and executed for the most trivial reasons. The first gassings—of Soviet and Polish prisoners—took place in block 11 of Auschwitz I around August 1941. Construction of Auschwitz II began the following month, and from 1942 until late 1944 freight trains delivered Jews from all over German-occupied Europe to its gas chambers. Of the 1.3 million people sent to Auschwitz, 1.1 million died. The death toll includes 960,000 Jews (865,000 of whom were gassed on arrival), 74,000 non-Jewish Poles, 21,000 Roma, 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war, and up to 15,000 other Europeans.^[5] Those not gassed died of starvation, exhaustion, disease, individual executions, or beatings. Others were killed during medical experiments.

At least 802 prisoners tried to escape, 144 successfully, and on 7 October 1944 two Sonderkommando units, consisting of prisoners who staffed the gas chambers, launched an unsuccessful uprising. Only 789 staff (no more than 15 percent) ever stood trial;^[6] several, including camp commandant Rudolf Höss, were executed. The Allies‘ failure to act on early reports of atrocities in the camp by bombing it or its railways remains controversial.

As the Soviet Red Army approached Auschwitz in January 1945, toward the end of the war, the SS sent most of the camp’s population west on a death march to camps inside Germany and Austria. Soviet troops entered the camp on 27 January 1945, a day commemorated since 2005 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In the decades after the war, survivors such as Primo Levi, Viktor Frankl, and Elie Wiesel wrote memoirs of their experiences in Auschwitz, and the camp became a dominant symbol of the Holocaust. In 1947 Poland founded the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum on the site of Auschwitz I and II, and in 1979 it was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Table I – Auschwitz Death Estimates

Nationality/ethnicity
(Source: Franciszek Piper)^[2] Registered deaths
(Auschwitz) Unregistered deaths
(Auschwitz) Total

Jews 95,000 865,000 960,000

Ethnic Poles 64,000 10,000 74,000 (70,000–75,000)

Roma and Sinti 19,000 2,000 21,000

Soviet prisoners of war 12,000 3,000 15,000

Other Europeans:
Soviet citizens (Byelorussians, Russians, Ukrainians),
Czechs, Yugoslavs, French, Germans, Austrians 10,000–15,000 n/a 10,000–15,000

Total deaths in Auschwitz, 1940–1945 200,000–205,000 880,000 1,080,000–1,085,000

Source: Retrieved January 27, 2020 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp

This was mankind’s lowest point, the “darkest chapter in human history” … or was it?

“Never Again” became the mantra from this point forward for Holocaust victims and other stakeholders. These ones wanted to present Auschwitz as a Cautionary Tale so that “the world” would Never Again tolerate “man mistreating man” so egregiously.

Never Again lasted “for a minute”!

But “Never Again” has only been empty words. Within the days, weeks, months and years of this atrocity, more atrocities emerged. This is not just my assertion; this is the fact … as chronicled by historians, anthropologists, academicians, journalists and newscasters alike; see the highlights of a sample book on the subject here:

The Great Big Book of Horrible Things: The Definitive Chronicle of History’s 100 Worst Atrocities – a popular history book by Matthew White, an independent scholar and self-described atrocitologist. The book provides a ranking of the hundred worst atrocities of mankind based on the number of deaths.

In the pages of his book, the author, Matthew White, details the 100 Worst Atrocities of Mankind from Antiquity to Modernity. Let’s pick up his ranking from World War II and present the detailed list since those atrocious events. See here-now:

Table II – White’s ranking of atrocities

Rank Event Place Start year End year Death toll

1 World War Two Europe, Asia, Africa 1939 1945 66,000,000

36 Expulsion of Germans from Eastern Europe Eastern Europe 1945 1947 2,100,000

88 French Indochina War French Indochina 1945 1954 393,000

70 Partition of India India and Pakistan 1947 1947 500,000

2 Mao Zedong‘s rule China 1949 1976 40,000,000

30 Korean War Korea 1950 1953 3,000,000

30 North Korea North Korea 1948 3,000,000

69 Algerian War of Independence Algeria 1954 1962 525,000

35 Sudanese Civil Wars Sudan, South Sudan 1955 2,600,000

24 Vietnam War Southeast Asia 1959 1975 4,200,000

81 Suharto’s purge Indonesia 1965 1966 400,000

46 Biafran War Nigeria 1966 1970 1,000,000

40 Bengali Genocide Bangladesh 1971 1971 1,500,000

96 Idi Amin‘s rule Uganda 1971 1979 300,000

37 Mengistu Haile‘s rule Ethiopia 1974 1991 2,000,000

91 Postwar Vietnam Vietnam 1975 1992 365,000

39 Democratic Kampuchea Cambodia 1975 1979 1,670,000

55 Mozambican Civil War Mozambique 1975 1992 800,000

70 Angolan Civil War Angola 1975 1994 500,000

70 Ugandan Bush War Uganda 1979 1986 500,000

40 Soviet–Afghan War Afghanistan 1979 1992 1,500,000

96 Saddam Hussein‘s peacetime rule Iraq 1979 2003 300,000

61 Iran–Iraq War Persian Gulf 1980 1988 700,000

94 Sanctions against Iraq Iraq 1990 2003 350,000

70 Anarchy in Somalia Somalia 1991 500,000

53 Rwandan genocide Rwanda 1994 1994 937,000

27 Second Congo War Central Africa 1998 2002 3,800,000

Source: Retrieved January 27, 2020 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Big_Book_of_Horrible_Things#White’s_ranking_of_atrocities

Rank	Event	Place	Start year	End year	Death toll
1	World War Two	Europe, Asia, Africa	1939	1945	66,000,000
36	Expulsion of Germans from Eastern Europe	Eastern Europe	1945	1947	2,100,000
88	French Indochina War	French Indochina	1945	1954	393,000
70	Partition of India	India and Pakistan	1947	1947	500,000
2	Mao Zedong‘s rule	China	1949	1976	40,000,000
30	Korean War	Korea	1950	1953	3,000,000
30	North Korea	North Korea	1948		3,000,000
69	Algerian War of Independence	Algeria	1954	1962	525,000
35	Sudanese Civil Wars	Sudan, South Sudan	1955		2,600,000
24	Vietnam War	Southeast Asia	1959	1975	4,200,000
81	Suharto’s purge	Indonesia	1965	1966	400,000
46	Biafran War	Nigeria	1966	1970	1,000,000
40	Bengali Genocide	Bangladesh	1971	1971	1,500,000
96	Idi Amin‘s rule	Uganda	1971	1979	300,000
37	Mengistu Haile‘s rule	Ethiopia	1974	1991	2,000,000
91	Postwar Vietnam	Vietnam	1975	1992	365,000
39	Democratic Kampuchea	Cambodia	1975	1979	1,670,000
55	Mozambican Civil War	Mozambique	1975	1992	800,000
70	Angolan Civil War	Angola	1975	1994	500,000
70	Ugandan Bush War	Uganda	1979	1986	500,000
40	Soviet–Afghan War	Afghanistan	1979	1992	1,500,000
96	Saddam Hussein‘s peacetime rule	Iraq	1979	2003	300,000
61	Iran–Iraq War	Persian Gulf	1980	1988	700,000
94	Sanctions against Iraq	Iraq	1990	2003	350,000
70	Anarchy in Somalia	Somalia	1991		500,000
53	Rwandan genocide	Rwanda	1994	1994	937,000
27	Second Congo War	Central Africa	1998	2002	3,800,000

This is the lesson for us today. This is the relevance of Auschwitz 75 years later. This aligns with the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean. It asserts (Page 23) that “history teaches that with the emergence of new economic engines, ‘bad actors’ will also emerge thereafter to exploit the opportunities, with good, bad and evil intent. A Bible verse declares: ‘What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun’” – Ecclesiastes 1:9 New International Version.

This is why we must always be On Guard for slight movements towards societal dysfunctions, tyranny and Failed-State status; this is when atrocities occur. Again, this is the lesson from Auschwitz by the victims of Auschwitz who still survive today; see this depiction in this VIDEO here from CBS News:

VIDEO – Holocaust survivor opens up about Auschwitz – https://www.cbsnews.com/video/holocaust-survivor-visits-auschwitz-for-first-time-since-camps-liberation/

Posted January 27, 2020 – Monday marks 75 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, the largest Nazi death camp. Around 200 Holocaust survivors are expected to be honored guests at a place where they were once sent to die. Mark Phillips spoke with a 91-year-old survivor who hasn’t talked about what happened to him in the camp until now.

The Go Lean book, serving as a roadmap for the introduction of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), asserts that in addition to economic empowerments, the stewards for a new Caribbean must also optimize the security apparatus in the region to ensure public safety and justice standards for all stakeholders: citizens, visitors and trading partners.

How do we go about empowering the economics and security engines? Throughout the 370 pages of the Go Lean book, the details are provided as turn-by-turn directions on how to mitigate against Failed-State encroachment. There is an Index Number that reflect Failed-State eventuality. The book defines this Index and the related eco-system, as follows (Page 134) :

The Bottom Line on the Failed States Index

The Failed States Index (Appendix F on Page 271) is an annual ranking of 177 nations based on their levels of stability and capacity. The Index is compiled by the Fund for Peace Institute, an independent, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) non-profit research and educational organization, based in Washington DC, that works to prevent violent conflict and promote sustainable security.

As a leader in the conflict assessment and early warning field, the Fund for Peace focuses on the problems of weak and failing states. The strength of the Failed States Index is its ability to distill millions of pieces of information into a form that is relevant as well as easily digestible and informative, as an indicator code. Each Indicator is rated on a 1 to 10 scale with 1 (low) being the most stable and 10 (high) being the most at-risk of collapse and violence. Think of it as trying to bring down a fever, with high being dangerous, low being acceptable. An obvious example, consider Somalia, the state’s complete inability to provide public services for its citizens would warrant a score of 10 for the Public Service indicator. Conversely, Sweden’s extensive provision of health, education & other public services would produce a 1 or 2 for that indicator. – Fund For Peace®

This Go Lean roadmap includes the new community ethos (attitudes and values) that must be adopted; plus the executions of new strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to elevate the region’s security and justice institutions. In fact, this actual advocacy in the Go Lean book contains specific plans, excerpts and headlines here from Page 134, entitled:

10 Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices

1	Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market Confederation Treaty This will allow for the unification of the region into one market of 42 million people across 30 member-states, thereby creating an economic zone to protect the interest of the participant trading partner-member-states. The GDP of the region will amount to $800 Billion (circa 2010). In addition, the treaty calls for a collective security agreement of the member states so as to ensure homeland security and assuage against systemic threats. The CU will ensure that law-and-order persist during times of distress. When a member state declares a State of Emergency, due to natural disaster or civil unrest, this triggers an automatic CU response – this is equivalent to the governmental dialing 911.
2	Image and Defamation When a country’s primary foreign currency generator is tourism/hospitality, just the perception of a weak or failing state could be devastating. The index is a number that can rise and fall, like a credit score, so any upward movement in the index triggers the negative perception. The pressures are not only internal; there may be external entities that can have a defaming effect: credit rating, country risk, threat assessment, K-n-R (Kidnap and Ransom) insurance rates. The CU will manage the image of the region’s member-states against defamation and work to promote a better image.
3	Local Government and the Social Contract
4	Law Enforcement Oversight
5	Military and Political Monitoring
6	Crime/Homeland Intelligence
7	Minority and Human Rights The CU will protect the minority and human rights for the region’s population; this includes ethnic mixes of African, European, Amerindian, and Asian heritage; 4 languages, various religions, and 5 colonial legacies. The CU strategizes this diversity as an asset, rather than a source of contention, to be exploited as cultural exchanges in music, festivals, events, and food services. This will have a positive effect on tourism (foreign & domestic) and media initiatives.
8	Election Outsourcing
9	War Against Poverty
10	Big Data The CU will embrace an e-Government and e-Delivery model. There will be a lot of data to collect and analyze. In addition, the CU Commerce Department will function as a regional OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development), accumulating and measuring economic metrics and statistical analysis. Any decline in Failed-State indices will be detected, and managed in both a predictive and reactionary manner.

We never want to spiral down to the level of Auschwitz, so we must monitor early and often. The Go Lean movement addressed the subject of monitoring for the encroachment of Failed-State status on many occasions. See this sample of many previous blog-commentaries here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15039	Failed-State “Venezuela” – ‘On the Menu’ in California
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13974	The Spoken and Unspoken on Haiti’s Failed-State
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13391	After Maria, Failed-State Indicators: Destruction & Defection for Puerto Rico
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12996	After Irma, Failed State Indicators: Destruction and Defection
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12274	State of the Union – Spanish Caribbean Failing
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12098	Inaction on Venezuela: A Recipe for Failed-State Status
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5818	Greece: From Bad to Worse

“Never Again” has only been empty words in the modern world; but let’s do better here at home.

In truth, when people are victimized, they want the world to Never Forget; but when people are villainous, they want the world to Not Remember. The former European Jews repatriated to a homeland in Palestine and proceeded to bully, oppress and suppress their neighbors there, the Palestinian people. The drama of Israel and Palestine is complicated and difficult to solve; the solutions are out-of scope for this Caribbean focus. We simply wanted to study history and apply the lessons learned in the effort to reform our society.

Yes, we can … do better in protecting our citizen and ensuring “justice for all”. This is heavy-lifting, yes, but it is conceivable, believable and achievable.

We urge all Caribbean stakeholders to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap … to do the heavy-lifting and elevating Caribbean society and making the homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation of the human and civil rights of the people for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. As such, any threats of a “failed state” status for any member state must enact emergency measures on behalf of the Federation to protect the human, civil and property rights of the citizens, residents, allies, trading partners, and visitors of the affected member state and the Federation as a whole.

xiii. Whereas the legacy of dissensions in many member-states (for example: Haiti and Cuba) will require a concerted effort to integrate the exile community’s repatriation, the Federation must arrange for Reconciliation Commissions to satiate a demand for justice.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

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2019: A ‘Year of Living Dangerously’

Posted on December 31, 2019 in Ethos, Social

Go Lean Commentary

Time flies when you’re having fun.
Time goes very slowly when you’re in danger every moment.

No matter how we look at it, the Year 2019 moved slow – it was a long year. There is even a scientific definition for this:

Chronostasis … from Greek chrónos, “time” and stásis, “standing”
When time appears to stop or move in slow motion.

As the Year 2019 ends, many are concluding – and yes, we are among those concluding, we the movement behind the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean – that this “time did not fly”; it dragged along slowly; “Chronostasis” indeed during this “year of living dangerously”; (see Appendix Reference below).

This conclusion about 2019 was not just our viewpoint alone; others have declared the same, from many different viewpoints; see here in this list:

WTH is going on? The 10 worst things Trump did in 2019
URL: https://www.aei.org/multimedia/wth-is-going-on-the-10-worst-things-trump-did-in-2019/

Dave Barry’s Year in Review: 2019 was an ‘eventful’ — bad — year
URL: https://www.miamiherald.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/dave-barry/article238523668.html

Bad weather means bad year for potato harvest
URL: https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/dec/25/bad-weather-means-bad-year-for-potato-harvest/

2019 year in review: It’s been a bad year for…
URL: https://www.marketingweek.com/marketing-year-review-bad-year-2019/

2019 Review (Nairobi, Kenya): Bad year for the big shots
URL: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001354536/2019-review-bad-year-for-the-big-shots

Someone else concluded that 2019 was a long year. It was Grammy-award winning singer-songwriter Alicia Keys. She served as the Guest Host for the December 9 edition of the “Late Late Show with James Corden”. There she proceeded to recap the year’s “Highs and Lows” … using music. See that excellent performance in the VIDEO here:

VIDEO – Alicia Keys Recaps 2019 w/ Her Piano – https://youtu.be/UhC93-BJUxo

The Late Late Show with James Corden
Posted December 9, 2019 – Late Late Show guest host Alicia Keys takes a seat at the desk and has a secret: she’s had it modified specifically for her. After revealing the keys underneath, she takes a few moments to recap a wild 2019. From Starbucks cups in “Game of Thrones” to the Ukraine impeachment inquiry, Alicia gets the audience involved in a grand break down of the year. …

Category: Entertainment

Now 2019 is finally over, and this year has been a manifestation of “Chronostasis”.

From a Caribbean perspective, this year was truly eventful, a “year of living dangerously”; remember all of these bad episodes (listed from the most recent to the oldest):

Trump Experiment Implodes – Concluded Impeachment impacts Caribbean member-states

Louder Drum Beat for Legal Marijuana – Charging towards Chaos

Travel to Dominican Republic Take a Hit – Unexplained Tourists Deaths

Hurricane Dorian – Exposes Defective Regionalism – Many hate Bahamians; Bahamians hate Haitians

Nassau’s 2019 Self-Made Energy Crisis – Black-outs, Brown-outs and Load-shedding

Cruise Line Amusement Parks Opens – Shifting Experience Away from Port Cities

Puerto Rico learns its relationship status with America – Unwanted Step-Child; Governor Resigns

From Caribbean Legacy to the White House – Kamala Harris run for Presidency Falters

Cuba’s Progress: Yes, New Constitution – But still clinging to Communism

Cruise Line Bad-Mouthing Caribbean Port – Nassau set-up as a “Fall Guy”

It is now time to move on, time to focus on 2020; see this urging from a previous Go Lean blog-commentary:

2020: Where Vision is Perfected
2020 is not just a reference to [perfect] vision; it is also the next year on our calendar. This intersection allows us to use the actuality of 2020 to perfect our vision for Caribbean planning. Perfecting our vision to 20/20 would mean executing better on the 3 C’s – conceiving, communicating and compelling – the plans, strategies, tactics and implementations.

We are already pursuing these activities! While we are planning for the new year – 2020 – we have already published this Go Lean book and distributed it widely in the Caribbean region for the quest of forging change-correction in the Caribbean vision. We have also promoted the book aggressively by publishing related blog-commentaries.

We have planned the plan; now it’s time to work the plan – the Way Forward – so as to reform and transform our Caribbean communities. This is heavy-lifting, yes, but our success is conceivable, believable and achievable.

Where does it start?

Everybody, repeat this – “talk it; walk it”:

“It starts with me”!

Let’s get busy … let’s have fun … let time fly by.

Let’s lean-in to the Way Forward, this Go Lean roadmap, and truly make our region, each of the 30 Caribbean member-states, a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

————–

Appendix Reference: The term ‘The Year of Living Dangerously’ refers to a novel (1978) and movie (1982) of the same name.

Source: Wikipedia.

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Food Security – Bread Basket 101

Posted on December 26, 2019 in Economics, Ethos, Government, Industries, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

We gotta eat!

In fact, we probably ate 3 times yesterday; we will need to eat today; and our bellies will grumble if we do not eat tomorrow. Every culture around the world have to plan and deliver some solution for food. The art and science of this delivery is called:

Food Security
[This] is defined as the availability of food and one’s access to it. A household is considered food secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. Stages of food insecurity range from food secure situations to full-scale famine. The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as existing “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life”. – Source: https://www.disabled-world.com/fitness/nutrition/foodsecurity/

This is Christmas-time 2019; this season is known for its feasting, especially here in the Caribbean where all 30 member-states – that constitute the political Caribbean – boasts a Judeo-Christian heritage.

What did you have on your dinner table for Christmas?
Turkey, Ham, Roast Pork, Goat, Fish, Chicken, etc.?

I hope you enjoyed your festivities. Nevertheless, truth be told, we have some serious issues in the regional eco-system for our food supply. In summary:

We do NOT have Food Security.

In fact, for most of the 30 Caribbean member-states, that Christmas dinner you enjoyed was mostly imported food. So if the transportation networks are ever interrupted, the flow of the needed food stuff would be impeded.

If … ever?

We have the constant threat of hurricanes and earthquakes in our region, so yes, this worrisome threat is not just theoretical; it has happened is happening in our homeland. (i.e. the NGO World Central Kitchen is feeding Hurricane Dorian survivors in the Northern Bahamas even now, 4 months after the devastation).

But wait?! We’ve got water: oceans and seas. Surely those resources will preserve our ability to provide a Food Supply to our people; surely we can feed ourselves from our fisheries? Sorry, No! Again in summary:

Our fish-stocks are in crisis. We are now importing more of our seafood, rather than locally sourcing for ourselves and others (minimal exports).

This is the subject of December 2019 teaching series for the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean. (Every month we present a series). This commentary is 1 of 5 in a series considering Food Security for the Caribbean; the goal here is not to inventory the problems, but rather to define, discover, design and develop better Food Supply solutions for our region. The full series is as follows:

Food Security – Bread Baskets on Land and Sea
Food Security – Temperate Foods in the Tropics
Food Security – Opportunity: 1 County in Iowa raises all the Beef for a Cruise Line
Food Security – FTAA: A Lesson in History
Food Security – Big Chicken

The 2013 Go Lean book presents a roadmap to introduce and implement a regional solution to ensure Food Security. It is a wise yet simple plan, to leverage the 42 million people in the 30 member-states to optimize the delivery systems for the region’s basic needs: food, clothing shelter and energy. The strategy of regional leverage is to confederate the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This would be a supra-national government entity to optimize the sourcing and provisioning of much of the agriculture and fishery needs for the people. The book posits that the challenge is too big for any one member-state alone to tackle and succeed. Therefore, there is the urgent need to formulate a Single Market to integrate all of these countries and territories in the geographical region, including the 1,063,000 square miles of the Caribbean Sea in an Exclusive Economic Zone. Imagine …

Food Cooperatives
Group Purchasing Organizations (GPO)
Refrigerated Warehouse Condominiums

These are just glimpses of the regional vision to grow the economy for all member-states. This was the urging of professional Economists when ask the question: “How do we, as the Caribbean, grow our economy? The answer: Feed Ourselves. See this excerpt from the Go Lean book (Page 153):

The industries of agri-business allow structured commercial systems to grow, harvest and trade in food supplies. Many of the Caribbean member states (Lesser Antilles) acquire all their food in trade, the agricultural footprint is very small, though some countries (Greater Antilles, Belize, Guyana & Suriname) have a low opportunity cost for producing food. But with the Trade Federation in force, intra-region trade will be the first priority. When the demand is qualified, quantified and assured, the supply and quality there in, will catch up.

As related here, “the industries of agri-business …” is where our focus need to be. As prescribed as good economic policy, we need our own bread basket so as to Feed Ourselves.

Bread basket = a part of a region that produces cereals for the rest of it.

Recent examples of Breadbasket Economic discussions:

Zimbabwe once was a bright spot in southern Africa and a regional breadbasket but the economy has collapsed in recent years, and foreign currency is hard to come by.— BostonGlobe.com, “Zimbabwe’s capital runs dry as taps cut off for 2 million people – The Boston Globe,” 25 Sep. 2019

Could they be transformed by intensive farming, just as the thickets of the cerrado have given way to fields of soya that transformed Brazil from a food importer to one of the world’s great breadbaskets?— The Economist, “Brazil and Japan plotted a farming revolution in Mozambique,” 14 Nov. 2019

See a sample bread basket reference (Nigeria) in this VIDEO here:

VIDEO – Benue State – Nigeria’s Food Basket – https://youtu.be/GhyOAF1eo1k

The234project
Published Feb 1, 2017 – Enjoy an overview of this wonderful middle belt state in Nigeria. It was created in 1976.

Category: People & Blogs

According to a previous Go Lean commentary:

Who or where is the bread basket of the Caribbean?

Do we have an answer? Do we have a bread basket? Do we even have an organized region so as to collaborate on the responsibility of feeding our people?

No, No, and No!

This commentary is important for the Caribbean to contemplate. Every human in every land must arrange for the delivery of basic needs – “we gotta eat” and so food supply is paramount. Scientific developments have always been a major consideration for food supply, ever since the days of hunting-and gathering. Modern society is built on the premise that we would employ scientific best practices to harvest our food, or trade with people who employ these best practices.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean declares “enough already” with the trade; it is time to produce our own.

Truth be told, the limestone islands of the Caribbean – think: Bahamas, Cayman, Turks & Caicos Islands, etc. – cannot be used to implement sustainable agricultural system. We need to deputize the larger landmasses – Belize, Cuba, Guyana, Suriname, etc. – to serve the bread basket role for the rest of the region.

This is the plan … deploy the agricultural installations and developments to make all the appropriate member-states our bread basket.

This plan is presented throughout the 370 pages of the Go Lean book, provided as turn-by-turn directions on how to reform and transform the economic, security and governing engines for the Caribbean region and their member-states. This roadmap includes the new community ethos (attitudes and values) that must be adopted; plus the executions of new strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to deliver on the basic responsibility of Feeding Ourselves. In fact, this is the actual title of one advocacy in the Go Lean book. Consider the specific plans, excerpts and headlines here from Page 162, entitled:

10 Ways to Better Manage Food Consumption

1	Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market Confederation Treaty The CU will allow for the unification of the region into one market, thereby creating a single economy of 30 member-states, 42 million people and a GDP of over $800 Billion – the CU will take the lead in facilitating the food supply and distribution systems to ensure the region can feed itself, more from local production and less from trade. Though the cost savings of imports should never be ignored, some CU countries (Greater Antilles, Belize, Guyana & Suriname) have a low opportunity cost for increasing food production for the regional market. Thus a mission of the CU is to streamline the systems, processes, logistics, funding, training, and market promotions so that the Caribbean can fulfill this basic need.
2	Public Health Dynamics – Produce Deserts & Farmers Market
3	“Nouvelle” Caribbean Cuisine
4	Agri-Business Many of the member-states get 90% (or more) of their food supplies from imports; even fish is imported from Alaska, despite the 1,063,000 square miles of harvestable waters of the Caribbean Sea. The CU will implement agri-business (and aqua-culture) investments to generate more regional options for food production: cooperatives (co-ops), farm credit, common grazing lands, fisheries oversight, canaries, aqua-culture endeavors, etc.
5	Logistics for the Food Supply [*Quick Service Restaurants* or] QSRs are so popular and growing in demand because they have mastered the “art and science” of logistics, to get their food to the consumer; and thus the low cost. When speed is not the goal, preservative strategies must be implemented. The technology of canning, “200 year old science”, will be advocated more for native products. (Most canned coconut water comes from Thailand). The CU will sponsor co-ops to manage canneries for different foods.
6	Fresh Frozen Delivery of food products must be carefully managed. Meats and produce are perishable and have a limited time to get to their final markets. An additional logistical strategy is “flash freezing”. This 100-year old technology holds a lot of promise for the region. The CU will sponsor cooperatives and condominium associations to construct and maintain refrigerated warehouses, with power alternatives, to facilitate the logistics of frozen products – for trading partners.
7	Food Labeling
8	Export – Help Regional Businesses Find Foreign Markets
9	Media Industrial Complex
10	Food Tourism

This advocacy projects that there is hope that we can reform and transform our agricultural deliveries. That’s the land, what about the seas?

In a previous blog-commentary – Lessons in Economic History: Commerce of the Seas – Book Review: ‘Sea Power’ – we learned how the oceans/seas can give a competitive advantage that can be exploited:

Around the world, countries that had access to the “Sea” have a distinct advantage economically versus countries that were land-locked; i.e. England versus Austria.

To help us Feed Ourselves, the Go Lean roadmap also advocates that we exploit the valuable resources of the seas, by reforming and transforming the fishery eco-system. In fact, this is the actual title of one advocacy in the Go Lean book. Consider the specific plans, excerpts and headlines here from Page 210, entitled:

10 Ways to Improve Fisheries

1	Lean-in for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU will allow for the unification of the region into one market, thereby creating a single economy of 30 member-states, 42 million people and a GDP of over $800 Billion (2010). One mission of the CU is to facilitate the food supply so that the region can feed itself, more from local production and less from trade; this includes yields from fisheries. The Caribbean Sea generates a large fishing industry for the surrounding countries, accounting for half a million metric tons (1.1 billion pounds) of fish per year. And yet, the region still imports fish from Alaska. (Alaska imports none from the Caribbean).
2	UN Petition – Effort initiated by the ACS [(Association of Caribbean States)]
3	*Common Pool Resources (Lobster, Conch, Grouper, Flying Fish)* Though the waters between the islands may be uninhabited, their resources can still be depleted. The CU will govern the common pool resources to promote the sustainability of fish stock. Fishing for lobster, conch, grouper, “flying fish” and other species. [These] must be controlled, with limited harvesting seasons, otherwise there will be none for future generations.
4	Cooperatives Fishery cooperatives allow fishermen and industry players to pool their resources in certain (non-competitive) areas of activity. This strategy is vital for sharing the cost and expense of installing piers/docks, locating systems (Loran-C & GPS), canaries, refrigerated warehouses and transportation solutions.
5	Aqua-culture and Mari-culture The CU will foster the industry (and cooperatives) for aqua-culture, the controlled harvesting of fish, crustaceans, mollusks and aquatic plants using farm-like conditions and practices. While commercial fishing can be likened to hunting-and-gathering, aquaculture is more akin to agriculture. Mari-culture, on the other hand, refers to aquaculture practiced in marine environments and underwater habitats. The CU will plant aquatic plants as needed to protect fish beds and reefs.
6	Fishing Tourism and Yachting Enthusiasts
7	Marine Financing
8	Coast Guard hand-off to CU Naval Authority
9	ICE Cooperation
10	Maritime Emergency Management

This Caribbean roadmap to improve our Surf & Turf Food Supply should be welcomed and greatly appreciated. The end result will be less imports – this means we get to Feed Ourselves with lower costs and greater variety in our Food Supply.

The issues in reforming and transforming our agriculture and fishery eco-systems have been a frequent subject for previous blog-commentaries; consider this list of sample entries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17697	Using Common Pool Resources to Better Source Our Food
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15359	Industrial Reboot – Fisheries 101
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13184	Industrial Reboot – Frozen Foods 101
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10369	Science of Sustenance – Temperate Foods
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3594	Better Fisheries Management for Queen Conch
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2276	Climate Change May Affect Food Supply Within a Decade

All Caribbean member-states are urged to “eat, drink and be merry”, but let’s do it with local food that we source ourselves – harvested from our own bread basket. This was an original intent of the Go Lean book; see this except from the opening Page 3:

The CU should better provide for the region’s basic needs (food, clothing, energy and shelter), and then be in position to help supply the rest of the world. Previous Caribbean societies lived off the land and the sea; but today, the region depends extensively on imports, even acquiring large quantities of seafood, despite the 1,063,000 square miles of the Caribbean Sea.

“Living off the land; living off the Seas” – considering our historicity, it would be stupid for us to NOT try this effort. This is why this roadmap is conceivable, believable and achievable. We urge all Caribbean stakeholders to lean-in to this roadmap to empower our regional Food Supply – we must feed ourselves … and make the Caribbean homeland and home-seas better places to live, work and play. 🙂

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

xxx. Whereas the effects of globalization can be felt in every aspect of Caribbean life, from the acquisition of food and clothing, to the ubiquity of ICT, the region cannot only consume, it is imperative that our lands also produce and add to the international community, even if doing so requires some sacrifice and subsidy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

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A Gathering of ‘Old Men’ – 1972 Dolphins ENCORE

Posted on December 23, 2019 in Ethos, Industries, Social

For the first time, this is an ENCORE of a previous ENCORE of a blog-commentary by the movement behind the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean.

We must have really been moved!
Indeed we were …

The remnant of the 1972 Miami Dolphins was on the field at the local Hardrock Stadium on Sunday December 22, 2019 – this was the home finale of the 2019 Miami Dolphins Football Season. The halftime show was a reunion of that perfect team from 1972.

What a moving feeling for a life-long Miami Dolphins fan (and current season-ticket holder): Me!

Title: Dolphins To Honor 1972 Team As Greatest Team In NFL History Against Bengals
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The Miami Dolphins will honor their 1972 Perfect Season team as part of ‘NFL 100 Greatest’ in a special halftime ceremony against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Dec. 22 at Hard Rock Stadium. The team was named the greatest team in the 100-year history of the NFL on Nov. 15.

“It’s always special to be around the guys who came together to accomplish what no other team in the 100-year history of the NFL has ever done – the perfect season,” said Hall of Fame Head Coach Don Shula. “It’s only fitting as the League closes out this milestone season that the 1972 Dolphins are officially recognized with an honor that we always knew was true – that they are the greatest team in NFL history.”
Source: Posted December 19, 2019; retrieved December 23, 2019 from: https://www.miamidolphins.com/news/dolphins-to-honor-1972-team-as-greatest-team-in-nfl-history-against-bengals

This is my photo from the event – this Gathering of ‘Old Men’!

It is only apropos to Encore the previous blog-commentary (May 16, 2017) on this subject; which itself was an Encore of a previous blog-commentary (from August 31, 2015). See here-now:

————-

Miami, Florida – If you’re a fan of American football (NFL or the National Football League) then you know how impactful it is to go undefeated from the beginning to the end of the season, playoffs included. Only one team has done it … ever: the 1972 Miami Dolphins. The 50 players on that team became heroes to every football-loving kid anywhere near the broadcast waves of Miami.

There was a time when these guys were my heroes.

But “time and unforeseen occurrences befall us all” – The Bible (Ecclesiastes 9:11).

There is a connection between Miami and the Caribbean; the city has become much more than a shopping destination; it has redefined itself as the financial, political and sports capital of the Caribbean and Latin America.

So this news is shocking to receive, as the Miami Herald newspaper reports that many of the players on the 1972 Dolphins team now suffer from CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy).

Say it ain’t so …

It seemed like this CTE disease was so far-off; an affliction on people “over there” … somewhere. But to hit the 1972 Dolphins players means that this disease has come home…to our local heroes.

🙁

See the story here in this recent Miami Herald article:

Title: Football’s toll: At least eight members of 1972 Dolphins affected by cognitive impairment

They called him Captain Crunch, and the name was fitting. Mike Kolen packed a punch.

Now, 45 years after the Dolphins’ No-Name Defense ran through the 1972 season undefeated, Kolen and his perfect teammates are tied together again. But instead of celebration, there’s heartache.

South Florida’s most legendary team has become a cautionary tale, a poignant symbol of the concussion saga that threatens the future of America’s favorite sport.

“Within the last month or so, I’ve been diagnosed with the initial stages of Alzheimer’s,” Kolen, a starting linebacker on Miami’s two Super Bowl-winning teams, told the Miami Herald.

And was football the cause?

“I think that’s about the only way I’d have cognitive issues,” replied Kolen, 69, who has no family history of dementia.

Kolen’s story is not unique for Miami’s most historic team.

Earlier this week, Sports Illustrated detailed how Kolen’s better-known 1972 teammates Nick Buoniconti and Jim Kiick have both deteriorated mentally in the past few years.

After quarterback Earl Morrall’s death in 2014, an autopsy revealed he had Stage 4 chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease more commonly known as CTE that researchers have linked to football.

Bill Stanfill, the Dolphins’ first sack king, suffered from dementia and Parkinson’s disease when he died last fall at age 69.

Three others from that famed roster — cornerback Lloyd Mumphord, defensive back Tim Foley and running back Hubert Ginn — have quietly dealt with cognitive impairment in recent years, teammates tell the Herald.

That makes at least eight members of a roster of roughly 50 men who have experienced loss of acuity. And that figure includes only those who keep in regular contact with the organization; several do not.

Roughly a quarter of the ’72 team has passed away, including five from cancer. Manny Fernandez, a defensive lineman who was the star of Super Bowl VII, has had eight surgeries on his back alone. Center Jim Langer, 68, said his “legs are bad and my knees are shot” after six operations.

…

Even the NFL acknowledges – see VIDEO below – that there is a link between football-related head trauma and neurological diseases like CTE after denying any such connection for years. …

Continue reading the full article here; (it is lengthy):

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nfl/miami-dolphins/article150311157.html retrieved 05-11-2017.

———

VIDEO – NFL acknowledges link between football and brain disease CTE – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4503362/Seven-members-72-Dolphins-suffered-brain-injuries.html#v-6189767714419658422

Relating Miami to the Caribbean makes this story relatable to the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean. One purpose of this movement is to engage business models so that Caribbean communities can better take advantage of the economic benefits of sports. There are few expressions of professional sports in the Caribbean now – there is no eco-system for collegiate athletics at all. Due to the territorial status and the border proximity, there are 3 member-states with organized American Football league play in the Caribbean: Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands and the Bahamas.

With the advantages of professional sports (money from ticket sales & broadcast rights, pride, athletic fitness, etc.), come disadvantages as well. CTE, as one, is only now begrudgingly been accepted as a direct consequence of the often times brutal game of American Football.

This was the warning from this previous blog-commentary that marked the release of the movie “Concussion”, chronicling the David-versus-Goliath-like advocacy of the Pathology Doctor who “blew the whistle” on the systemic “willful” ignorance and Crony-Capitalistic abuse in the NFL. This excerpt highlights some main points from that blog:

Yes, movies help us to glean a better view of ourselves … and our failings; and many times, show us a way-forward.

These descriptors actually describe the latest production from Hollywood icon Will Smith (the former Fresh Prince of Bel-Air). This movie, the film “Concussion”, in the following news article, relates the real life drama of one man, Dr. Bennet Omalu, a Nigerian-born medical doctor – a pathologist – who prepared autopsies of former players that suffered from football-related concussions. He did not buckle under the acute pressure to maintain the status quo, and now, he is celebrated for forging change in his adopted homeland. This one man made a difference. (The NFL is now credited for a Concussion awareness and prevention protocol so advanced that other levels of the sport – college, high schools and Youth – are being urged to emulate).

Beyond the excerpt, see the entire blog-commentary from August 31, 2015 on the movie ‘Concussion‘ and the dreaded CTE disease being encored here:

—————-

ENCORE – Go Lean Commentary – ‘Concussions’ – The Movie; The Cause

“Are you ready for some football?” – Promotional song by Hank Williams, Jr. for Monday Night Football on ABC & ESPN networks for 22 years (1989 – 2011). See Appendix Below.

This iconic song (see Appendix) and catch-phrase is reflective of exactly how popular the National Football League (NFL) is in the US:

“They own an entire day of the week”.

So says the new movie ‘Concussions’, starring Will Smith, referring to the media domination of NFL Football on Sundays during the Autumn season. The movie’s script is along a line that resonates well in Hollywood’s Academy Award balloting: “David versus Goliath”; “a small man speaking truth to power”.

In the case of the NFL, it is not just about power, it is about money, prestige and protecting the status quo; the NFL is responsible for the livelihood of so many people. The book Go Lean … Caribbean recognized the importance of the NFL in the American lexicon of “live, work and play”; it featured a case study (Page 32) of the NFL and it’s collective bargaining successes (and failures) in 2011. An excerpt from the book is quoted as follows:

Football is big business in the US, $9 billion in revenue, and more than a business; emotions – civic pride, rivalries, and fanaticism – run high on both sides.

Previous Go Lean commentaries presents the socio-economic realities of much of the American football eco-system. Consider a sample here:

Socio-Economic Impact Analysis of [Football] Sports Stadiums

Watch the Super Bowl … Commercials

Levi’s® NFL Stadium: A Team Effort

Sports Role Model – College Football – Playing For Pride … And More

Sports Role Model – Turn On the SEC Network

Collegiate Sports in the Caribbean – Model of NCAA

10 Things We Want from the US: #10 – Sports Professionalism

10 Things We Don’t Want from the US: #10 – ‘Win At All Costs’ Ethos

While football plays a big role in American life, so do movies. Their role is more unique; they are able to change society. In a previous blog / commentary regarding Caribbean Diaspora member and Hollywood great, Sidney Poitier, it was declared that …

“Movies are an amazing business model. People give money to spend a couple of hours watching someone else’s creation and then leave the theater with nothing to show for the investment; except perhaps a different perspective”.

Yes, movies help us to glean a better view of ourselves … and our failings; and many times, show us a way-forward.

These descriptors actually describe the latest production from Hollywood icon Will Smith (the former Fresh Prince of Bel-Air). This movie, the film “Concussion”, in the following news article, relates the real life drama of one man, Dr. Bennet Omalu, a Nigerian-born medical doctor – a pathologist – who prepared autopsies of former players that suffered from football-related concussions. He did not buckle under the acute pressure to maintain the status quo, and now, he is celebrated for forging change in his adopted homeland. This one man made a difference. (The NFL is now credited for a Concussion awareness and prevention protocol so advanced that other levels of the sport – college, high schools and Youth – are being urged to emulate).

See news article here on the release of the movie:

Title: ‘Concussion’: 5 Take-a-ways From Will Smith’s New Film

Will Smith, 46, is definitely going to get a ton of Oscar buzz portraying Dr. Bennet Omalu in the new film “Concussion.” NFL columnist Peter King of Sports Illustrated got an exclusive first peek at the trailer and it has been widely shared on social media since. And it’s very chilling.

Here are five take-aways and background you need to know before checking out the clip:

1 – It’s Based on a True Story

Omalu is the forensic pathologist and neuropathologist who discovered chronic traumatic encephalopathy in football players who got hit in the head over and over again, according to the Washington Post.

In the clip, he says repetitive “head trauma chokes the brain.”

Omalu was one of the founding members of the Brain Injury Research Institute in 2002. He conducted the autopsy of Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster, played by David Morse in the film, which led to this discovery.

2 – Smith’s Version of Omalu’s Accent Is Spot On

Omalu is from Nigeria and Smith has been known to transform completely for a role. He was nominated for an Oscar for 2011’s “Ali,” playing the legendary Muhammad Ali.

For comparison, here’s Omalu’s PBS interview from 2013.

3 – Smith Is a Reluctant Hero

“If you don’t speak for them, who will,” Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who plays Prema Mutiso in the film, tells Smith’s character.

He admits he idolized America growing up and “was the wrong person to have discovered this.”

4 – Alec Baldwin and Luke Wilson

“Concussion” brought in some heavyweights for this movie. Baldwin plays Dr. Julian Bailes, who advises Omalu, and Wilson, who will reportedly play NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, according to IMDB. There’s no official word on this. He’s seen at a podium in the trailer, but doesn’t speak.

5 – “Tell the Truth”

Smith captures Omalu’s passion to have the truth told about this injury and disease.

“I was afraid of letting Mike [Webster] down. I was afraid. I don’t know. I was afraid I was going to fail,” Omalu told PBS a couple years back.

———-

VIDEO Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3322364/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Will Smith stars in the incredible true David vs. Goliath story of Dr. Bennet Omalu, the brilliant forensic neuropathologist who made the first discovery of CTE, a football-related brain trauma, in a pro player.

The subject of concussions is serious – life and death. Just a few weeks ago (August 8), an NFL Hall-of-Fame inductee was honored for his play on the field during his 20-year professional career, but his family, his daughter in particular, is the one that made his acceptance / induction speech. He had died, in 2012; he committed suicide after apparently suffering from a brain disorder – chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a type of chronic brain damage that has also been found in other deceased former NFL players^[4] – sustained from his years of brutal head contacts in organized football in high school, college and in his NFL career. This player was Junior Seau.

Why would there be a need for “David versus Goliath”; “a small man speaking truth to power”? Is not the actuality of an acclaimed football player committing suicide in this manner – he shot himself in the chest so as to preserve his brain for research – telling enough to drive home the message for reform?

No. Hardly. As previously discussed, there is too much money at stake.

These stakes bring out the Crony-capitalism in American society.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean (and subsequent blog/commentaries) relates many examples of cronyism in the American eco-system. There is a lot of money at stake. Those who want to preserve the status quo or not invest in the required mitigations to remediate concussions will fight back against any Advocate promoting the Greater Good. The profit motive is powerful. There are doubters and those who want to spurn doubt. “Concussions in Football” is not the first issue these “actors” have promoted doubt on. The efforts to downplay concussion alarmists are from a familiar playbook, used previously by Climate Change deniers, Big Tobacco, Toxic Waste, Acid Rain, and other dangerous chemicals.

This Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). Sports are integral to the Go Lean/CU roadmap. While sports can be good and promote positives in society, even economically, the safety issues must be addressed upfront. This is a matter of community security. Thusly, the prime directives of the CU are described as:

Optimize the economic engines of the Caribbean to elevate the regional economy to grow to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs, including sports-related industries with a projection of 21,000 direct jobs at Fairgrounds and sports enterprises.
Establish a security apparatus to protect the people and economic engines.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these economic and security engines.

The CU/Go Lean sports mission is to harness the individual abilities of athletes to not just elevate their performance, but also to harness the economic impact for their communities. So modern sports endeavors cannot be analyzed without considering the impact on “dollars and cents” for stakeholders. This is a fact and should never be ignored. There is therefore the need to carefully assess and be on guard for crony-capitalistic influences entering the decision-making of sports stakeholders. The Go Lean book posits that with the emergence of new economic engines, “bad actors” will also emerge thereafter to exploit the opportunities, with good, bad and evil intent”. These points were pronounced early in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12 &14):

x. Whereas we are surrounded and allied to nations of larger proportions in land mass, populations, and treasuries, elements in their societies may have ill-intent in their pursuits, at the expense of the safety and security of our citizens. We must therefore appoint “new guards” to ensure our public safety and threats against our society, both domestic and foreign. The Federation must employ the latest advances and best practices of criminology and penology to assuage continuous threats against public safety. …

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interests of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxxi. Whereas sports have been a source of great pride for the Caribbean region, the economic returns from these ventures have not been evenly distributed as in other societies. The Federation must therefore facilitate the eco-systems and vertical industries of sports as a business, recreation, national pastime and even sports tourism …

The Go Lean book envisions the CU – a confederation of the 30 member-states of the Caribbean chartered to do the heavy-lifting of empowering and elevating the Caribbean economy – as the landlord of many sports facilities (within the Self-Governing Entities design), and the regulator for inter-state sport federations. The book details the economic principles and community ethos to adopt, plus the executions of strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to optimize sports enterprises in the Caribbean:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Economic Principles – People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways	Page 21
Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices / Incentives	Page 21
Economic Principles – The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Economic Principles – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Security Principles – Whistleblower Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – Security Principles – Light-Up the Dark Places	Page 23
Community Ethos – Security Principles – “Crap” Happens	Page 23
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness – Mitigate Suicide Threats	Page 36
Community Ethos – Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederating 30 Member-States into a Single Market	Page 45
Strategy – Vision – Foster Local Economic Engines for Basic Needs	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Prepare for Natural Disasters	Page 45
Strategic – Staffing – Sporting Events at Fairgrounds	Page 55
Strategy – Agents of Change – Climate Change	Page 57
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization	Page 57
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Sports & Culture Administration	Page 81
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Fairgrounds Administration	Page 83
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Health Department – Disease Management	Page 86
Implementation – Assemble Regional Organs into a Single Market Economy	Page 96
Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities – Sports Stadia	Page 105
Implementation – Security Initiatives at Start-up – Unified Command & Control	Page 103
Implementation – Industrial Policy for CU Self Governing Entities	Page 103
Implementation – Ways to Deliver – Project Management/Accountabilities	Page 109
Anatomy of Advocacies – Examples of Individuals Who Made Impact	Page 122
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Fairgrounds	Page 192
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Emergency Management – Trauma Arts & Sciences	Page 196
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Sports	Page 229
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living – Sports Leagues	Page 234

The Go Lean book and accompanying blogs declare that the Caribbean needs to learn lessons from other communities, especially when big money is involved in pursuits like sports. These activities should be beneficial to health, not detrimental. So the admonition is to be “on guard” against the “cronies”; they will always try to sacrifice public policy – the Greater Good – for private gain: profit.

Let’s do better. Yes, the Caribbean can be better than the American experiences.

The design of Self-Governing Entities allow for greater protections from Crony-Capitalistic abuses. While this roadmap is committed to availing the economic opportunities of sports and accompanying infrastructure, as demonstrated in the foregoing movie trailer, sport teams and owners can be plutocratic “animals” in their greed. We must learn to mitigate plutocratic abuses. While an optimized eco-system is good, there is always the need for an Advocate, one person to step up, blow the whistle and transform society. The Go Lean roadmap encourages these role models.

Bravo Dr. Bennet Omalu. Thank you for this example … and for being a role model for all of the Caribbean.

RIP Junior Seau.

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to lean-in for the empowerments described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. This roadmap will result in more positive socio-economic changes throughout the region; it will make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the free e-book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

——-

Appendix VIDEO: Hank Williams Jr. – Are You Ready for Some Football – https://youtu.be/dKPZEMu7Mno

Uploaded on May 28, 2011 – Official Music Video

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Christian Journal Urges: ‘Remove Trump’

Posted on December 20, 2019 in Ethos, Government, Planning, Social

Go Lean Commentary

Even a broken clock is right “twice a day”.

We have frequently criticized Christian religious leaders for failing to live up to their claim, namesake or any moral high-ground; see samples here:

European Reckoning – Christianity’s Indictment
Caribbean Unity? Religion’s Role: False Friend
Vatican Need for Reform – Finally Manifested
Repenting, Forgiving and Reconciling the Past
Truth & Reconciliation: The Pope Sanctioned the Slave Trade in 1491
.
… and we hereby re-affirm that we have been correct in these assessments.

But this time, “they” – Christian religious leaders – seem to have gotten it right, in their judgement that the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, should be removed from office. See this excerpt statement here and the full story in the Appendix below:

… a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused.

So we applaud this religious journal, Christianity Today, for getting it right, and showing the courage to say it!

Truth be told, they will get “a lot of flak for this” – they are getting it now – see this News VIDEO here:

VIDEO – Christianity Today editor responds to Trump’s attack – https://youtu.be/ioCDIiaaifE

CNN
A leading Christian magazine founded by late evangelist Billy Graham published an op-ed calling for President Donald Trump to be removed from office and urging evangelicals not to support him. The magazine’s editor-in-chief Mark Galli joins CNN. #CNN #News

Category: News & Politics

Welcome Mr. Galli, to the assessment that we provided on Donald Trump’s presidency from the first year of his administration (2017). We identified and qualified the lack of any Christian moral high-ground then. Look again, at this list of moral failings and leadership mis-steps from that year – as reported in this previous blog-commentary summarizing 2017 (in chronological order – from January to December, 2017):

Religious Intolerance – Ban on 6 Muslim countries

Fostering Discord – California wants out!

Collaboration Flaws – Disinterest in Others (Non-Americans)

Disparaging Messaging to Tourists/Visitors

Rejection of Evidence – Climate Change Denial – Paris Accords Withdrawal

Climate of Hate – White Supremacists / Disdain of Immigrants

America First – Prioritization as World Leader downplayed.

Selective Law-and-Order Enforcement

Claim to Ignorance on Natural Disasters – Who Knew?

Disdain of Female Empowerment

Hurricane Response and Competence – Puerto Rico versus Texas

Societal Defects of Gun Culture

Aversion to Trade Agreements

Compassion Exhaustion – Ending ‘Temporary Protection Status’ to Haitian Refugees

Sexual Harassment Complicity

Take from the Poor; Give to the Rich – Trump’s Tax Reform law

Obviously, this is an American drama, and we – the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean – represent a Caribbean perspective. But this is still relevant to us, as we observe-and-report on the American eco-system due to:

The large number of Diaspora living there
Number 1 destination for our students matriculating abroad
Number 1 Trading Partner
American Hegemony in terms of economic, military and media dominance
Many Caribbean people long for the opportunity to migrate to the US. These are the “Push and Pull” factors that we must contend. Hopefully now, the truth of American Defects at the top of their leadership will lower the “Pull” factors a little.

We can do better here in our Caribbean home. We do not want to be like America, we want to be better.

The Go Lean book does not just complain about American Defects, but also prescribes a Way Forward for us in the Caribbean:

Way Forward – an action, plan etc. that seems a good idea because it is likely to lead to success;
Source: Retrieved December 22, 2016 from: http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/a-the-way-forward

The Go Lean movement (book and accompanying blogs) does not look to President Donald Trump to lead for the Caribbean; we look to lead ourselves.

For the Caribbean, we must succeed in our Way Forward – so as to dissuade our own people from abandoning their Caribbean homelands and fleeing to places like the United States. No society is perfect; but we can do better than having a leader that is …

… a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused.

Yes, we can …

We have submitted details on the Caribbean Way Forward in many previous blog-commentaries; consider this sample:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=18392	Learning and Committing to ‘Refuse to Lose’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17693	Way Forward: ‘Free Market’ & Cooperatives – Simple Solution
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17358	Way Forward is a Marshall Plan – A Lesson in History
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17284	Way Forward: “Whatever it takes” – Life Imitating Art
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17282	Way Forward: Territory Realities Need for Interdependence
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17280	Way Forward: Strategy for Energy – ‘Trade’ Winds
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17267	Way Forward: Strategy for Justice: Special Prosecutors et al
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17250	Way Forward: Caribbean Media Strategy & Deliveries
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17232	Way Forward: Jamaica – The need to reconcile the Past
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17135	Way Forward: Series targeting Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands and Bahamas
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16848	‘Two Pies’ for a New Caribbean – Federal vs Member-State
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13251	Way Forward: Funding Caribbean Risk
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13105	Way Forward for Haiti

Yes, we can succeed in being Better Than America; but it is not easy; it involves some heavy-lifting. We are ready for that work.

Let’s get busy…

Let’s lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap, our Way Forward, then truly we can make our region better places to live, work and play. 🙂

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the ccidence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

—————-

Appendix – Title: Trump Should Be Removed from Office
Sub-title: It’s time to say what we said 20 years ago when a president’s character was revealed for what it was.
By: Mark Galli
In our founding documents, Billy Graham explains that Christianity Today will help evangelical Christians interpret the news in a manner that reflects their faith. The impeachment of Donald Trump is a significant event in the story of our republic. It requires comment.

The typical CT approach is to stay above the fray and allow Christians with different political convictions to make their arguments in the public square, to encourage all to pursue justice according to their convictions and treat their political opposition as charitably as possible. We want CT to be a place that welcomes Christians from across the political spectrum, and reminds everyone that politics is not the end and purpose of our being. We take pride in the fact, for instance, that politics does not dominate our homepage.

That said, we do feel it necessary from time to time to make our own opinions on political matters clear—always, as Graham encouraged us, doing so with both conviction and love. We love and pray for our president, as we love and pray for leaders (as well as ordinary citizens) on both sides of the political aisle.

Let’s grant this to the president: The Democrats have had it out for him from day one, and therefore nearly everything they do is under a cloud of partisan suspicion. This has led many to suspect not only motives but facts in these recent impeachment hearings. And, no, Mr. Trump did not have a serious opportunity to offer his side of the story in the House hearings on impeachment.

But the facts in this instance are unambiguous: The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents. That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.

The reason many are not shocked about this is that this president has dumbed down the idea of morality in his administration. He has hired and fired a number of people who are now convicted criminals. He himself has admitted to immoral actions in business and his relationship with women, about which he remains proud. His Twitter feed alone—with its habitual string of mischaracterizations, lies, and slanders—is a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused.

Trump’s evangelical supporters have pointed to his Supreme Court nominees, his defense of religious liberty, and his stewardship of the economy, among other things, as achievements that justify their support of the president. We believe the impeachment hearings have made it absolutely clear, in a way the Mueller investigation did not, that President Trump has abused his authority for personal gain and betrayed his constitutional oath. The impeachment hearings have illuminated the president’s moral deficiencies for all to see. This damages the institution of the presidency, damages the reputation of our country, and damages both the spirit and the future of our people. None of the president’s positives can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character.

This concern for the character of our national leader is not new in CT. In 1998, we wrote this:

The President’s failure to tell the truth—even when cornered—rips at the fabric of the nation. This is not a private affair. For above all, social intercourse is built on a presumption of trust: trust that the milk your grocer sells you is wholesome and pure; trust that the money you put in your bank can be taken out of the bank; trust that your babysitter, firefighters, clergy, and ambulance drivers will all do their best. And while politicians are notorious for breaking campaign promises, while in office they have a fundamental obligation to uphold our trust in them and to live by the law.

And this:

Unsavory dealings and immoral acts by the President and those close to him have rendered this administration morally unable to lead.

Unfortunately, the words that we applied to Mr. Clinton 20 years ago apply almost perfectly to our current president. Whether Mr. Trump should be removed from office by the Senate or by popular vote next election—that is a matter of prudential judgment. That he should be removed, we believe, is not a matter of partisan loyalties but loyalty to the Creator of the Ten Commandments.

To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record, we might say this: Remember who you are and whom you serve. Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come? Can we say with a straight face that abortion is a great evil that cannot be tolerated and, with the same straight face, say that the bent and broken character of our nation’s leader doesn’t really matter in the end?

We have reserved judgment on Mr. Trump for years now. Some have criticized us for our reserve. But when it comes to condemning the behavior of another, patient charity must come first. So we have done our best to give evangelical Trump supporters their due, to try to understand their point of view, to see the prudential nature of so many political decisions they have made regarding Mr. Trump. To use an old cliché, it’s time to call a spade a spade, to say that no matter how many hands we win in this political poker game, we are playing with a stacked deck of gross immorality and ethical incompetence. And just when we think it’s time to push all our chips to the center of the table, that’s when the whole game will come crashing down. It will crash down on the reputation of evangelical religion and on the world’s understanding of the gospel. And it will come crashing down on a nation of men and women whose welfare is also our concern.

Mark Galli is editor in chief of Christianity Today.

Source: Posted December 19, 2019; retrieved December 20, 2019 from: https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/december-web-only/trump-should-be-removed-from-office.html

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Learning from Another ‘Great Place to Work’: Mercedes-Benz – Encore

Posted on December 19, 2019 in Economics, Ethos, Industries, Planning

A lot of companies formed 133 years ago are no longer around.

Time takes its toll
Business models change
Technology improves
Values are reformed

For the companies that have survived the “Win or Go Home” tournaments, it is important to study them and learn lessons of their successes … and failures.

One such company is the international automotive conglomerate Mercedes-Benz or DaimlerBenz:

Mercedes-Benz is a German global automobile marque and a division of Daimler AG. Mercedes-Benz is known for luxury vehicles, buses, coaches, ambulances and trucks. The headquarters is in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The name first appeared in 1926 under Daimler-Benz. In 2018, Mercedes-Benz was the biggest selling premium vehicle brand in the world, having sold 2.31 million passenger cars.^[4]

Mercedes-Benz traces its origins to Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft‘s 1901 Mercedes and Karl Benz‘s 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen, which is widely regarded as the first gasoline-powered automobile. – Source: Wikipedia.

This “Old Dog” has learned a lot of “New Tricks”.

They are considered one of the Great Places to Work, by the formal Great Place to Work® Institute; they are in the Top Ten on the 2018 List.

VIDEO – World’s Best Workplaces 2018 | Daimler Financial Services – https://youtu.be/HG2nGLaEj9w

Published on Oct 17, 2018

Category – News & Politics

One such Value Reformation that Mercedes-Benz has completed that other companies, institutions and regions – this mean YOU Caribbean stakeholders – can learn from is the emphasis on Diversity and Inclusion. See this ethos featured in the internal company newsletter here from December 9, 2019:

Title: How we shape Diversity & Inclusion
Daimler employs more than 298,000 people from around 160 nations. And that is just one aspect of our company’s diversity. We shape Diversity & Inclusion with appropriate offers and measures for our employees in five dimensions.

We work in international teams: Our workforce from around 160 nations offers us first-hand insights into our different markets and customer groups. Daimler employs people from different countries and cultures to combine their different perspectives in projects and produce the most optimal results.

We bring people from different generations together: Daimler employs people from five generations. Experience is combined with fresh ideas in intergenerational teams in order to create new approaches. Our employees can develop further and unfold, regardless of age. For this we offer a great variety of learning possibilities.

We promote equal opportunity for all genders: A balanced relationship between women and men benefits companies and society equally. Be it as developers, location managers, assembly workers or members of the Board of Management: Women work at all levels at Daimler. The share of women in senior management positions is to increase to at least 20 percent by 2020.

We defend the rights of the LGBTI+ Community: We would like our employees to feel that they can speak openly about their sexual orientation and identity. This applies to gays, lesbians and bisexuals as well as to trans* persons or intersexual people. And we also take to the streets for this: With the Daimler Pride Tour [Link] we are sending a clear signal for diversity, respect and appreciation – worldwide.

We include people with disabilities on an equal footing: The participation of severely disabled people in working life is more than an obligation for us. On the basis of our inclusion agreement, we create jobs for people with disabilities and promote their further qualification. Our action plan for severely disabled trainees opens up a wide range of commercial and technical professions for young people.

Source: Posted December 9, 2019; retrieved December 19, 2019 from https://www.daimler.com/sustainability/basics/employees/how-we-shape-diversity-inclusion.html

For the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean – the movement to reform and transform the Caribbean – this is not our first time focusing on the classification of Great Places to Work. In fact, we published a previous blog-commentary on December 2, 2014; it is only apropos to Encore that submission here-now:

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Go Lean Commentary – Making a Great Place to Work®

The book Go Lean…Caribbean represents a quest to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. The focus on this commentary is on work. There is actually a formula to making an organization a Great Place to Work®; that formula is so regimented that it is copyrighted and patented, and thus the ® symbol. This effort is pursued by the Great Place to Work® Institute. Below is their corporate information and accompanying VIDEO:

Video: The Great Place to Work Institute Model – http://youtu.be/IneDx950xRA

Great Place to Work Institute co-founder Robert Levering discusses the history of the Institute and how after 25 years of researching the best companies to work for around the world, that high levels of trust between employees and managers is the main element found in great workplaces. – Uploaded on Nov 7, 2011

————————

For over 25 years we’ve studied and identified great workplaces around the world.

Your company can be a great workplace, and you have the power to make it happen. It begins with an investment in building trust throughout your organization. The return will be a more vibrant enterprise, more innovative products and more satisfying relationships. Employees who trust their managers give their best work freely, and their extra effort goes right to the company’s bottom line. Managers who trust their employees allow innovative ideas to bubble up from all levels of the company. Employees who trust each other report a sense of camaraderie and even the feeling of being part of a family. Together they deliver far more than the sum of their individual efforts.

We’ve built the Great Place to Work® Model on 25 years of research and surveys of millions of employees.

Many of the best performing companies have followed this insight and seen tremendous results. At the Great Place to Work® Institute, we’ve spent 25 years tracking these leaders and learning from their successes. By surveying millions of employees and studying thousands of businesses, we’ve created a model for building performance based on trust. It’s our contribution to a global shift in businesses that is changing the way the world works.

We know that trust is the single most important ingredient in making a workplace great.

Our data show that building workplace trust is the best investment your company can make, leading to better recruitment, lower turnover, greater innovation, higher productivity, more loyal customers and higher profits. Our model provides specific, actionable steps to get you there. While you’ll be the one to lead your company on this journey, we can provide steady guidance from one of our 40 offices around the world.

We know that great workplaces are better financial performers.

Companies of all sizes look to us for our assessment tools, trainings, advisory services, conferences and workshops. The world looks to us to identify the best workplaces through our renowned lists. It’s all part of our passion to create a better world by helping you create a great workplace. Wherever you are on your journey, we invite you to join us and create yours.

Our clients are those companies and organizations that wish to maintain Best Company environments, those that are ready to dramatically improve the culture within their workplaces, and those in between the two. We know that organizations that build trust and create a rewarding cycle of personal contribution and appreciation create workplace cultures that deliver outstanding business performance.
Great Place to Work® – Corporate Website (Retrieved 12/01/2014)http://www.greatplacetowork.com/about-us

The Go Lean book stresses the need to create great work places. It serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation for the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). As a federation or federal government, there will be the need to employ (and empower) a Civil Service workforce; this labor pool is projected to be only 30,000 people, thusly embracing lean (or agile) delivery methodologies.

Lean relates to management, the Great Place to Work® concept, on the other hand, relates more to character and organizational culture. In fact the foregoing source material highlights one attribute more so than any other: Trust. They relate that from the employee’s perspective, a great workplace is one where they:

TRUST the people they work for;
Have PRIDE in what they do; and
ENJOY the people they work with.

So “Trust” is the defining principle of great workplaces. Consider the example of one company, in the Detroit Metro area, Credit Acceptance Corporation in the Appendix below.

While federal employees, civil servants, are among the stakeholders for Caribbean empowerment, they are not the only stakeholders the CU must cater to; there are other stakeholders that cover other aspects of Caribbean life. In fact, the prime directives of the CU covers these 3 focus areas:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The roadmap identifies, qualifies and proposes the establishment of a technocratic civil service throughout the region (Page 173). The book posits that an empowered, effective labor force, coupled with advanced technology tools and processes can adequately meet the needs of the region’s super-national government. Imagine kiosks, websites, call centers and mobile applications (Page 197) as opposed to big-bulky edifices with bureaucratic staffers working a queue (think “permits/licensing” in any typical US state – see Page 93 for the example of Nebraska’s “lean” conversion with the Department of Environmental Quality). This technology-led vision is fully detailed in the book (Page 168), encompassing the tactical approach of a “separation-of-powers” with the member-states for specific governmental functionality that will be assumed under CU jurisdiction (Page 71).

In addition to these public sector employees, the Go Lean roadmap also focuses on private enterprises. While there is no plan to micro-manage private companies in the free market, there is the plan to rate/rank companies that are effective and efficient. Imagine: 10 Great Places to Work – Bahamas, 10 Great Places to Work – Dominican Republic, 10 Great Places to Work – Jamaica, so on and so on.

Previously, Go Lean blogs commented on job developments, in the public sector and also with industrial and entrepreneurial endeavors. These points were depicted in the following sample:

Funding Caribbean Entrepreneurs – The ‘Crowdfunding’ Way

Where the Jobs Are – Entrepreneurial Jobs

Jamaica’s Public Pension Under-funded

The Criminalization of American Business – Bad Examples

STEM Jobs Are Filling Slowly

British public sector workers strike over ‘poverty pay’

Puerto Rico Governor Signs Bill on Small-Medium-Enterprises

Self-employment on the rise in the Caribbean – World Bank

Now is the time for all Caribbean stakeholders, employees in the public and private sectors, to lean-in to this regional solution for Caribbean empowerment. The end result, a better workplace and a better homeland; in total, a better place to live, work and play.

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

————

APPENDIX: Culture Without Compromise – One Case / One Company:

http://www.greatplacetowork.com/publications-and-events/blogs-and-news/2435-culture-without-compromise

This year, Credit Acceptance, a Michigan-based indirect finance company, secured one of the coveted spots on the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For list for the first time—a goal the company has actively been working toward since 2001 under the leadership of CEO Brett Roberts. While related efforts were numerous and spanned a 13-year period, there are 3 key takeaways to be learned from Credit Acceptance’s journey to greatness from our case study: Culture Without Compromise.

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Marijuana in Detroit – Chaos on Chaos

Posted on December 17, 2019 in Ethos, Government, Social

Go Lean Caribbean

Recreational Marijuana use became legal in the US State of Michigan on December 1, 2019.

Ouch! This brings so much chaos to the fore!

We have spent a lot of time observing-and-reporting on the metropolitan area of Detroit and the State of Michigan in general. Now, we come back here to observe-and-report on this new change: legalization of recreational Marijuana use – the nearby City of Ann Arbor is in fact the first to launch this new allowance. It turns out that we are not the only ones observing-and-reporting; other stakeholders in the State are doing the same as well; see here:

There were plenty of people around the state who had Ann Arbor envy, with news reports of hundreds of people lined up to buy adult-use marijuana.

It turns out that the Marijuana eco-system brings chaos. If the community is already chaotic, then that disposition is heightened, intensified and exacerbated. This summary is highlighted in this “Feature News” article here which relates to the adoption of Recreational Marijuana on top of the existing Medical Marijuana eco-system:

Title: Michigan’s new pot industry has some green with envy — though there are still kinks to work out
By: Larry Gabriel

Higher Ground readers know that Detroit City Council opted out of adult-use marijuana until at least Jan. 31. Councilman James Tate told Metro Times said that it was because Council was working to put together a good social equity program. Social equity is called for in the law that legalized marijuana in order to promote participation in the business from communities disproportionately impacted by marijuana prohibition. Tate didn’t talk about any proposed details of that program.

“I believe the city’s dilemma is more available space — the restrictions on what can be and where it can be,” says Joe White, director of Detroit NORML. “They need to expand the available space.”

When Council adopted zoning ordinances for where there could be a provisioning center, the result was almost nowhere. Now much of the available space has been taken by medical marijuana provisioning centers. There are no social-equity provisions in the medical marijuana law, and any marijuana arrests from the past disqualified one from getting a provisioning center license. On top of that, the state is only taking adult-use marijuana applications from already established medical marijuana provisioning centers.

That leaves the social equity Detroiters out in the cold as far as retail storefronts. Licenses for micro-businesses will be available, but where will they go? According to city zoning as it stands, nowhere within 1,000 feet of a school, church, daycare center or park. That’s in addition to some other rules about industrial and main street areas.

“If there are only 100 chickens available and 75 are sold, what the hell are we going to do?” says White. “If they’re going to do the right thing, they’re going to have to open up more available space.”

That’s got to be complicated. It took a long, long time to come up with the medical marijuana zoning rules we have now. It involved protests, petitions, an election, and lawsuits as provisioning centers fought it out with city officials. I remember sitting at a City Planning Commission meeting one time and asking the city employee who had just done an informational presentation if we were going to have to go through this again when we get recreational marijuana. He said yes.

If he was right, then buckle up for another roller-coaster ride of a process. Hopefully, this time around Council has a better handle on how to get this done. According to Tate, Council has already got past issues with the conservative church crowd. However, it looks like they’ll have to undo a bit of what they did before in order to open this up for more Detroiters.

Pending legislation to expunge the records of some folks with marijuana convictions opens up opportunities that weren’t available when this legalization thing started. Generally, these are the folks with experience in the marijuana business, and the social-equity provisions give them some advantages for legal re-entry into the business. And this isn’t just about Detroit; there are 41 Michigan social-equity communities listed on the MRA website.

Ann Arbor envy
There were plenty of people around the state who had Ann Arbor envy in their hearts, with news reports of hundreds of people lined up to buy adult-use marijuana when sales began last week. That envy was high among provisioning center owners who have been struggling to get by financially. Those retail outlets collected a reported $221,000 in marijuana sales on Dec. 1. There literally were not enough hours in the day to sell marijuana to all the people who wanted to buy some on the historic first day of sales.

Watching coverage of Ann Arbor’s festive opening day, River Rouge-based Herbology Cannabis Co. owner Tarek Jawad felt hopeful. “I can’t wait to be a part of it,” he said.

Jawad says that he’s been pre-approved for an adult-use license at one of his locations and expects to have one any day now. He admits that, financially, things have been “tight for the most part” for the past couple of years, so the bump of adult-use sales will make a difference.

Anqunette Sarfoh, co-owner of BotaniQ provisioning center in Detroit, had an emotional response. “I was so jealous,” she says. “It would have been cool to be a part of history, but if it’s going to be anywhere, it should be in Ann Arbor. And how poetic to have John Sinclair buying joints 50 years after he was busted for [having] them. You can’t make that stuff up.”

The way that Opening Day was decided and announced probably caught some provisioning centers off guard. The prevailing wisdom was that the first day of sales would be in 2020, but the Marijuana Regulatory Agency surprised most of us with the Dec. 1 decision just a few weeks before it happened. Even if state regulators had been able to get licenses out, the retailers didn’t have much time to prepare.

“We weren’t really focused on the recreational, so it didn’t concern us,” says Amy Jackson, a receptionist at The Reef in Detroit. “It’s kind of disappointing, but we couldn’t be ready by December 1.”

Another irony
Just to be clear: Because he doesn’t have a state license to do so, John Sinclair could still be busted for selling joints today. This license thing is kind of weird because that’s kind of how prohibition started, with the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. It didn’t make marijuana illegal, but it imposed serious taxes ($1 per ounce in 1937) and required anyone selling marijuana to acquire a federal tax stamp. It also required anyone paying the tax to “register his name or style and his place or places of business with the collector of the district in which such place or places of business are located.” One had to tell the government what you had, how much you had, and where you got it.

The Marijuana Tax Act was later replaced in 1971 by the Controlled Substances Act. However, it’s kind of funny that taxation was used to make marijuana illegal. Now taxation is a big part of the drive to legalize marijuana. Stuff just keeps coming back around dressed up all different.

By the way, that $1 per ounce tax in 1937 is equal to about $18 in today’s money. For comparison, a top-shelf medical flower such as GMO costs $380 per ounce at The Reef in Detroit. The 6 percent state sales tax on that brings the total price to $402.80. That’s a total of $22.80 in taxes, more than the rate that was set by the Marihuana Tax Act. Every provisioning center or retail store will charge the state sales tax.

It’s a new era for marijuana in Michigan. Sign up for our weekly weed newsletter, delivered every Tuesday at 4:20 p.m.

——–

Related:

Michigan’s recreational pot dispensaries ring up $1.6M in sales in first 8 days

Recreational pot prices are high in Michigan’s legal market

Source: Posted Detroit’s Metro Times December 11, 2019; retrieved December 16, 2019 from: https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/michigans-new-pot-industry-has-some-green-with-envy-though-there-are-still-kinks-to-work-out/Content?oid=23318366

In our observation and reporting, chaos goes hand-in-hand with Detroit – and the surrounding areas – under normal circumstances; see the following list of previous blog-commentaries from the movement behind the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean; this is before the heightened, intensified and exacerbated effects of adult-use / recreational marijuana:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=18566	JPMorganChase valiant efforts to save Detroit
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14825	May Day! May Day! Detroit Needs Help With Jobs!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10140	Lessons Learned: Detroit demolishes thousands of abandoned structures
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7789	An Ode to Detroit – Good Luck on Trade!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7601	Beware of Vulture Capitalists – Lesson from Detroit
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7268	Detroit giving schools their ‘Worst Shot’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7235	Flint, Michigan – A Cautionary Tale on Infrastructure
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6965	Secrecy, corruption and ‘conflicts of interest’ pervade state governments
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4476	De-icing Detroit’s Winter Roads: Impetuous & Short Term
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3713	NEXUS Model: Facilitating Detroit-Windsor Cross-Border Commerce
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3326	M-1 Rail: Finally, Alternative Motion in the Motor City
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3311	Detroit finally exited their historic bankruptcy
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3164	Michigan Unemployment – Then and Now

The Caribbean member-states model the Detroit Metro area in so many aspects: economic chaos, security deficiencies, abandonment and municipal dysfunction. This sad reality – managing a Failed-State or a Failed-City – was actualized in our tour of Detroit. It is hard to reboot, recover and turn-around such a society. Now, their community stewards have to throw in the prospects of a liberal drug culture, this heightens, intensifies and exacerbates the challenge even more. See this recent study that was published about Marijuana usage and Psychosis:

VIDEO – Marijuana use and psychosis, new study associates usage with health risks – https://youtu.be/BIE-Lbz2PbQ

Published on Mar 25, 2019 – Weed use is taking off as more states move to legalize it. Despite the buzz over marijuana, there are some severe health risks linked with frequent use.

Category: News & Politics

Yet, this is the reality that many people in the Caribbean seem to want to invite, as we have previously reported how many advocates in local Caribbean communities seem to want to legalized – or de-criminalized – Marijuana use for adults, here as well. See these previous submissions here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16938	Jamaican-American (Pot-Smoker) Kamala Harris Runs for US Presidency
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14836	Counter-culture: Pushing for Change in Marijuana Acceptance
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14480	Managing Mental Health in the Caribbean – Marijuana Use Intensity
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13882	Managing this ‘Change’ in California for Recreational Marijuana
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12703	Lessons from Colorado: Legalized Marijuana – Heavy-lifting!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9646	The Emergence of ‘Big Pot’ in America
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1386	Marijuana in Jamaica – Puff Peace

The eco-system around Marijuana use is not purely an economic equation; it also addresses security concerns, medical needs, and the Mental Health eco-system.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean (Page 36), posits that the Mental Health eco-system in the Caribbean region must be improved and elevated to better facilitate the needs of the people in our communities, for our normal everyday circumstances – for the pursuit of happiness. Further, it is the assertion that no one member-state in the Caribbean is equipped to handle the Mental Health challenges when a liberal Marijuana policy is added – albeit for adult use.

Ouch!

Ouch again, when we add the touristic elements! (Imagine visitors coming just to consume Marijuana).

In truth, we are not currently ready for this.

As related above, the Mental Health eco-system must be optimized to address the needs of all the people all the time; no one is spared from Mental Health challenges; consider these everyday realities:

Bereavement
Post-Partum Depression (for new mothers)
Post Trauma Stress Disorder
Drug Abuse and Alcohol Counseling
Suicide Prevention

Caribbean stewards have to do some heavy-lifting to address the Mental Health needs of our society. No one should invite more chaos to an already chaotic situation; this is what a legal Marijuana eco-system brings: Chaos.

The Go Lean book provides a roadmap for Caribbean stakeholders to do better; it details 370-pages of turn-by-turn directions to better optimize the societal engines of economics, security and governance. First, we must come together and confederate, then we can organize, consolidate, streamline and empower the relevant agencies so as to better deliver on the implied Social Contract …

… where citizens surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the State in exchange for protection of remaining natural and legal rights.

All segments of the population need support with their Mental Health concerns; we strongly urge the governing stakeholders to slow down with any social evolution regarding Marijuana; we must get our house in order first; we must empower our economic engines, and our security apparatus, and our governing models, and our Mental Health deliveries.

Only then can our homeland be a better place to live, work and play. We urge all Caribbean stakeholders to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap. 🙂

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

ix. Whereas the realities of healthcare and an aging population cannot be ignored and cannot be afforded without some advanced mitigation, the Federation must arrange for health plans to consolidate premiums of both healthy and sickly people across the wider base of the entire Caribbean population. The mitigation should extend further to disease management, wellness, mental health, obesity and smoking cessation programs. The Federation must proactively anticipate the demand and supply of organ transplantation as developing countries are often exploited by richer neighbors for illicit organ trade.

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

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Better Than … the ‘Bill of Rights’ – Ninth & Tenth Amendments

Posted on November 27, 2019 in Ethos, Government, Tactical

Go Lean Commentary

Let’s separate …

… let’s take all the assets-powers-responsibilities and divvy them up between the one party and the other. (Sounds like a Country-Western Break-up song, right? See sample in the Appendix VIDEO below). But, in this case, let’s do this separation, not so that we can go our separate ways, but rather let’s do this separation so that we can come together:

You bring the brawn, I bring the brains … let’s make lots of money
You bring the bread, I bring the meat … let’s make a sandwich
You bring the seafood, I bring the okra … let’s make a gumbo

This is the reality of a confederation or a confederacy. According to the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean (Page 63), which serves as a roadmap for the introduction of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), this confederation tactic is the best hope to reform-and-transform the failing Caribbean to finally have a hope for prosperity:

A federation, by definition is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-autonomous states or regions united by a central (federal) government. In a federation, the self-governing status of the component states, as well as the division of powers between them and the central government, are typically constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a unilateral decision of the states. For the Caribbean, the branding is a Trade Federation, thereby highlighting the limited scope of the entity’s governance. Its prime directive is to enable the economic engines of the region, and thereafter protect their security interests.

The Caribbean Union Trade Federation will be coextensive with the member-states of the CU. This indicates that the governmental units of the state governments will share the same boundaries of the Trade Federation. Jurisdiction of the two entities will therefore co-exist for the governance of the region. The tactical plan is to specify a separation-of-powers between the entity of the technocratic CU versus the governmental entities of the member-states (and their municipal authorities).

Our best example of a confederacy – and the Separation of Power – in antiquity was the nascent United States of America (1776 – 1789). The best example of confederacy in modern times is the European Union. These entities did exactly what this commentary is advocating:

Separate the assets-powers-responsibilities so that the different parties perform different duties to execute the governing demands of the implied Social Contract … with the consent of the governed.

(Implied Social Contract = citizens surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the State in exchange for protection of remaining natural and legal rights).

As related, we publish a series of teaching commentaries every month – as a supplement to the Go Lean book. This month, we are examining the thesis that we, in the Caribbean, can be Better Than America, in words (law) and in action. The issue of confederation is a valid consideration in this month’s teaching subject on the perceived ‘masterpiece’ of the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights – the first 10 Amendments that were proposed-ratified right at the start of the accession of the new Constitutional Republic (1791). In earlier commentaries of this series, we detailed the anti-tyranny provisions and criminal proceedings of the Bill of Rights; now we look at the Separation of Powers provisions, the Ninth and Tenth Amendments of the US Constitution. These provide the legal premise as follows:

Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage other [rights] retained by the people.^[93]

The Ninth Amendment declares that there are additional fundamental rights that exist outside the Constitution. The rights enumerated in the Constitution are not an explicit and exhaustive list of individual rights. It was rarely mentioned in Supreme Court decisions before the second half of the 20th century, when it was cited by several of the justices in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965). The Court in that case voided a statute prohibiting use of contraceptives as an infringement of the right of marital privacy.^[116] This right was, in turn, the foundation upon which the Supreme Court built decisions in several landmark cases, including, Roe v. Wade (1973), which overturned a Texas law making it a crime to assist a woman to get an abortion, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), which invalidated a Pennsylvania law that required spousal awareness prior to obtaining an abortion.

Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.^[93]

The Tenth Amendment reinforces the principles of separation of powers and federalism by providing that powers not granted to the federal government by the Constitution, nor prohibited to the states, are reserved to the states or the people. The amendment provides no new powers or rights to the states, but rather preserves their authority in all matters not specifically granted to the federal government.^[117]

Congress has sometimes circumvented the Tenth Amendment by invoking the Commerce Clause in Article One^[118] or by threatening to withhold funding for a federal program from non-cooperative States, as in South Dakota v. Dole (1987).
Source: Retrieved November 26, 2019 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights

The historicity of the US shows that they did not always appreciate the concept of Separation of Powers. Though the Bill of Rights was fully ratified in 1791, these provisions had no bearing on the States, until starting around the 1860’s with the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment. Yes, for at least 70 years – and even longer in some cases – the country had a divergent sets of constitutional rights: some at the federal level and totally different ones at the State level. See this point as pronounced here from the same encyclopedic reference as above:

Although Madison’s [- the original author -] proposed amendments included a provision to extend the protection of some of the Bill of Rights to the states, the amendments that were finally submitted for ratification applied only to the federal government. The door for their application upon state governments was opened in the 1860s, following ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment. Since the early 20th century both federal and state courts have used the Fourteenth Amendment to apply portions of the Bill of Rights to state and local governments. The process is known as incorporation.^[3]

So there you have it; the masterpiece of a legal framework that was the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights was not so perfect a masterpiece after all. However, the beauty of the US Constitution History is not its start; it’s the journey, and the finish.

This is where and how the Caribbean can forge a better legal legacy – we can make our own masterpiece now at the start of our federal government, and not have to endure the same long train of abuses to get to this destination. We can do better in our Caribbean homeland; this is the quest of the Go Lean movement to reform and transform Caribbean society. The revelation of an ugly history for the Bill of Rights is the purpose of this November 2019 blog series. The full catalog of this series on the Bill of Rights is detailed as follows:

Better than the Bill of Rights: First Amendment – We can do better
Better than the Bill of Rights: Second Amendment – No slavery legacy
Better than the Bill of Rights: Third & Fourth Amendments – Remember, Justice First
Better than the Bill of Rights: Fifth & Sixth Amendments
Better than the Bill of Rights: Seventh & Eighth Amendments
Better than the Bill of Rights: Ninth & Tenth Amendments

As this series refers to the need for a comprehensive roadmap for elevating the societal engines – economics, security and governance – of the 30 Caribbean member-states, this entry focuses more on the need for a Separation of Powers provisions. We do not need jurisdictional confusion between federal authorities and those of the member-states; they need to separate, yes, so as to come together for an integrated solution. See how this is presented visually in this photo here – a facsimile of Page 71 of the Go Lean book:

(Click on photo to Enlarge)

In this photo, notice all the “Exclusive = Yes” federal departments. This means, according to the verbiage in the book, as related in 1 example regarding the separated-exclusive Depository Insurance & Regulatory Authority:

The scope and jurisdiction of this Agency is exclusive in the region for Caribbean dollar activity.

This structure is repeated, again and again in the book; of the 51 identified federal agencies, 28 are chartered as exclusive authority or jurisdiction. This is good for regional governance; this means local member-states do NOT have to maintain duplicate agencies to do the same functions that can be technocratically delivered at the federal level. Consider these further examples – again, not the exhaustive list:

Securities Exchange Regulatory Authority	Coast Guard / Naval Authority
Witness Protection (WitSec)	Trade / Anti-Trust Regulatory Commission
Patents, Standards and Copyrights Authority	Postal Services
Communications & Media Authority	Aviation Administration & Promotions
Student Loan Funding	Medical Licenses & Standards

This foregoing information is from 1 page of the Go Lean book, while in fact there are 370 pages of turn-by-turn directions on how to reform and transform the economic, security and governing engines for the Caribbean region and their member-states. This roadmap includes the new community ethos (attitudes and values) that must be adopted; plus the executions of new strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to deliver the obligations of the Social Contract. In fact, this is the actual title of one advocacy in the Go Lean book. Consider the specific plans, excerpts and headlines here from Page 222, entitled:

10 Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract

1	Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market Confederation Treaty This treaty allows for the unification of the region into one market of 42 million people across 30 member-states, and thus creates an economic zone of over $800 Billion (c. 2010). The sheer size of this single economy allows for more government efficiencies and effectiveness, as should be expected by citizens of a modern democracy. This expectation is pegged to the implied Social Contract where citizens surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the State in exchange for protection of remaining natural and legal rights. The CU ascension creates another layer of government hierarchy for the region, but the implication is the same: there is a Social Contract of deliverables and responsibilities that the CU must execute, in the sphere of economic empowerment and homeland security.
2	Economics of Colonies … The CU Social Contract calls for a re-boot in which this region will not just consume, but also create/produce.
3	Non-Profitable Endeavors [18th Century] economist Adam Smith, recommended further that governments not impede the wheels of commerce, (laissez-faire), rather concentrate more on endeavors not financially feasible for private enterprises, like early childhood education, standing armies, public safety, etc. … The CU proposes public-domain services that can expand the economics (income/jobs) for the region, such as the prison industrial complex, student loans for tertiary education and licenses for private security/1^st response services.
4	Security of Colonies History has shown that there must be security solutions or “bad actors” will exploit successful economic engines for illicit gains. This was the case with the Pirates of the Caribbean plundering the booty of Spanish treasure-laden ships, and also the Outlaws of the Old West robbing the yields of prospectors from the Gold Rushes (i.e. California, Alaska). The CU assuages regional terroristic threats and prosecutes economic crimes.
5	Infrastructure Roads, bridges, sewer systems, and other infrastructure projects cannot always function as profit centers, many times these endeavors must be invested in for the sake of the greater good, without the rationale of profit. This expectation is economically unrealistic for smaller states, but with the scale of the entire CU, viable solutions can be put in place.
6	Medical / Heath Endeavors
7	Education Optimizations
8	Failed State Indices Movements
9	Technology and Efficiency The CU will foster the art and science of technology deployments. This includes the embrace of advanced project management and lean organizational initiatives (Six Sigma, Agile, PMI, CMM, etc.), resulting in efficient deliveries.
10	Canadian Provincial Governments Model

The reasons for Caribbean Push and Pull are tied to deficiencies in the economic and security engines; think jobs or crime. But governance is important too. The Go Lean roadmap posits that the deployment of optimized administrative systems will help Caribbean governments to govern better … and at a lower cost.

This theme – improving governing mechanics and systems – has been related in many previous Go Lean commentaries. See a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=18524	e-Money Solutions for the Caribbean Dollar – Now One Step Closer
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17925	Learning from Previous Failures for Infrastructure Developments
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17500	Continuity of Business: Learning from System Failures
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17282	Way Forward – For Independence: Territory Realities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16848	‘Two Pies’ for a New Caribbean – Federal vs Member-State
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15858	A Regional Network – A Mandate for a New Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15075	e-Government 3.0 – Systems for Improved Governance
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13999	First Steps – Deputize the CU for Regional Governance
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13524	Future Focused – e-Government Portal 101
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10771	Logical Addresses – ‘Life or Death’ Consequences
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7991	Transformations: Caribbean Postal Union – Delivering the Future
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6965	Secrecy, corruption and conflicts of interest pervade state governments
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1112	The problem with Bad Governance is not Money; its Bad Governance
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=888	Better Governance – Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent

Yes, we can be Better Than America; but it is not easy; it involves some heavy-lifting that many times America itself did not want to do. Just think, all the reasonable accommodations they subsequently made to “live and let live”. We take it for granted today, but for previous generations, this was a “tall order”. This is how we can be better … now, by fully embracing the mandate for a pluralistic democracy, now.

Imagine: Civil Rights without a Civil War; Gender Equity without a Battle of the Sexes.

This is how we can do better than America’s Bill of Rights. We can just give people their rights, with no tyranny attached. We urge all Caribbean stakeholders to lean-in to this roadmap to make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the ccidence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

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Appendix VIDEO – Collin Raye – Make Sure You’ve Got It All (1998) – https://youtu.be/SDsOHyMZr5U

Published on Nov 7, 2011 – From the Collin Raye album ‘The Walls Came Down’. Written by Bill Anderson and Steve Wariner. No copyright infringement is intended.

Category: Music
Song: Make Sure You’ve Got It All
Artist: Collin Raye
Album: The Walls Came Down
Licensed to YouTube by: SME (on behalf of Epic/Nashville); Sony ATV Publishing, CMRRA, BMI – Broadcast Music Inc., SOLAR Music Rights Management, WAMA, Inc., UMPG Publishing, and 2 Music Rights Societies

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Nationality/ethnicity (Source: Franciszek Piper)^[2]	Registered deaths (Auschwitz)	Unregistered deaths (Auschwitz)	Total
Jews	95,000	865,000	960,000
Ethnic Poles	64,000	10,000	74,000 (70,000–75,000)
Roma and Sinti	19,000	2,000	21,000
Soviet prisoners of war	12,000	3,000	15,000
Other Europeans: Soviet citizens (Byelorussians, Russians, Ukrainians), Czechs, Yugoslavs, French, Germans, Austrians	10,000–15,000	n/a	10,000–15,000
Total deaths in Auschwitz, 1940–1945	200,000–205,000	880,000	1,080,000–1,085,000