Ethos – Page 41 – Go Lean…Caribbean

Category: Ethos

‘Concussions’ – The Movie; The Cause

Posted on August 31, 2015 in Economics, Ethos, Industries, Social

Go Lean Commentary

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

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

“They own an entire day of the week”.

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

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

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

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

Socio-Economic Impact Analysis of [Football] Sports Stadiums

Watch the Super Bowl … Commercials

Levi’s® NFL Stadium: A Team Effort

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

Sports Role Model – Turn On the SEC Network

Collegiate Sports in the Caribbean – Model of NCAA

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

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

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

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

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

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

See news article here on the release of the movie:

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

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

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

1 – It’s Based on a True Story

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

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

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

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

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

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

3 – Smith Is a Reluctant Hero

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

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

4 – Alec Baldwin and Luke Wilson

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

5 – “Tell the Truth”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RIP Junior Seau.

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

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

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

Uploaded on Jan 28, 2019 – Official Music Video

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Lesson from Japan: Aging Populations

Posted on August 27, 2015 in Economics, Ethos, Planning, Social, Tactical

Go Lean Commentary

The Bible says “to honor your father and mother so that your days may be long” – Exodus 20:12. This is presented in one of the 10 Commandments as a law and a promise. This is best explained at Ephesians 6: 1-3 (New International Version or NIV):

¹ Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER (which is the first commandment with a promise), ³ SO THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH YOU, AND THAT YOU MAY LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH …

So caring for aging parents brings honor to them and to us. Some places do a better job of this than others. One such example is Japan.

There are around 55,000 centenarians in Japan

This purpose of this commentary is to highlight the currency of this serious issue. The book Go Lean … Caribbean calls for the elevation of the economic, security and governing engines in the Caribbean region. The end-result is not just on societal engines, but also on people; in this case, the elderly. This Go Lean book is not a public health guide for gerontology, to enjoy optimum treatment towards our seniors, but rather a roadmap for impacting change in our community. This news article on the experiences in Japan is presented here; also consider a related story in the AUDIO podcast below:

Title: Japan is home to the world’s oldest population — and the world’s oldest man
By: Daniel Gross, Audrey Adam

The world’s oldest man lives in the country with the world’s oldest population. Yasutaro Koide is 112 years old and was just recognized by Guiness World Records as oldest man on Earth.

Japan’s remarkable longevity is cause for celebration. But it’s also creating challenges for a government dealing with a population that keeps getting older.

According to Naoko Muramatsu, a scientist who studies Japan’s aging population at the University of Illinois, Chicago, one-quarter of the country’s residents are already above 65.

There are many costs associated with an aging population, starting with the familiar challenges of social security and health care. But there’s also the cost of an odd Japanese tradition: giving a silver sake dish to centenarians, or people who reach 100 years of age.

Thanks to a new decision by the Japanese government, that practice — which is currently government-funded — may end soon. They say the total cost of the dishes, which are about $60 each, is simply too high. There are around 55,000 centenarians in Japan, according to 2013 statistics.

Muramatsu says there are several reasons that help explain the age of Japan’s population. “Life expectancy in Japan is the highest in the world,” she points out. “People try to eat well, try to do exercise well.”

Another reason is that ever since a brief postwar baby boom, Japan’s birth rate has remained extremely low. A aging baby from that baby boom will turn 65 soon, and many haven’t had very many children, or any at all — leaving more seniors living alone or in nursing homes.

Japan has started to respond to the challenge. In 2000, Japan started long-term care insurance. “You start paying into the system at the age of 40,” says Muramatsu. “And at the age of 65, you’re entitled to receive long-term care, homecare or nursing home care.”

Muramatsu has a personal connection to the study of aging. She remembers that during her childhood, her mother looked after both the older and younger generations. But the tradition of caregiving has been transformed by Japan’s new demographics.

When Muramatsu’s father died a few years ago, she saw first-hand some of the challenges of growing old in Japan. “In Japan, cremation is the custom,” she explains. But cremation has become difficult in cities whose populations spiked in the postwar years. Many elderly people haven’t left urban areas, which means the death rate has risen. “I couldn’t reserve a cremation facility for my father, in the city that we live in.”

Those sorts of challenges may take decades to overcome. But with them come the fact that in Japan, women can expect to live almost 90 years. And Men live well past 80, on average.

And if they’re like Yasutaro Koide, they might even live to 112.

Source: “The World” by Public Radio International; posted August 21, 2015; retrieved 08-23-2015 from: http://kosu.org/post/japan-home-worlds-oldest-population-and-worlds-oldest-man#stream/0

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AUDIO – “The Challenges Posed by an Aging Global Population” – http://n.pr/1IqdCHV

Uploaded on June 22, 2015 – One-fifth of the U.S. population will be 65 or older in 15 years. NPR’s Ina Jaffe talks with NPR’s Scott Simon about the aging of the population worldwide and the challenges it presents.

The book and previous blog/commentaries posit that socio- economic factors must be accounted for in the roadmap to optimize and improve this society. In fact, the book lists 144 missions for the imminent Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU); one of them is an advocacy for improved Elder-Care. This is identified on Page 225 under the title:

10 Ways to Improve Elder-Care … in the Caribbean Region

The Go Lean book posits that there is a deficiency in the regional institutions for caring, supporting and planning for the elderly. How do we go about improving on the Social Contract for the senior citizens in our community? What happens if/when we are successful for elevating life for our seniors?

The Go Lean book answers the “how”; it serves as a roadmap for introducing and implementing the CU. In its scope, it features the curative measures for the exact societal deficiencies, highlighted by the CU’s prime directives, 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 and mitigate challenges/threats to ensure public safety for the region’s stakeholders, including the elderly.
Improvement of Caribbean governance, including a separation-of-powers with member-states, to support these economic/security engines.

Where as the book addresses the “how”, this commentary features the “when” for succeeding in the improvement of the lives and longevity of the elderly population of the Caribbean. When people live longer, there is a dramatic effect on the socio-economics of a community. This is the lesson from Japan.

In Japan, the improvements in the societal engines (economics, security and governance) have resulted in improved livelihood and longevity for their people. This has resulted in demographic shifts: there are more senior citizens, more centenarians, compared to the rest of the population.

The problem:

Seniors do not work; nor contribute to the public “pools”; they only draw from it. Too many “takers”, compared to the “givers” is bad economics. So while we love our elderly, we must also prepare for the reality of their longevity.

From the Caribbean perspective there is another reality: societal abandonment of the younger generations – this Go Lean movement has fully defined the excessive abandonment rates in the 70% to 90% range for the college-educated populations in the region. This has the same negative effects on the public “pools”: the numbers of the “givers” shrink, while the proportion of the “takers” remains static, or worse, increase.

It is what it is!

This is a matter of heavy-lifting. Serious solutions must be sought to mitigate the risks of communities getting this challenge wrong. In a previous commentary, the socio-economic issues associated with the rising number of seniors in society were fully explored; the dread of elderly suicides was detailed.

The Go Lean roadmap does not ignore the needs of the elderly, nor the actuarial realities being contended in the region. Rather, the roadmap calls for mitigations to dissuade further emigration and also the inducements for the Caribbean Diaspora to return – back to the homeland – and bring their hard-earned entitlements with them. The CU organization structure features the establishment of regional sentinels and advocacy groups to intervene on behalf of local seniors to optimize their benefits from any foreign programs they may have previously participated in. These SME’s will work for the CU’s Special Liaison Group at the CU’s Headquarters or in Trade Mission Offices.

This Win-Win scenario is a prominent feature in the US, with lawyers advocating for Social Security benefits for their clients, for a fee; see this sample Advertisement from a Detroit-area law firm. For stakeholders of the CU, there is no need to pay this fee – normally extracted from future benefits – as the CU Subject Matter Experts (SME) will advocate for the Aging Diaspora returning to the Caribbean. (The Go Lean roadmap calls for funding law degrees for students but binding their services for a few years to impact their communities, as in working for this advocacy).

This is a classic example of the field of socio-economics. The goal of any socio-economic study is generally to bring about socio-economic development, usually by improvements in metrics such as GDP, life expectancy, literacy, levels of employment, etc. In many cases, socio-economists focus on the social impact of some sort of economic change. But this is about more than just numbers, this is about people.

The Go Lean … Caribbean roadmap constitutes a change for the region, a plan to consolidate 30 member-states into a Trade Federation with the tools/techniques to bring immediate change to the region to benefit many stakeholders. The book details the community ethos that must be adopted plus the executions of the following strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to prepare for an aging society … in the Caribbean; see a sample list here:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Repatriating Caribbean Diaspora & Entitlements	Page 47
Strategy – Non-Government Organizations	Page 48
Strategy – Agents of Change – Aging Diaspora	Page 57
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Growing the Economy – Lessons from Japan	Page 69
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Department of State – Special Liaison Groups	Page 80
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Department of Health	Page 86
Implementation – Assemble all Member-States	Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Trade Mission Office Objectives	Page 117
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate	Page 118
Planning – Lessons Learned from 2008	Page 136
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 133
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Healthcare	Page 156
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Entitlements	Page 158
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Education – Brain Drain Case	Page 159
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Student Loans – Forgive-able	Page 160
Advocacy – Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Impact the Diaspora	Page 217
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Retirement	Page 221
Advocacy – Ways to Help the Middle Class	Page 223
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Elder-Care	Page 225
Appendix – Disease Management – Healthways Model	Page 300

This Go Lean book asserts that there is a direct correlation of population growth/contraction with the economy. This viewpoint has been previously detailed in Go Lean blog/commentaries, as sampled here:

Bad Model: Pressed by Debt Crisis, Doctors Leave Greece in Droves

Demographic Trend: Immigrants account for 1 in 11 Blacks in USA

Businesses Try to Stave-off Brain Drain as Boomers Retire

Retirement Planning – Getting Rich Slowly … in the Caribbean

Book Review: ‘Chasing Youth Culture and Getting It Right’

Having Less Babies is Bad for the Economy

10 Things We Don’t Want from the US: # 8 Senior Abandonment

As this commentary opened with a Biblical quotation, it is even more fitting to conclude with one, a Proverb, as follows:

The glory of young men is their strength, [but] gray hair [is] the splendor of the old. – Proverbs 20:29 NIV.

Without a doubt, there is value to keeping senior citizens around in our communities; their “grey hair” – poetic for wisdom – is greatly valued … and needed. As a society, we have made too many mistakes, that with some far-sighted wisdom and best-practice adherence, we could have done better and been better.

We must turn-around, reboot and prepare!

We must listen to the wisdom of the experienced/wise ones. They can help us to make our homelands better places to live, work, and play – for all: young and old. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean…Caribbean now!

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3D Printing: Here Comes Change

Posted on August 12, 2015 in Ethos, Implementation, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

Quick survey: 30 years ago – 1985 – did you have a smartphone or did you envision a smartphone – with such processing power, functionality and storage – being available to carry around in your pocket?

If your answer to this question is ”No”, then congratulations, you are an ordinary everyday “man/woman on the street”. You, like most people, didn’t envision that this technology would change “us” so dynamically that it would transform our lives and render obsolete, so many ordinary appliances (and industries); think: camera, watch, pager, map, address book, calculator, books, and more.

Take note:

This transformative change is about to happen again!

An acute transformation – major change in a short period of time – is about to occur again. This time with 3D Printing. This change will affect the fabrication of so many ‘chattel’ goods. Imagine fabricating your own car!

Consider first, what 3D Printing refers to:

3D Printing (also called additive manufacturing) is any of various processes used to make a three-dimensional object.^[1] In 3D printing, additive processes are used, in which successive layers of material are laid down under computer control.^[2] These objects can be of almost any shape or geometry, and are produced from a 3D model or other electronic data source. A 3D Printer is a type of industrial robot.
3D Printing in the term’s original sense refers to processes that sequentially deposit material onto a powder bed with inkjet printer heads. More recently the meaning of the term has expanded to encompass a wider variety of techniques such as extrusion and sintering based processes. Technical standards generally use the term additive manufacturing for this broader sense. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing)

This VIDEO here depicts a simple 3D Printing demonstration:

VIDEO – Timelapse of Hyperboloid Print – https://youtu.be/1213kMys6e8
Time-lapse video of a hyperboloid object made of Polylactic Acid (PLA) using a RepRap “Prusa Mendel” 3 printer for molten polymer deposition.

The hypothesis in this commentary is not just theoretical; this acute transformation is happening in real life. Consider this story/VIDEO here of an actual car being made using the 3D Printing process (assembly methods and sourcing):

VIDEO – The First 3D-Printed Supercar – https://youtu.be/o8wFs1aipaE

Published on Jun 24, 2015 – Meet Blade – a super-light sports car with a 3D printed chassis, designed as an alternative to traditional car manufacturing. Through 3D printing, entrepreneur Kevin Czinger has developed a radical new way to build cars with a much lighter footprint.
Read More On Forbes: http://onforb.es/1fBjCqt

Traditionally, fabrication methodologies involve subtraction. This strategy calls for starting with a block/lump of raw material (wood, stone, etc.) and cutting away excess materials to keep the desired structure. The alternate fabrication methodology involves molding pliable materials (iron/steel/aluminum) to a desired shape. 3D Printing or additive manufacturing (AM) is a game-changer! As the name suggests, the approach is to add, build up to the design/mold that is intended. The encyclopedic reference continues:

The umbrella term additive manufacturing gained wider currency in the decade of the 2000’s^[12] as the various additive processes matured and it became clear that soon metal removal would no longer be the only metalworking process done under that type of control (a tool or head moving through a 3D work envelope transforming a mass of raw material into a desired shape layer by layer). It was during this decade that the term subtractive manufacturing appeared as a retronym (new name) for the large family of machining processes with metal removal as their common theme. However, at the time, the term 3D Printing still referred only to the polymer technologies in most minds, and the term AM was likelier to be used in metalworking contexts than among polymer/inkjet/stereolithography enthusiasts. The term subtractive has not replaced the term machining, instead complementing it when a term that covers any removal method is needed.

Based on the above descriptions, the term Printer is only vaguely similar to traditional printing of ink on to paper. The similar movement of inkjet print heads versus the “head” movement of 3D Printers is what dominates the branding, and thus for the foreseeable future, the fabrication devices would probably be called “printers”, for both industrial and consumer uses; (see Appendix – 3D Printers).

The new reality of 3D Printing is now changing business models. Imagine distributed manufacturing where the additive manufacturing process would be combined with cloud computing technologies to allow for decentralized and geographically independent distributed production.^[74] For example, make a car, with parts sourced from different locations by different 3D Printers. Under this new scheme, the creation of chattel goods will be a product of intellectual property.

The future is exciting!

Here comes change! Consider the governmental consequences:

If Caribbean governments depend on ‘Customs Duties’ of manufactured goods for a revenue source, they are hereby put on notice that this revenue stream will dry up. In many countries, (the Bahamas for example), the duty rates for automobiles are on a sliding scale from the high of 85% down to 55%. With an average costs of US$25,000, that is a lot of lost revenue for a member-state to adjust to.

The future is scary!

The book Go Lean…Caribbean focuses heavily on the future, and how to manage, monitor, and mitigate the changes (good and bad) that the future will bring. This acute transformation of 3D Printing is a good model of the type of innovation the Go Lean book anticipates. The book posits that the Caribbean region must not only be on the consuming end of these developments; we must create, develop and contribute to the innovations. This means jobs!

The job-creating initiatives start by fostering genius in Caribbean stakeholders who demonstrate competence in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). This will eventually apply to government revenue officials, but initially the focus will be more on the youth markets, as these ones adapt more readily to acute transformations.

This vision was pronounced early in the book with these statements in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 14) about the need for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation:

xiv. Whereas government services cannot be delivered without the appropriate funding mechanisms, “new guards” must be incorporated to assess, accrue, calculate and collect revenues, fees and other income sources for the Federation and member-states. The Federation can spur government revenues directly through cross-border services and indirectly by fostering industries and economic activities not possible without this Union.

xxii. 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.

xxviii. 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.

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 serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of this Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), a technocratic federal government to administer and optimize the region’s eco-systems. In fact the book identifies the prime directives of the CU with these 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.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The CU strives to elevate all of Caribbean society and culture. A recommended community ethos for the region to adapt, “Return on Investments” (Page 24). This calls for embedding incentives and inducements to encourage students and apprenticeships in these STEM fields. These incentives can resemble forgive-able student loans, on-the-job training employment contracts, paid internships, signing bonuses, etc. This ethos also translates into governing principles for CU-sponsored business incubators, R&D initiatives, grants, entrepreneurship programs and the regional implementation of Self-Governing Entities (SGE).

The book estimates that the technology job-creating effect can amount to 64,000 new direct and indirect technology/software jobs in the region. This is just one ethos. The Go Lean roadmap was constructed with more community ethos in mind to forge change and build anticipation and excitement for technological transformative changes. The book lists the following samples, plus the execution of related strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies:

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 – 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 Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate 30 Member-States	Page 45
Strategy – Vision – Invite Diaspora Back to the Caribbean Homeland	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
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities	Page 105
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
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 – Managing Changes of e-Government & e-Delivery	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce	Page 198
Advocacy – Ways to Develop the Automobile Industry	Page 206
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Youth	Page 227
Appendix – CU Job Creations	Page 257

This Go Lean roadmap calls for the heavy-lifting to transform Caribbean society. As conveyed in the foregoing VIDEOs, technological change is coming anyway; consider the imagery of a freight train coming down the track, the force and momentum cannot be stopped. The roadmap advocates getting ahead of the change, to shepherd and navigate important aspects of Caribbean life through these “seas of change”. These goals were previously featured in Go Lean blogs/commentaries, as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5435	China Internet Policing – Model for Transforming the Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5376	Drones to be used to Transform Insurance Damage Claims
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5155	Transformative Tesla unveils super-battery to power homes
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5034	Patents: The Guardians of Innovation
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4381	Net Neutrality – This Matters … For Transformation & Innovation
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=3187	Robots help Amazon tackle Cyber Monday
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2953	Funding Caribbean Entrepreneurs – The ‘Crowdfunding’ Way
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2126	Where the Jobs Are – Computers Reshaping Global Job Market
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1698	Where the Jobs Are – STEM Jobs Are Filling Slowly
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1487	Here come the Drones … and the Concerns
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1416	Amazon’s new FIRE Smartphone
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=308	CARCIP Urges Greater Innovation

The Go Lean book focuses primarily on economic issues, and it recognizes that computer hardware and software like 3D Printing systems – as portrayed in the foregoing VIDEOs – are the future direction for industrial developments. 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. The Caribbean consumes manufactured goods now. What an acute transformation that much of the manufacturing maybe here at “home”; not just in the homeland, but also in home garages, family rooms and study desks.

Do-It-Yourself manufacturing may be a reality! (See Appendix of 3D Printed Perpetual Engine).

Is this science fiction? (Consider a “Replicator” on the Starship Enterprise).

No, this is now! This is conceivable, believable and achievable; consider the foregoing VIDEOs. The Go Lean book offers the turn-by-turn directions for strategies, tactics and implementations so that our communities may not only be consuming these innovations, but be innovators as well. With the right commitment of time, talent and treasuries, we can forge our own future of inclusion and progress. 🙂

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

———–

Appendix VIDEO – 3D Printed Motor Runs Almost Like a Perpetual Machine – https://youtu.be/6m73MaNoSIM

Published on Jan 3, 2015 – This is a 3D printed EZ Spin Motor. It turned out being a very clean and nice running build. I also explain how to properly wire up an EZ Spin Motor. This thing would run for a very long time on a 5v super capacitor.
LaserSaber online store at: http://teslamaker.com/

———–

Appendix – 3D Printers

Industrial Use

As of May 2011, the company Ultimaker now sells additive manufacturing systems that range from $1,300 to $2,750 in price and are employed in several industries: aerospace, architecture, automotive, defense, and medical replacements, among many others. For example, General Electric uses the high-end model to build parts for turbines.^[41]

Consumer Use

Several projects and companies are making efforts to develop affordable 3D printers for home desktop use. Much of this work has been driven by and targeted at Do-It-Yourself-(DIY)/enthusiast/early_adopter communities, with additional ties to the academic and hacker communities.^[42]

RepRap is one of the longest running projects in the desktop category. The RepRap project aims to produce a free and open source hardware (FOSH) 3D printer, whose full specifications are released under the GNU General Public License, and which is capable of replicating itself by printing many of its own (plastic) parts to create more machines.^[43][44] RepRaps have already been shown to be able to print circuit boards^[45] and metal parts.^[46][47]

Because of the FOSH aims of RepRap, many related projects have used their design for inspiration, creating an ecosystem of related or derivative 3D printers, most of which are also open source designs…

The cost of 3D printers has decreased dramatically since about 2010, with machines that used to cost $20,000 now costing less than $1,000.^[50] For instance, as of 2013, several companies and individuals are selling parts to build various RepRap designs, with prices starting at about €400 / US$500.^[51] The open source Fab@Home project^[52] has developed printers for general use with anything that can be squirted through a nozzle, from chocolate to silicone sealant and chemical reactants. Printers following the project’s designs have been available from suppliers in kits or in pre-assembled form since 2012 at prices in the US$2000 range.^[51] The Kickstarter funded Peachy Printer is designed to cost $100^[53] and several other new 3D printers are aimed at the small, inexpensive market including the mUVe3D and Lumifold. Rapide 3D has designed a professional grade crowdsourced 3D-printer costing $1499 which has no fumes nor constant rattle during use.^[54] The 3Doodler, “3D printing pen”, raised $2.3 million on Kickstarter with the pens selling at $99,^[55] though the 3D Doodler has been criticised for being more of a crafting pen than a 3D printer.^[56]

As the costs of 3D printers have come down they are becoming more appealing financially to use for self-manufacturing of personal products.^[57] In addition, 3D printing products at home may reduce the environmental impacts of manufacturing by reducing material use and distribution impacts.^[58]

(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing)

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Innovative Partnership Aids Farm Workers

Posted on August 11, 2015 in Ethos, Government, Implementation, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

“We used to own our slaves, now we just rent them” – Quotation from a farmer in 1960 CBS Documentary

This reminds us of a common expression:

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

In the landmark 1960 Documentary by famed TV Journalist Edward R. Morrow, the conclusion was that American Agricultural Interest would always seek some scheme for cheap labor. That even though slavery had been abolished for 100 years, there were still labor practices that were tantamount to modern-day slavery.

So sad! American society hadn’t reformed.

How about now, 55 years later?

Truthfully, despite this innovative partnership here to aid farm workers, there has only been small progress forward for a journey of thousands of miles. Just consider this latest CBS News story/VIDEO here:

VIDEO – CBS News – Posted 08-09-2015; retrieved 08-11-2015 from: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/innovative-partnership-aids-farm-workers/

August 9, 2015 – For decades, the tomato farms in South Florida have been known for their awful working conditions, but things are changing thanks to some unlikely partners. Mark Strassmann reports on how a coalition of migrant farm workers and some of the nation’s biggest tomato buyers are helping improve working conditions and raise pay. (VIDEO plays best in Internet Explorer).

Welcome to the America of 1865, 1960 and 2015.

Only now after decades, American society is finally reporting progress for the conditions of migrant farm workers. Too little, too late!

Perhaps the American shores should not be the destination for Latin American Migrant Farm Labor. This is definitely the position of the book Go Lean … Caribbean. The publishers of the Go Lean book campaign that it would be better for Caribbean citizens (subset of Latin America) to remain in their homeland and work to remediate conditions there, than to migrate to American destinations looking for better labor options. (Previously the same futility had been detailed regarding a Jamaican-Canadian Labor Exchange program). Considering the statistics and anecdotal evidence in the foregoing VIDEO, these 2 conclusions appear indisputable:

Crony Capitalism – America has a disease where much of its public policy is set based on some special/private interest benefiting from public resources. This is Crony Capitalism and it is defined as public interest being hijacked for private gain.
Institutional Racism – Racial discrimination still permeates much of American society, though not always blatant. Statistics and anecdotes prove that so many aspects of American society disenfranchise the Black and Brown of this country.

Considering this reality, it is sad that the eco-systems of Caribbean society are failing so that now many Caribbean citizens still long for the opportunity to emigrate to the United States. There have been many that have taken to the seas on risky vessels to reach this land of their dreams. Many Caribbean member-states (St Vincent, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, etc.) have lost more than half of their populations to foreign shores. While others have lost more than 70 percent of their college educated populations. This situation is so impactful that now 1 out of 11 Black persons in the US is now of Caribbean (or African) descent, and these numbers are only expected to grow. This is a crisis for the Caribbean.

The reasons for this Caribbean crisis are identified as “push-and-pull”. Failures in our society are so acute that many feel compelled to seek their future abroad. While this is “push”, the “pull” refers to the propaganda and image that American life is better – the “place to be”.

Hopefully this commentary succeeds in dispelling this mis-information that life in the American Migrant Labor eco-system is better than enduring Caribbean society. This is one of the motives of this commentary; another motive is to highlight the success of Farm Labor Reform Advocates, in this case the #FairFoods movement; this innovative partnership to aid farm workers.

This cause and campaign is not unfamiliar to the Go Lean movement. The Go Lean book had identified another effective advocate in the farm labor movement: Cesar Chavez of the 1960’s/1970’s United Farm Workers Union movement. (In many ways, #FairFoods stands on the shoulders of the late-great Cesar Chavez). The book relates (Page 122) this summary of the historicity of Cesar Chavez:

Chavez (1927 – 1993) was an American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist, who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (later the United Farm Workers Union (UFW)). He became the best known Latino American civil rights activist, and was strongly promoted by the American labor movement, which was eager to enroll Hispanic members. His public-relations approach to unionism and aggressive but nonviolent tactics made the farm workers’ struggle a moral cause with nationwide support. By the 1970s, his tactics had forced growers to grant respect to migrant workers, and recognize the UFW as the bargaining agent for 50,000 field workers in California & Florida.

There is now new update on the national appreciation and societal impact of Cesar Chavez:

Chavez is buried at the National Chavez Center, on the headquarters campus of the United Farm Workers of America at 29700 Woodford-Tehachapi Road in the Keene community of unincorporated Kern County, California.^[36]^[37]He received belated full military honors from the US Navy at his graveside on April 23, 2015, the 22nd anniversary of his death.^[38]

The efforts of this commentary is not to reform America, but to reform the Caribbean. The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). While the branding Trade connotes economics, the roadmap also addresses labor and justice assurances. In fact, the Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines and the Caribbean homeland against abuse from “bad actors” in society.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between CU agencies and member-state governments.

The goal of the Go Lean roadmap therefore is to forge a better society, to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. By optimizing our justice and labor institutions, we would lower our own “push” factors. These requirements were pronounced at the outset of the Go Lean book, in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12) 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.

xxi. 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.

How can the Caribbean be different than the United States in the pursuit of labor justice?

The CU/Go Lean roadmap seeks to apply best-practices in labor regulations; we do not want to repeat America’s mistakes; we have enough “push” reasons to contend with already.

This review of American Farm Labor past-and-present also helps with the “pull factors. We see a more accurate portrayal of American values. The Go Lean book cites the historic example and abuses of the Peonage system that emerged in the Southern US after the Civil War (Page 211). It was obvious that many “bad actors” in American society wanted cheap labor even though slavery had just been outlawed in the country. With the realities of migrant farm workers and their need for civil rights, obviously, there remains factions in the American Agriculture eco-system that have not matured in their appreciation of the working classes. This class of people have still “not overcome”.

Welcome to America … a land of two destinations: richer or poorer.

To all those in the Caribbean desiring to emigrate to the US, we urge you to take heed: the “grass is not greener” on that other side! This point was highlighted in other Go Lean…Caribbean commentary, as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6089	American Jobs – Futility of Minimum Wage
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5597	American Wage-Seeking – Market Forces -vs- Collective Bargaining
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5238	American Crony-Capitalism – Prisoners for Profit
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5210	Cruise Ship Labor-Practices – Getting Ready for Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4278	American Businesses Try to Stave-off Brain Drain as Boomers Retire
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3694	Jamaica-Canada employment program try to pump millions into local economy

The book Go Lean … Caribbean details these strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to elevate Caribbean society, mitigating the “push” reasons:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principle – Economic Systems Influence Choices & Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Whistleblower Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – Anti-Bullying and Mitigation	Page 23
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius – Leadership Skills	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Negotiations	Page 32
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Mission – Education Without Further Brain Drain	Page 46
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Tactics to Forge an $800 Billion Economy – High Multiplier Industries	Page 70
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Justice Department – Trade Anti-Trust Regulatory Commission	Page 77
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Labor Department – Labor Relations Board	Page 89
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Foster International Aid	Page 115
Planning – Ways to Improve Trade	Page 128
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage Food Consumption – Optimizing Agriculture Supply Chain	Page 162
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Labor Markets and Unions	Page 164
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Leadership	Page 171
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Foundations	Page 219
Advocacy – Ways to Battle Poverty – Third World Realities	Page 222
Advocacy – Ways to Help the Middle Class	Page 223
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Youth – Incentivizing STEM Careers	Page 227
Appendix – Growing 2.2 Million Jobs in 5 Years	Page 257
Appendix – Job Multipliers	Page 259

The Go Lean roadmap asserts to all those desiring to flee to the US: America is not so alluring … from a labor justice perspective, especially if you’re poor, Black-and-Brown. The admonition: Lower the “pull” factors for Coming to America.

There is the need for new jobs; exporting workers for seasonal agricultural harvests had been a popular strategy. This Go Lean roadmap though takes an alternate approach; it creates local jobs; high paying, career-enhancing ones. The Go Lean book pronounces this need in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 14):

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 … – impacting the region with more jobs.

More jobs would help to lower “push” factors. We must do this; address all possible “push” factors. The region must address its issues, as to why its population is so inclined to emigrate; this is the purpose of the Go Lean roadmap. It features the assessments, strategies, tactics and implementations to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play.

Now is the time for the Caribbean region to lean-in for the empowerments described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. The benefits of this roadmap are too alluring to ignore: emergence of our own $800 Billion (GDP) economy, 2.2 million new jobs, new industries, new services and optimized justice institutions.

The end result of the Go Lean roadmap – after the defined 5 year plan – is to lower both the “push” and the “pull” factors. Instead we want to incentivize our citizens to remain home, participate in new job initiatives and to prosper here where we are planted. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Civil Rights, Jobs, Model, Power, Transform

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Music Role Model ‘Ya Tafari’ – Happy Emancipation Day

Posted on August 3, 2015 in Ethos, Social

Go Lean Commentary/Interview

Monday August 3, 2015 is Emancipation Day in all countries of the British Dominion. For the Caribbean this includes the current British Overseas Territories and current members of the (British) Commonwealth of Nations; defined as follows:

Overseas Territories	Commonwealth States
Anguilla	Antigua & Barbuda
Bermuda	Bahamas
British Virgin Islands	Barbados
Cayman Islands	Belize
Montserrat	Dominica
Turks & Caicos	Guyana
	Jamaica
	Saint Kitts & Nevis
	Saint Lucia
	Saint Vincent
	Trinidad and Tobago

All of these countries memorialize the abolition of slavery in the British Empire on August 1, 1834 with a National Holiday on the First Monday of August. (This holiday is commonly referred to as August Monday). The focus of this commemoration is not slavery, but rather a celebration of Caribbean culture – accentuating the positive.

For those in the Caribbean Diaspora (US, Canada and the United Kingdom), the holiday does not go un-recognized … nor uncelebrated.

This is the case in Metropolitan Detroit, Michigan USA. 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 trade with the Caribbean Diaspora can be better organized and fostered so as to better harvest economic benefits to the homeland. This point is well-evidenced in Southfield (Detroit suburb) with the Jamaican restaurant Fenton’s Jerk Chicken:

http://fentonbrownsr.wix.com/fentonsjerkchicken
<<< See Appendix >>>

This establishment thrives in its community with a great tradition of quality food and Caribbean hospitality. But on Sunday, the eve of August Monday, this restaurant extended further with an Emancipation Day tribute/celebration for the public to consume. The main feature of this tribute was a One-Man Band, an elite and prolific Bahamian Recording Artist Ya Tafari. He is an award-winning composer and performer of Jazz, Latin, and Caribbean music. As a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist with a fan base stretching from Freeport, Bahamas to Detroit. This presentation was about music and the business of music, as it fostered an increase in sales for that one day at Fenton’s Jerk Chicken Restaurant. See VIDEO here:

VIDEO – Bahamian One-man Band Ya Tafari … at Fenton’s – https://youtu.be/rZoRKITj7d0

Performing on Sunday, August 2nd 2015 at Fenton’s Jamaican Restaurant in Southfield, Michigan

Artist Profile: YA TAFARI

Source: Online Music Retailing Website – Watchfire Music – The Trusted Destination for Inspirational Music; retrieved from: http://watchfiremusic.com/artist.php?arid=79

Ya Tafari is an author, composer, singer- songwriter, and poet who plays piano, guitar, and Latin percussion. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, he lived in the Bahama Islands and was “adopted” by a family there, and now claims the Bahamas as his second home.

Although Ya Tafari started as a folk singer, the genres in which he composes and performs are varied. They include traditional jazz, spiritual jazz, Latin, Caribbean, folk, tropical, and new world music. Using his keyboards, he has become renowned as a “one-man orchestra.”

Ya Tafari is fond of and influenced by other artists from around the world: Brazil – Joao Gilberto, Cuba – Tito Puente, Jamaica – Bob Marley and Harry Belafonte, the Bahamas – Ronnie Butler, Canada – Joni Mitchell, the United States – John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Pharaoh Sanders.

His greatest love and influence is the Holy Bible , and the other Lost Books of God’s Word.

BIOGRAPHY

Yaqob Tafari Makuannen, a.k.a. YaTafari, an award-winning composer, author, and performer of Jazz, Latin, Caribbean, and Spiritual music, grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and settled in Detroit, Michigan.

In Detroit, he received the Spirit of Detroit Award, and earned first place in the Renaissance Center Talent Contest two years in a row. He was presented awards by Chuck Gaidica, a local celebrity.

As an adult, he traveled to the Bahamas and adopted it as his second home. There he performed for the Governor General of the Bahamas and attended the Bahamian Parliament. His first recording contract was with G.B.I. Records and Television in Freeport, Bahamas, with Frank Penn, C.E.O. Thus, he is a Bahamian recording artist.

Ya Tafari has performed throughout Metropolitan Detroit and internationally. As music consultant for the African Heritage Center of the Detroit Public Schools, he hassperformed in DPS schools to audiences from pre-school to high School, introducing students and staff to different rhythms, musical instruments, and genres from the African Diaspora.

His greatest love is reading God’s word in the Holy Bible and Lost Books. His recent projects include a book, Man Woman & Spirit, and a recording of the Psalms of David to the original music of Ya Tafari.

DISCOGRAPHY

Esoteric Jazz

Esoteric sound is therapeutic and healing for the soul and spirit… for meditation and relaxation of body, mind, and spirit. It is a mystical transcendental mood.

Mystery Of The Sea

No matter where you are…riding in a car, sitting in your home, walking, or laying down to sleep, “Mystery of the Sea” will take you there and lift your spirits to another level. The sea speaks to us in its own way. Experience the mystery.

All Blue

Why Blue? God chose the color Blue. The sky, the ocean, rage and calm, to cause people to remember to focus on right living. I thank God for blue. So, I used blue to focus on beautiful sounds of music. All blue.

QUOTES/REVIEWS

“Ya Tafari has a smooth, soothing, CD sound that sends you on vacation.” – Kevin P., Detroit, Michigan

“The Cherry Hill Stage was ablaze with the sounds of Caribbean Jazz performed by YATAFARI & THE AFRO PERCUSSIONS.” – The Dearborn Homecoming Committee, Michael A. Guido, Mayor – Dearborn, Michigan

“…Caribbean Recording Artist YaTafari, the JunkAnoo jazz java and calypso colorful butterfly, is electrifying, exciting, and a ’must see’ entertainer from Nassau, Bahamas.” – Gracie Cross, Ragggedy Girl Publishing Group

“…Mr. Makuannen presented a program here at McKinley (Elementary School) during our Cultural History Celebration. It was outstanding!…You can’t go wrong with this program.” – J. Korenowsky, Principal, Toledo Public Schools

“…A fun festive, and captivating entertainer who will warm hearts with a kaleidoscope of sound, color, and sweet musical beats.” – Mitali Chaudhery, Website Coordinator, Schoolcraft College International Institute (SCII)

———–

Download Ya Tafari Music Now

In a structured interview, Ya Tafari made the following contributions to this discussion of the roadmap to elevate the Caribbean through music:

Bold = Author

You obviously love the Bahamas/Caribbean, why do you not live there?

I loved my time in Freeport (Bahamas 2^nd City). I would love to settle there, but realistically the economic challenges are hard to overcome. I hope they would have a better economic reality there … in the future.

Where do you call home now?

I live here in the Greater Detroit area, in the Town of Novi. Despite not being “home” in the Bahamas, I have the assured comfort of being with my family here. I bring my love for my Bahamaland here to Detroit in my musical presentations.

What was your biggest performance ever?

I’ve had the pleasure of performing as a solo artist at the stage here in Detroit at the Eastern Market. I had a huge crowd completely captivated by my sound. They were into me, and I was into them. Good times!

What would you like to see different in the Bahamas in the next 5 years?

I would like to see that community more accepting of foreign influences, especially a fusion with Eastern/Oriental Music. I’ve incorporated a lot of the spirit of Yoga, Zen and New Age influences in my music and it serves me and my listening audience well. As the old adage goes: “Music does soothe the savage beast”.

What would you like to see different in the Bahamas in the next 10 years?

I would like to see the Bahamas open up the doors to all mankind. The society is not as tolerant of diverse people as they need to be. This is bigger than just music. If/when they do widen-out more, it will even improve their tourism product, by extending their embrace for all people.

What would you like to see different in the Bahamas in the next 20 years?

I would like to see the next generation of Bahamians not join the Diaspora. Of course, I want them to travel, and study, and engage foreign cultures and then bring those experiences back home. That is an exciting prospect.

Where do you consider to be the best place on earth to live?

Italy! That culture is about enjoying life; they are concerned about more than just work, or making money. They strive to care for their people and lift everyone up. Despite the lack of economics though, I still find the Black communities around the world have a closer brotherhood. When a Black person sees another Black person while travelling abroad, they tend to acknowledge each others as brothers. That is inspiring. Yes, we can all do better.

————

Ya Tafari can be reached at: makuannen@mail.com

This artist profile is a manifestation of the roadmap depicted in the book Go Lean…Caribbean, that music, food and culture can be accentuated to promote change in the Caribbean and within the Caribbean Diaspora abroad. Music can help make any location a better place to live, work and play.

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

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3641	‘We Built This City …’ on Music
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3568	Forging Change: Music Moves People
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2415	Broadway Musical ‘The Lion King’ Roars into History With its Impact
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1909	Music Role Model Berry Gordy – No Town Like Motown
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=866	Caribbean Music Man Bob Marley: The legend lives on!

This Go Lean roadmap calls for heavy-lifting to build up Caribbean communities, by shepherding important aspects of Caribbean life, beyond music and/or show business. In fact, the development roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

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

The Go Lean book focuses primarily on economic issues, but it recognizes that music, in its many genres can build up a nation, a city, and a community (Diaspora and local alike). Any difficult subject – like slavery, freedom and emancipation – can be more easily communicated if backed-up by a catchy melody and rhyming words. Yes, music can effect change and forge progress and elevation of society. The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU is designed to elevate the region’s economic, security and governing societal engines.

The Go Lean 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, one specifically to Promote Music (Page 231). We need champions like Ya Tafari to promote the joys of Caribbean life, culture and music.

The Go Lean roadmap specifically encourages the region, to lean-in to elevate society with these specific community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to advance the music eco-systems:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	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 – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius – Fostering Music and the Arts	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
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 – Promotion of Domestic Culture	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate 30 Member-States	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Celebrate the Music, Sports, Art, People and Culture of the Caribbean	Page 46
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Growing Economy to $800 Billion – Education Empowerments	Page 70
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – Educational Empowerment from Federation to Member-States	Page 85
Implementation – Trade Mission Objectives	Page 117
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region – Four Languages in Unison	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Improve Trade – Diaspora Trade	Page 128
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better – Music/Media/Arts for better PLAY	Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Communications	Page 186
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Hollywood – Media Arts of the Caribbean to the World	Page 202
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Diaspora	Page 217
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Improve the Arts	Page 230
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Music	Page 231
Appendix – Job Creations – Music and Art Related Jobs: 12,600	Page 257
Appendix – 169 Caribbean Musical Genres for all 30 Member States	Page 347

The quest to change the Caribbean is conceivable, believable and achievable. But it is more than just playing or listening to music; it is the business of music, and music’s ability to reflect change and effect change. This helps the heavy-lifting of forging permanent change in the region. The Go Lean roadmap will make the region a better place to live, work and play. From the outset, the book recognized the significance of music in the Caribbean change/empowering plan with these statements in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12 & 14):

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.

The foregoing VIDEO explicitly depicted how the addition of music enhanced a Caribbean business establishment in the Detroit Diaspora community. Music can have that effect. It can make bad things good and good things better. It can be fun! While the Go Lean book describes the CU as a hallmark of a technocracy, with a commitment to efficiency and effectiveness, there is still a commitment to concepts of fun, such as music, arts, sports, film/media, heritage and culture.

This roadmap is a fully comprehensive plan with consideration to all aspects of Caribbean life. All stakeholders – residents and Diaspora – are hereby urged to lean-in to this roadmap. 🙂

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

—————

Appendix – Fenton’s Jamaican Jerk Chicken Restaurant – 28811 Northwestern Hwy, Southfield, Michigan, USA

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Movie Review: ‘Tomorrowland’ – ‘Feed the right wolf’

Posted on July 22, 2015 in Ethos, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

We are now mid-way through the 2015 Summer Movie Season. There have been some BIG ONES. The following is the highest Box Office performance of summer movies thus far in the US alone:

Movie	Opening Weekend US
Jurassic World	$209 million
Avengers: Age of Ultron	$191 million
Furious Seven	$147 million
Minions	$116 million
Inside Out	$90 million
Pitch Perfect 2	$69 million
Ant-Man	$57 million
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation	$56 million
San Andreas	$54 million
Insurgent	$52 million
Mad Max: Fury Road	$45 million
Ted 2	$34 million
Tomorrowland	$33 million
Spy	$29 million
Terminator Genisys	$27 million
Fantastic Four	$26 million
Magic Mike XXL	$13 million
Entourage	$10 million

Movies play a unique role in our lives.

In a previous blog/commentary regarding Caribbean Diaspora member and Hollywood great, Sidney Poitier, it was declared that …

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

This foregoing statement sets the foundation for appreciation of one movie in particular from the foregoing list, Disney’s Tomorrowland: A World Beyond which admonishes us to:

Feed the right wolf.
There are two wolves. One bright and hopeful and one dark and cynical. Which wolf wins? Whichever one you feed.

This quotation from the movie aligns with the reality of the Caribbean – art imitating life. The region is in crisis due to calamities and socio-economic changes in the region … and globally. The region has not even kept pace with the “push-and-pull” factors drawing many Caribbean citizens to flee…and abandon their beloved homelands. Already that brain drain among the college-educated population is up to a 70% rate among the entire region, with some communities experiencing alarmingly higher rates: Jamaica 85%; Guyana 89%.

The region is now at the cross-roads: maintain the status quo and watch the societal abandonment and decline continue (dark and cynical) … or … foster change and grant the Caribbean region a new (bright and hopeful) future.

Which wolf/future will win?

The book Go Lean … Caribbean asserts the option of fostering a bright and hopeful future. It provides turn-by-turn directions on how to arrest the societal abandonment and elevate the region’s economic, security and governing engines.

The book describes how/when/why to feed the right wolf!

This book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), a technocratic agency seen as the Caribbean’s best hope to avert the current path of disaster, human flight and brain drain, and grant the Caribbean a meaningful future for its youth.

This roadmap aligns with the movie plotlines:

Title: “Feed the right wolf.” Disney’s Tomorrowland (2015 film)
Reel Roy Reviews – Movie Review Site; posted May 23, 2015; retrieved 08-21-2015 from:
http://reelroyreviews.com/2015/05/23/feed-the-right-wolf-disneys-tomorrowland-2015-film/

“Find the ones who haven’t given up. They are the future.” So says George Clooney at the end of Brad Bird’s latest Disney offering Tomorrowland, inspired as much by Disney’s ubiquitous theme parks (from which it derives its inspiration) as it does Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and … Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth.

In fact, this may be the first children’s film that directly addresses – so darkly, so interestingly, so strangely – global warming among other mankind-created global calamities. I can’t recall the last kiddie flick that depicted so darn many mushroom clouds, or had such a nihilistic sentiment at its gooey center. Good for Brad Bird.

Clearly a passion project for the director, the film suffers, alas, from a narrative lumpiness. It is composed almost like a junior novella, with very abrupt chapter breaks, and an unclear sense of the overall purpose until the crackerjack final act.

Regardless, the journey is an entertaining and worthwhile one, at least philosophically. As I find myself personally at a crossroads in life – looking back at what erroneously seemed an idyllic small-town, all-American way-of-life and now dreaming of a much-needed present/future state when we all can embrace empathy, kindness, and love, regardless our geographically defined boundaries – the film hit a raw nerve for me.

Ostensibly, the film is about Britt Robertson’s Casey Newton, a young, overeager space-loving kid horrified that America has given up on all dreams of galactic exploration. Casey discovers a magic pin that gives her glimpses of a sparkling utopia where we all live hand-in-hand, driving electric cars, zipping to-and-fro in bullet shaped sky-trains, and all wearing flowing garb designed in collaboration between Vera Wang and Judy Jetson (?). (Oh, and everybody in the future is fit. No fast food, no gluten, and, yeah, I bet vegan. Go figure.)

In truth? The film is really about George Clooney’s Frank Walker, a bright-eyed young boy born of nuclear optimism now a middle-aged sot calcified by millennial atrophy. He sees a world that he hoped would be (pushed to be), its limitless potential now squandered by petty greed and intentional hate. The classic baby boomer dilemma.

Casey sparks a reluctant optimism in Frank, as they meet cute, amidst a gaggle of murderous robots blowing up Frank’s steampunk farmhouse. They travel to Tomorrowland in hopes of preventing global catastrophe. Tomorrowland, you see, is an alternate dimension designed as a free-thinking societal construct, intended to gather humanity’s best and brightest in order to effect great change, but now turned to seed. Hugh Laurie, all glowering smarm, is its chief magistrate.

Robertson, who unfortunately has the acting range of a peanut, mugs and screams shamelessly, but Clooney with his oily charm is the perfect antidote. It takes quite a bit of screen time for him to finally emerge, but when he does the film starts firing on all cylinders.

Tomorrowland (the place … in the film) is a marvel of design, taking many cues from but never limited by the aesthetic of Disney’s theme park Tomorrowland(s) as well as the original designs for EPCOT – all swooping spirals, glittering towers, and burnished concrete.

As I understand it, Walt Disney and Ray Bradbury were pals, and they and their creative legacies share a similar take on the “future,” a concept as nebulous as it is thrilling. For these mid-century marvels, the future is a pearly veneer with a toxic venom ever curdling underneath. Both men telegraphed a healthy agnosticism and distrust of humanity – see Bambi, for one – with a deep desire to see us collectively rise above our own insularity and self-absorption … once and for all. Fat chance.

Brad Bird does a fine job capturing and forwarding this idea in Tomorrowland. The film is not perfect, a bit tedious at times, but it is a worthwhile summer blockbuster exercise in challenging how stunted we have become. At one point Casey says something to this effect: “There are two wolves. One bright and hopeful and one dark and cynical. Which wolf wins? Whichever one you feed. Feed the right wolf.”

Feed the right wolf.

————-

VIDEO – Trailer for Movie: Tomorrowland – http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi4284068121/

The Go Lean roadmap synchronizes with the theme of the movie Tomorrowland. On Page 21, Go Lean presents a series of community ethos – the fundamental spirit that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a society – that must be adapted to forge change in the Caribbean; listed as follows:

Impact the Future (Page 26)
Impact the Greater Good (Page 37)

Life imitating art; art imitating life.

This is what movies help us to appreciate; many times, they allow us to look at ourselves and take a retrospective view. Which wolf are we feeding?

The CU/Go Lean roadmap seeks to forge change on Caribbean society with a new level of collaboration to contend with global/regional threats and to fix the defective societal engines. In fact, the prime directives of the CU/Go Lean roadmap are pronounced as these declarative statements:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the 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.

The Go Lean book opens with a quest for regional integration, with the Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 11 – 14), including these pronouncements:

i. Whereas the earth’s climate has undeniably changed resulting in more severe tropical weather storms, it is necessary to prepare to insure the safety and security of life, property and systems of commerce in our geographical region. As nature recognizes no borders in the target of its destruction, we also must set aside border considerations in the preparation and response to these weather challenges.

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.

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.

The Go Lean book accepts the premise that a crisis is a terrible thing to waste (Page 8), that these challenging circumstances allow people of goodwill – as conveyed in the foregoing movie review/article: “the ones who haven’t given up … they are the future” – to emerge and forge the necessary improvements in society. These previous blog/commentaries have also drilled deeper on this vision and opportunity for change now. See the list here:

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=3956	Art and Science of Collaboration
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3490	How One Entrepreneur Can Rally a Whole Community
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1817	Caribbean grapples with intense new cycles of flooding & drought
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1634	Book Review: ‘Chasing Youth Culture and Getting It Right’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1596	Book Review: ‘Prosper Where You Are Planted’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1014	All is not well in the sunny Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=623	Only at the precipice, do they change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=599	Ailing Caribbean island open to radical economic fixes

The Go Lean roadmap asserts that change must come to the Caribbean. But the book posits that this burden is too big for any one Caribbean member-state alone, and thus the collaboration efforts of the CU is necessary, as the strategy is to confederate all the 30 member-states of the Caribbean into an integrated “Single Market” – this is the only viable solution.

This is how we “feed the wolf” that is representing a bright and hopeful future.

The following list details the community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to “feed the right wolf”:

Community Ethos – Forging Change	Page 20
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Return on Investments	Page 24
Strategy – Strategy – Caribbean Vision	Page 45
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization	Page 57
Tactical – Growing the Caribbean Economy to $800 Billion	Page 67
Tactical – Separation of Powers – CU Agencies versus Member-States	Page 71
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region	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 – Was to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Hollywood – Global Box Office – Imitating Life	Page 203
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Appendix – Hollywood Box Office Model	Page 345

Considering the review of the movie in the foregoing article, we see that Caribbean “life can imitate art” of that movie. The moral of that story can be an inspiration for us all in the region. This vision is conceivable, believable and achievable!

The Go Lean roadmap has a simple motive: enable the Caribbean to be a better place to live, work and play. If not now then for the future, for our Tomorrowland. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

—————

Appendix VIDEO – Featurette: The Making of Tomorrowland – http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1390981145/

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Socio-Economic Change: The Demographic Theory of Elderly Suicide

Posted on July 16, 2015 in Economics, Ethos, Social

Go Lean Commentary

This purpose of the book Go Lean … Caribbean is to elevate the economic engines in the region. However, these commentaries have focused, numerous times on social and socio-economic issues; in this case, focus is given to the threat of suicides.

This seems out-of-scope!

The book and accompanying blogs posit that socio- economic factors must be accounted for in the roadmap to optimize and improve this society. In fact, the book lists 144 missions for the imminent Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), but one of them is an advocacy against suicides. This is identified on Page 36 under the title:

10 Ways to Promote Happiness … in the Caribbean Region

On the surface, it would appear as if promoting happiness would be so easy to do in the region of the world that is arguably “the greatest address on the planet”. Yet, the country with the highest suicide rate has been identified as Caribbean member-state Guyana.

This does not compute! Such a crisis amidst such beauty! The conclusion in the book is that the deficiency – contributing to suicides – is economic, jobs in particular. As the book declares that a man/woman needs three things to be happy:

something to do,
someone to love, and
something to hope for.

The Go Lean roadmap does feature – in its scope – the societal deficiencies that could propel an increase in suicides. This is highlighted by the CU’s prime directives, as described by these 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 mitigate challenges/threats to ensure public safety for the region’s stakeholders.
Improvement of Caribbean governance, including a separation-of-powers with member-states, to support these engines.

This commentary is not a re-harsh of the same suicide-driving issues as previously addressed, but rather an exploration of the socio-economic issues associated with the elderly in society. This commentary is the 2nd in a 3-part series on the art-and-science of analyzing socio-economic changes; other commentaries depict …

1. the manifestation of socio-economic changes in everyday life – values, habits and nuances, looking across a timeline from the 1960’s versus today and also …

3. the use-and-abuse of economic impact analyses on community investments.

Within this series, the field of socio-economics is defined as the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of the local, regional or global economy. This commentary though, considers an academic study that examined the demographic population of the elderly and summarized that the logical conclusions of the root causes of suicide are different for this population. Consider the Abstract, here, of the Research Paper from the University of Nairobi (Kenya):

Title: Towards a Socio-Economic and Demographic Theory of Elderly Suicide: A Comparison of 49 Countries at various stages of development
By: Kiemo, Karatu
(Source: University of Nairobi (Kenya) Academic Research; Posted (2004; Retrieved 10-15-2014 from: http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/55260)

Abstract: D. Cowgill found out that the role and status of the elderly declined with modernization, but in contradiction G. Hammarström found out that what actually affected the role and status of the elderly during modernization was the rate at which modernization occurred.

From current studies, it can be insinuated that the transformation from socialist to market economies has too affected the role and status of the elderly adversely. In all, the social condition following on the above changes in productive, organizational and demographic structures connects with what E. Durkheim found to cause imbalance in social integration, and therefore could aggravate elders’ rate of suicide.

Using data from 49 developing and developed countries for the period around 1995, elderly suicide rates and elderly/non-elderly suicide ratio are examined in light of the extent and direction of socio-economic development; and in light of the extent of demographic transition and elderly population’s gender structure. Results show that the direction of socioeconomic change impacts differentially on elderly suicide rates, the rates in regressing economies being appreciably higher than in progressing economies. However, the impact of socio-economic trends on the elderly/non-elderly suicide ratio was not clear-cut.

The extent of socio-economic change impacts differentially on elderly suicide rates, the distribution being curvilinear (inverted-U functional) rather than Cowgill’s linear hypothesis. The extent of socioeconomic change also impacts differentially on elderly/non-elderly suicide ratio in an inverse correlation rather than Cowgill’s hypothesized positive correlation. Whereas the results failed to conform to the structuration of Cowgill’s modernisation theory, the theory is deemed substantively relevant especially in explaining the extent to which the status of being elderly aggravates suicide in the context of contemporary developing countries.

In this regard, Riley’s concept of age-integration seems more appropriate than Durkheim’s social integration in explaining how older age aggravates suicide in an especial manner. The thesis in this study is that elderly suicide is a function of age-related role and status and regulated by dynamics of socio-economic and demographic structures. Culture too seems to play some role that is yet to be determined.

———

Full Study: http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/55260

The Go Lean roadmap does not ignore the needs of the elderly, nor any mental health needs of the Caribbean community. Rather, the roadmap calls for the establishment of a regional sentinel, a federal Health Department, to monitor, manage and mitigate public health issues in the region, including mental health with the same prioritization (cancer, trauma, virus, immunizations).

The University of Nairobi study hypothesizes that the elderly tend to be more affected when society experiences rapid change! This is an acute alarm for the CU/Go Lean planners, as the roadmap does call for near-hyper-growth in a short period of 5 years. Therefore, this foregoing article calls for the region to double-down on its efforts to ensure the health mitigations are in place for this vulnerable group. The need for this awareness was identified early in the Go Lean book, in the opening pronouncement in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 11), as follows:

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 University of Nairobi study is a classic exercise in this field of socio-economics. The goal of a socio-economic study is generally to bring about socio-economic development, usually by improvements in metrics such as GDP, life expectancy, literacy, levels of employment, etc. In many cases, socio-economists focus on the social impact of some sort of economic change. Examples of causes of socio-economic impacts include new technologies such as cars or mobile phones, changes in laws, changes in the physical environment (such as increasing crowding within cities), and ecological changes (such as prolonged drought or declining fish stocks). These may affect patterns of consumption, the distribution of incomes and wealth, the way in which people behave (both in terms of purchase decisions and the way in which they choose to spend their time), and their overall quality of life.

The Go Lean … Caribbean roadmap constitutes a change for the region, a plan to consolidate 30 member-states into a Trade Federation with the tools/techniques to bring immediate change to the region to benefit one and all member-states. The roadmap calls for the coordination of the region’s (mental) healthcare needs at a CU federal agency. Though there is a separation-of-powers mandate between the member-states and federal agencies, the CU can still wield influence in this area due to funding accountabilities, (strings attached). The Go Lean roadmap details a monitoring and metering responsibility between the CU and the member-states; so there will be some federal compliance and regulatory oversight. This empowerment would also allow for better coordination with international stakeholders – like the World Health Organization (WHO) – and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) – there are many that cater to the needs of the elderly, just consider the VIDEO in the Appendix below.

For the Caribbean, we will not want our elderly population “checking out” from society! We love them too much and they have endured far more that they should have; see VIDEO below. The “happiness mandate” identified at the start, is presented in the book as a “community ethos” (Page 20), the definition of which follows here:

… the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; the dominant assumptions of a people or period.

The book details that there must first be adoption of such a community ethos plus the executions of the following strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to impact the region’s public health:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economics Influence Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Privacy versus Public Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – “Crap” Happens	Page 23
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 24
Community Ethos – Non-Government Organizations	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate 30 Member-States	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Reform our Health Care Response	Page 47
Strategy – Agents of Change – Aging Diaspora	Page 57
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Separation of Powers – Department of Health	Page 86
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Planning – Ways to Model the EU	Page 130
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Ways to Measure Progress	Page 148
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Healthcare	Page 156
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Cancer	Page 157
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Emergency Management	Page 196
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Elder-Care	Page 225
Appendix – Disease Management – Healthways Model	Page 300
Appendix – Trauma Center Definitions	Page 336

This Go Lean book asserts that there is a direct correlation of physical/mental health issue with the economy. This viewpoint has been previously detailed in Go Lean blog/commentaries, as sampled here:

Book Review: ‘The Protest Psychosis’

Guyana and Suriname Wrestle With High Rates of Suicides

Public Health Economics – The Cost of Cancer Drugs

Antibiotics Misuse Associated With Obesity Risk

Recessions and Public Health in the Caribbean Region

New Hope in the Fight Against Alzheimer’s Disease

There is a place in the new Caribbean for the elderly populations. Granted, they may not be candidates for the highly-sought, high-multiplier STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) jobs, but nonetheless they are stakeholders in the Go Lean mission. Love of neighbor – the Greater Good – is why we do what we do!

This issue of suicide among the elderly, as discussed in the foregoing article is indicative of the need for better stewardship of the economy, security and governing engines in the Caribbean. This makes the region a better place to live, work, and play – for all: young and old.

🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

————-

Appendix VIDEO – “Honor the Elderly” (The Forgotten Ones) – https://youtu.be/PZvnJv4CZQ8

Uploaded on Nov 5, 2009 – We must honor the elderly! We must treat the elderly with dignity, love and respect. How we treat the elderly is a reflection of who we are. We should treat them the way we would want to be treated when we grow old and feeble. Many elderly are full of wisdom and we can learn valuable lessons from them.
Music: “On The Other Side Of Jordan” by Rabbit Easter Band (Google Play • eMusic • AmazonMP3)

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Socio-Economic Change: Illustrations That Perfectly Show How Society Has Changed

Posted on July 15, 2015 in Economics, Ethos, Social

Go Lean Commentary

Be careful what you wish for; it just might come true. – Old Adage

This statement is a reporting of facts. In fact, this statement can be defined as a law. The law of the socio-economic dynamic. The definition of socio-economics (or social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of the local, regional or global economy.

This commentary is the 1st of a 3-part series; the other considerations relate to …

2. the high suicide rate among the elderly, and …

3. the economic impact studies to justify public financing of private enterprises.

Over the past half century, the economic structures of many North American and Western European countries have changed dramatically, a mostly upward trajectory (growth) with occasional dips (recessions). During this same past half century, the economics of many Caribbean countries have also changed dramatically, but mostly towards poor or regressive conditions. This fact has forced a brain drain among many of the member-states’ professional classes.

This [brain drain] reality is a socio-economic dynamic; it was the motivation for the publishing of the book Go Lean…Caribbean in the first place. It describes the current assessments of the region and then communicates a vision to elevate the Caribbean’s 30 member-states and 42 million people into a Single Market economy. The goal is to create 2.2 million new jobs and grow the region to $800 Billion GDP. This vision is embedded in the following statements in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 13) for these member-states:

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. This repatriation should be effected with the appropriate guards so as not to imperil the lives and securities of the repatriated citizens or the communities they inhabit. The right of repatriation is to be extended to any natural born citizens despite any previous naturalization to foreign sovereignties.

xx. Whereas the results of our decades of migration created a vibrant Diaspora in foreign lands, the Federation must organize interactions with this population into structured markets. Thus allowing foreign consumption of domestic products, services and media, which is a positive trade impact. These economic activities must not be exploited by others’ profiteering but rather harnessed by Federation resources for efficient repatriations.

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.

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.

Another dynamic has been the advancement and assimilation of technology. This acknowledgement was also pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 14):

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.

As these changes took hold of society, the social effects on people, families, traditions, habits and values have been drastic; a lot has changed over the past decades. How can this be conveyed graphically? The following – funny and enlightening illustrations – give an accurate depiction of society’s changes – then and now.

16 Illustrations That Perfectly Show How Society Has Changed

(Source: Brain Jet Daily Cerebral Stream – Ad-supported Online Site – Retrieved July 15, 2015 from: http://www.brainjet.com/random/19913/then-and-now-16-illustrations-that-perfectly-show-how-society-has-changed#slide/1)

Change is afoot!

Among the changes – to people, families, traditions, habits and values – is the socio-economic effects of the Caribbean brain drain, estimated at 70%. This is a crisis!

This is a consistent theme in the Go Lean book; it describes “push and pull” of societal change; it posits that life in North American and Western European countries serve as a “pull” factor for many Caribbean communities. Plus, the failing economic conditions further “push” many citizens away. To alleviate this crisis, there is the need to counter-defend with purposeful change of our own for the region. The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap to elevate the economics of the region; and it clearly describes the impact on other societal engines: security and governance. Everyone feels the change; it is like a moving locomotive, “you can’t stop the beat; you can’t stop the motion of the ocean”. This is also the moving imagery depicted in the VIDEO below.

The Go Lean roadmap is a planning tool for the strategic, tactical, and operational empowerments that needs to be implemented to keep pace with the world’s Agents of Change: Technology, Aging Diaspora, Globalization and “Climate Change”. The purpose of the book therefore is to position the region at the corner of preparation and opportunity, so as to benefit from change. We have many needs – economic, security and governance – to avert this societal abandonment trend. The book / roadmap is for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), a super-national institution with federal powers to forge change in the Caribbean community. One mission is to dissuade further human flight/brain drain. (An additional mission is to incentivize the repatriation of the Caribbean Diaspora).

The following details from the book Go Lean … Caribbean are the assessments, community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies prescribed to manifest the elevation of Caribbean economy, society and life:

Assessments of Caribbean Communities – English, French, Dutch, and Spanish states	Page 15
Community Ethos – Security Principles	Page 23
Community Ethos – Economic Principles	Page 21
Community Ethos – Governing Principles	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate all 30 Member-States into a Single Market	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Repatriating Caribbean Diaspora	Page 46
Strategy – Mission – Dissuade further Brain Drain	Page 46
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers with Caribbean Member-states	Page 71
Implementation – Assemble all Member-States	Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation –Reasons to Repatriate	Page 118
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Ways to Better Manage Image	Page 133
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Impact the Diaspora	Page 217
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Protect Human Rights	Page 220

Many Caribbean citizens love their homeland but the realities of flawed economics will always cause a brain drain. This flight-abandonment creates the need for a societal reboot in the economics, security and governing engines. This is the quest of the Go Lean…Caribbean roadmap, to reboot these societal engines; employing best-practices and better strategies, tactics and implementations to impact its 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 mitigate challenges/threats to ensure public safety for the region’s stakeholders.
Improvement of Caribbean governance, including a separation-of-powers with member-states, to support these engines.

The same as the foregoing illustrations, there are many Go Lean blog commentaries that have detailed the anatomy of change in the Caribbean. Our changes – to systems, people and institutions – have not always been positive, or beneficial. Here is a sample of related commentaries, grouped by the recognizable categories in the illustrations:

Transforming Change
Internet & Communications Technology
Toleration of Minority Classes

Transforming Change

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5695	Repenting, Forgiving and Reconciling the Past
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5088	Immigrants account for 1 in 11 Blacks in USA
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5123	A Lesson in History – Royal Charter: Zimbabwe -vs- South Africa
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5098	Forging Change – ‘Food’ for Thought
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4840	Jamaican Poll: ‘Bring back the British!’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3834	State of the Caribbean Union
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=3455	Restoration of Diplomatic Relations with Cuba
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2291	Forging Change: The Fun Theory
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1433	Caribbean loses more than 70 percent of tertiary educated to brain drain
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1309	5 Steps of a Bubble
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=248	Is “Print” dead? Maybe soon! The Transforming Change in Media

Internet & Communications Technology

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5840	Computer Glitches Disrupt Business As Usual
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5668	Move over Mastercard/Visa – New Payment Systems in the Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5648	Changes in Music Retailing – Online and Mobile
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5435	China Internet Policing – Model for Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4381	Net Neutrality: It Matters Here …
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=1416	The Amazon Model for Caribbean Empowerment
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1092	The Aereo Case Study and the future of TV
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=308	CARCIP – Regional Initiatives to Urge Greater Caribbean Innovation

Toleration of Minority Classes

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5784	Buggery in Jamaica – ‘Say It Ain’t So’!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5720	Disability Advocacy: Reasonable Accommodations
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5527	American Defects: Racism – Is It Over?
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5333	Racial Legacies: Cause and Effect
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5183	A Lesson in History – Cinco De Mayo and the Mexican Model
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4613	A Lesson in History – The ‘Luck of the Irish’; Past, Present & Future
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4551	US Territories – Between a ‘rock and a hard place’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2633	Book Review: ‘The Protest Psychosis’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2547	Miami’s Success versus Caribbean Failure
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=809	Muslim officials condemn abductions of Nigerian girls
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=789	America’s War on the Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=546	Book Review: ‘The Divide’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=341	US slams Caribbean Human Rights practices
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=209	Case Study: Muhammad Ali –vs- the United States

There are many societal defects in the Caribbean region; we need effective strategies, tactics and implementation to effect turn-around.

The needs of Caribbean community cannot be casually dismissed. As crises ensue, people respond; they make choices: fight or flight.

We must do better than our prior track record. We can “rock with the changes” in society. Though this effort is not easy, rather heavy-lifting, the adoption and application of best-practices can yield beneficial results – the returns are worth the investment.

“You can’t stop a locomotive as it comes speeding down the track; yesterday is history and it’s never coming back. But tomorrow is a brand new day and it doesn’t know White or Black” – see VIDEO in the Appendix below.

This is the goal of the Go Lean roadmap: to help make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

————-

Appendix VIDEO – You Can’t Stop The Beat! – https://youtu.be/ovLKUoMqPSg

A VIDEO of the finale of the movie Hairspray (2007) … ENJOY Edna & Tracy Turnblad, Link Larkin, Penny Pingleton, Velma & Amber Von Tussle, Motormouth Maybelle, Corny Collins and other characters, as they drive home the important moral lesson of accepting change.

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Buggery in Jamaica – ‘Say It Ain’t So’!

Posted on July 2, 2015 in Economics, Ethos, Government, Social

Go Lean Commentary

This commentary has asserted that the Caribbean region can be a better society than the United States of America. Yes, we can!

But to even start the discussion, we must first:

Live and let live!

The topic of intolerance has been acute in the news as of late. We have the extreme example of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) beheading non-Muslims because… well, just because. And the example of the US legalizing Gay Marriage may be considered too tolerant for some people’s good taste.

Where does the Caribbean fit in this discussion?

If ISIS is one end of a scale and Gay Marriage in America is another end, then one Caribbean member-state, Jamaica, would be closer to …

ISIS!

Yes, it is that bad. Say it ain’t so.

See Appendix-VIDEO’s below …

While this commentary directly targets Jamaica, the majority of the countries and overseas territories of the former British Empire, still criminalize sexual acts between consenting adults of the same sex and other forms of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression. This has been described as being the result of “the major historical influence” or legacy of the British Empire. In most cases, it was former colonial administrators that established anti-gay legislation or sodomy acts during the 19^th century; see Appendix below. The majority of countries then retained these laws following independence.^[1][2].

There is an effort now to transform society in Jamaica (and other countries) in this regards. There are Gay Pride Activities being planned for this Summer of 2015. See the relevant news article here:

Title: J-FLAG Is Planning Gay Pride Activities, But No Parade For August – Exec
Source: Jamaica Gleaner Daily Newspaper Online Site; posted June 30, 2015; retrieved from: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20150630/j-flag-planning-gay-pride-activities-no-parade-august-exec

Local gay lobby, J-FLAG, is refuting reports that it will host a road parade in August when the group plans to have a series of gay pride activities.

Social media has been abuzz since yesterday following a report that the group would host a parade, similar to what is done in the United States and other countries.

However, executive director of J-FLAG, Dane Lewis, says the report is wrong, adding that Jamaica is not ready for such an event.

Meanwhile, he says the group is planning a week-long series of activities starting on Emancipation Day, August 1, to mark growing tolerance for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.

Some years ago, an attempt to host a gay parade was thwarted after anti-gay supporters reportedly planned attacks against marchers.

Jamaica is accused of being one of the most homophobic places on earth.

Last week, the US government released a report noting that anti-gay laws and the dancehall culture are responsible for perpetuating homophobia in Jamaica.
Additional reference sources: http://jflag.org/

———–

VIDEO: Executive Director of JFLAG, Dane Lewis: “We Are Jamaicans” – https://youtu.be/sJ-17R5DCoI

Published on Jan 17, 2013 – “We Are Jamaicans” is funded with the kind support of the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC) through its Global Fund Vulnerablised Project.

Building a diverse society is not easy. The book Go Lean … Caribbean describes the challenge as heavy-lifting. Though the US had failed at this challenge, it proudly boasts that it got better with every generation. The Caribbean on the other hand, leaves much to be desired in terms of the willingness to change and keep pace with progressive societies. (Now the US, Canada, Ireland and other countries have legalized Gay Marriage).

In a previous blog-commentaries, this defect – Homosexual Intolerance – was listed among the blatant human rights abuses in the region.

This is an important consideration for the planners of Caribbean empowerment. The Caribbean, a region where unfortunately, we have NOT … tried to be as tolerant as may be required, expected and just plain moral.

We must do better!

The book Go Lean … Caribbean asserts that Caribbean society’s prosperity has been hindered with a high abandonment rate – reported at 70% for educated classes region-wide, but an even higher 85% in Jamaica. The primary mission of the Go Lean book is to “battle” against the “push-and-pull” factors that draw so many of our Caribbean citizens away from their homelands to go to more progressive countries.

The Go Lean book campaigns to lower the “push” factors!

The purpose of the Go Lean book is to fix the Caribbean; to be better. The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) to pursue the quest to elevate the Caribbean region through empowerments in economics, security and governance. It is the assertion that Caribbean citizens can stay home and effect change in their homelands more effectively than going to some foreign countries to find opportunities for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The book therefore asserts that the region can turn-around from failing assessments by applying best-practices, and forging new societal institutions to impact the Greater Good for all the Caribbean. This point was pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 10 – 14) with these acknowledgements and 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.

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 … Egypt. On the other hand, the Federation must also implement the good examples learned from developments/ communities like New York City, … Canada, … and tenants of the US Constitution.

The CU/Go Lean vision to elevate Caribbean society must also consider the issue of image. There is the need for a sentinel role for Caribbean image, as there are a lot of times that Caribbean life and people are denigrated in the media: news, film, TV, books, magazines. It’s unfortunate when we are guilty of scathing allegations. The Go Lean roadmap calls for the CU to assume a role of protecting and projecting positive Caribbean images. The plan is to use cutting edge delivery of best practices; the applicable CU agencies will employ strategies, tactics and implementations to impact the Go Lean 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 mitigate challenges/threats to public safety for all citizens… LGBT or straight.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

Jamaica has a failing economy.

Jamaica’s primary economic driver is tourism. So …

Is the Caribbean ready for this economic activity? A bridge too far, too soon?

Jamaica has a long way to go; the country has been described by some Human Rights groups as the most homophobic place on Earth because of the high level of violent crime directed at LGBT people; (Padgett, Tim: “The Most Homophobic Place on Earth?”. Time Magazine posted 12 April 2006). The United States Department of State said that in 2012, “homophobia was [unacceptably] widespread in the country” (2012 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Jamaica, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State, pages 20-22). As depicted in the VIDEO below, even President Obama indicted the island on a recent official State Visit.

Why is this country’s homophobia so acute compared to other countries? For one, they have held on emphatically to the British Laws on Buggery – see Appendix below – from their colonial days; even though the host country of England has already abandoned the laws (in 1967).

Jamaica is partying like it’s 1899!

This is therefore a matter of community ethos. The Go Lean book defines 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; the dominant assumptions of a people or period. This tropical paradise of Jamaica, as defined in the foregoing news article and VIDEO continues to spur bad attitudes, bad ideas, bad speech and bad actions towards the LGBT community. This is unbecoming of a progressive society in 2015.

Alas, this is a crisis…for victims and their loved ones. The Go Lean book posits that this crisis can be averted, that the crisis is a “terrible thing to waste”. The Go Lean roadmap seeks to optimize the eco-systems for Jamaica and the entire Caribbean. The book stresses new community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies necessary to transform and turn-around the eco-systems of the regional society. These points are detailed in the book as follows:

Who We Are – SFE Foundation – Comprised of Caribbean Diaspora	Page 8
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 Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate all 30 member-states into a Single Market	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Build and foster local economic engines	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Repatriate the Diaspora, even Minorities like those of the LGBT community	Page 46
Tactical – Ways to Foster a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Growing the Economy to $800 Billion GDP	Page 68
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – CU Federal Government versus Member-State Governance	Page 71
Anatomy of Advocacies – Examples of Individuals Who Made Impact	Page 122
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – Homeland Security Pact	Page 127
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 US Constitution – Equal Protection for all Minorities	Page 145
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance – For All Citizens	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract – Security against “Bad Actors”	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice – Internal Affairs Reporting Line	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Remediate and Mitigate Crime – Hate Crime Qualifiers	Page 178
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Terrorism – Consider Bullying as Junior Terrorism	Page 181
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Youth – Collaborating with Foundations	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Re-boot Jamaica	Page 239
Advocacy – Ways to Impact British Territories	Page 245

Looking at the disposition of the island nation of Jamaica’s, we see that its societal engines are failing.

Could the investment in the diversity of its people be at the root of the problem?

The failing indices and metrics of Jamaica have been considered in previous blog/commentaries; see sample here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4840	Jamaican Poll: ‘Bring back the British!’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3694	Looking for a job in Jamaica, go to Canada
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2830	Jamaica’s Public Pension Under-funded
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=392	Jamaica to receive World Bank funds to help in crime fight
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=313	What’s Holding Back Jamaica’s Reforms

The Go Lean roadmap seeks to empower and elevate Caribbean societal engines to make Jamaica, and the rest of the Caribbean, better places to live, work and play … for all citizens, including the LGBT communities.

Most of the Jamaican Diaspora that has abandoned the island now lives in the US, Canada or the UK. Their new home-communities are more tolerant societies of their LGBT neighbors.

Perhaps, there is some correlation.

This commentary is not urging the abandonment of the Judeo-Christian moral code; Jesus Christ instructed to “let them be” at Luke 22:51 (The Message Translation). Rather this commentary urges tolerance and moderation: Live and let live!

Fight the hate!

Yes, we can … do this. Yes, we must do this. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!
———–

Appendix VIDEO: US President Obama’s LGBT comments at Youth Leaders Town Hall – https://youtu.be/636mgw1THpc?t=5m1s

Published on Apr 9, 2015 – President Obama delivers remarks and answers questions at a town hall with Young Leaders of the Americas at University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. April 9, 2015.
———–

Appendix VIDEO: Gay rights in Jamaica – https://youtu.be/_nSgMGoBAmU

———–

Appendix – Encyclopedic Reference: Buggery in English Common Law

The British English term buggery is very close in meaning to the term sodomy, often used interchangeably in law and popular speech. It may also be a specific common law offenceencompassing both sodomy and bestiality.

In English law “buggery” was first used in the Buggery Act 1533, while Section 61 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861, entitled “Sodomy and Bestiality”, defined punishments for “the abominable Crime of Buggery, committed either with Mankind or with any Animal”. The definition of “buggery” was not specified in these or any statute, but rather established by judicial precedent.^[1] Over the years the courts have defined buggery as including either [of these]:

anal intercourse or oral intercourse by a man with a man or woman^[2] or
vaginal intercourse by either a man or a woman with an animal,^[3]

But [no other] form of “unnatural intercourse”^[4] [was defined], the implication being that anal sex with an animal would not constitute buggery. Such a case has not, to date, come before the courts of a common law jurisdiction in any reported decision. However, it seems highly improbable that a person would be exculpated of a crime associated with sex with animals only by reason of the fact that penetration involved the anus rather than the vagina. In the 1817 case of Rex v. Jacobs, the Crown Court ruled that oral intercourse, even with an underage and/or non-consenting person, did not constitute buggery or sodomy.^[4]

At common law consent was not a defence^[5] nor was the fact that the parties were married.^[6] In the UK, the punishment for buggery was reduced from hanging to life imprisonment by the Offences against the Person Act 1861. As with the crime of rape, buggery required that penetration must have occurred, but ejaculation is not necessary.^[7]

Most common law jurisdictions have now modified the law to permit anal sex between consenting adults.^[8] Hong Kong did so retroactively in 1990, barring prosecution for “crimes against nature” committed before the Crimes (Amendment) Ordinance 1990 entered into force except those that would still have constituted a crime if they had been done thereafter. In England and Wales, homosexual buggery was decriminalised in 1967 with an age of consent at 21 years, whereas all heterosexual intercourse had an age of consent at 16 years. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 did not fully remove buggery as a concept in United Kingdom law, as the previous law is retained for complainants (consensual or “pseudo-consensual”) under the age of 16, or 18 with regards to an adult perceived to be in a “position of trust”. As the law stands, buggery is still charged, exclusively regarding “pseudo-consensual” anal intercourse with those under 16/18, because children cannot legally consent to buggery although they may appear to do so. Rape is charged when the penetration is clearly not consensual. Buggery with an animal is still unlawful under Section 69 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

In the Republic of Ireland, the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 abolished the offence of “buggery between persons”.^[9] For some years prior to 1993, criminal prosecution had not been made for buggery between consenting adults. The 1993 Act created an offence of “buggery with a person under the age of 17 years”,^[10] penalised similar to statutory rape, which also had 17 years as the age of consent. The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2006 replaced this offence with “defilement of a child”, encompassing both “sexual intercourse” and “buggery”.^[11] Buggery with an animal is still unlawful under Section 69 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. In 2012 a man was convicted of this offence for supplying a dog in 2008 to a woman who had intercourse with it and died.^[12]

Etymology – The word bugger and buggery are still commonly used in modern English as a mild exclamation. “Buggery” is also synonymous with anal sex.

The word “bugger” was derived, via the French bougre, from Bulgar, that is, “Bulgarian”, meaning the medieval Bulgarian heretical sect of the Bogomils, which spread into Western Europe and was claimed by the established church to be devoted to the practice of sodomy.^[13] “Buggery” first appears in English in 1330, though “bugger” in a sexual sense is not recorded until 1555.^[14]

(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buggery)

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Better than America? Yes, We Can!

Posted on June 30, 2015 in Ethos, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

Is America the “Greatest Country in the World”?

Perhaps this was arguable in the past? Today? Hardly … see VIDEO here; (excuse the profanity):

VIDEO: America, the Greatest? –

Published on Oct 21, 2012 – Jeff Daniels, who portrays news anchor Will McAvoy in the HBO Series “The Newsroom”, delivered a stunning, hard-hitting, accurate, and intelligent monologue/response when asked why America is the greatest country in the world. A sobering outlook on the state of the USA. (CAUTION ON THE ADULT LANGUAGE).

Even in the past when the “Greatest” label was arguable, it didn’t apply to everyone! America was the Greatest Country, maybe, if you were:

White, Anglo-Saxon, Rich, Male and Straight

But if you were any of the following, then God help you:

Black
Brown – Hispanic
Native American
Jewish
Catholic
Woman
Gay
Persons with Disabilities (Physical or Mental)
Slavic – Eastern European
Muslim
Communists
Atheist
Poor

Yes, building a multi-cultural society is not easy. The book Go Lean … Caribbean describes the challenge as heavy-lifting. America has failed at this challenge, hands-down. In previous blog- commentaries, many defects of American life were detailed, (including the propensity for Crony-Capitalism). See the list of defects here: Housing, education, job hunting, prisons, drug crime prosecutions, and racial profiling.

But despite this list and the reality of this subject, America tries …

This is an important consideration for the planners of Caribbean empowerment. The Caribbean, a region where unfortunately, we have NOT … tried.

The social science of Anthropology teaches that communities have two choices when confronted with endangering crises: fight or flight. The unfortunate reality is that we have chosen the option of flight; (we have no ethos for fighting for our homeland).

The book Go Lean … Caribbean asserts that no society can prosper with a high abandonment rate – reported at 70% for educated classes. The primary mission of the Go Lean book is to “battle” against the “push-and-pull” factors that draw so many of our Caribbean citizens away from their homelands to go to the US. While we cannot change/fix America, we can…

Lower the “push” factors!

The purpose of the Go Lean book is to fix the Caribbean, to be better than America. The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) to pursue the quest to elevate the Caribbean region through empowerments in economics, security and governance. It is the assertion that Caribbean citizens can stay home and effect change in their homelands more effectively than going to America to find the “Greatest Country in the World”. The book therefore asserts that the region can turn-around from failing assessments by applying best-practices, and forging new societal institutions to impact the Greater Good for all the Caribbean. This point was pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 10 – 14) with these acknowledgements and 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.

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, Indian (Native American) Reservations… On the other hand, the Federation must also implement the good examples learned from developments/ communities like New York City, … Canada, the old American West and tenants of the US Constitution.

This is the quest of Go Lean…Caribbean roadmap, to reboot the region’s societal engines; employing best-practices and better strategies, tactics and implementations to impact its 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 mitigate challenges/threats to the region’s public safety.
Improvement of 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 Promote Happiness	Page 36
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 to $800 Billion GDP	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
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – American Model: Kennedy’s Quest for the Moon	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Lessons Learned New York City – Managing as a “Frienemy”	Page 137
Planning – Lessons Learned from Detroit – Turn-around from Failure	Page 140
Planning – Lessons Learned from Indian Reservations – Pattern of Ethnic Oppression	Page 141
Planning – Lessons Learned from the American West – How to Win the Peace	Page 142
Planning – Lessons Learned from the US Constitution – America Tries – Each Generation Improves	Page 145
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 Impact Justice	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218

The threats of the repressive American past have not always been domestic; there have been times when American dysfunction have reached across borders, including Caribbean countries, and disrupted the peace and progress. This is an important lessons for the Caribbean to learn from considering the history of “American Greatness”; the following previous blog/commentaries apply:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5506	Edward Snowden Case Study: One Person Making a Difference
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4166	A Lesson in History: Panamanian Balboa
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 to make us better than the American eco-system. Tall order?

Yes, we can!

According to the foregoing VIDEO (and the Appendix below), other communities have done it. Consider Europe, all grown up now.

We can apply these models and lessons from these societies to obtain success. This vision is conceivable, believable and achievable!

Yes we can … make the Caribbean region a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

———

Appendix VIDEO – Comedic Commentary – Bill Maher: America Isn’t #1 – https://youtu.be/T8UqdPKbpWM

Uploaded on Jul 11, 2009 – Bill Maher rants on America letting people know we need to reclaim that title and to quit replying on old adages.

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