Ethos – Page 40 – Go Lean…Caribbean

Category: Ethos

A Lesson in History – Before the Civil War: Compromising Human Rights

Posted on October 15, 2015 in Ethos, Government, Social

Go Lean Commentary

Despite the fact that there are historic events, many times “deniers” of the facts emerge. For example, the Nazi Holocaust: deniers exist even today of the actuality of the events or the 6 million Jews slaughtered in German Concentration Camps. Another major event before this was the American Civil War. Deniers abounded to the point that in many schools in the Jim Crow South, that event was taught as the “War of Northern Aggression” and the cause of “slavery” was supplanted for States’ Rights.

The pain of this academic dishonesty is not just the de-valuing of all the human sacrifices, but most importantly, the failure to learn and apply good lessons.

When someone denies an event, they cannot learn from the experiences.

Without a doubt, a Civil War was fought in the United States of America between 1861 and 1865; 625,000^[5] Americans died…on both sides (365,000 total dead ^[4] on the Union side; 260,000 total dead on the Confederacy side). This blood should not be forgotten. There are lessons to learn from this history. This commentary is 1 of 3 considering lessons that are especially apropos for application in the Caribbean region of 2015. The lessons are cataloged as follows:

Before the War: Human Rights Cannot Be Compromised
During the War: Principle over Principal – Boycott Over a Difference in Pay
After the War: Birth Right – Assigning Same Value to All Life

Since the early colonial period in America, slavery had been a part of the socio-economic system of British North America and was recognized in the Thirteen Colonies at the time of the United States‘ Declaration of Independence (1776). Since then, events and statements by politicians and others brought forth differences, tensions and divisions between the people of the slave states of the Southern United States and the people of the free states of the Northern United States (including Western states) over the topics of slavery. The large underlying issue from which other issues developed was whether slavery should be retained and even expanded to other areas or whether it should be contained and eventually abolished. Over many decades, these issues and divisions became increasingly irreconcilable and contentious.^[1] But that last decade was pivotal; see encyclopedia reference here and VIDEO below:

Events in the 1850s culminated with the election of the anti-slavery-expansion Republican Abraham Lincoln as President on November 6, 1860. This provoked the first round of state secessions as leaders of the Deep South cotton states were unwilling to remain in a second class political status with their way of life threatened by the President himself. Initially, the seven Deep South states seceded, with economies based on cotton (then in heavy European demand with rising prices). They were Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas. After the Confederates attacked and captured Fort Sumter, President Lincoln called for volunteers to march south and suppress the rebellion. This pushed the four other Upper South States (Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas) also to secede. These states completed the formation of the Confederate States of America. Their addition to the Confederacy insured a war would be prolonged and bloody because they contributed territory and soldiers. – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_events_leading_to_the_American_Civil_War retrieved October 14, 2015.

The Civil War is being commemorated now, at the 150^th Anniversary of its conclusion. But there is no need for “pomp and circumstance” in acknowledging these events in the “rear view” mirror; as this was an American crisis. There is only the need to look and learn, as there is this one poignant lesson for Caribbean consideration:

With a roaring institution of slavery, there was no premise for a concept of human rights. Without a commonality on the understanding and acceptance of human rights, differences will always be irreconcilable and contentious.

Before the Civil War, both sides continued to propagate one compromise after another. While neither side wanted the bloodshed of war, the compromises were just exercises in futility because at the root, there was no commonality on human rights. Notice this application in considering this one episode of Pre-War deliberation:

The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, opening new lands for settlement, and had the effect of repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820 by allowing white male settlers in those territories to determine through popular sovereignty whether they would allow slavery within each territory. The act was designed by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. The initial purpose of the Kansas–Nebraska Act was to open up many thousands of new farms and make feasible a Midwestern Transcontinental Railroad. The popular sovereignty clause of the law led pro- and anti-slavery elements to flood into Kansas with the goal of voting slavery up or down, leading to Bloody Kansas^[1]; (a series of violent political confrontations involving anti-slavery Free-Staters and pro-slavery “Border Ruffians”, taking place in the Kansas Territory and neighboring towns in the state of Missouri between 1854 and 1861). This Kansas–Nebraska Act used popular sovereignty so as to ignore the failures of the previous compromises. The Kansas–Nebraska Act divided the nation and pointed it toward civil war.^[41] The turmoil over the act split both the Democratic and Whig parties and gave rise to the Republican Party, which split the United States into two major political camps, North (Republican) and South (Democratic). – Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas%E2%80%93Nebraska_Act retrieved October 14, 2015.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean and accompanying blogs provide lessons from history in considering the American Civil War. The Caribbean has had Civil Wars and Revolutions; (think Haitian Revolution of 1791 and the Cuban Revolution of 1959). The book assessed the economic disposition of the region and then strategized how to elevate the societal engines. Among its many missions, the book advocates one simple way to grow the economy: concentrate on the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. When analyzing clothing options, the book leans on the lessons from the pre-Civil War American South, where Cotton was King. This point was detailed in the book on Page 163:

The Bottom Line on King Cotton
The Southern United States had ideal conditions to grow cotton; the prospects where so successful, 60% of US exports, that they sought to have a world monopoly. They devoted the most valuable land and slave labor to this cause, even in place of necessities like food. They had the supply system optimized and they were willing to go to war to preserve the status quo. On the demand side, the Industrial Revolution brought innovations like mechanized spinning/weaving to Europe. This forged a vibrant apparel industry and revolutionized the world economy. Cotton was King. The term King Cotton was a slogan around 1860–61 to support secession from the United States, arguing that cotton exports would make an independent Confederate States of America economically prosperous, and – more importantly – force Great Britain and France to support the Confederacy in a Civil War. But the Union blockaded the South’s ports and harbors and shut down over 95% of cotton exports. Since the Europeans had hoarded large stockpiles of cotton, they were not injured by the boycott — the value of their stockpiles went up. So cotton production shifted to other locations in the world, like India (up 700%), Egypt and Argentina. King Cotton failed to save the South, their economy nor Confederacy.

Early in the Go Lean book, this need for careful review of history was acknowledged and then placed into perspective with this pronouncement (Declaration of Interdependence – Page 10):

As the history of our region and the oppression, suppression and repression of its indigenous people is duly documented, there is no one alive who can be held accountable for the prior actions, and so we must put aside the shackles of systems of repression to instead formulate efficient and effective systems to steer our own destiny.

As the colonial history of our region was initiated to create economic expansion opportunities for our previous imperial masters, the structures of government instituted in their wake have not fostered the best systems for prosperity of the indigenous people.

So the consideration of the Go Lean book, as related to this subject is one of community ethos, defined in the book (Page 20) as the fundamental character or spirit of our culture; our underlying sentiment that informs our beliefs, customs, or practices; dominant assumptions of us, the Caribbean as a people.

Do we now have a common premise, a concept of human rights?

This commentary, and the underlying Go Lean book asserts the answer is “No“! As a region, the Caribbean is doing particularly bad.

This point was pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12) with these acknowledgements and statements:

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.

Continuing with the lessons from the American Civil War, we see that the US never accepted a common definition of human rights until … the United Nations was established (1945) and eventually codified a Human Rights Declaration for them … and the rest of the world in 1948. In the meanwhile, Blacks in the US continued to suffer – despite the abolition of slavery – with pains associated with a Peonage system, Jim Crow and blatant discriminatory practices. The oppression, suppression and oppression of Blacks (and other minorities) in the US meant that America was not a welcoming land for people of color.

Considering the Caribbean homeland, to apply lessons learned from the build-up of the American Civil War we must first accept as common: the basics of human rights.

The Go Lean book asserts the UN Declaration of Human Rights (Page 220) which provides this definition:

… standards of human behavior that are protected as legal rights in municipal and international law.^[2] They are commonly understood as inalienable^[3] fundamental rights “to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being.”^[4]

This declaration aligns with the quest of the Go Lean…Caribbean book. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) to spearhead the elevation of Caribbean society. The book advocates learning lessons from many events and concepts in history, from as far back as the patriarchal Bible times, to as recent as the Great Recession of 2008. The roadmap simply seeks to reboot the region’s economic, security and governing engines to ensure that Caribbean stakeholders (citizens, guest-workers and visitors) have the opportunity for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. As gleaned from this lesson in history, without that common acceptance of human rights, this quest is easier said than done.

The planners of the new Caribbean, the promoters of the Go Lean book, hereby urge all in the Caribbean to make this declaration.

Just say it!

In general, the Go Lean roadmap posits that the hope for any permanent change in the Caribbean must start with this declaration and the underlying community ethos that promotes it: the Greater Good. With that in place, other progress – the needed societal elevation – can begin. The Go Lean roadmap seeks to employ “best-practices” with better strategies, tactics and implementations to impact the CU prime directives; identified with the following 3 statements:

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 and ensure the respect of human rights and public safety in all member-states.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The Go Lean book stresses key community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies necessary to transform and turn-around the eco-systems of Caribbean society. These points are detailed in the book as follows:

Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Manage Reconciliations	Page 34
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate all 30 member-states/ 4 languages into a Single Market	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Build and foster local economic engines	Page 45
Tactical – Ways to Foster a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Growing the Economy – Post WW II European Marshall Plan Model	Page 68
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – CU Federal Government versus Member-State Governance	Page 71
Implementation – Assemble All Regionally-focus Organizations of All Caribbean Communities	Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Better Manage Debt	Page 114
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – Single Market / Currency Union	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Model the new European Union	Page 130
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices – Minority and Human Rights	Page 134
Planning – Lessons Learned from the previousWest Indies Federation	Page 135
Planning – Lessons Learned from 2008 – Optimizing Economic-Financial-Monetary Engines	Page 136
Planning – Lessons Learned New York City – Managing as a “Frienemy”	Page 137
Planning – Lessons Learned from Omaha – Human Flight Mitigations	Page 138
Planning – Lessons Learned from East Germany – Bad Examples for Trade & Security	Page 139
Planning – Lessons Learned from Detroit – Turn-around from Failure	Page 140
Planning – Lessons Learned from Indian Reservations – See Photo	Page 141
Planning – Lessons Learned from the American West – How to Win the Peace	Page 142
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 Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage Natural Resources	Page 183
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Appendix – Failed-State Index for Uneven Economic Development	Page 272
Appendix – European Shuffling in the Guianas – Historic Timeline	Page 307

There are other lessons for the Caribbean to learn from considering history; the following previous blog/commentaries have been detailed and considered:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6531	A Lesson in History – Book Review of the ‘Exigency of 2008’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6189	A Lesson in History – ‘Katrina’ is helping today’s crises
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5183	A Lesson in History – Cinco De Mayo
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5123	A Lesson in History – Royal Charter: Zimbabwe -vs- South Africa
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5055	A Lesson in History – Empowering Families
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4971	A Lesson in History – Royal Charter: Truth & Consequence
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4935	A Lesson in History – The ‘Grand Old Party’ of American Politics
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4720	A Lesson in History – SARS in Hong Kong
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4166	A Lesson in History – Panamanian Balboa
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2809	A Lesson in History – Economics of East Berlin
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2670	A Lesson in History – Rockefeller’s Pipeline
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2585	A Lesson in History – Concorde SST
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2480	A Lesson in History – Community Ethos of WW II in Detroit
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2297	A Lesson in History – Booker T versus Du Bois
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1531	A Lesson in History – 100 Years Ago Today – World War I
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=789	A Lesson in History – America’s War on the Caribbean

The Go Lean roadmap seeks to empower and elevate Caribbean societal engines. It is out-of-scope to impact America (beyond the Diaspora living there); our focus is only here at home.

A lot of the pain related in this history stem from the flawed structure of colonialism. Though there is a movement to extract reparations from former colonizers, that effort is not supported by the Go Lean movement for the Caribbean.

It is NOT for the Greater Good.

It is what it is! The current assessment of the Caribbean region is dire, but yet remediation, reboot and turn-around is possible.

Our quest is simple, learn from history and work to make the Caribbean region a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Appendix VIDEO – The Path to Civil War – http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/american-civil-war-history/videos/us-inches-closer-to-war

The election of Abraham Lincoln was a tipping point on the path to Civil War. In the wake of Southern secession, would the new president defend the U.S. forts in rebel territory?

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Civil Rights, History, Model, Power, Security

Cuba to Expand Internet Access

Posted on October 12, 2015 in Ethos, Government, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

News Flash: The Caribbean member-states are not as advanced as other North American locations (US & Canada) or many Western European countries.

Duh! Obvious, right?!

We (the Caribbean) have not all fully embraced all that is modern, like the internet in its many modes … broadband, Wi-Fi, satellite and mobile utilities. Some countries are worse than others in this regards. In some places, there may be no internet access at all.

The assertion in the book Go Lean…Caribbean, is that any plan to reboot Caribbean economics, security and governance must include promotion and regulation of Internet and Communications Technologies (ICT) as well. This Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) to facilitate the growth, stewardship and oversight of ICT and electronic commerce in a regional Single Market.

This ad-supported news VIDEO here reports on one of our worst cases, Cuba:

VIDEO – https://screen.yahoo.com/cuba-expand-internet-access-112000709.html

Posted on October 12, 2015 – Cuba has announced plans to expand internet access by adding Wi-Fi capacity to dozens of state-run internet centers and more than halving the cost that users pay for an hour online.

(Press || PAUSE || to STOP the continuous VIDEO).

Cuba’s lack of ICT infrastructure is understandable, considering the historicity of that island nation. (Though change is imminent!)

What’s frightening though is that ALL of the Caribbean is just a natural disaster away from also “going dark” on the internet. Imagine a hurricane, or an earthquake, or even a volcano! And yet different Caribbean member-states have been affected by these disasters … just recently.

This commentary is therefore a melding of ICT, economics, security and governance. This is a big deal for the Caribbean, as the internet is being pitched in the Go Lean roadmap as an equalizing element for the Caribbean region in competition with the rest of the world. So the internet is slated to deliver more than just email messages, but rather, to deliver the Caribbean’s future.

With the internet as the delivery vehicle, there must now be oversight and promotion for this information super-highway. Too much – as in the future for our children – is at stake.

This Go Lean roadmap calls for the heavy-lifting of building Caribbean communities, of shepherding important aspects of Caribbean life, including telecommunication policies across member-state borders. In fact, the 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 – including an emergency management apparatus – to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines, utilizing a separation-of-powers with member-states.

These prime directives will elevate Caribbean society, above and beyond what any one member-state can do alone. This is the prospect of a unified effort, a leveraged Single Market. This reality was identified early in the Go Lean book (Pages 13 & 14) in the in the following pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence:

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. … [The] accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

So what exactly can be promoted here and now to elevate the Caribbean region’s ICT infrastructure above and beyond what the member-states can do themselves, independently? Or more so, what can be accomplished for ICT infrastructure during times of distress?

This following news article identifies an effort by the social media giant Facebook, to employ internet access by satellite when land-lines are unavailable, or not even installed. See the story here, considering that this solution would be perfect for the Caribbean:

Title: Facebook to launch satellite to expand Internet access in Africa

(Source retrieved October 12, 2015 from: http://news.yahoo.com/facebook-launch-satellite-expand-internet-access-africa-224718015–finance.html)

(Reuters) – Facebook Inc said it would launch a satellite in partnership with France’s Eutelsat Communications to bring Internet access to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

The satellite, part of Facebook’s Internet.org platform to expand internet access mainly via mobile phones, is under construction and will be launched in 2016, the companies said on Monday. (http://on.fb.me/1JPiTZC)

The satellite, called AMOS-6, will cover large parts of West, East and Southern Africa, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post.

“To connect people living in remote regions, traditional connectivity infrastructure is often difficult and inefficient, so we need to invent new technologies,” Zuckerberg said.

The Internet.org platform offers free access to pared-down web services, focused on job listings, agricultural information, healthcare and education, as well as Facebook’s own social network and messaging services.

Growth in the number of people with access to the Internet is slowing, and more than half the world’s population is still offline, the United Nations Broadband Commission said last month.

Facebook has nearly 20 million users in major African markets Nigeria and Kenya, statistics released by it showed last month, with a majority using mobile devices to access their profiles.

The company opened its first African office in Johannesburg in June.

Tech news website The Information reported in June that Facebook had abandoned plans to build a satellite to provide Internet service to continents such as Africa. (http://bit.ly/1JPiVkn)

(Reporting by Sai Sachin R in Bengaluru; Editing by Don Sebastian)

Related: Facebook Will Help To Bring Internet Access To U.N. Refugee Camps, Mark Zuckerberg Says

This issue of internet deployment and governance has been a frequent topic for Go Lean commentaries. Other blog-commentaries on this subject have detailed the full width-and-breath of preparing Caribbean society for the diverse economic, security and governing issues of managing ICT as a utility in this new century. See sample blogs here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6385	Wi-Fi Hot Spots Run By Hackers Are Targeting Tourists
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6341	The Need for Online Tourism Marketing Stewardship
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5435	China Internet Policing – Model for Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5353	US Presidential Politics and the Internet
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4793	Online reviews – like Yelp and Angie’s List – can wield great power for services marketed, solicited and contracted online.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4381	Net Neutrality – The need for Caribbean Administration of the Issue.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4337	Crony-Capitalism Among the Online Real Estate Industry
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3881	European and North American Intelligence Agencies to Ramp-up Cyber Security Cooperation
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=906	Bitcoin e-Payments needs regulatory framework to manage ‘risky’ image
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=308	Caribbean Communications Infrastructure Program (CARCIP) and the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) urges greater innovation and protection.

These commentaries demonstrate that there is the need for a technocratic governing body to better facilitate and promote the internet in the Caribbean, for commerce, security and government applications. The CU is designed to provide that governance and promotion. Successful execution of the CU/Go Lean roadmap will result a surge in internet/online activity and transactions; as there is the plan to deploy schemes for e-Commerce (Central Bank adoption of Electronic Payment systems) and a Facebook-style social media network www.myCaribbean.gov; (administered by the regional Caribbean Postal Union).

The Go Lean book details the community ethos, plus the execution of related strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to facilitate this ICT vision. The following is a sample of these specific details from the book:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Choose	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development	Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide	Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate 30 Member-States into a Single Market	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Embrace the Advances of Technology	Page 46
Strategy – Agents of Change – Technology	Page 57
Strategy – Agents of Change – Climate Change	Page 57
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Caribbean Central Bank	Page 73
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Caribbean Postal Union	Page 78
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Communications and Media Authority	Page 79
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate to the Caribbean	Page 118
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region – Cyber-Caribbean	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 136
Planning – Reasons Why the CU Will Succeed	Page 137
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Education – Promotion of e-Learning	Page 159
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance – e-Government & e-Delivery Deployments	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract – Technology/Efficiencies	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Communications – Regulate Cross-Border Broadband and WiFi Modes	Page 186
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology – Intellectual Property Protections	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce – e-Payments & Wifi Facilitations	Page 198
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Main Street – Wifi & Mobile Apps: Time and Place	Page 201
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Monopolies – Utilities to Oversee ICT/New Media	Page 202
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Youth – Foster Work Ethic for ICT	Page 227
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living – Broadband for Work-at-Home	Page 234
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Rural Living – Ideal for Satellite Deployment	Page 235

While the Go Lean book focuses primarily on economic issues, it also recognizes that technology is paramount.

We must nurture growth in this industry space – Cyber Space – for the Caribbean’s present and future dispositions.

The returns on our investments will be garnered by our children.

For example:

Imagine no need to go abroad to college because access is enabled for any college/university of choice by logging on to the internet.

We must welcome this change!

The Go Lean book describes the effort to create this reality as heavy-lifting, and then urges all to lean-in to this roadmap.

This urging is repeated here again. All Caribbean stakeholders (people, organizations and governments) are urged to lean-in to this roadmap. This is conceivable, believable and achievable. We can do this … and make the region a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean…Caribbean now!

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Cuba, Disaster, ICT, STEM, Transform

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Before and After Photos Showing Detroit’s Riverfront Transformation

Posted on October 1, 2015 in Ethos, Implementation, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

“Even a broken clock is right twice a day” – Old Adage.

This is the experience in Detroit today. This city has endured the worst-of-the-worst in urban dysfunction and yet, there are still a few things that they are doing right, that we in the Caribbean can benefit by studying their model, both the failures and successes.

The publishers of the book Go Lean…Caribbean are here to “observe and report” the turn-around and rebirth of the once-great but now distressed City of Detroit. The book posits that the Caribbean can learn a lot from the strategies, tactics and implementations to mitigate this community’s “failed-state” status. In the Caribbean region, we have a number of “failed-states”, real and presumed.

In a previous blog/commentary the unifying powers of art and culture were related; referring to Miami and the events associated with Art Basel. A direct quotation was:

“the community rallies around art creating a unique energy. And art ‘dynamises’ the community, in a very unique way”.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean stated the quest to make the Caribbean region a better place to live, work and play. It identified areas of paramount importance like economics, security and governance; then it drilled deeper to assert that pursuits like the arts (fine, visual, performing, music, sculptures, structures, etc.) and beauty can have a unifying effect on communities; see VIDEO below.

The book relates that the arts and beautification can have a positive influence on any community, including the Caribbean. It is no doubt that the tourism product in the region thrives because of the beauty of the islands; not just the natural or pristine beauty, but also the developments (resort hotels) and cultural icons. This is best demonstrated with the cruise industry, the ports-of-call in highest demand are the ones with the most culture to showcase passengers.

This is a parallel lesson being gleaned from Detroit.

The City of Detroit is revitalizing its downtown riverfront, and the downtown riverfront is revitalizing Detroit. See the article and photos here:

Title: 6 Before And After Photos Show You Just How Far The Detroit Riverfront Has Come

We’re big fans of the Detroit RiverWalk. Whether it is walking our dogs, enjoying the boats or talking with the people, the Detroit riverfront is a gem that has been reclaimed from heavy industry that blocked access to one of the city’s greatest attractions, the river.

They’re taking the initiative west to Rosa Parks, and near these photos private development is picking up. It’s great to see so much green that everyone will be able to use in the city. Below are photos of what they have already done that gets us excited about the future, courtesy of the Detroit Riverfront Conservatory, and above and the last photo were views we took.

Also, The West RiverWalk is now open! It spans west of the Central Business District from near the Riverfront Apartments to Rosa Parks Boulevard. See here:

There’s still more work to do, obviously. Detroit is a city with a myriad of challenges that all of us are slogging through together. But sometimes it’s good to have perspective and remember just how far we’ve come.

Source: Daily Detroit Online Magazine – (Posted October 3, 2014; retrieved October 1, 2015) – http://www.dailydetroit.com/2014/10/03/these-6-before-after-photos-show-you-just-how-far-the-detroit-riverfront-has-come/

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Consider sample comments on this website about this photo spread:

Dan Pustulka Oct 3, 2014 at 2:31 pm

Nobody has seen a greater community with such drive and determination. It (Detroit) has never been as bad as people always said. I’ve been downriver my whole life. I never gave up, as so many before, and hopefully, after me. The Motor City is a part of me, living proof that when rock bottom comes, we pull out. We survive. That little flower growing in the sidewalk crack, that many of our nation has forgotten years ago, has turned into a field, of hope, dreams, and prosperity. It’s been accomplished through us, of People, who stand today, and have stood together and pushed, pulled, fought and lost, but together as a community, we have told the world we are NOT gone, and do not plan on leaving anytime soon.

Jeff Oct 4, 2014 at 7:58 am

Meh, does planting flowers stop violent crimes? I’ll pass.

In response to “Jeff” above, the following Replies were posted:

Matt Oct 5, 2014 at 8:15 am It does. Done in the right way, it does.

tracey Oct 5, 2014 at 10:05 am Yes, I think planting flowers does, eventually, lead to ending violent crimes. It’s a start to bring more people, business, jobs, activity to the area. It’s a move in a positive direction, and people who have no hope or vision for Detroit should “pass”. Thanks for realizing that. Take your negativity elsewhere.

mckillio Oct 5, 2014 at 7:23 pm Actually, I bet there is a strong correlation.

Jeremy Dec 31, 2014 at 10:19 am Its called the Broken Windows Theory. It states that maintaining the upkeep and appearance of an urban setting, and curtailing small crimes such as vandalism creates an atmosphere of order lawfulness that can discourage larger crimes from taking place. Basically, when things look like shit people treat them that way. But when things look like somebody cares about them, people are less likely to commit crimes in that place, because they believe that their wrongdoings are more likely to be noticed and confronted.

Jessica Jan 16, 2015 at 3:40 pm Actually the violent crime was down 15% in 2014 according to an annual national study shown on Channel 4 news. I live in the heart of the city. It’s changed dramatically just in the past few years.

——

VIDEO – “City Of Design” Is A Visual Feast Of Detroit’s Best Beats & Imagery – https://vimeo.com/140651533

The City of Detroit is making progress, in one district at least. But the entire city is still in crisis, despite emerging from Bankruptcy on December 10, 2014, a process that started in July 2013. The city became the largest U.S. municipality to seek bankruptcy protection in the Federal Courts. The city’s financial dysfunction is equally matched with physical dysfunction as there is an abundance of urban blight and decay. The Go Lean book cited the example of this city as an exercise in futility – crying out for turn-around – with all the abandoned buildings. A direct quotation (Page 33) from the related chapter in the book stated:

The Bottom Line on Detroit Urban Decay
For Detroit, a steady population collapse over 5 decades has resulted in large numbers of abandoned homes and commercial buildings, and areas of the city that has been hit hard by urban decay. In a New York Times Magazine article, published on November 9, 2012 it was disclosed that there were 70,000 abandoned buildings. Much of the recent attention being showered upon Detroit comes, in no small measure, is due to the city’s blight. For example, the Michigan Central Station is perhaps the best-known Detroit ruin — a towering 18-story Beaux-Arts train station with a lavish waiting room of terrazzo floors and 50-foot ceilings, built in 1913 by the same architectural firms that designed New York’s Grand Central — modeled after the Baths of Caracalla (Rome, Italy). After the station closed in 1988, a developer talked about turning the building into a casino; the current owner, proposed selling the station to the city in a plan to turn the place into police headquarters and police museum. Mostly, though, the owner has allowed the station to molder, sitting some 1.5 miles from the high-rises of downtown, Michigan Central looms like a Gothic castle over its humbler neighbors on Michigan Avenue. It’s hard not to think of it as an epic-scale disaster that seems engineered to illustrate man’s folly — as if the Titanic, after sinking, had washed ashore and been beached as a warning.

This urban dysfunction is just one of the reasons a study of Detroit is so cautionary for the Caribbean. We have many communities within the Caribbean’s 30 member-states with similar urban blight, societal abandonment and acute hopelessness. We must now echo this same retort:

‘Only at the precipice, do they change’

According to the foregoing news article & photos, the limited area of Detroit’s Riverfront is crawling back from the precipice.

Hooray! (This appeals to tourists to the area; see VIDEO above).

This story aligns with the book Go Lean…Caribbean in stressing the economic benefits of employing a turn-around strategy.

“Out with the old; in with the new”

A renewed commitment to beautification and public art (structures, sculpture, etc.) can dynamise a community, even if just for a limited area.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). A mission of this Go Lean/CU roadmap is to promote a turn-around in many Caribbean communities. There should be a stark difference in comparing the Caribbean “before” and “after”.

How?

There is a lot involved in this quest. The book describes it as “heavy-lifting”. It involves rebooting the 3 main engines of Caribbean society; this is declared in the book as prime directives, detailed as follows:

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.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

These missions are pronounced early in the book as the necessary rationale for integrating the 30 member-states in the region into a Single Market. This need has been echoed throughout the Caribbean region. It is fully accepted that the member-states cannot endured the harsh challenges of nation-building alone. They need help! The Go Lean book asserts that the region needs to get the help from each other, pronouncing this Declaration of Interdependence (Page 10 – 14):

Preamble: While the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle us to form a society and a brotherhood to foster manifestations of our hopes and aspirations and to forge solutions to the challenges that imperil us … no one other than ourselves can be held accountable for our failure to succeed if we do not try to promote the opportunities that a democratic society fosters.

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.

xxi. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. The Federation must recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

xxxii. Whereas the cultural arts and music of the region are germane to the quality of Caribbean life, and the international appreciation of Caribbean life, the Federation must implement the support systems to teach, encourage, incentivize, monetize and promote the related industries for arts and music in domestic and foreign markets. These endeavors will make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play.

xxxiii. Whereas lessons can be learned and applied from the study of the recent history of other societies, the Federation must formalize statutes and organizational dimensions to avoid the pitfalls of communities like … Detroit…

The promoters of the Go Lean book (and movement) have come to Detroit to observe-and-report on the progress of this metropolitan area. We want to learn from this city and enable better outcomes in the Caribbean. This point have been frequently conveyed in previous blogs/commentaries. Consider this sample here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6269	Education & Economics: Welcome to Detroit, Mr. President
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6022	Caribbean Diaspora in Detroit … Celebrating Heritage
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5597	The Dire Straits of the Unions and Collective Bargaining
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5055	A Lesson from an Empowering Family of Detroit
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4913	Ann Arbor: Model for ‘Start-up’ Cities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4476	De-icing Detroit’s Winter Roads: Impetuous and Short-sighted
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3713	NEXUS: Facilitating Detroit-Windsor Cross-Border Commerce
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3326	M-1 Rail: Alternative Motion in the Motor City
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3311	Detroit to exit historic bankruptcy
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3164	Michigan Unemployment – Then and Now
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2480	A Lesson in History: Community Ethos of WW II
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1909	Role Model Berry Gordy – No Town Like Motown
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1656	Blue is the New Green – Managing Detroit’s Water Resources
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=970	JPMorganChase’s $100 million Detroit investment is not just for Press/PR

The CU is designed to do the heavy-lifting of organizing Caribbean society to benefit from the lessons from Detroit. The Go Lean book details the community ethos to adopt, plus the executions of the following strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to impact the rebirths, reboots and turn-around of Caribbean communities:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Light Up the Dark Places	Page 23
Community Ethos – “Crap” Happens	Page 23
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Return on Investments (ROI)	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact a Turn-Around	Page 33
Community Ethos – Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Customers – Foreign Direct Investors	Page 48
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Modeling Post WW II Germany – Marshall Plan	Page 68
Tactical – Modeling Post WW II Japan – with no Marshall Plan	Page 69
Separation of Powers – Public Works & Infrastructure	Page 82
Separation of Powers – Housing and Urban Authority	Page 83
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Re-boot Freeport – A Sample Caribbean city needing turn-around	Page 112
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices	Page 132
Planning – Lessons Learned from 2008	Page 136
Planning – Lessons Learned from Detroit	Page 140
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Local Government	Page 169
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage Natural Resources	Page 183
Advocacy – Ways to Enhance Tourism	Page 190
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Diaspora	Page 217
Advocacy –Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living	Page 234

This commentary posits that change will come to Detroit, (many previous Go Lean blog-commentaries have reported that the change is now afoot) and also that changes need to come to the Caribbean. We need to observe-and-report on Detroit; we can apply the lessons – the good, bad and ugly – for optimization in our Caribbean homeland, especially under the scheme of a Single Market. With the integration of 42 million people (10 million Diaspora and 80 million visitors) in the 30 member-states we will be able to do so much more than Detroit has ever accomplished.

Plus, our natural beauty is incomparable – “the best address on the planet”.

Let’s do this! Let’s make our homeland a better place to live, work and play.

Everyone in the region is urged – the people, institutions and governance – to “lean-in” to this roadmap for change. 🙂

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

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Dr. Sybil Mobley – FAMU’s Business School Dean – RIP

Posted on September 30, 2015 in Economics, Ethos, Industries, Social

Go Lean Commentary

The FAMU world mourns the passing of Dr. Sybil Mobley (1925 – 2015; age 90), the much-accomplished and celebrated Dean Emerita of the School of Business and Industry (SBI).

This Go Lean … Caribbean movement – book and accompanying blog-commentaries – stress the fact that one man or one woman can make a difference in their community. Dr. Mobley’s impact was societal elevation with her mission to embed Black Americans in the conference rooms and board rooms of major corporations. She molded, prepared, energized and guided the best-of-the-best of Black America (many of Caribbean heritage as well; this writer included) and sent them off to impact the corporate world.

She sowed the seeds …

… the entire Black community now reap from this harvest.

Dr. Mobley was born in Jim-Crow America in Shreveport, Louisiana. She came to Tallahassee, Florida – the home campus of Florida A&M University – in 1963, still in the era and location of the Deep South. Despite that debilitating environment for a Black woman, she thrived and got her disciples to thrive, as depicted in the following news-media obituary and VIDEO:

Title: FAMU’s Dr. Mobley Passes Away
By: Lanetra Bennett

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – September 29, 2015 — Dr. Sybil C. Mobley passed away today. She’s the founder of the world renowned School of Business and Industry at FAMU.

Her students and those who knew her say she was much more.

Dr. Mobley’s family confirms she died early Tuesday morning after a brief illness.

Former students say they’re known as, “Sybil’s babies”. They marvel how she balanced power in the boardroom, with compassion for students.

Tallahassee businessman Clinton Byrd keeps a medallion on his desk with Dr. Sybil Mobley’s face on it.

He says, “The phone rings and you’re just hoping that it’s not that news. But, we knew that one day it would come.”

The news came Tuesday that Dr. Mobley had died. “It’s a sad day for us.” Byrd said.

Dr. Mobley started the School of Business and Industry at FAMU in 1974.

Byrd was one of her students. He said, “One day I was giving a presentation on Accounting Theory and the bright lights came on. I just lost it. When I got through, she said, boy that was fantastic. I said, doc, I can’t even remember what I said or what I did. She was always encouraging. She kept a paper that I wrote in 1967. She still has it about impact.”

Mobley had an impact on countless people in Tallahassee and beyond.

The Shreveport, Louisiana native started her career at FAMU in 1963, and is said to have put S.B.I. on the map alongside Yale, University of Chicago, and University of North Carolina. “People used to come here from all over the world to meet her, to spend time with her.” Said, Byrd.

Precious Tankard is a current sophomore. She said, “It’s a lot to say I am a business administration student or an S.B.I. period, in SBI. When we say we’re SBI, they know that greatness lies ahead.”

The current dean, Shawnta Friday-Stroud, is also a former student. She said, “I hope that I have done and that I continue to do her proud. It’s because of what she taught so many of us that I’m even standing in this position as dean today.”

Byrd said, “Some way, somehow we just all have to carry on.”

S.B.I. recently celebrated its 40th anniversary. Dr. Mobley was the founding dean until she retired in 2003. That’s when those special medallions that Byrd has were issued.
Source: Local CBS TV Affiliate WCTV (Retrieved September 29, 2015) – http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/Dr-Sybil-Mobley-Former-FAMU-Business-School-Dean-Dies-329934011.html

VIDEO – Rep. Gwen Graham Honors FAMU Leader Dr. Sybil Mobley – https://youtu.be/QCCk19vnKPU

Published on Oct 7, 2015 – “Today I rise to honor the life of Dr. Sybil Mobley, the founding dean of Florida A&M University’s School of Business and Industry.

“Dr. Mobley first worked at Florida A&M as a secretary in 1945 – she then went on to study at the Wharton School of Finance and earned her doctorate from the University of Illinois.

After graduating, Dr. Mobley returned to Florida A&M, and in 1974 she became the founding dean of the University’s School of Business and Industry.

“She held that position for 29 years, during which time she worked tirelessly to build the business school into a nationally recognized institution.

“Her rise from working as a secretary to sitting on the board of Fortune 500 companies and leading a business school serves as an inspiration for all of us.

“Today, we mourn Dr. Mobley’s passing – and celebrate her life. She was a treasure to FAMU, Tallahassee, the state of Florida and our nation.”

Category: People & Blogs

License: Standard YouTube License

Dr. Sybil Mobley impacted the business world, not just the world of college education. She served on many corporate boards and received many awards and honors from around the world; (see plaque in photo above). While she was not of Caribbean heritage, she impacted many students who are; see the Facebook testimony here of two, one Jamaican-American and one Bahamian-American FAMU-SBI alumni:

Michelle Graham Day, SBI Class of 2008
Oh no, ‪#‎LEGEND! No matter how powerful a force to be reckoned with, you could walk in her office as an unknown freshman and get a one on one without an appointment! I remember feeling inspired because like me she had also graduated high school and started college at 16, and I remember her making clear that she was here to get us to play in the majors and said “when people say [why isn’t she using an HBCU business school to funnel students into] minority business what they [the critics, not the official definition!] really mean is minor business” meaning they were doubting her SBI students could hang in the big leagues. She pointed out that no company makes it onto the wall of plaques outside the main entrance without having invested $100k? (correct me if am off) in her vision…

I took 3 long internships that were real work not coffee fetching, one a year long, and graduated way off cycle, but my first big league company out the gate was IBM out west in Colorado (I was always willing to go anywhere while many were not even applying cause it wasn’t somewhere sexy to black people like New York or Miami) and even in the recession when on campus offers froze up, it is those 3 positions with Fortune 500 companies that led to my career which evolved from logistics/supply chain into data analysis into business intelligence and IT. It’s those 3-part PD questions with your premises and non-yes-or-no-answer follow-up question that had me stumping interviewers with my never-cliche questions and already-solid work experience standing out among other candidates even at internship stage. To this day I get compliments on the quality of my questions. The ability to multitask and speedread through 18 credit hours a semester (which I have also pulled off that load in SUMMER when full time is 6 credit hours), the logic picked up by being forced to take Physics I & II as our required sciences with much grumbling on our part, it all served me oh so well in skeleton crew workplaces where you wear many hats and the workload is intense as everyone is required to do more with less post-recession, and in learning how to experiment with the data and record different observations during data analysis and data mining/modeling, just like in the physics labs. She evolved with the needs of corporate and I’m constantly having to evolve to stay ahead of the demands of my field. I went on to work for some of the most established, storied corporations on earth and moved into Fortune 100 and it is all thanks in major part to applying what was learned in Dean Mobley’s program. Her passing is the passing of an era, she will be missed! ‪#‎RIP.‪#‎FAMU ‪#‎SBI ‪#‎visionary

Clifton H. Rodriguez, CPA, SBI Class of 1985
Probably [she] was the most influential woman in my life. I can still remember her teachings, and the lasting motto: “No effort is adequate until it is effective”. I remember in 1981 when she served on the Board of Anheuser Busch Companies, and had a meeting in St. Louis, Mo. She left her meeting with those important people, including August Busch, III to seek Anthony Glover and myself out to advise us about [a] murder that occurred on campus…. She did not have to do that, but deemed us that important to seek us out and advise us. She treated all of her students in that manner. She was not only our dean, but our nurturing mother, who cared deeply about her precious children.

These foregoing testimonies are such good reflections of Dr. Mobley’s character and quest: she wanted her students “playing in the ‘Major’ leagues” of Big Corporate businesses. She recognized that while minority business ownership is important in America today and for the recent past, minority businesses are just minor businesses.

The publishers of the book Go Lean…Caribbean recognize the life contributions of Dr. Sybil Mobley as an educator, industrialist and advocate for many causes that align with our quest for empowerment and elevation of Caribbean commerce and life. Her vision was for more self-determination for the role that business and economics play in the lives of Black America. This means participating, not just spectating, in the business processes of BIG business. There are now more African-Americans (and those of African-Caribbean heritage) engaged in the business processes with corporate America because of the efforts of Dr. Mobley.

Mission accomplished!

“You have fought the good fight, you have finished the race, and you have remained faithful”. – 2 Timothy 4:7 (The Bible New Living Translation).

Like Dr. Sybil Mobley, the prime directive of the Go Lean book is also to elevate society, but instead of impacting America, the roadmap focus is the Caribbean first. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU seeks to empower the people of the Caribbean to lead more impactful lives in which they are better able to meet their needs and plan for a productive future. The Go Lean roadmap seeks to put Caribbean people in a place of better command-and-control of their circumstances, to develop the community ethos of fostering genius, innovation and entrepreneurship. In fact, the prime directive declarative statements in the Go Lean book are as follows:

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.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

Dr. Sybil Mobley is hereby recognized as a role model that the rest of the Caribbean can emulate. She provided a successful track record of forging change, overcoming incredible odds, managing crises to successful conclusions and paying forward to benefit the next generation. The Go Lean book posits that the economic, security and governing engines are all important for the sustenance of Caribbean life, so Dr. Mobley’s life course stands as a vanguard for many of these pursuits.

The book posits that one person, despite their field of endeavor, can make a difference in the Caribbean, and its impact on the world; that there are many opportunities where one champion, one advocate, can elevate society. In this light, the book features 144 different advocacies, so there is inspiration for the “next” Dr. Sybil Mobley to emerge, establish and excel right here at home in the Caribbean.

The roadmap specifically encourages the region, to lean-in and foster this “next” generation of Dr. Sybil Mobley’s with these specific community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies:

Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Minority Equalization	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Build and foster local economic engines	Page 45
Strategy – Educate our children with the wisdom and knowledge to succeed	Page 46
Tactical – Grow the Economy to $800 Billion – Elevate economy through Education	Page 70
Tactical – Separation-of-Power – Federal Department of Education	Page 85
Anatomy of Advocacies	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 Education	Page 159
Advocacy – Ways to Better Provide Clothing	Page 163
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Wall Street	Page 200
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Main Street	Page 201
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Appendix – Education and Economic Growth	Page 258

Education is a priority in the Go Lean roadmap. Previously, this commentary has highlighted many other lessons that the region needs to apply to elevate the societal engines for education. See a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6269	Education & Economics: Welcome Mr. President
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5482	For-Profit American Education: Plenty of Profit; Little Education
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4572	Role Model: Innovative Educator Ron Clark
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4487	FAMU is No. 3 for Facilitating Economic Opportunity
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1256	Is a Traditional 4-year Degree a Terrible Investment?

We need impactful role models like Dr. Sybil Mobley at home in the Caribbean. The formula of sending our “best-of-the-best” to North America and Europe has failed us – they rarely come back home; see sample testimonies above, both individuals currently live in the US. The quest of the Go Lean roadmap is to change that formula – we now want to educate our “best-of-the-best” right here in the Caribbean region, thereby increasing the likelihood that they will remain after their matriculation. This change will require a lot of contributions from a lot of different people. This quest is pronounced early in the roadmap in the Declaration of Interdependence at the outset of the book, declaring a need for regional solutions (Pages 13 & 14) with these statements:

xix. Whereas our legacy in recent times is one of societal abandonment, it is imperative that incentives and encouragement be put in place to first dissuade the human flight, and then entice and welcome the return of our Diaspora back to our shores …

xxi. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. The Federation must recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

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.

With the participation of many advocates on many different paths for progress, the Caribbean can truly become a better place to live, work, learn and play.

Thank you for preparing us for this challenge, Dr. Mobley. Thank you for your service, commitment, nurturing and love. Now take your rest. Rest in Peace!

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

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Capitalism of Drug Patents

Posted on September 24, 2015 in Economics, Ethos, Industries, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary:

While “Greed maybe good” for incentivizing innovation, it “sucks” to apply massive increases to existing products because … well just because.

This appears to be the scenario in the following news article and VIDEO; a former Hedge Fund Manager buys the rights (patents) to an older drug and then increases the price … 5500 percent. See the story here:

Title: Ex-hedge funder buys rights to AIDS drug and raises price from $13.50 to $750 per pill
By: Tom Boggioni

A former hedge fund manager turned pharmaceutical businessman has purchased the rights to a 62-year-old drug used for treating life-threatening parasitic infections and raised the price overnight from $13.50 per tablet to $750.

According to the New York Times, Martin Shkreli, 32, the founder and chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, purchased the rights to Daraprim for $55 million on the same day that Turing announced it had raised $90 million from Shkreli and other investors in its first round of financing.

Daraprim is used for treating toxoplasmosis — an opportunistic parasitic infection that can cause serious or even life-threatening problems in babies and for people with compromised immune systems like AIDS patients and certain cancer patients — that sold for slightly over $1 a tablet several years ago. Prices have increased as the rights to the drug have been passed from one pharmaceutical company to the next, but nothing like the almost 5,500 percent increase since Shkreli acquired it.

Worrying that the cost of treatment could devastate some patients, Dr. Judith Aberg, the chief of the division of infectious diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai asked, “What is it that they are doing differently that has led to this dramatic increase?”

According to Shkreli, Turing will use the money it earns to develop better treatments for toxoplasmosis, with fewer side effects.

“This isn’t the greedy drug company trying to gouge patients, it is us trying to stay in business,” Shkreli explained, saying that many patients use the drug for far less than a year and that the new price is similar to other drugs used for rare diseases.

Shrkeli also defended his small pharmaceutical company saying, “It really doesn’t make sense to get any criticism for this.”

This is not the first time the fledgling pharmaceutical executive has come under scrutiny.

He started the hedge fund MSMB Capital while in his 20’s and was accused of urging the FDA to not approve certain drugs made by companies whose stock he was shorting.

In 2011, Shkreli helped form Retrophin, which also acquired old drugs and immediately raised their prices. Retrophin’s board fired Shkreli a year ago and has filed a complaint in Federal District Court, accusing him of using Retrophin as a personal fund to pay back angry investors in his hedge fund.

As for Shrkeli’s claim that he will put the excess profits back into research, doctors say that isn’t needed in this case.

“I certainly don’t think this is one of those diseases where we have been clamoring for better therapies,” said Dr. Wendy Armstrong, professor of infectious diseases at EmoryUniversity in Atlanta.

——-

VIDEO Title: Ex-hedge funder who hiked AIDS pill cost by 5,500 percent says drug ‘still underpriced’ – https://youtu.be/bCIMUn_WNz0

UPDATE: ‘Pharma Bro’ backs down: Martin Shkreli will roll back outrageous Daraprim price gouge

According to the Person of Interest in the foregoing article and VIDEO, 32 year-old ex-Hedge Fund Manager Martin Shkreli, “Drugs need a profit motive to sponsor innovation”. He posits that the process of research and development for new drugs require the appeal of capitalism, where people invest hoping to get a BIG return later.

To argue with this business logic is to argue with the tenets of capitalism.

So be it! Let the argument begin!

“This is what happens when you turn over healthcare to the capitalist” – says one patient and sufferer of Multiple Sclerosis, Dionne Sarden, of Greater Detroit.

Drugs and healthcare should pursue the motives of the Greater Good, not the “greater profit”. If you do not agree with this statement, just re-visit the Hippocratic Oath, here, that every doctor is required to vow at the start of their medical career:

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug.

I will not be ashamed to say “I know not,” nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient’s recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person’s family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

Written in 1964 by Louis Lasagna, Academic Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University, and used in many medical schools today. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocratic_Oath retrieved September 23, 2015.

Alas, the Person of Interest in this consideration is not a medical doctor, he is a Hedge Fund Manager. Some would consider his actions to be just “par for the course” … for a Crony-Capitalist. (Consider this sample of his “immature” Twitter messages).

This consideration is in conjunction with the book Go Lean…Caribbean which asserts that Crony-Capitalism is the scorn of American life that reaches into every fabric of society; in this case the life-and-death decisions for healthcare. The book urges the Caribbean region not to follow the American example in this regard. (Previously Go Lean blogs have cited the good non-profit-motive example of Cuba. While Cuba is a Failed-State in so many other areas, in this one case, drug-pricing, they get it right; “even a broken clock is right twice a day”).

The Go Lean book is focused on economics primarily, but also considers the realities of security and governance. For the background on economics, the book relates the historicity of the father of modern macro-economics Adam Smith.

Adam Smith, the 18th century Scottish political economics pioneer, is best known for his classic work: “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776)“. Through reflection over the economics at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution the book touches upon broad topics as the division of labor, productivity, free markets and the division of incomes into profit, wage, and rent ^[4]. While Smith attacked most forms of government interference in the economic process, he advocated that government should remain active in certain sectors of society not suited for profit-seekers. These sectors included public education, mitigations for poor adults, the judiciary, a standing army, and healthcare. He posited that these institutional systems may/should never be directly profitable for private industries.

Hedge Funds and Crony-Capitalist obviously hold a dissenting view.

Beyond Adam Smith, the field of Economics features public choice theory – the application of economic thinking to political issues. This field asserts that “rent-seeking” is the more appropriate labeling for certain activities. This “rent” refers to seeking to increase one’s share of existing wealth without creating new wealth. The demonstrated effects of these efforts are reduced economic efficiency [in the community] through poor allocation of resources, reduced actual wealth creation, lost government revenue, and increased income inequality,^[1] and, potentially, national decline. (The word “rent” does not refer here to payment on a lease but refers to gaining control of land or other natural resources).

So why is the cost of drugs so high in the US? Based on these experiences, it is not just the motivation for profit, but for rent!

This theory was detailed further in a recent Go Lean blog that related that Big Pharma, the Pharmaceutical industry, dictates standards of care in the field of medicine, more so than may be a best-practice. The blog painted a picture of a familiar scene where Pharmaceutical Sales “Reps” slip in the backdoor to visit doctors to showcase their latest product lines; but relates that there are commission kick-backs, rebates and “spiffs” in these arrangements, to incentivize the doctors to order these drugs for their patients. The Go Lean book posits that the Caribbean must take its own lead in the battle for health, wellness and pharmaceuticals because this US eco-system is motivated by such a bad ethos: profit and even worst, rent.

The Go Lean book strategizes a roadmap for economic empowerment in the Caribbean region, even including the indisputable need for healthcare and pharmaceutical drugs. Clearly any quest to elevate the region must detail a comprehensive plan for healthcare. The Go Lean book proves this; it goes beyond a plan and provides a roadmap … to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work, heal and play. At the outset of the Go Lean book, in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 11), these points are pronounced:

viii. Whereas the population size is too small to foster good negotiations for products and commodities from international vendors, the Federation must allow the unification of the region as one purchasing agent, thereby garnering better terms and discounts.

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 Go Lean serves as a roadmap for the implementation and introduction of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU‘s prime directives are identified with the following 3 statements:

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.

Previous blog/commentaries addressed issues of capitalistic conflicts in American medical practices, compared to other countries, and the Caribbean. The following sample applies:

Book Review – ‘Thimerosal: Let The Science Speak’

Detroit-area Judge to Decide if Kids Need Vaccines

Good American Model – Shaking Up the World of Cancer With a Good ROI

Bad American Model – The Cost of Cancer Drugs

Racism in Medicine? Look at Ebola’s Historicity

Antibiotics Misuse Linked to Obesity in the US

CHOP Research: Climate Change May Bring More Kidney Stones

Big Pharma & Criminalization of American Business

New Research and New Hope in the Fight against Alzheimer’s Disease

Health-care fraud in America; criminals take $272 billion a year

New Cuban Cancer medication registered in 28 countries

The foregoing news article and VIDEO provides an inside glimpse of American Crony-Capitalism as it touches on vital areas like healthcare. Obviously, the innovators and developers of drugs have the right to glean the economic returns of their research. The Go Lean roadmap posits that there is a better way, a scheme in which more innovations can emerge and investors can get their Return on Investment (ROI).

The Caribbean Union Trade Federation has the prime directive of optimizing the economic, security and governing engines of the region. The foregoing VIDEO depicts that research is very important to identify and qualify best practices in health management for the public. This is the manifestation and benefits of Research & Development (R&D). The roadmap describes this focus as a community ethos to promote R&D in the areas of science, technology, engineering and medicine (STEM).

The following list details additional ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to optimize the region’s health deliveries and R&D investments, especially on Caribbean campuses and educational institutions:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices and Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations – GPO’s; Ideal for Healthcare	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Return on Investments (ROI)	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Non-Government Organizations	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development (R&D)	Page 30
Community Ethos – 10 Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Integrate and unify region in a Single Market	Page 45
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization	Page 57
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Growing to a $800 Billion Economy – Case Study of Adam Smith	Page 67
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Health Department	Page 86
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Drug Administration	Page 87
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Implement Self-Government Entities – R&D Campuses	Page 105
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Planning – Ways to Improve Trade	Page 128
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Healthcare	Page 156
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Emergency Management	Page 196
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Foundations	Page 219
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Persons with Disabilities	Page 228
Appendix – Emergency Management – Medical Trauma Centers	Page 336

The Go Lean roadmap does not purport to be an authority on medical or pharmaceutical research best practices. This economic-security-governance empowerment plan should not direct the course of direction for medical research and/or treatment. But something is wrong here, as portrayed in the foregoing article and VIDEO. The pharmaceutical industry cannot claim any adherence to any “better nature” in their practices.

This is not economics, which extols principles like the “law of diminishing returns”, or “competition breathes lower prices and higher quality”. No, the American pharmaceutical industry, at this juncture, is just a pure evil version of Crony Capitalism. Just … rent!

This is not the role model we want to build Caribbean society on.

Capitalism versus Socialism …
Many people feel this type of discussion in this commentary is really a clear indictment of the premise of the American Healthcare system, based on capitalism (right-leaning). Opponents of this status quo advocate for a more socialistic approach (left-leaning). Socialized medicine is the premise for Canada, the UK, and all the 27 EU countries. So the alternative to the American system is not so radical. Alas, even America’s capitalized healthcare schemes are not as far-right as in times past; with the implementation MediCare (in the 1960’s), VA hospitals, and Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) Health Insurance mandates; these are now reflections of socialism in the US system.

How do we measure the effectiveness of success of left-leaning versus right-leaning healthcare schemes? While most “Well-being” measurements are obviously subjective, there is one exception: life expectancy. Life expectancy calculation is all binary, 1 versus 0, On versus Off, Life versus Death. The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development maintains a Better Life Index that measures “Well-being” in the 34 OECD Countries. The following details apply:

There is more to life than the cold numbers of GDP and economic statistics – This Index allows you to compare well-being across countries, based on 11 topics the OECD has identified as essential, in the areas of material living conditions and quality of life.

One of the 11 topics measure “Health”, with considerations to the binary Life Expectancy and the subjective Self-Reported Health. On this chart related to Life Expectancy (based on when the average age for non-trauma deaths), the US appears on the list in position 27. See chart here.

The Go Lean movement asserts that the US should not be our model for healthcare. We can do better in the Caribbean; we have done better (Cuba), and must do better throughout the region. We can impact the Greater Good and still preserve economic realities. This means life-or-death. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———-

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Crony-Capitalism, Health, Model, Power, STEM

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Lessons from Iceland – Model of Recovery

Posted on September 23, 2015 in Economics, Ethos, Government, Implementation

Go Lean Commentary

There are so many lessons the Caribbean region can learn from the island Republic of Iceland.

First, it’s an island, Duh!!!

Just like with the Caribbean, logistics of trade is more difficult as it must be based on naval and aeronautical solutions.

They have natural disasters … volcanoes as opposed to hurricanes or earthquakes.

The population is 320,000 … the range of many Caribbean countries; (i.e. Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Guadeloupe (Fr.), Martinique (Fr.) and Suriname). Yet, it is not grouped with the formal Small Island Developing States (SIDS) as is all the sovereign Caribbean territories. The following defines the common traits:

Small Island Developing States are low-lying coastal [sovereign] countries that tend to share similar sustainable development challenges, including small but growing populations, limited resources, remoteness, susceptibility to natural disasters, vulnerability to external shocks, excessive dependence on international trade, and fragile environments. Their growth and development is also held back by high communication, energy and transportation costs, irregular international transport volumes, disproportionately expensive public administration and infrastructure due to their small size, and little to no opportunity to create economies-of-scale. – Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Island_Developing_States

Iceland has done many things well so that everyone in the Caribbean, all SIDS countries for that matter, need to take notice.

During the bad days of the Great Recession – at the precipice of disaster – the country deviated from other troubled regions …

Iceland let its banks fail in 2008 because they proved too big to save.

How does it relate to the Caribbean? The Caribbean is at the precipice … now; many of the member-states are near Failed-State status, while others are still hoping to recover from the devastating Great Recession of 2008. Turn-around should not take this long – 7 years. Strategies, tactics and implementations of best-practices to effect a turn-around must be pursued now.

Iceland has now recovered, and complaining about a 2% unemployment rate. What did they do that was so radically different than other locations? For one, they changed course regarding economics, security and governing policies. An ultra-capitalist movement had taken hold of the country and business communities; they pursued an aggressive “boom-or-bust” strategy, that ultimately “busted”, rather than continue on that road, the country – all aspects of society – altered course and returned to a path of sound fundamentals.

They rebooted and turned-around! Iceland embraced all aspects of turn-around strategies, mandating bankruptcies and “wind-downs” so that the economy – and society in general – could start anew.

This article is in consideration of the book Go Lean…Caribbean; it serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) and Caribbean Central Bank (CCB) to provide better stewardship, to ensure that the economic/currency failures of the past, in the Caribbean and other regions, do not re-occur here in the homeland.

We can learn so much from this episode in Icelandic history, the good, the bad and the ugly. See the encyclopedic details here:

Reference Title: Iceland’s Economy and Recovery
In 2007, Iceland was the seventh most productive country in the world per capita (US$54,858), and the fifth most productive by GDP at purchasing power parity ($40,112). About 85 percent of total primary energy supply in Iceland is derived from domestically produced renewable energy sources.^[93] Utilization of abundant hydroelectric and geothermal power has made Iceland the world’s largest electricity producer per capita.^[94] … Historically, Iceland’s economy depended heavily on fishing, which still provides 40% of export earnings and employs 7% of the work force.^[49] The economy is vulnerable to declining fish stocks and drops in world prices for its main material exports: fish and fish products, aluminum, and ferrosilicon.

Iceland had been hit especially hard by the Great Recession that began in December 2007, because of the failure of its banking system and a subsequent economic crisis. Before the crash of the country’s three largest banks, Glitnir, Landsbanki and Kaupthing, their combined debt exceeded approximately six times the nation’s gross domestic product of €14 billion ($19 billion).^[116][117] In October 2008, the Icelandic parliament passed emergency legislation to minimize the impact of the Financial crisis. The Financial Supervisory Authority of Iceland used permission granted by the emergency legislation to take over the domestic operations of the three largest banks.^[118] Icelandic officials, including central bank governor Davíð Oddsson, stated that the state did not intend to take over any of the banks’ foreign debts or assets. Instead, new banks were established to take on the domestic operations of the banks, and the old banks will be run into bankruptcy.

On 28 October 2008, the Icelandic government raised interest rates to 18% (as of August 2010, it was 7%), a move which was forced in part by the terms of acquiring a loan from International Monetary Fund (IMF). After the rate hike, trading on the Icelandic króna finally resumed on the open market, with valuation at around 250 ISK per Euro, less than one-third the value of the 1:70 exchange rate during most of 2008, and a significant drop from the 1:150 exchange ratio of the week before.

On 20 November 2008, in an effort to stabilize the situation, the Icelandic government stated that all domestic deposits in Icelandic banks would be guaranteed, imposed strict capital controls to stabilize the value of the Icelandic króna, and secured a US$5.1bn sovereign debt package from the IMF and the Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden agreed to lend $2.5 billion. ^[119] – in order to finance a budget deficit and the restoration of the banking system. (The international bailout support program led by IMF officially ended on August 31, 2011, while the capital controls which were imposed in November 2008 are still in place only recently ended in the last few weeks).

On 26 January 2009, the coalition government collapsed due to the public dissent over the handling of the financial crisis. A new left-wing government was formed a week later and immediately set about removing Central Bank governor Davíð Oddsson and his aides from the bank through changes in law. Davíð was removed on 26 February 2009 in the wake of protests outside the Central Bank.^[120]

The financial crisis had a serious negative impact on the Icelandic economy. The national currency fell sharply in value, foreign currency transactions were virtually suspended for weeks, and the market capitalization of the Icelandic stock exchange fell by more than 90%. As a result of the crisis, Iceland underwent a severe economic depression; the country’s gross domestic product dropped by 10% in real terms between the third quarter of 2007 and the third quarter of 2010.^[6] A new era with positive GDP growth started in 2011, and has helped foster a gradually declining trend for the unemployment rate. The government budget deficit has declined from 9.7% of GDP in 2009 and 2010 to 0.2% of GDP in 2014;^[7] the central government gross debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to decline to less than 60% in 2018 from a maximum of 85% in 2011.^[8]

[A post-mortem analysis helped to put the blame for Iceland’s crisis on a bad community ethos that had encapsulated the whole country related to debt]:

[Disregarding their] small domestic market, Iceland’s banks had financed their expansion with loans on the interbank lending market and, more recently, by deposits from outside Iceland (which are also a form of external debt). Households also took on a large amount of debt, equivalent to 213% of disposable income, which led to inflation.^[117] This inflation was exacerbated by the practice of the Central Bank of Iceland issuing liquidity loans to banks on the basis of newly issued, uncovered bonds^[118] – effectively, printing money on demand.

[Then the turn-around took hold …]

By mid-2012 Iceland was regarded as one of Europe’s recovery success stories. It has had two years of economic growth. Unemployment was down to 6.3% and Iceland was attracting immigrants to fill jobs. Currency devaluation effectively reduced wages by 50% making exports more competitive and imports more expensive. Ten-year government bonds were issued below 6%, lower than some of the PIIGS nations in the EU (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain). Tryggvi Thor Herbertsson, a member of parliament, noted that adjustments via currency devaluations are less painful than government labor policies and negotiations.

By June 2012, Landsbanki managed to repay about half of the Icesave debt.^[124]

According to Bloomberg, Iceland was on the trajectory of 2% unemployment as a result of crisis-management decisions made back in 2008, including allowing the banks to fail.^[125]. [Here are the highlighted bullets of this story posted January 27, 2014:]

Iceland let its banks fail in 2008 because they proved too big to save.

Now, the island is finding crisis-management decisions made half a decade ago have put it on a trajectory that’s turned 2 percent unemployment into a realistic goal.

While the Euro area grapples with record joblessness, led by more than 25 percent in Greece and Spain …

[Iceland is NOT a member of the EU], nevertheless, while EU fervor has cooled [due to the crisis] the government continues to pursue membership.^[246]
Source: Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia – Retrieved 09/23/2015 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%9311_Icelandic_financial_crisis

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VIDEO – What Can Greece (and the Caribbean) Learn From Iceland? – http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-08-28/what-can-greece-learn-from-iceland-

Published on Aug 28, 2015 – Central Bank of Iceland Governor Mar Gudmundsson talks with Brendan Greeley about Iceland’s capital controls and what Greece can learn from Iceland in handling its credit crisis. He speaks on “Bloomberg Markets.”

The lessons from Iceland really magnify in reflection of the Caribbean considering the community ethos or attitudes regarding “debt”. The book described community ethos as:

“the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; dominant assumptions of a people or period; practices of a group or society; dominant assumptions of a people or period” – Go Lean…Caribbean Page 20.

While Iceland featured a negative community ethos in this case, their model demonstrates that the spirit-beliefs-customs-practices of a community can be altered.

Yes, Iceland fixed their heart … first; then the recovery of the community’s economic, security and governing engines took root. It is very important that the Caribbean learn this lesson and apply the corrections to our community ethos, and then to our systems of commerce and governance. The Go Lean book opened with this pronouncement (Page 10), gleaning insight from the US Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

The Go Lean roadmap calls for instituting the CU Trade Federation and the Caribbean Central Bank (CCB) to take the lead in forging the needed changes to the region’s economic and financial eco-systems. Firstly, there is the need to foster the best practices in the region regarding debt. The roadmap calls for a cooperative among Central Banks to form the CCB to foster interdependence, sharing, economies-of-scale and collaboration across the region despite the divergent politics, culture and languages. The premise is simple: while we are all different, we are all “in the same boat”. So the underlying principle of this motivation is the regional Greater Good.

The realities of the Great Recession, and Iceland’s troubles in the foregoing reference source, prove the interconnectivity of the financial systems; bank/currency troubles in one country easily become trouble for another country. A larger Single Market (42 million people in 30 member-states) for the Caribbean would provide less elasticity and more shock-absorption here from eruptions in the global financial markets. The Caribbean is never spared; in fact we are directly affected as tourism – our primary economic driver – depends on the disposable income from our trading partners, mostly North American and Western European countries. This is why our region was so devastated with the events, repercussions and consequences of 2008.

Considering the past, the Caribbean has had to learn hard lessons on economic booms … and busts. Any attempt to reboot Caribbean economic landscape must first start with a strenuous oversight of regional currencies. Thusly, the strategy is to integrate to the single currency, the Caribbean Dollar (C$). The tactical approach is to provide technocratic oversight with the CCB pursuing only the Greater Good, and no special group’s special interest.

Also in the opening of the Go Lean book, this need for regional stewardship of Caribbean currencies was pronounced in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12 & 13) with these statements:

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.

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.

xxv.    Whereas the legacy of international democracies had been imperiled due to a global financial crisis, the structure of the Federation must allow for financial stability and assurance of the Federation’s institutions. To mandate the economic vibrancy of the region, monetary and fiscal controls and policies must be incorporated as proactive and reactive measures. These measures must address threats against the financial integrity of the Federation and of the member-states.

The Go Lean book, and previous blog/commentaries, stressed the key community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies necessary to appoint new stewards for the regional financial eco-system. These points are detailed in the book as follows:

Community Assessment – Puerto – The Greece of the Caribbean	Page 18
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – All Choices Involve Costs	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Money Multiplier	Page 23
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future – Count on the Greedy to be Greedy	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds – Bankruptcy Processing	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate the region into a Single Market	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Fortify the Stability of the Securities Markets	Page 45
Strategy – Provide Proper Oversight and Support for the Depository Institutions	Page 46
Strategy – e-Payments and Card-based Transactions	Page 49
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Growing the Economy – Minimizing Bubbles	Page 69
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – Depository Insurance & Regulatory Agency	Page 73
Anecdote – Turning Around CARICOM – Effects of 2008 Financial Crisis	Page 92
Implementation – Assemble Caribbean Central Bank as a Cooperative	Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Better Manage Debt	Page 114
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – Single Market / Currency Union	Page 127
Planning – Lessons Learned from 2008	Page 136
Planning – Lessons Learned from New York City – Wall Street	Page 137
Planning – Ways to Measure Progress	Page 147
Anecdote – Caribbean Currencies	Page 149
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Control Inflation	Page 153
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage Foreign Exchange	Page 154
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Electronic Commerce	Page 198
Advocacy – Reforms for Banking Regulations	Page 199
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Wall Street	Page 200
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Main Street	Page 201
Appendix – Tool-kits for Capital Controls	Page 315

There is a lot to learn from the analysis of economic stewardship of other communities. The successes and failures of banking/economic stewardship were further elaborated upon in these previous blog-commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6531	A Lesson in History – Book Review of the ‘Exigency of 2008’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5818	Greece: From Bad to Worse
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4166	A Lesson in History – Panamanian Balboa
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3858	ECB unveils 1 trillion Euro stimulus program
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3814	Lessons from the Swiss unpegging the franc
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3582	For Canadian Banks: Caribbean is a ‘Bad Bet’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3397	A Christmas Present for the Banks from the Omnibus Bill
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3090	Lessons Learned – Europe Sovereign Debt Crisis of 2009
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3028	Why India is doing better than most emerging markets
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2930	‘Too Big To Fail’ – Caribbean Version
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2090	The Depth & Breadth of Remediating 2008
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1014	Canadian View: All is not well in the sunny Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=833	One currency, divergent economies
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=518	Analyzing the Data – What Banks learn about financial risks

According to the foregoing article, and VIDEO, the origin of Iceland’s crisis was greed; the banks assuming more risk, to garner more profit, and consumers borrowing more credit so as to … consume more.

Greed – it is what it is.

The Go Lean book declares to “count on greedy people to be greedy” (Page 26). This situation is manifested time and again, all over the world. The Go Lean book provides the roadmap to anticipate greed, monitor and mitigate it. The book declares (Page 23):

… “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.

We have so many lessons to learn from the Great Recession, and the disposition of Iceland.

Only at the precipice do they change!

Lesson learned!

The Caribbean is hereby urged to lean-in to this Go Lean confederation roadmap. Everyone – people, businesses, banks and governments – can benefit from the consideration of this roadmap. As this roadmap is the “turn-by-turn directions”, the heavy-lifting, to move the region to its new destination: a better homeland to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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2008, Banks, Crony-Capitalism, Disaster, History, Jobs, Model, Transform

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Private Airplanes For All

Posted on September 21, 2015 in Ethos, Government, Implementation, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

The airplane is not a new invention. It goes back to the days of the Wright Brothers of Dayton, Ohio – Orville and Wilbur – and their Kitty Hawk, North Carolina test flight on December 17, 1903. Yet, after 112 years, there is still room for a lot of invention and innovation in the field of aerospace. As the old adage relates “Necessity, is the ‘mother’ of invention”.

This commentary asserts that while the United States of America was front-and-center with the initial developments in man-flights, the Caribbean region now needs to be more prominent with the innovations of flight for this new century in aviation. Why?

Necessity, is STILL the ‘mother’ of invention.

There is the need for a lot more innovative airplane transportation solutions for any region featuring an archipelago – a chain of islands. This new product here – the ICON A5* – is perhaps an ideal solution for Caribbean deployment, as it can better reach the masses and become ubiquitous for private owners-operators; see the following VIDEO:

VIDEO Title: Private airplanes for all? One company hopes so

Private planes have long been the domain of the very rich, but now one company wants to change that. ICON wants to do for air travel what Apple did for computers – demystify and make them approachable. They see a future where lots of people like me and you are soaring through the sky in a plane like this. TODAY’s Craig Melvin reports.

This vision of ubiquitous owners-operators of amphibious airplanes – that can touchdown on land or water – portray a more efficient aviation environment for island-hoping; these vehicles would make island living more appealing to live, work and play. This commentary asserted that “our region must participate in these developments, not just spectate on them”. This aligns with the mandate for a more nimble environment to develop, test and deploy cutting-edge transportation solutions. This is the benefit of lean governmental coordination, to be able to launch initiatives like this as portrayed in the foregoing VIDEO.

Canada is a good model for the Caribbean to emulate in this regards. They have vast rural territories, not easily accessible by roads. In these far-out territories, seaplanes, floatplanes and bush planes proliferate. In addition, this ubiquity in Canada is not necessarily affiliated with the wealthy, but rather ordinary citizens; sometimes, these transportation options even become a small business opportunity.

Needless to say, a proliferation of small aircrafts raises a lot of security issues; think September 11, 2011 Terror Attacks on New York City. The aircraft in the above VIDEO, also feature the additional safety mitigation of a built-in parachute, to allow for an easy landing of any aircraft that may go into distress. (This safety feature is ingenious!).

The book, Go Lean … Caribbean, extols the principle that R&D (research and development) activities are necessary to profit from advantages in technology. We want to do R&D here in the Caribbean; manufacturing/assembly too. Since we have the demand; we should facilitate supply as well! This is a mandate for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the CU. This technocracy will assume oversight to optimize the region in the areas of:

(1) economics

(2) security

(3) lean government

This ethos of adapting to change has now come to the Caribbean.

The status quo of the Caribbean’s transportation eco-systems is badly flawed. The region boasts transportation and fuel costs (including taxes) that are among the highest in the world.

The Go Lean strategy is to confederate the 30 member-states of the Caribbean region to form the technocratic CU Trade Federation. Tactically, the roadmap calls for a separation-of-powers, allowing the Caribbean member-states to deputize authority of the Caribbean airspace to the one unified CU agency. Operationally, there is the need to regulate these aircrafts and the owners-operators, for their monitoring, training, licensing, maintenance compliance, search-and-rescue, incident management and everyday functionality. (Consider the risk mitigation example in the Appendix VIDEO below).

Things will go wrong! Bad things do happen to good people.

This blog-commentary touches on many related issues and subjects that affect planning for Caribbean empowerment in the aviation and transportation industry-spaces. Many of these issues were elaborated upon in these previous blog-commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5376	Drones to be used for Insurance Damage Claims
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3533	No Fear of Failure – Case Study: Bahamasair
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3326	M-1 Rail: Alternative Motion in the Motor City
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3225	Caribbean less competitive due to increasing aviation taxes
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2769	DC Streetcars/Rail – Model For Caribbean Re-development
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=798	Lessons Learned from the American Airlines merger
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=673	Ghost ships – Autonomous cargo vessels without a crew
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=254	Air Antilles Launches St. Maarten Service

Though not written with this particular initiative in mind, the Go Lean roadmap anticipates the foregoing VIDEO‘s opportunities and challenges, as pronounced in the Declaration of Interdependence, (Pages 12 & 14):

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.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

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.

The Go Lean book was written with the future of the Caribbean in mind. There was a certain anticipated future – with a proliferation of private aircraft owners-operators – that hasn’t really materialized … yet. But maybe now, finally, that future view is coming into focus. This is the direct quotation from the book (Page 26):

The Bottom Line on the Millennium
In the words of Yogi Berra – iconic American Baseball Hall-of-Famer: “The future ain’t what it used to be”.

This is according to a 2007 news analysis by Michael Fitzpatrick, Science Writer for The Guardian (UK) newspaper:

No flying cars, no dinners in a pill, and certainly no cool rocketing off to space cities in the required outfit of the future. We seem to have failed the expectations of the most wild-eyed seers from the past – futurologists who were for the most part in love with a supercharged, technologically sexy future where science would free us from the daily grind, for holidays on the moon or underseas. But here we remain, plodding along … in a familiar world that is neither utopia nor dystopia. What the futurologists did get right were some of the more prosaic details such as mobile phones and digital technologies.

The aircraft depicted in the foregoing VIDEO (see Appendix below), feature functionality where every single-family home could have a plane in their garage – this is the ubiquity in the earlier references. North American society could now be that close to this future view. Better still, the Caribbean should be that close to this reality:

… planes being towed from home garages to boat ramps to launch flight. Then while in flight the aircraft cruises below 15,000 feet and operate at good speed, but slower than 150 miles an hour.

The CU mission is to implement the complete eco-system to deliver on market opportunities for these ubiquitous aircraft owners-operators. There are many strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies in the book that will facilitate this readiness; a sample is detailed here:

Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Economic Principles – People Choose because Resources are Limited	Page 21
Economic Principles – All Choices Involve Costs	Page 21
Economic Principles – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Economic Principles – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Money Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research and Development	Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Ways to Improve Negotiations	Page 32
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Emergency Management	Page 76
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Department of Transportation – Aviation Regulator	Page 84
Implementation – Security Initiatives at Start-up – Command-and-Control	Page 103
Implementation – Start-up Benefits from the EEZ	Page 104
Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities	Page 105
Implementation – Ways to Improve Energy Usage – Electrified Buses/Trains	Page 113
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization	Page 119
Planning – Ways to Improve Trade	Page 128
Planning – Lessons Learned from Canada’s History	Page 146
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 – Technology and Efficiency	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Empowering Immigration	Page 174
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Terrorism	Page 181
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Transportation	Page 205
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living – Transit Options	Page 234
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Rural Living – Optimizing Transportation Options	Page 235

As described in the Go Lean book, change is imminent, for the world and for the Caribbean. The world is preparing for the change for more efficient transit options and also to deploy more autonomous systems to help owner-operators auto-pilot and navigate around the Caribbean region. This commentary calls for a new ethos … to prepare for change. This ethos has now come to the Caribbean, among the Go Lean/CU planners. The people of the region are urged to also “lean-in” to this empowerment. The benefits of this roadmap are very alluring: emergence of an $800 Billion single market economy and 2.2 million new jobs.

These developments are taking place … elsewhere. We need “in” on this.

We need this here, these types of innovative products, systems, companies and specialists to help us in our quest to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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Appendix * ICON A5

ICON Aircraft is a privately held American aircraft design and production company.^[2] It is currently working on the production of the ICON A5, an amphibious light sport aircraft^[3] that began customer deliveries in July 2015.^[4]^[5]The company was founded in response to the 2004 Federal Aviation Administration establishment of the light-sport aircraft (LSA) class of aircraft and Sport Pilot certificate class of pilot.^[6]^[7]^[8]

This first ICON Aircraft’s model, the ICON A5, is an amphibious two-seat, light-sport aircraft to be priced at approximately $189,000. Its folding wings facilitate transportation and storage,^[8] and it will have a range of approximately 300 nautical miles (560 km) and a top speed of 105 knots (120 mph).^[18]

ICON Aircraft positions the A5 with a recreational focus, stating that the aircraft competes with powersports vehicles such as ATVs, motorcycles, watercraft, and snowmobiles, rather than other airplanes.

The company’s headquarters are located in Vacaville, California where all manufacturing, engineering, design, training, sales, and service functions are consolidated.^[21]
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICON_Aircraft; retrieved September 21, 2015.

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Appendix – VIDEO – Sea Plane Takes Off from Truck Trailer – https://youtu.be/-JDogTLtels

Title: Creative Sea Plane Pilot Displays Incredible Take Off Technique From a Moving Truck Trailer – Published on May 8, 2013 – For licensing/usage please contact: licensing@liveleak.com.
Though not as widely used as they once were, seaplanes still serve a few key purposes today including providing access to roadless areas. But the downside of a seaplane is that it can’t land or take off on solid ground. Or can it? This video proves that only one of those disadvantages holds true (landing). As you will see in the video, with a truck moving fast enough, a seaplane can actually take off from an attached trailer.

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‘Good Hair’ and the Strong Black Woman

Posted on September 19, 2015 in Economics, Ethos, Planning, Social

Go Lean Commentary

“[A] comedian and daytime talk-show host apologized for suggesting that kinky hair was worthless.”

Those words were not perceived as funny; they were hurtful…but very much en vogue; (this was back in 2013). The overall consensus in the African-American community is that “Black Hair” is … not preferred.

Nappy head, kinky head, picky head, peasy head…

For a non-Black person to refer to a Black person as such, it is a curse word, beyond an insult.

Enough already …

“Say it loud, I’m Black and I’m proud” – James Brown song 1968

This scenario depicts a dichotomy in the Black community, especially among women. The ethnic group prides itself on it proud heritage of Strong Black Women, and yet there is this unspoken rejection of Black Hair. This is sad!

Yet, it is what it is!

The book Go Lean … Caribbean makes an assessment of the economic, security and government issues of the Caribbean, then presents strategies, tactics and implementations to elevate these engines. But one might argue:

“The issue of hair styles and hair texture is not economics”.

Or is it? See this quotation here:

“The Black Hair business is a $9 Billion business” – Movie Good Hair (2009) – see Appendix VIDEO below.

The issue of Black Hair is an issue of image. The Go Lean book depicts that image is very impactful in the management of Caribbean economic and cultural affairs (Page 133). (29 of the 30 Caribbean member-states have a majority non-White population – Saint Barthélemy is the sole exception).

Caribbean image is in crisis! Already, Go Lean blog-commentary have addressed the image issues related to the Dreadlocks hairstyle and the default assumption of a person sporting this hairstyle is that they are from the Caribbean, and of a “lesser statue”.

The issues raised in this news article about Sheryl Underwood shows that Black Hair, in general and in specific is an “open festering wound” that needs to be assuaged in all the African New World Diaspora. See the article here (from the site Root.com*):

Title: Sheryl Underwood on Her Natural-Hair Comments: I Understand Why I Was Called an Uncle Tom
Sub-title: The comedian and daytime talk-show host apologized for suggesting that kinky hair was worthless.
By: Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele

Posted September 17 2015 – It’s not often that someone says she completely understands why she was called an Uncle Tom and a coon. People usually try to flip the script and suggest that African Americans—the ones usually lobbing those insults—are playing the race card and being hypersensitive about issues.

Comedian Sheryl Underwood did no such thing on Monday’s episode of the talk show The Talk, where she is a co-host. Back in 2013, she made a joke about how she didn’t understand why Heidi Klum saved her biracial children’s hair. Underwood was suggesting that kinky hair was bad, had no value and wouldn’t be of any use—so why save it?

“Why would you save Afro hair? You can’t weave in Afro hair!” Underwood joked. She got dragged through these Internet streets—badly.

On Monday’s episode, she debuted her own kinky hair—a short, curly Afro—and apologized profusely for her earlier comments.

“I made some statements that were not only wrong, but they hurt our community […] black people are very sensitive about a discussion about our hair,” Underwood said. She said she felt especially bad because she identifies as a “very proud black woman.”

“The way the joke came out offended my people and my community, which was not my intent,” she continued.

Underwood went on to describe the reaction she got from black people about her comments: “There was a lot of backlash. A lot of people said that I was an Uncle Tom […] I was a coon. I could understand that kind of language being used because people were hurt.”

Underwood explained that she’s very aware of how insensitive her comments were, given the negative stereotypes about kinky hair and the fact that black women are not encouraged to rock their natural coils.

“There is a responsibility to being on TV. There’s a cultural responsibility. The way we got images out there—there’s no need for me to do something that causes more damage to us,” she said.

The entire ordeal compelled Underwood to go on a journey of self-discovery for a year. “I cut my hair off. I cut the perm out. I still wear wigs because I like variety, but what I really wanted to do was engage women,” she said. Underwood said she also reached out to natural-hair bloggers to continue the conversations that the incident sparked.

Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele is a staff writer at The Root and the founder and executive producer of Lectures to Beats, a Web series that features video interviews with scarily insightful people. Follow Lectures to Beats on Facebook and Twitter.
Source: The Root* – Online Site for African-American News, Opinion and Culture – Retrieved 09-18-2015 from: http://www.theroot.com/blogs/the_grapevine/2015/09/watch_sheryl_underwood_on_her_natural_hair_comments_i_understand_why_i_was.html

VIDEO – Sheryl Underwood Apologizes For Black Hair Remarks – https://youtu.be/lcZklCaWDd4

Published on Sep 18, 2015 – The Talk co-host explains why she feels ready to display her real hair, as well as her need to apologize to her community and to viewers.

The book Go Lean … Caribbean recognizes that image is an important intangible factor that must be managed to optimize value of Caribbean contributions – Black and Brown. As such the book is submitted as a complete roadmap to advance the Caribbean economy and culture with the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU will be the sentinel for Caribbean “Image”. While the African-American community is out-of-scope for Go Lean planners, we accept that the US is home to a vast majority of our own Diaspora. And despite the history of North-South pressure on styles-taste-trends, the Caribbean has been successful to forge style-taste-trends in a South-North manner. Just consider the life work of these Caribbean role models:

The CU strives to improve the community ethos of the Caribbean people. This is described as:

“the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; dominant assumptions of a people or period; practices of a group or society; dominant assumptions of a people or period” – Go Lean…Caribbean Page 20.

A discounted view of Black Hair is a bad ethos – plain and simple! This should not be tolerated, especially coming from the Black community itself. Look at this photo here; there is no way this is not beautiful!

Alas, the Go Lean book presents role models, samples and examples of single issue advocacies and advocates. This roadmap (Page 122) shows that one person and/or one cause can be impactful and change society.

In the Black community, the issue of Black Hair has transformed society before. Remember the Afro, Black Power, Afrocentrism? All of these values were ubiquitous at one point (1970’s) and then slowly, the style-taste-trend shifted. Perhaps its time now to shift it again. We have strong reasons to do so:

$9 Billion!

That is the “why”. As for the “how” …

The CU/Go Lean roadmap strives to improve image & impressions that the world gets of Caribbean life/people. The roadmap has a heavy focus on media. The plan calls for consolidating the 42 million residents of the region, despite the 4 languages, into a Single Market. This size allows for some leverage and economies-of-scale, fostering a professional media industry, and allowing the CU to electronically send our culture (and values) to the rest of the world. Our target first would be the 10 million-strong Caribbean Diaspora; then eventually the rest of the world. We must control the image and impressions that the world gets of Caribbean life and people.

The Go Lean … Caribbean book introduces the CU to assume the Sentinel role, to take oversight of much of the Caribbean economic, security and governing functionality. This roadmap will definitely promote the Caribbean as a better place to live, work and play. As a result, the opinions of the world towards Caribbean hair – dreadlocks, Afro hair, nappy head, kinky head, picky head, peasy head – will heightened.

In the end, this is about more than image, as jobs and trade are at stake; jobs in the Caribbean homeland, jobs in the foreign locations for the Diaspora, and trade of hard-earned currency for vanity products like fake hair and styling-products.

Change has come to the Caribbean. The people, institutions and governance of region are all urged to “lean-in” to this roadmap for change. We need to educate and persuade people – everywhere –that there is excellence among Caribbean people, despite their hairstyle.

The art-and-science of image management is among the community ethos, strategy, implementations and advocacies the the CU must master to elevate the Caribbean community. These individual roles-and-responsibilities are detailed in the book; see this sample listing here:

Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Manage Reconciliations	Page 34
Community Ethos – Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Caribbean Core Competence	Page 58
Tactical – Forging an $800 Billion Economy – Trade and Globalization	Page 70
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Tourism and Film Promotion	Page 78
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Communications and Media	Page 79
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Truth & Reconciliation Commissions	Page 90
Implementation – Ways to Impact Social Media – Managing Image Online	Page 111
Implementation – Trade Mission Objectives – World Outreach	Page 116
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization – Exporting Media Productions	Page 119
Anatomy of Advocacies – Models of Individuals Making an Impact to their Community	Page 122
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage Image	Page 133
Advocacy – Improve Failed-State Indices – Assuaging the Negatives	Page 134
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Leadership	Page 171
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Communications	Page 186
Advocacy – Ways to Enhance Tourism – Creating a Demand, Not Dread of Caribbean Culture	Page 190
Advocacy – Ways to Market Southern California – A Critical Market for Image	Page 194
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Hollywood	Page 203
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Ways to Protect Human Rights – Weeding-out Prejudices	Page 220
Advocacy – Ways to Improve the Arts – Humanities Affect the Heart	Page 230

These previous blog/commentaries drilled deeper on this quest to forge change in a community … through image and media; consider these cases:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6202	‘Concussions’ – The Movie; The Cause
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5964	Movie Review: ‘Tomorrowland’ – ‘Feed the right wolf’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5733	Better than America? Yes, We Can!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5098	Forging Change – ‘Food’ for Thought
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4506	Colorism in Cuba, the Caribbean … and Beyond
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3999	Sir Sidney Poitier – ‘Breaking New Ground’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3568	Forging Change: Music Moves People
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3512	Forging Change: The Sales Process
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2726	Caribbean Role Model for the Arts/Fashion – Oscar De La Renta: RIP
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2291	Forging Change: The Fun Theory
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1909	Role Model Berry Gordy – Changing more than just “Motown”
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1037	Humanities Advocate – Maya Angelou – Reaching the Heart
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=866	Caribbean Music Man: Bob Marley – The legend lives on!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=857	Considering the Image Issues of the Dreadlocks Hairstyle

The beauty of the Strong Black Woman should be their strength, and their femininity, and their blackness. There is no need to be ashamed or to mask this. Afro is not bad. Afro is just a diverse option among a diverse people.

The “Afro” is not the quest and the cause of the CU/Go Lean roadmap. But if/when we succeed at our quest – whose prime directives are listed here – all social-cultural dictates will be easier to institute. The directives are summarized as follows:

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.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

Once “we” fix home, then we can reach out to fix the world. There is the need to change the image of “Black Hair” on the world stage; not the change of hairstyles, but rather changes to the world’s impression of the hairstyle. It is Good Hair.

There is reason to believe that these empowerment efforts can be successful. The Go Lean roadmap conveys how single causes/advocacies have successfully been forged throughout the world (Page 122). We, in the Caribbean, can do the same; we can succeed in improving the Caribbean image and the image of Black Hair. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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P.S. Full Disclosure: This blogger has two daughters with Black Hair.

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Appendix – * The Root.com

“The Root” is the premier news, opinion and culture site for African-American influencers. Founded in 2008, under the leadership of Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., The Root provides smart, timely coverage of breaking news, thought-provoking commentary and gives voice to a changing, more diverse America. Visit us at www.theroot.com, on Twitter @TheRoot247 and on Facebook.

See other references to other works by Dr. Henry Louis Gates in Appendix B of this commentary: https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2907

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Appendix VIDEO – Movie Trailer Good Hair – http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3611230745/?ref_=tt_ov_vi

Comedian Chris Rock explores the wonders of African-American hairstyles.
“Chris Rock, a man with two daughters, asks about good hair, as defined by Black Americans, mostly Black women. He visits Bronner Brothers’ annual hair convention in Atlanta. He tells us about sodium hydroxide, a toxin used to relax hair. He looks at weaves, and he travels to India where tonsure ceremonies produce much of the hair sold in America. A weave is expensive: he asks who makes the money. We visit salons and barbershops, central to the Black community. Rock asks men if they can touch their mates’ hair – no, it’s decoration. Various talking heads (many of them women with good hair) comment. It’s about self-image. Maya Angelou and Tracie Thoms provide perspective”. – Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>

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Microsoft Pledges $75 million for Kids in Computer Science

Posted on September 18, 2015 in Economics, Ethos, Industries, Social

Go Lean Commentary

Microsoft pledges support to young children learning the science of computers … $75 million worth.

… on behalf of a grateful region, we accept.

While $75 million is not a lot for a global program, consider the source of the benefactor – Microsoft – and it is the spirit that counts. We will take it Microsoft; we want your time, talents and treasuries.

These three resources, are what the book Go Lean…Caribbean asks for from the philanthropic community in terms of gifts to the Caribbean. This is so important, that the book prepares a comprehensive plan for organizing the interactions with charitable foundations and gift-giving organizations. We need and want all the help we can garner!

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) to elevate Caribbean society. This movement asserts that to effect change in the region, all Caribbean stakeholders (residents, institutions, students, Diaspora) have to devote a measure of time, talents and treasuries.

The Go Lean book strategizes a roadmap to elevate the economic, security, and governing engines. It clearly relates that these prime directives do not cover every social aspect of Caribbean life. We need the resultant void to be filled by Non-Government Organizations (NGO’s). The following news article/Press Release relates the community empowering and philanthropic efforts from one such entity, computer software giant Microsoft:

Title: Microsoft expands global YouthSpark initiative to focus on computer science
Sub-Title: Microsoft invests $75 million in community programs to increase access to computer science education for all youth and build greater diversity into the tech talent pipeline.

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Microsoft Corp. announced on Wednesday a new commitment of $75 million in community investments over the next three years to increase access to computer science education for all youth, and especially for those from under-represented backgrounds. Through the company’s global YouthSpark initiative, scores of nonprofit organizations around the world will receive cash donations and other resources to provide computer science education to diverse populations of young people in their communities and prepare them with the computational-thinking and problem-solving skills necessary for success in an increasingly digital world.

“If we are going to solve tomorrow’s global challenges, we must come together today to inspire young people everywhere with the promise of technology,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. “We can’t leave anyone out. We’re proud to make this $75 million investment in computer science education to create new opportunities for students across the spectrum of diverse youth and help build a tech talent pipeline that will spark new innovations for the future.”

Over the next three years, Microsoft will deliver on this commitment through cash grants and nonprofit partnerships as well as unique program and content offerings to increase access to computer science education and build computational thinking skills for diverse populations of youth. One of the flagship programs is Technology Education and Literacy in Schools (TEALS), which pairs tech professionals from across the industry with classroom educators to team-teach computer science in U.S. high schools. TEALS aims to grow fivefold in the next three years, with the goal of working with 2,000 tech industry volunteers to reach 30,000 students in nearly 700 schools across 33 states. A key objective of TEALS is to support classroom educators as they learn the computer science coursework, preparing them to teach computer science independently after two years of team-teaching.

Nadella reinforced the company’s commitment to computer science education today during the annual Dreamforce conference hosted by Salesforce where he called upon thousands of tech professionals to serve as TEALS volunteers and help broaden the opportunity for students of all backgrounds to learn computer science in high school.

“Computer science is a foundational subject — like algebra, chemistry or physics — for learning how the world works, yet it’s offered in less than 25 percent of American high schools,” said Microsoft President Brad Smith. “We need to increase access to computer science and computational thinking for all students, especially those from diverse populations, by partnering across the industry and with teachers and schools to turn this situation around and change the paradigm for developing a more diverse tech talent pipeline.”

There are three additional key elements of Microsoft’s global commitment to increasing access for all youth to the full range of computing skills, from digital literacy to computer science.

Global philanthropic investments with nonprofits in 80 countries, including the Center for Digital Inclusion in Latin America, Silatech in the Middle East and Africa, CoderDojo Foundation in Europe, YCAB Foundation in Asia, and many others, will deliver a range of computing skills from digital literacy to computer science education to youth in local communities around the world.

Microsoft Imagine connects students with the tools, resources and experiences they need to turn their innovative ideas into reality. Whether it’s building a game or designing an app, Microsoft Imagine makes learning to code easy and accessible for students and educators, no matter their age or skill level and at no cost. Whether it’s free cloud services like Azure, online competitions via Imagine Cup that educators can incorporate into their curriculum, or fun self-serve learning tutorials, Microsoft Imagine helps bring a student’s technology passion to life through computer science.

YouthSpark Hub resources are designed to inspire youth about the full spectrum of computing skills, ranging from digital literacy to computer science engineering. In addition to providing access to the Microsoft Imagine tools, the YouthSpark Hub brings together opportunities to participate in activities such as DigiGirlz and YouthSpark Live, attend free YouthSpark Camps at the Microsoft Stores, and access training through nonprofit organizations supported by Microsoft around the world.

Since 2012, Microsoft YouthSpark has created new opportunities for more than 300 million youth around the world, offering technology skills training and connections to employment, entrepreneurship, and continued education or training.

More information about YouthSpark and access to tools and resources can be found at http://YouthSparkHub.com and http://imagine.microsoft.com.

Those wanting more information on the TEALS program and to learn more about how they can get involved should visit http://TEALSK12.org.

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) is the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world, and its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
Source: PR Newswire Service; retrieved September 17, 2015 from: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/microsoft-expands-global-youthspark-initiative-to-focus-on-computer-science-300144592.html

——
VIDEO – Microsoft YouthSpark: Opportunity for Youth – https://youtu.be/ZRKYTQ6_UEs

Published by Microsoft – http://www.microsoft.eu
YOUTH INFOGRAPHIC: http://www.microsoft.eu/Portals/0/Doc…

There’s $75,000,000 and then there’s $75,000,000 from Microsoft.

A $75,000,000 charitable gift from Microsoft is more than just money; it’s an invitation to explore the future: the future of Information Technology.

This is BIG! As it also builds a technology talent pipeline, especially for the under-represented female population; so future jobs are at stake.

Microsoft founder and largest shareholder, Bill Gates, is now retired from the CEO’s office. (Though he continues as non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors). He is a certifiable billionaire – a member of the One Percent – in which his riches came from this company. He is a great role model for all the youth of the Caribbean.

A great role model for the adults, too!

This innovator’s latest effort is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which sets out to make a permanent impact on the world. According to a previous blog detailing this foundation’s efforts, his belief is that every life has equal value. So his Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. Now we see his hallmark company following this lead so as to also promote hi-technology values among the more disadvantaged youth populations in the world.

We absolutely appreciate those leading and following in this path.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean champions the cause of building and optimizing the Caribbean eco-system. There are a lot of expectations for technology in the region, to aid and assist with all aspects of the Go Lean prime directives, defined as follows:

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 CU/Go Lean roadmap clearly recognizes that the love and curiosity for technology must be ingrained as early as possible. Since the Caribbean does not only want to be on the consuming end of technological developments, we want to create, produce and contribute to the world of innovations. So we need to foster genius qualifiers in our Caribbean youth for careers and occupations – at home – involving Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

This point was pronounced at the outset of the Go Lean book with these opening Foreword (Page 3) and the subsequent Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12 & 14) with these statements:

Foreword: Our youth, the next generation, may not be inspired to participate in the future workings of their country; they may measure success only by their exodus from their Caribbean homeland.

xiii. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. The Federation must recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

xxvi. Whereas the Caribbean region must have new jobs to empower the engines of the economy and create the income sources for prosperity, and encourage the next generation to forge their dreams right at home, the Federation must therefore foster the development of new industries, like that of ship-building, automobile manufacturing, prefabricated housing, frozen foods, pipelines, call centers, and the prison industrial complex. In addition, the Federation must invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries like tourism, fisheries and lotteries – impacting the region with more jobs.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

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.

The Go Lean book seeks a quest to create 64,000 new direct and indirect technology/software jobs in the Caribbean marketplace. It will be a good start to use the grants and support of Microsoft, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other philanthropic groups and NGO’s to foster this campaign.

The Go Lean roadmap was constructed with the community ethos in mind to forge the needed change to adopt technology. Plus with the execution of these related strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies it will help build up our communities. The following is a sample of these specific details from the book:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Choose	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Non-Government Organizations	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius – Anti-Bullying Campaigns	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development	Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide	Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Around	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate 30 Member-States	Page 45
Strategy – Vision – Prepare the Youth with the skills to compete in the modern world	Page 46
Strategy – Mission – Exploit the benefits and opportunities of globalization	Page 46
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – State Department – Registrar/Liaison of NGO’s	Page 80
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Trends in Implementing Data Centers – Creating the ‘Cloud’	Page 106
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Impact Social Media – Caribbean Cloud	Page 111
Implementation – Ways to Foster International Aid	Page 115
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region – Cyber-Caribbean	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 136
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Education – *STEM* Promotion	Page 159
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance – e-Government & e-Delivery	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Communications	Page 186
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Libraries	Page 187
Advocacy – Ways to Enhance Tourism – Internet Marketing	Page 190
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce	Page 198
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Main Street	Page 201
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Foundations	Page 219
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the One-Percent	Page 224
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Youth	Page 227
Advocacy – Ways to Improve the Arts	Page 230
Appendix – CU Job Creations	Page 257
Appendix – Giving Pledge Signatories – 113 Super Rich – One Percent – Benefactors	Page 292

This Go Lean roadmap calls for the heavy-lifting to build-up Caribbean communities, to shepherd important aspects of Caribbean life, so as to better prepare for the future, dissuade emigration and optimize the ICT eco-systems here at home.

These goals were previously featured in Go Lean blogs/commentaries, as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6341	Tourism Digital Marketing & Stewardship — What’s Next?
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6269	Education & Economics: Lessons from Detroit
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6151	3D Printing: Here Comes Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3974	Google and Mobile Phones – Here comes Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3915	‘Change the way you see the world; you change the world you see’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3490	How One Internet Entrepreneur Can Rally a Whole Community
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2126	Where the Jobs Are – Computers Reshaping Global Job Market
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1698	STEM Jobs Are Filling Slowly
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1416	Amazon – A Role Model for Caribbean Logistics
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1277	The need for highway safety innovations – here comes Google
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=476	CARICOM Urged on ICT
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=308	CARCIP Urges Greater Innovation

The Go Lean book focuses primarily on economic issues, and it recognizes that computer technology is the future direction for industrial developments. (See the foregoing VIDEO). This is where the jobs are to be found. The Go Lean roadmap describes the heavy-lifting for people, organizations and governments to forge these innovations here at home in the Caribbean. Clearly philanthropic organizations, Not-For-Profit charities, foundations and NGO’s are also stakeholders for the effort to make the Caribbean better.

So the Go Lean roadmap invites NGO’s to impact the Caribbean – to plant seeds – according to their charters. We are open to ask for their help. But we assure these benefactors that their help is really an investment. Our young people have the will, passion and integrity to grow the seeds into fine fruit.

We want more … such organizations. We will be pursuing other NGO’s … especially for the under-represented female population, such as:

Black Girls Code – Their Vision: To increase the number of women of color in the digital space by empowering girls of color ages 7 to 17 to become innovators in STEM fields, leaders in their communities, and builders of their own futures through exposure to computer science and technology.

Women in Technology – A premier professional association for women in the technology industry, we understand the unique challenges you face. No matter where you are in your professional development, or what technology-related field you’re in, our community offers a broad range of support, programs and resources to advance women in technology from the classroom to the boardroom.

Women in STEM – The Office of Science and Technology Policy, in collaboration with the White House Council on Women and Girls, is dedicated to increasing the participation of women and girls — as well as other underrepresented groups — in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics by increasing the engagement of girls with STEM subjects in formal and informal environments, encouraging mentoring to support women throughout their academic and professional experiences, and supporting efforts to retain women in the STEM workforce.

This is an invitation to the world to help us help ourselves. It is not just a dream. This is a conceivable, believable and achievable business plan. With the right commitment of time, talent and treasuries from domestic and foreign sources, we can succeed in making the region a better place to live, work, learn and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Farewell to ‘Sábado Gigante’

Posted on September 14, 2015 in Ethos, Industries, Social

Go Lean Commentary

All good things come to an end!

As for the long-running Variety Show, ‘Sábado Gigante’, on the Spanish-language TV-network Univision, it is not “all good things”, its “Gigante” things.

Yes, the 53-year run is finally coming to an end.

This milestone deserves our consideration, as the Agents of Change for this iconic television show are the same factors identified as Agents of Change for Caribbean life in the book, Go Lean…Caribbean. They are identified as follows:

Technology
Globalization
Aging Diaspora

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). While this roadmap’s quest is economic empowerment, it clearly recognizes that music, dance and culture can play a key role in the elevation of any community. The Spanish-speaking Caribbean constitutes 59% of the population of the Caribbean region (see Appendix), and this community has loved ‘Sábado Gigante’, so this consideration is “muy importante”!

See the story here of the upcoming final broadcast of this Latin television mainstay:

Title: Farewell to “Sábado Gigante”
Miami, FL – September 14, 2015 – “Sábado Gigante” is a Spanish language TV phenomenon that has entertained audiences for decades, both in Latin America and here in the United States. This morning, Mo Rocca will show us:

If you like acrobats, animal acts, beautiful dancing girls, Zumba exhibitions, game show contests, talk show tears, and pretty much anything else under sun, “Sábado Gigante” is the show for you. It’s a variety show on steroids

“Sábado Gigante” (Spanish for Gigantic Saturday) airs every Saturday for three hours, and is watched by millions of people in the U.S. and in 40 countries around the world.

Fans wait in lines for hours in the Miami heat to be in the audience of this legendary broadcast. One woman drove four hours to attend. Big fan? “Yeah, we’ve been watching it since we were in diapers!” she laughed.

And the main reason for its gigante success? Don Francisco, the impresario, pitchman and ringleader of the “Sábado” circus. He’s been hosting the show for 53 years (that’s a world record).

In all that time, he’s missed only one Saturday, when his mother died in 1974. There’s never even been a rerun.

Rocca asked, “Who taught you to work so hard?”

“Maybe my father,” said Don Francisco, whose real name is Mario Luis Kreutzberger. He’s a 74-year-old Chilean-born son of refugees from Germany.

“They were German Jews,” he said. “And they fled during the Second World War, during the Holocaust, to Chile. Not because they choose Chile. That was the only option that they had.

“I was a kid in the middle of the war — even in my country, in Chile, half of the population, they were with the Germans. It was not easy to grow up in an environment like this.”

To make friends he’d have to be more like, well, a TV host. “I found an opportunity making jokes, doing shows for the school. And I was soon accepted by the majority.”

But after high school, he was sent by his father, a tailor, to New York City to learn the family trade. “I came in 1959. I was 19 years old. And I had only maybe 20 words in English.”

But it wasn’t the New York fashions that turned his head; it was that new-fangled contraption in his hotel room: The television. “When I put it on, I was amazed. That was a radio that you [were] able to see and to listen at the same time. That was my first contact with television. I said to myself, ‘My father’s wrong; I’m learning something that is before yesterday; this will be the future.'”

He returned to Chile determined, and in 1962 convinced a reluctant station manager to give him one hour of airtime on a Saturday. “Sábado Gigante” ran from 7:00 to 8:00. “Then he gave me from 6:00 to 8:00, 5:00 to 8:00, 4:00 to 8:00, 3:00 to 8:00, 2:00 to 8:00, 1:00 to 9:00. Eight hours, live, during 22 years,” Francisco said.

So, Rocca asked, “When did you go to the bathroom?”

“During the commercials. I was fast at that time, when I went to the bathroom!”

In 1986 Univision, the network that airs “Sábado Gigante,” moved the show’s production to Miami, the gateway to Latin America. And the show itself became a gateway to a mass Latin audience for future superstars like Shakira, Enrique Iglesias, even U.S. presidents — all of them courting an audience that’s muy importante.

This son of German immigrants may be the most recognizable face in all of Latin America. Just take a walk with Don Francisco through Miami’s Bayside Market, where he is mobbed by fans from many countries, and you’ll get a sense of how far his reach extends.

One woman from Cuba asked Francisco why he was leaving “Sábado Gigante.” He replied, “I’m getting old.”

“You are not old!” she retorted. “Don’t leave the program!”

“Sábado Gigante” is ending its run next Saturday. Over the last few seasons the show’s ratings with younger viewers have fallen precipitously.

Still, as Rocca found out as a recent guest on the program, it’s hard not to get caught up in the excitement of the loud, brash, flamboyant “Sábado Gigante”:

Rocca: “¡Cincuenta y tres años! Más que David Letterman. Más que Johnny Carson. Más que Jack Paar. ¡Usted es el rey de entretenimiento!”

Others have been called the King of Entertainment, but none has matched the reign of Don Francisco.

Source: Sunday Morning – CBS News Sunday Magazine; retrieved 09-14-2015 from: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/farewell-to-sabado-gigante/

———

Video Link: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/the-historic-run-of-sabado-gigante-comes-to-an-end

(VIDEO plays best in Internet Explorer).

This show has never been a paid-program; it has always been on free broadcast TV; (notwithstanding cable/satellite subscribers paying for the utility). It has always been paid for by the advertisers.

But show-business has changed. Television has changed…

… most TV shows are available online; plus there is now time-shifted viewing (DVR) and on-demand platforms offering an alphabetical menu of shows.

This Internet-Communications-Technology (ICT) driven Agent of Change is what impacts ‘Sábado Gigante’, and what impacts the Caribbean. The changing TV landscape affects the Caribbean region as well, or at least it should. The CU roadmap has 3 prime directives:

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

The ‘Sábado Gigante’ show has only had one host during its 53-year run. Don Francisco (Mario Luis Kreutzberger) is now 74 years old. Much of his audience has aged with him. This refers to the populations in Latin America and the Diaspora population residing in the US. The foregoing article refers to a definite declining youth dynamics of the show. The host has aged; the audience has aged; and there are less of them.

This is a bad formula for ad-supported television. The end has come, as advertisers seek a younger audience.

The CU/Go Lean roadmap recognizes the gravity of Latin music/entertainment to this region; and the dynamics of an emerging youth population. These demographics cannot be ignored by the planners of a new integrated Caribbean; (see Appendix).

The Go Lean book posits that while economics, security and governance are all important for the sustenance of Caribbean life, pursuits like art, culture, music, dance, and beauty are the reasons we want to live. “Work” is important in this roadmap, but so is “Play”. As we say farewell to ‘Sábado Gigante’, we also say farewell to Don Francisco. We salute him for a job – and life course – well done! We recognize him as a promoter of the arts, entrepreneur, industrialist and advocate for Latin culture. Don Francisco is hereby applauded as a role model that the rest of Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Diaspora community can emulate. He has provided a successful track record of forging change, overcoming incredible odds, managing crises to successful conclusions and paying forward to benefit the next generation.

In terms of the future, the Go Lean book asserts that there is plenty of talent in the Caribbean. The genius qualifiers of many Caribbean men and women are already heightened; and there is a built-in audience to consume the appreciation of this talent. The goal now is foster the local eco-system in the homeland so as to optimize the media industries ourselves; for us and by us. If we continue to fail at this endeavor, we would continue to be faced with this harsh reality: those with talent would have to flee the region to garner the business returns on their artistic investments. Thusly, this Go Lean economic empowerment roadmap strategizes to create a Single Media Market to leverage the value of broadcast rights for the entire region, utilizing all the advantages of cutting edge ICT offerings. The result: an audience of 42 million people across 30 member-states and 4 languages, facilitating television, cable, satellite and internet streaming wherever economically viable.

Early in the book, the benefits of media and technology empowerment is pronounced in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 13 & 14), with these opening statements:

xiii. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. The Federation must recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

xiv. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

xv. Whereas intellectual property can easily traverse national borders, the rights and privileges of intellectual property must be respected at home and abroad. The Federation must install protections to ensure that no abuse of these rights go with impunity, and to ensure that foreign authorities enforce the rights of the intellectual property registered in our region.

xxii. Whereas the heritage of our lands share the distinction of cultural tutelage from European and American imperialists that forged their tongues upon our consciousness, it is imperative to form a society that is neutral and tolerant of the mother tongue influences of our people to foster efficient and effective communications among our citizens.

xxxii. Whereas the cultural arts and music of the region are germane to the quality of Caribbean life, and the international appreciation of Caribbean life, the Federation must implement the support systems to teach, encourage, incentivize, monetize and promote the related industries for arts and music in domestic and foreign markets. These endeavors will make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play.

The region has the eco-system of free broadcast television, and the infrastructure for internet streaming. So the issues being considered regarding the ‘Sábado Gigante’ finale have bearing in the execution of this roadmap.

The Go Lean roadmap was constructed with the community ethos in mind to forge change and build up the communities around the music/entertainment industry, plus the execution of related strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to make the change permanent. The following is a sample of these specific details from the book:

Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways	Page 21
Community Ethos – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius – Abundance of Talent	Page 27
Community Ethos – Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness – Appreciation of the Arts	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategic – Vision – Consolidating All Caribbean Region in to a Single Market	Page 45
Strategic – Staffing – Music/Sporting Events at Fairgrounds	Page 55
Strategy – Agents of Change – Technology	Page 57
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization	Page 57
Strategy – Agents of Change – Aging Diaspora	Page 57
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Culture & Sports Administration	Page 81
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Fairgrounds Administration	Page 83
Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities (Fairgrounds)	Page 105
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – #5 Four Languages in Unison / #8 Cyber Caribbean	Page 127
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 Impact Events	Page 191
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Fairgrounds	Page 192
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology – Intellectual Property Protections	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Hollywood – And the Media Industries	Page 203
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Diaspora – Media Consumption	Page 217
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage – Media Priorities	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Improve the Arts – Respect for Intellectual Property	Page 230
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Music	Page 231
Appendix – Caribbean Musical Genres – 169 in the 30 Member-States	Page 347

This commentary previously featured subjects related to developing the eco-systems of the music/entertainment business, as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6022	Music Role Model ‘Ya Tafari’ – Celebrating in the Diaspora
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5648	Music Role Model Taylor Swift Wields Benevolent Influence
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4019	Watch the Super Bowl … Commercials
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3999	Breaking New Ground in the Changing Show-business Eco-System
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3641	‘We Built This City on ‘ …Show-business
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3568	Forging Change: Music Moves People
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3244	Media Role Model – Broadcasting/Internet Streaming: espnW.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2171	Sports/Entertainment Role Model – Turn On the SEC Network
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1092	Aereo – Model for the Future of TV Blending with the Internet
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273	10 Things We Want from the US – # 9: Optimized Media Arts

Saturday September 19 will be the final broadcast of the show. ‘Sábado Gigante’ will be “Muy Mas Gigante”. According to the Music/Entertainment industry iconic magazine/e-Zine “Billboard”, major Latin music stars are confirmed for participation:

Title: ‘Sabado Gigante’ Final Episode: Shakira, Enrique Iglesias, Paulina Rubio, Daddy Yankee & More Stars Confirmed
The network confirmed to Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter exclusively that the lineup of talent for the finale includes global superstar Shakira, Spanish heartthrob Enrique Iglesias, Colombian rocker Juanes, Mexican pop diva Paulina Rubio, Italian pop singer Laura Pausini, Latin urban king Daddy Yankee, salsa icon Marc Anthony, regional Mexican acts Espinoza Paz and Intocable, pop balladeer Luis Fonsi, bachata idol Prince Royce and the original crossover queen, Gloria Estefan. Their participation will be a mix of live performances and other surprises, the details of which will be revealed by Univision in the coming days.

The Go Lean book focuses primarily on economic issues, but it recognizes that music, dance and culture (indicative of a Variety Show) can build up a community, nation and region. So the quest to re-build, re-boot and re-tool the Caribbean must include dance, music and variety entertainment. This is remindful of the following movie quotation from V for Vendetta (2005).

Hero Character named “V”: Would you… dance with me?
Evey Hammond (Female Lead Character): Now? On the eve of your revolution?
V: A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having!
(Source: V for Vendata 1 of 126 notable quotations).

The Go Lean roadmap describes the heavy-lifting activities for the many people, organizations and governments to accomplish this goal of elevating the Caribbean … through economics … and song-and-dance.

This goal is conceivable, believable and achievable. Yes, we can make the region a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

——-

Appendix – Population of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean

Cuba*	11,236,444
Dominican Republic	9,523,209
Puerto Rico	3,994,259
Total Spanish Caribbean	24,753,912
All Caribbean Region	42,198,874
Percentile	58.66%

* While broadcast to Cuba may be blocked at present, the status quo of US-Cuban relations is changing daily.

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