Tactical – Page 2 – Go Lean…Caribbean

Category: Tactical

Refuse to Lose – Direct Foreign Investors ‘Wind-Downs’

Posted on October 23, 2019 in Ethos, Industries, Tactical

Go Lean Commentary

Give and Take …

It is hard to get one without the other. Everything of value has a cost associated with it. That cost may be paid in time, talent or treasury. There is nothing for free.

So for you Caribbean people, who want Direct Foreign Investors, here’s a BIG question: Are you willing to pay the price?

Investors will give …
They will want to take as well.

Not all investors will get their return; not all investments work; not all “bets” win.

Some will actually lose!

How do we Refuse to Lose and yet technocratically manage unsuccessful business endeavors?

It’s call a “Wind Down”:

Definition of wind down – per Merriam-Webster

intransitive verb:
1: to draw gradually toward an end; i.e. the party was winding down
2: RELAX, UNWIND wind down with a good book

transitive verb:
to cause a gradual lessening of usually with the intention of bringing to an end

There is an Art and Science to this process; its called “Fail Fast“. Yes, we can adopt the community ethos to Refuse to Lose – a commitment by a group or society to the values of quality, success and winning – yet still judiciously manage failures, non-success and bankruptcies.

See this related in the AUDIO-Podcast here:
AUDIO-Podcast – When Failure Is A 4-Letter Word – https://www.npr.org/2019/07/05/738963753/when-failure-is-a-four-letter-word

Posted July 10, 2019 – Silicon Valley gurus tell you to “Fail Fast.” But what if you live in a place where the shame of failure is so strong, and the barriers to success so steep, that the “Failure-Is-Good” advice feels dangerous?

Today, we hear from entrepreneurs around the world who are rewriting the failure mantra to fit the places they live. In the process, they’re changing how their society judges winners and losers.

In summary, Failing Fast (or Failing Forward) allows for quality, success, and winning to come faster. Think “1 step backwards, 2 steps forward”. This is an important consideration for a new Caribbean, where Return of Investment is a priority. See this excerpt from the book Go Lean…Caribbean, (Page 24), a roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU):

Return on Investments (ROI)
While the CU must govern to meet the current needs of it stakeholders, there must always be a future focus. A lot of CU initiatives must be embarked on for the future return of present investments. This also applies to basic services like education. For the region, fields of study in the class room should reflect not just the realities in the current job market, but also where the job market is moving to. So while there may be no need to teach typing and shorthand, there is abundant need to teach computer programming, web site design and “mobile app” development.

Can the community expect a reasonable return on such educational investments? Absolutely. But only if the graduates remain in the region. Therefore the community ethos must be to embed incentives and inducements to dissuade emigration; as in forgive-able student loans, on-the-job training employment contracts, paid apprenticeships, etc. This ethos also translates into governing principles for federally sponsored business incubators, R&D initiatives, entrepreneurship programs and the regional implementation of Self-Governing Entities (SGE).

This commentary completes the series on the Refuse to Lose ethos; this is Part 6-of-6. The full series is cataloged as follows:

Refuse to Lose: Lesson from Sports
Refuse to Lose: Remediating ‘Columbus Day’
Refuse to Lose: Introducing Formal Reconciliations
Refuse to Lose: Despite American Expansionism
Refuse to Lose: Canada’s Model of Ascent
Refuse to Lose: Direct Foreign Investors Wind-Downs

It is the assertion of this series of commentaries that the Caribbean can win, despite occasional mis-steps or investments with no returns. Yes, we can “Refuse to Lose” despite bankruptcy. We can facilitate technocratic wind-downs.

The Go Lean book presents a full eco-system for “winding-down” failed business endeavors. It detailed a Bankruptcy process for the Caribbean region, where this scope would be the exclusive jurisdiction of the CU Courts. (This is where ‘give and take’ is so important – if you want all the benefits that the Go Lean roadmap brings, you have to give up the responsibility of this vital area. This means ceding to the authority of the CU over the sovereignty of the member-state). See this excerpt from the book (Page 33) here:

10 Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds – #2: Bankruptcy Processing
Upon acceding this treaty, all bankruptcy processing in the region will be assimilated under the CU Federal Courts – applying to individuals, companies and even municipalities – thereby bringing protection to plaintiffs, but also balance and fairness to creditors. (Bankruptcy’s “turn-around” motives would therefore “trump” any preservationist objectives). To apply lessons learned in Detroit in 2008, the CU will apply strategies similar to the federal “managed bankruptcy” for GM/Chrysler to ensure a turn-around of the automotive industry and locales.

Among the 370-pages of the Go Lean book are the turn-by-turn instructions on “how” … to adopt the new community ethos for “Return on Investment”. All investments will not produce a return, we therefore want to Fail Fast, so that we can go back to winning. This means the regional bankruptcy process must also be restructured within this regional economic and governmental reboot. The book presents the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to facilitate Caribbean bankruptcies. See this sample of direct Bankruptcy (or “wind-downs”) references in the book:

*Page 114*	10 Ways to Better Manage Debt – #5: CU Federal Bankruptcies When debt become too excessive and can no longer be managed by the debtor, the usual solution is bankruptcy. Most advanced economies even allow for governmental entities to avail this privilege. The CU treaty will grant this oversight (and receivership) to CU federal courts, with a mandate to lean towards reorganization, rather than outright dismissal of legitimate debt, though all creditors may have to take a “hair-cut” (minor loss). The courts will appoint direct receivership to Trustees to facilitate the processing of the bankruptcy obligations for municipalities, companies and individuals.
*Page 114*	10 Ways to Better Manage Debt – #5: Credit Reporting – Sharpening the Tool With the threat of loss due to a heavy debt induced bankruptcy, there is the need to monitor and assess the collectability of potential and current debtors. This justifies the need for regional credit reporting systems, for individual and institutions. In order to facilitate a win-win from the interest economy, lenders/investors need to know of risks associated with debt.
*Page 116*	10 Ways to Impact Elections – #5: Campaign Accounting, Debt and Bankruptcy Processing The CU system will designated each campaign as an incorporated public entity, requiring quarterly reports-disclosures, official payroll and financial accountability. Candidates/campaigns and vendors can even seek bankruptcy protection.
*Page 136*	10 Lessons Learned from 2008 – #8: Leverage – Common Sense Restraints Banking risk is managed by controlling leverage, the magnifying factor compared to equity that borrowing money allows for a bank. Banking regulations best practices keeps leverage amount near 12-to-1. In 2008, Lehman Brothers leverage rate was pegged at 31-to-1; the more they borrowed the less capital equity they featured, so profits, and losses, were magnified. The mortgage crisis led to Lehman Brothers massive losses, then bankruptcy; the US largest at $691 Billion.
*Page 136*	10 Lessons from Detroit – #2: Michigan Take-over In March 2013, the Governor declared the city insolvent and appointed an Emergency Manager. By July, the city declared bankruptcy. The city had a $327 million deficit, faced more than $14 billion in long term debt and was making ends meet on a daily basis with the help of bond money held in a State escrow account. Austerity and truncated city services ensued; Detroit was a failed city! The CU will apply the lesson by managing Failed-States crises and emergency response for disasters.
*Page 136*	10 Lessons from Detroit – #3: GM / Chrysler 2008 Bankruptcy The Great Recession of 2008, plummeted auto sales, access to credit evaporated and the Detroit Three approached insolvency. Declines in Detroit Three production result in losses in US employment, income, and government revenues. To mitigate, the US Federal government coordinated a “managed bankruptcy” for GM and Chrysler; (Ford limped with-out one). The CU treaty allows for the regulation of bankruptcy at the federal level to ensure justice in re-organizations.
*Page 136*	10 Lessons from Detroit – #4: TARP Bail-out The “managed” descriptor for the GM/Chrysler bankruptcy entailed $79.7 billion in loans and capital injections (bail-out) from the Toxic Assets Relief Plan (TARP) of October 2008. GM/Chrysler was able to short-pay many creditors, protect pensions and “start anew”. GM re-incorporated and made an IPO of stock in 2010. For the fiscal year of 2010, GM reported profits, interpreted by many Analysts as an industry rebound and an economic recovery for the Detroit
*Page 155*	10 Ways to Improve Credit Ratings – #8: Bankruptcy The CU will manage bankruptcies (dissolution and reorganization) for individuals, companies and municipalities. Overseeing this process at the federal level will bring balance and fairness to the creditors and avoid abuse by debtors.
*Page 160*	10 Ways to Impact Student Loans – #5: Non-Dischargeable with Bankruptcy The CU will assume jurisdiction over the region’s bankruptcy (BK) process for individuals, and institutions. To guarantee student loan collections, they will be exempted from discharging student loans in the BK process. This strategy guarantees that loans will be collected …eventually. This guarantee lowers the cost/risk for the capital needed for loans.
*Page 168*	10 Ways to Improve Governance – #8: Economic Crimes and Bankruptcy Jurisdiction CU agencies will assume jurisdiction for economic crimes; those can have a systemic threat on the region’s financial institutions and economic engines; these includes bank & mail fraud, securities fraud, constitutional-judicial-officers offenses (public integrity), kidnapping, enterprise corruption/RECO, and cyber-crimes. All bankruptcies, individual, companies and municipalities will be litigated at the federal level, so as to assuage abuse and colloquialism.
*Page 199*	10 Reforms for Banking Regulations – #10: Bankruptcy Reform The CU will manage bankruptcy for individual, companies and municipalities. This will bring balance and fairness to the creditors and avoid abuse by debtors on student loans, mortgages and other consumer, corporate & institutional debt.
*Page 218*	10 Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage – #9: Turn-around Strategies While “turn-arounds”, as in the case of Bankruptcies, pursue the economic obligations more so than preservation objectives, the CU, with BK processing at the federal level, will intercede so as to apply a “managed bankruptcy” approach whenever preservation is an issue. This is a lesson learned from the Detroit Auto Makers’ filing in 2008.

The subject of Bankruptcy processing has been addressed in many previous commentaries; consider this sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17373	Marshall Plan – A Wind-Down/Turn-Around for Haiti
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17371	Marshall Plan – A Wind-Down/Turn-Around for Cuba
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17379	Marshall Plan – A Wind-Down/Turn-Around for Puerto Rico
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16668	Justice and Economics – Reformed Bankruptcies can forge change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16522	Reconciling the IMF’s Past, Present & Future for Sovereign Reboots
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15965	Retail Apocalypse and Sears Bankruptcy; Another One Bites the Dust
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15796	Lessons Learned from 2008: Righting The Wrong in Housing Industry
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15787	Lessons Learned from 2008: Too Big to Fail –vs- Too Small to Thrive
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11647	Righting a Wrong: Puerto Rico’s Bankruptcy
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3311	Detroit’s Exit from their Historic Bankruptcy

Refusing to Lose and bankruptcies …

… it is amazing how these two subjects align together.

For those with a Judeo-Christian background, the emphasis on repentance and redemption should be familiar:

“a saint is just a sinner who fell down and get back up” – Song “We Fall Down” by Gospel Great Donnie McClurkin

Yes, the old concept of “falling down and getting right back up” is just the new concept of Failing Fast.

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

Winning and Refusing to Lose will help the Caribbean to be a better homeland to live, work and play. But, all efforts will not be successful, and that’s OK. We do not undermine our Refuse to Lose ethos if we Fail Fast and turn-around to adapt to the resultant lessons-learned and analyzed best practices.

This is the nature of a technocracy.

The term technocracy was originally used to designate the application of the scientific method to solving social & economic problems, in counter distinction to the traditional political or philosophic approaches. – Go Lean book Page 64.

The culture of winning and Refusing to Lose is viable for the new Caribbean. This is conceivable, believable and achievable. Let’s get busy! 🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Justice, Model, Transform

Unequal Justice: Bullying Magnified to Disrupt Commerce

Posted on September 28, 2019 in Economics, Government, Industries, Tactical

Go Lean Commentary

“You had better get control of that boy or we will for you” – typical admonition of a Peace Officer to the parents of a young bully!

There is a certain reality that we all have had to contend with:

Bullies are inevitable!

We have all been to Grade/Elementary/Primary School; we have all played on the playground. We can simply look at our own lives, cite examples of bullying and glean this Truth and Consequence:

Slippery slope …
Snowballing …
From an acorn comes a Mighty Oak …

Analogies abound … as to why it is important to “nip bullying in the bud”. If we do nothing – or not enough – then conditions of Unequal Justice go from “bad to worse”. The bad actor can emerge from terrorizing a family, to a neighborhood, to a community, to a nation, to a region, to a hemisphere, to the whole world. Think: Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, Soviet Russia, British Empire, Napoleonic France, Spanish Inquisition, and more …

Unchecked, bad actors in the community become tyrants – they can even affect the local economic engine. This is where the opening statement of a typical Police Officer to a “parent of a bully” become relevant. Either that parent mitigates that situation, or the legitimate authorities will have to get engaged. It is easier to remediate a local bully; beyond that, the bad actions can escalate to gang activity, organized crime and/or domestic terrorism. An escalated villainy would require an escalated response. There is a plan for regional mitigations of gangs, organized crime and/or terroristic activities..

This is the focus of this commentary. This is entry 2-of-4 in this series on Unequal Justice. The previous submission traced that bad history of the County Sheriff in the American South and how that person’s tyranny imperiled the entire Black American population. That previous blog-commentary related how the Sheriff served as a bottleneck in the execution of justice , and the only way to eliminate that tyranny was with legal “soft” tyrannicide. The full series on Unequal Justice is cataloged here as follows:

Unequal Justice: Soft Tyrannicide to Eliminate Bottlenecks
Unequal Justice: Economic Crimes Against Tourists and Bullying
Unequal Justice: Envy and the Seven Deadly Sins
Unequal Justice: Student Loans Could Dictate Justice

In this series, reference is made to the fact that Tourism, as the Number 1 economic driver in the region, is vulnerable to Bad Actors disrupting peaceful hospitality trade – we must protect our societal engines from tyrants, bullies and terrorists. So there is always the need to ensure justice institutions are optimized in the region; visitors will refuse to come and enjoy our hospitality if there are active threats or perceived instabilities. (At the same time, residents flee to foreign shores in search of refuge). So the need for justice in the Caribbean tourism deliveries transcends borders, politics, class and race.

Consider this actuated consequence in the Dominican Republic, due to some recent incidents regarding public safety for tourists; (there are some suspicions that Bad Actors persist):

VIDEO – Is travelling to the Dominican Republic dangerous – https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/tourist-deaths-dominican-republic-safe

——–

Title: Tourism to the Dominican Republic Has Dropped 74 Percent, According to New Study

By: Stacey Leasca

In the past year, 10 American citizens have died in the Dominican Republic, some as tourists others as long-term visitors. While the deaths have been attributed to natural causes, would-be visitors are reconsidering their plans to visit the island.

Is traveling to the Dominican dangerous for Americans? Here’s what travelers need to know.

Many travelers are re-booking their flights to new destinations

According to a report by ForwardKeys, which analyses more than 17 million flight bookings a day, bookings for July and August from the United States to the Dominican Republic have fallen by 74.3 percent compared to the same period in 2018.

“My deepest sympathies go out to the families of the American tourists who have passed away. Their recent and tragic deaths appear to have had a dramatic impact on travel to the Dominican Republic,” Olivier Ponti, vice president of insights at ForwardKeys, said. “Our analysis of leisure travel shows a striking correlation.”

…

See the full article here: Travel and Leisure Magazine – posted June 27, 2019; retrieved September 28, 2019 from: https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/tourist-deaths-dominican-republic-safe

Allowing bullies or tyrants (real or perceived) in the community to disrupt economic engines – crimes against tourists, etc. – is just plain wrong and a failure of the unwritten Social Contract. This refers to the arrangement where citizens (and visitors) surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the State in exchange for protection of remaining natural and legal rights. So unchecked bullying, street gangs and organized crime require an escalated response, [“soft”] tyrannicide.

Tyrannicide is even presented in the Holy Bible with the drama of the woman “Jael” in the Book of Judges Chapter 4 & 5 where she killed the villainous Sisera in order to save the people in her village. That account relates:

The Canaanites were defeated [by Judge Barak] and [the Army Commander] Sisera fled the scene.^[1]

Sisera arrived on foot at the tent of Heber on the plain of Zaanaim. Heber and his household were at peace with Jabin, the king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor.^[4] Jael, however, sympathized with the Israelites because of the twenty-year period of harsh oppression inflicted on them by Jabin, his commander Sisera, and his nine hundred iron chariots. Jael (whose tent would have been separate from Heber’s) ^[5] welcomed Sisera into her tent and covered him with a blanket. As he was thirsty, she gave him a jug of milk. Exhausted, Sisera lay down and soon fell asleep. While he was sleeping, Jael took a mallet and drove a tent peg into his temple, killing him instantly.^[1]

This is an example of “hard” tyrannicide.

Tyrannicide – hard and soft – is a reality in the modern world. Just today September 28, 2019, the former President of Zimbabwe was laid to rest, only in a private ceremony; no State Funeral. He was finally deposed 2 years ago by a military coup that ended his tyrannical rule of 37 years.

Also in the Bahamas in 2017, the parliamentary government in power was overwhelmingly defeated due to the people’s desire to just get rid of what they perceived as an ineffectual and “bottlenecking” Prime Minister. See this quotation from a previous blog-commentary from May 11, 2017:

Title: UPDATE: Understand the Market, Plan the …
“The Prime Minister bet his administration on the prospect of Carnival and now, its election time.”

It’s official, that bet has failed! The Prime Minister (PM) of the Bahamas and leader of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) – Perry G. Christie – has been defeated. …

This commentary has observed-and-reported on the Bahamas for the last 5 years and the “bet” that the PM made was related to more than just Carnival; he also bet on:

Music Festival-Event – The Fyre Festival event was a fiasco; it went up in flames on April 28, 2017 after getting government permissions and support beforehand. The mass population of Bahamian stakeholders – other than the government – knew nothing of this event until it was an international embarrassment – a “Black-eye”.

Value-Added Tax – New 7.5% Sales & Use tax implementation increased the tax burden on the poor more than the rich.

Baha Mar Resort & Casino – $2 Billion Resort & Casino stalled due to government meddling in the Developer-Banker conflict.

Grand Bahama (Freeport) – 2^nd City economic progress stalled; decisions on extending Investment Tax Credits were inexplicably stalled and extended for 6-month intervals, until it was finally granted for a reasonable period.

So when the outgoing PM dissolved Parliament on April 11, 2017 and called elections for May 10, it was the only chance for the people to vocalize their displeasure. They shouted an almost unanimous veto of Christie’s policies and administration, giving the Opposition Party (Free National Movement) 35 of the 39 seats in the House of Assembly.

The near “unanimous veto” in the Bahamas in May 2017 was an example of a “soft” tyrannicide. (Many of the candidates for Parliament were political novices with no track record, experience or reputation; they were believed to be embraced by the voting public just because they represented a dissenting Party).

The need for economic justice can never be undermined, undervalued or questioned. This was related in many previous Go Lean commentaries; consider this sample here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17267	Way Forward – For Justice: Special Prosecutors
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16668	Justice and Economics – Both needed to forge change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16408	Bad Ethos on Home Violence – Spilled into Tourist Resorts
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14424	Repairing the Breach: Crime – Need, Greed, Justice & Honor
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14211	Urging to “Enjoy Carnival”, but Be Safe!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11054	Managing the ‘Strong versus the Weak’ – Bullying in Schools
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5307	8th Violent Crime Warning to Bahamas Tourists – Bad Model
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=392	The World Bank gives Jamaica Economic Help to Mitigate Crime

For the foregoing, the situation in the Dominican Republic is a Cautionary Tale. There must be an adequate response and escalation when there is a threat to the public safety of tourists and trading partners. The subjects must be able to “Dial 911“.

The community institutions themselves must also be able to “Dial 911” and call for additional help:

We must protect the economic engines.
We must optimize our regional justice institutions.

Both of these missions are in parallel. This is the quest of the Go Lean movement.

We hereby urge all Caribbean stakeholders – governments, citizens, visitors and trading partners alike – to lean-in to this comprehensive Go Lean roadmap to elevate Caribbean society. We must make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

About the Book

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

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

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

iv. Whereas the natural formation of the landmass is in a tropical region, the flora and fauna allows for an inherent beauty that is enviable to peoples near and far. The structures must be strenuously guarded to protect and promote sustainable systems of commerce paramount to this reality.

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

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

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

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

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Civil Rights, DR, Security, Transform

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Unequal Justice: Sheriffs and the need for ‘soft’ Tyrannicide

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

Go Lean Commentary

The need for justice can never be undermined, undervalued or questioned.

People will abandon everything else – culture, family, home and comforts – in pursuit of justice, for themselves or their children.

This is a familiar cause in the Black community – African descended people – in the New World. The 2013 book Go Lean… Caribbean spoke of the mental disposition of the previous generations that transcended from slavery to full civil rights. The book quotes (Page 21) this as the “community ethos” or “underlying sentiment that informed the beliefs, customs, or practices”:

The African Diaspora experience in the New World [was] one of “future” gratification, as the generations that sought freedom from slavery knew that their children, not them, would be the beneficiaries of that liberty. This ethos continued with subsequent generations expecting that their “children” would be more successful in the future than the parents may have been.

The “success” that these ones sought were for justice first and prosperity later. Consider the example of the Great Northward Migration in the United States. This refers to:

… the movement of 6 million African Americans out of the rural Southern United States to the urban Northeast, Midwest, and West that occurred between 1916 and 1970.^[1] In every U.S. Census prior to 1910, more than 90% of the African-American population lived in the American South.^[2] In 1900, only one-fifth of African Americans living in the South were living in urban areas.^[3] By the end of the Great Migration, just over 50% of the African-American population remained in the South, while a little less than 50% lived in the North and West,^[4] and the African-American population had become highly urbanized. By 1960, of those African Americans still living in the South, half now lived in urban areas,^[3] and by 1970, more than 80% of African Americans nationwide lived in cities.^[5]

The reality of southern rural life for African Americans was that justice was impeded by one institution, often one character: the County Sheriff. (See the academic journal in Appendix A below).

The Sheriff is a legal official with designated responsibility for a local jurisdiction in countries with historical ties to England. In the United States, the scope of the elected Sheriff is most often identified as the chief civil-law enforcement officer and administrator of County jails. [There were 3,081 Sheriff’s offices as of 2015.^[4]]

The County Sheriff was often a Bottleneck for justice for the local Black community. This was well illustrated in the classic reggae song about Sheriff “John Brown” by Bob Marley – see here; (and the lyrics in Appendix C below):

VIDEO – Bob Marley “I Shot The Sheriff” Live at the Rainbow – https://youtu.be/Xa0HOpQRpLM

OFF Productions
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Category: Music

Song: I Shot The Sheriff (Rainbow, 1978)

Artist: Bob Marley

Licensed to YouTube by: Aviator Management GmbH (on behalf of Bob Marley)

(People sought refuge and succeeded in their quest for relief and justice by fleeing the jurisdiction of the Sheriff, that State and the whole oppressive racist region of the American South).

Bottlenecks
There is the concept of the Bottlenecks in production design …

… a bottleneck is one process in a chain of processes, such that its limited capacity reduces the capacity of the whole chain. The result of having a bottleneck are stalls in production, supply overstock, pressure from customers and low employee morale.^[1] – Source: Wikipedia.

How do we eliminate bottlenecks? By eliminating non-value activities …

In removing all non-value activities, you reduce the amount of redundant tasks performed by the bottlenecked machine [process or person] and hence maximize efficiency.

So it is a quick and easy conclusion that in order to be efficient and effective, bottlenecks must be removed/streamlined from any process. This case-in-point about bottlenecks is a submission from the movement behind the Go Lean…Caribbean book. This book was not designed to address bottlenecks, but rather the Caribbean societal engines: economics, security and governance. It is no doubt that this subject of bottlenecks aligns to each one of these engines. This is because they relate to:

Justice!

There could be a bottleneck in the execution of justice – one person can hold it up, prevent it and subvert it. When this is the case, there is the need to eliminate the obstacle. This is called “tyrannicide“. In fact, the subject of tyrannicide opens this series on “Unequal Justice” from the movement behind the Go Lean book for September 2019. While the Latin root word “cide” refers to killing or slaughter – think: suicide and homocide – we are NOT advocating any kind of assassination of political leaders. No, we are not encouraging any form of violence; rather the advocacy here is for a “soft” tyrannicide – legally removing all persons that may be a stumbling block or bottleneck in the execution of justice in the societal engines – these persons, despite their claims of being “heroes”, are really “villains”. The full series is cataloged as follows:

Unequal Justice: Soft Tyrannicide to Eliminate Bottlenecks
Unequal Justice: Economic Crimes Against Tourists and Bullying
Unequal Justice: Envy and the Seven Deadly Sins
Unequal Justice: Student Loans Could Dictate Justice

In this series, reference is made to the need for a comprehensive roadmap for elevating the societal engines of the 30 Caribbean member-states. We need to always ensure justice institutions are optimized in the region, otherwise people flee in search of refuge. The need for justice transcends borders, politics, class and race. People feel justified to pursue justice – as a religious devotion – if not for themselves, then for their children.

The need for justice can never be undermined, undervalued or questioned. This was related in many previous Go Lean commentaries; consider this sample here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=18100	Cop-on-Black Shootings in America’s DNA
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17667	Is the US a ‘Just’ Society? Hardly!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14413	Repairing the Breach: ‘Hurt People Hurt People’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13476	Future Focused – Policing the Police
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10222	Waging a Successful War on ‘Terrorism’ and Bullying
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5238	Prisoners for Profit – Abuses in the Prison Industrial Complex
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5304	Mitigating the Eventual ‘Abuse of Power’

For the foregoing, the American South, tyrannicide was achieved by removing the racist Sheriffs from office. This was accomplished by defeating them at the ballot box – see the example in Appendix B. The people that fled – in the Great Migration – did not defeat the Sheriffs, the bottlenecks for justice. No, it was those that stayed; thusly, the reformation took very long.

This is also the advocacy of the Go Lean movement.

Many Caribbean people have fled their homeland and this region. They cannot bring the required change if they are absent! It is our assertion that it is easier to reform and transform the Caribbean rather than trying to fix the societal life for Caribbean people abroad in a foreign land.

This theme – urging Caribbean people to Stay Home and Return Home – aligns with many previous Go Lean commentaries; see a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11314	The Need to Stay Home: Forging a Home Addiction
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10654	Stay Home! Immigration Realities in the US
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15123	‘Time to Go’ – Blacks get longer sentences from ‘Republican’ Judges
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9216	Time to Go: No Respect for our Hair

Life in the Diaspora is not easy; and not always just. The Black-and-Brown of the Caribbean continue to encounter repression, oppression and suppression in the foreign communities of North America and Europe. If justice is the goal – it should be – then it is easier to forge justice and mitigate institutional abuse here in the Caribbean homeland. It still takes heavy-lifting, but there is a better chance for success here.

We must learn the lessons of the history of the American South – it was those that remained that reformed and transformed their communities. Not those that left. (North Carolina now has 20 Black Sheriffs out of their 100 counties).

i.e. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was a Baptist Minister in Atlanta, Georgia, after starting his Civil Rights career in Montgomery, Alabama. His enunciated dream was for freedom to reign:

… from the Stone Mountains of Georgia,

… from Lookout Mountain in Tennessee,

… from every hill and molehill in Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

Let freedom … and justice reign in the Caribbean; in every member-state and for all the people. This is our Dream!

We hereby urge all Caribbean stakeholders – governments, residents and Diaspora – to lean-in to this comprehensive Go Lean roadmap to elevate Caribbean society. This is how we can make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

————

Appendix A – JOURNAL ARTICLE: Race and the County Sheriff in the American South

…
Because of their wide powers and multiple roles, sheriffs played a particularly notable role in the region’s racial history. Nearly all white and male, and overwhelmingly Democrat, southern sheriffs were linchpins in the maintenance of white supremacy and its class-base and race-based privileges. Exercising broad discretionary powers in the enforcement of the law, county sheriffs helped reproduce the complex set of social taboos and practices that made up Jim Crow society. Sheriffs were not only empowered to arrest and jail, but to fail to arrest and jail. By acceding to the wishes of white elites, sheriffs administered the racial paternalism that helped keep southern blacks beholden to their white patrons, securing their cheap labor for agrarian or industrial capitalists and suppressing their ability to resist the reproduction of white hegemony.

Sheriffs, through their authority over the local jails, were generally responsible for the custody of those arrested, and played a prominent role in the lynching incidents that were so important to subduing the black unrest.

…

See the full journal article … at this source:

Moore, T. (1997). Race and the County Sheriff in the American South. International Social Science Review, 72(1/2), 50-61. Retrieved September 27, 2019 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41882228

————

Appendix B – First African American female sheriff is woman enough to fill big boots

For now, history will not be made in Washington with America’s first female president. But, here in Texas, we have quietly made history this month swearing in the state’s first African American female sheriff.

Jefferson County Sheriff Zena Stephens took her oath in front of a packed audience in Beaumont, where she promised to get back to the basics of law enforcement with greater transparency and community engagement. Stephens spoke of being humbled by all the support, describing her November win as a team effort. “Our community made history,” she said.

…

Stephens is now one of only two black women in America to hold the job of sheriff. Yet, she does not concern herself much with the record books or her admission into a very impressive brotherhood of peace officers. (That includes Walter Moses Burton, who, in 1869, was elected the first black sheriff in Texas by the voters of Fort Bend County.)

…

See the full article here: Dallas Morning News – Posted January 13, 2017; retrieved September 27, 2019 from: https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/01/13/first-african-american-female-sheriff-is-woman-enough-to-fill-big-boots/

————

Appendix C – I Shot the Sheriff – Lyrics by Bob Marley

Chorus:
(I shot the sheriff
But I didn’t shoot no deputy, oh no! Oh!
I shot the sheriff
But I didn’t shoot no deputy, ooh, ooh, oo-ooh.)

Yeah! All around in my home town,
They’re tryin’ to track me down;
They say they want to bring me in guilty
For the killing of a deputy,
For the life of a deputy.
But I say:

Oh, now, now. Oh!
(I shot the sheriff.) – the sheriff.
(But I swear it was in self-defence.)
Oh, no! (Ooh, ooh, oo-oh) Yeah!
I say: I shot the sheriff – Oh, Lord! –
(And they say it is a capital offence.)
Yeah! (Ooh, ooh, oo-oh) Yeah!

Sheriff John Brown always hated me,
For what, I don’t know:
Every time I plant a seed,
He said kill it before it grow –
He said kill them before they grow.
And so:

Read it in the news:
(I shot the sheriff.) Oh, Lord!
(But I swear it was in self-defence.)
Where was the deputy? (Oo-oo-oh)
I say: I shot the sheriff,
But I swear it was in selfdefence. (Oo-oh) Yeah!

Freedom came my way one day
And I started out of town, yeah!
All of a sudden I saw sheriff John Brown
Aiming to shoot me down,
So I shot – I shot – I shot him down and I say:
If I am guilty I will pay.

(I shot the sheriff,)
But I say (But I didn’t shoot no deputy),
I didn’t shoot no deputy (oh, no-oh), oh no!
(I shot the sheriff.) I did!
But I didn’t shoot no deputy. Oh! (Oo-oo-ooh)

Reflexes had got the better of me
And what is to be must be:
Every day the bucket a-go a well,
One day the bottom a-go drop out,
One day the bottom a-go drop out.
I say:

I – I – I – I shot the sheriff.
Lord, I didn’t shot the deputy. Yeah!
I – I (shot the sheriff) –
But I didn’t shoot no deputy, yeah! No, yeah!

Source: Retrieved September 27, 2019 from: https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bobmarley/ishotthesheriff.html

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Civil Rights, History, Model, Transform

[Top]

Nassau’s 2019 Self-Made Energy Crisis

Posted on August 15, 2019 in Government, Tactical

Go Lean Commentary

It is seriously Hot-Hot-Hot out there …

So there is no intent here to be “cold and callous” … (callous = ‘feeling no emotion’).

But the Bahamas’s capital city – Nassau – is having an energy crisis right now:

The local power generation utility (Bahamas Power & Light or BPL) is not producing enough electricity to meet the needs of the community, so they have to load-share and force black-outs/brown-outs around the island to try and facilitate some delivery some time to all their customer base. They do not want to show favoritism to one group over another, so they are leveraging the load-sharing tactic on everybody. So now instead of some people being happy and some being angry, they have obtained universality …

… everybody is angry!

———-

VIDEO – B.P.L. Load Shedding Update – https://youtu.be/fW8JGGnlvzQ

ZNSNetwork
Published on May 15, 2019

Category: People & Blogs

Additionally, see this portrayal in this news article here (and the Appendix VIDEO below):

Title: BPL causing ‘chaos’
By: Jasper Ward, The Nassau Guardian Staff Reporter

Super Value food stores are taking a significant hit as a result of protracted power cuts, according to its owner Rupert Roberts.

Roberts said about six Super Value locations are impacted by outages daily and the company has spent around $100,000 recently on replacing equipment damaged by the outages.

He described the outages as “a nuisance” and said they create “chaos”.

“This BEC (Bahamas Electricity Corporation) crisis is more than a crisis, it’s chaos,” Roberts said at the Nassau Street store.

“It’s costing us $250,000 a year from burning up our equipment.”

He said, “I suppose our biggest concern is burning up equipment.

“…[We] burn up a $10,000 or $20,000 air conditioning [unit and] we’re always burning up compressors. We’re using up spares so fast and we’re doing emergency imports.

“Fortunately, we’re able to get them in within three or four days without flying them in. But I noticed on Saturday we had a diary case down because we’re waiting on the compressor that burned out. That’s the biggest problem.”

Roberts said it will cost about $10,000 to replace a compressor in the dairy case at the Nassau Street location. He said it is unlikely that case will be operational before Saturday.

Roberts said dairy sales were up 14 percent before the case was damaged.

Since it was damaged, sales have gone down 17 percent, he said.

Roberts said the company has twice the amount of equipment needed “because of the serious problem” of the outages.

Although the food store chain is facing challenges with the outages, Roberts said the company is “managing quite well”.

“We’ve been in this business over 50 years and we’ve had power problems for the last 50 years,” he said.

“So, we learned how to cope. We don’t run out of fuel. Years ago, when I first started in the industry, we had generators because of hurricanes but for the past 25 years we’ve had to have generators because of power outages.”

For nearly two months, communities on New Providence have experienced hours-long blackouts as part of Bahamas Power and Light’s (BPL) load shedding exercise.

Over the last few weeks, BPL has conducted nearly four-hour-long load shedding.

On Sunday, BPL Chief Executive Officer Whitney Heastie said he could not guarantee an end to load shedding exercises in the immediate future, describing BPL as being “on a cliff”.

Heastie said BPL needs 250 megawatts of generation in order to meet the summer demand.

However, it is currently running on 210 megawatts, including 105 megawatts of rental generation.

Heastie said the 40-megawatt shortfall has led to load shedding across New Providence.

Source: Posted by The Nassau Guardian daily newspaper on August 13, 2019; retrieved August 14, 2019 from: https://thenassauguardian.com/2019/08/13/bpl-causing-chaos/

The need to explain that our statement is not “cold and callous” is due to the fact that the appearance is that “we” are ‘kicking the people when they are down’ when we make this assertion:

This energy crisis for Nassau is Self-Made!!

Wait, what?!

This is a matter of infrastructure and Nassau has had an inadequate infrastructure for a while. In fact, since the 1970’s residents on this island of New Providence (NP) have been encouraged to buy bottled-water and not consume the ‘tap’ water.

All of this is evident of the lacking municipal infrastructure. In fact, this is reminiscent of the US City of Flint, Michigan. Their infrastructure has become defective and the people there has to resort to bottled water. In Flint, that problem has now persisted for 4 years. In Nassau, it has been 40 years. (See an excerpt of our 2016 blog-commentary on the Flint crisis in the Appendix below).

Yep, self-made!

This is a BIGGER issue than water or electricity; this is an issue of the Social Contract.

The 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean (Page 170) defines the Social Contract as the informal arrangement where citizens surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the State in exchange for protection of remaining natural and legal rights. This is why the State, in this case, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is allowed to operate monopolies for the water and power utilities. But any failures in these Social Contract deliveries causes repercussions and consequences. For example people leave and abandon their homeland. This relevance was detailed in a previous Go Lean commentary from July 28, 2015:

The issue of Caribbean citizens abandoning their homelands is one of the more dire threats to societal life in the region. Why do they do it?

“Push and Pull” reasons!

Push
Conditions at home drive Caribbean citizens to take flight and find refuge elsewhere. Many times these conditions are economic (jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities), security and governance related, but there are other reasons too; consider discriminations due to ethnic diversity or other lifestyle choices.

Lastly, there is the new threat of Climate Change. While this is a threat for the whole world, the Caribbean is on the frontline. Though there is some debate as to the causes of climate change, there is no question as to its outcome: temperatures are rising, droughts prevail, and most devastating, hurricanes are now more threatening. A Caribbean elevation plan must address the causes of climate change and most assuredly its consequences. …

Now, the anecdotal experience is that there is a need to mitigate excessive heat in the region for an even longer season. How do we mitigate excessive heat?

Air conditioning!

But this cure may at times be worse than the disease.

Air conditioning requires even greater energy consumption, (the Caribbean has among the highest energy costs in the Western Hemisphere); the Go Lean book posits that the average costs of energy can be decreased from an average of US$0.35/kWh to US$0.088/kWh in the course of the 5-year term of this roadmap; (Page 100).

In addition, the release of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) in the air-conditioning process is a contributor of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

The status quo needs remediation!

The Bahamas should have remediated these infrastructural problems years ago – the price is too high to allow it to linger. In addition to the societal abandonment threat; there are life-and-death issues associated with convalescing citizens needing continuous power supply – see photo here:

That’s the problem, now what is the solution?

In addition to the voluminous number of blog-commentaries on infrastructure – see this recent submission from July 26, 2019 – the Go Lean book presented strategies, tactics and implementations that must be pursued, not just for the Bahamas, but for the whole Caribbean region – all 30 member-states. In fact, the book presents one advocacy (Page 176) specifically focused on Public Works, entitled: “10 Ways to Impact Public Works“. These “10 Ways” include the following highlights, headlines and excerpts:

1	Lean-in for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU is chartered to unify the Caribbean region into one Single Market of 42 million people across 30 member-states, thereby re-engineering the economic engines in and on behalf of the region, including a currency & monetary union. This new eco-system allows for the design, funding and construction of Public Works and Infrastructural projects. The federal agency within the CU’s Department of the Interior has the scope for the Caribbean much like the Corps of Engineers has for the US. (Plus the CU will collaborate with the US Corps for projects related to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands). There are a number of inter-state projects that must be coordinated on the federal level. There will also be projects that are “Too Big for One State” that will be facilitated by the CU. In addition, all CU efforts must comply with the Art in Public Places mandate, so sculptures and statutes will be embedded in projects or the project itself can be a work of art (bridges, water towers, building architecture). For existing projects that fail due to financial shortfalls, the CU will accommodate dissolution or reorganization in the federal courts, bringing balance to the process to all stakeholders.
2	Union Atlantic Turnpike
3	Pipelines and PCP (Pneumatic Capsule Pipeline)
4	Regional Power Grid The CU will facilitate the installation of a regional power grid, and power sharing between member-states, with underwater and above-ground high-intensity wiring to alternate energy plants: wind/tidal turbines, solar panel & natural gas.
5	Self-Governing Entities (SGE)
6	Enterprise Zones
7	Empowerment Zones
8	Monopolies The UN grants the CU the monopoly rights for an Exclusive Economic Zone, so the focus must be on quality delivery. The CU plan is to liberalize management of monopolies, with tools like ratings/rankings against best practices. Plus technological accommodations for ICT allows for cross-competition from different modes (satellite, cable, phone).
9	Cooperatives The CU will task utility cooperatives with the delivery of some public utilities such as Air Chillers; Refrigerated Warehouses to its members. This strategy shares the cost of the “Works” installation across the full co-op membership.
10	Capital Markets A single market and currency union will allow for the emergence of viable capital markets for stocks and bonds (public and private), thereby creating the economic engine to fuel growth and development. This forges financial products for “pre” disaster project funding (drainage, levies, dykes, sea walls) and post disaster recovery (reinsurance sidecars).

The Go Lean book doubles-down on the concept of leveraging across a larger population base so that BIGGER infrastructure projects can be facilitated in the region – on land or in the waters – see Photo here. Imagine large arrays of solar panels, wind turbines, tidal generators, geo-thermal energy captured at the volcanic hot zones, and even Natural Gas as a cleaner-cheaper fossil fuel. These energy options are realistic and should be available to us now in the Caribbean, so they should be explored and deployed. This, a regional power grid, is the energy prime directive for this Go Lean movement.

This theme – exploiting alternative options for the economic, security and governing empowerments in the region – aligns with many previous Go Lean commentaries; see a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17925	‘We’ have repeatedly failed the lessons from ‘Infrastructure 101’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17280	Way Forward – For Energy: ‘Trade’ Winds
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13985	EU Assists Barbados in Renewable Energy Self-Sufficiency
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12994	The Science of ‘Power Restoration’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12466	12 Caribbean Member-states have ‘Volcanic Energy’ to Exploit
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10367	The Science of Sustenance – Green Batteries
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5155	Green Energy Solution: Tesla unveils super-battery to power homes
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4897	US Backs LNG Distribution for Caribbean Energy Solutions
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=915	Go ‘Green’ … Caribbean

Make no mistake, energy is a basic need!

The failure for a community to have continuous supply of energy is an energy crisis. (This means you Bahamas).

Enough already!

Now is the time for all Caribbean stakeholders to prepare for the empowerments of Green-Energy solutions. It is past-time for a regional power grid:

generation – Green options (solar, wind turbines, tidal, geo-thermal and natural gas)
distribution – Underwater cables to connect individual islands
consumption – efficient battery back-ups for home deployments.

These changes are coming … one way or another.

For you government revenue institutions who may be overly dependent of fuel taxes and surcharges – you are hereby put on notice:

Changes are afoot. We will succeed; we will make our Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play.

🙂

About the Book

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

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

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

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

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

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

——————–

Appendix VIDEO – Another B.P.L. Blackout – https://youtu.be/fOT0gfvSchM

ZNSNetwork
Published on Jul 2, 2019

Category: People & Blogs

——————–

Appendix – Excerpts from previous Commentary: Flint, Michigan – A Cautionary Tale – January 19, 2016

[The City of] Flint serves as a “cautionary tale” for other communities near “Failed City/Failed State” status. From this perspective, this community may be a valuable asset to the rest of the world and especially to the Caribbean.

The publishers of the book Go Lean…Caribbean are here in Detroit to “observe and report” the turn-around and rebirth of the once-great-but-now-distressed City of Detroit and its metropolitan areas, including Flint. (Previous commentaries featured the positive role model of the City of Ann Arbor).

What happened here?

According to the Timeline in the Appendix, Flint, MI suffered this fate as a chain reaction to its Failed-State status. Outside stakeholders – Emergency Managers – came into the equation to execute a recovery plan with focus only on the Bottom-Line. The consideration for people – the Greater Good – came second, if at all. They switched water sources, unwisely!

The assertion of the Go Lean book is that the Caribbean region can benefit from lessons learned from Good, Bad and Ugly governance. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The Go Lean book and related commentaries call on citizens of the Caribbean member-states to lean-in to the empowerments described in the roadmap for elevation. This will require a constant vigil to ensure the Greater Good as opposed to personal gains.

…

See VIDEO here of the story in the national media …

VIDEO – Citizens’ Anger Continues Over Toxic Water in Flint, Michigan – http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/citizens-anger-continues-toxic-water-flint-michigan-36348795 –

…

This tragic story – cautionary tale of Flint – is an analysis of failure in the societal engines of economics, security and governance. These 3 facets are presented in the book Go Lean … Caribbean as the three-fold cord for societal harmony; for any society anywhere. The Caribbean wants societal harmony; we must therefore work to optimize all these three engines. As exhibited by Flint, this is easier said than done. This heavy-lifting is described in the book as both an art and a science.

The focus in this commentary is a continuation in the study of the societal engine of governance; previously, there was a series on economics and one on security. This commentary though, focuses on the bad eventually of Social Contract failures. The Social Contract refers to the unspoken expectations between citizens and the State. In many cases, State laws limit ownership of all mineral rights to the State; so citizens will be dependent on State systems to supply water. In the case of Flint, the City’s Water and Sewage Department has a monopoly; this supply is the only option for residents!

The Go Lean book describes “bad actors” wreaking havoc on the peace and security of the community. The book relates though that “bad actors” are not always human; they include bad events like natural disasters and industrial spills. Plus, actual “bad actors” may have started out with altruistic motives, good intentions. This is why the book and accompanying blogs design the organization structures for the new Caribbean with checks-and-balances, mandating a collaborative process, because sometimes even a well-intentioned individual may not have all the insight, hindsight and foresight necessary to pursue the Greater Good. This the defect of the Michigan Emergency Manager structure; it assigns too much power to just one person, bypassing the benefits of a collaborative process. This is one reason why this review is important: power corrupts…everyone … everywhere.

…

We must do better, than Flint! (Flint must do better; too many lives are involved).

We know that “bad actors and bad incidences” will always occur, even in government institutions, so we must be “on guard” against abusive influences and encroachments to Failed-State status. The Go Lean roadmap calls for engagement and participation from everyone, the people (citizens), institutions and government officials alike. We encouraged all with benevolent motives to lean-in to this roadmap, to get involved to effect a turnaround for the Caribbean Failed-States.

Our Caribbean stakeholders deserve the best … from their leaders. 🙂

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Bahamas, Disaster, Green Energy, Model, Power

[Top]

What Went Wrong? ‘We’ never had our war!

Posted on July 21, 2019 in Ethos, Planning, Tactical

Go Lean Commentary

War … what is it good for?
Absolutely nothing! – Song: Edwin Starr – Motown 1969; see Appendix below.

Well, not so fast.

This started just as a “catch phrase”, but now it has emerged as a fact in Economic History:

A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.

So what is war good for? Providing a crisis that can be exploited to reform and transform society.

That’s it; wrap it up; we can now summarize so many changes in world history as they manifested as a result of war. Consider these examples:

War Conflict	Take-a-way
Napoleonic Wars \| 1803 – 1815 Spanish New World assumed independence from Spain. This was true in North America (Mexico), Central America and South America. But the Caribbean territories did not abdicate from “Mama Espana” at that time.	Latin America Independence
American Civil War \| 1860 – 1865 The New World was premised on Slavery, exploiting the African race as a free labor source in all the Americas. This abhorrent institution would have definitely ended, one way or another. “The arc of history leans towards justice”. After the US Civil War – 625,000 dead White Men – no other wars were necessary in the New World; all Euro-influenced governments whittled slavery into extinction, one way or another.	Abolition & Emancipation
Great War / World War I 1914 – 1919 This war addressed the boiling point of class-ism in Europe – the Haves versus the Have-Nots – the Nobility System (Dukes, Counts, Bourgeoisie, etc.) did not survive the reconciliation that led to the cessation of conflicts. Communism emerged as a manifestation of the demand for equality.	Gender Equality; Worker Rights; Egalitarianism
World War II / Cold War \| 1939 – 1955 This war was a sequel to WW I; whatever remaining issues that were deferred in the WW I reconciliations were pushed forward for reckoning; think: Colonialism (in Africa, Asia and the Americas), Racial Supremacy, Human Rights assurances.	Human Rights; Decolonization; Majority Rule / Universal Suffrage
End of Cold War \| 1991 – 2016 The return to Nationalism in Europe did not provide governing solutions or the needed multi-racial reconciliations. That bill came due, as demonstrated with the Balkans Conflict (Bosnia, Serbia, etc.). A Migrant Crisis emerged for all States that refused to transform: think Middle East Islamic Fundamentalism, Sovereign Debt Crisis (Greece, etc.), and Brexit.	Economic Liberalization; Free Trade; Free Movement

In no shape or form are we rationalizing, justifying or excusing war. But, it is what it is!

Where there is conflict – blood on the streets – people tend to finally be motivated to remediate and mitigate the risks and threats for the conflict to ever rekindle. So this premise is true:

It is only at the precipice that people change.

This is why we can declare with such confidence that one of the things that went wrong in the Caribbean, is “we never had our war“. From the foregoing examples, all the reform and transformation that took place from these crises, did NOT benefit the Caribbean as we had “No War” here. (The Cuban Revolution ushered in Communism, but all the stewards of the Cuban people – culture, politics and commerce – simply fled; they left the island to the rebels, so the needed reform on societal values never took place – Cuba is still in “Freeze-Frame” from 1959).

This commentary continues the July series from the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean. This submission, 2-of-6 on the theme “What Went Wrong?” focuses on Caribbean history and why we still have many of the same defects that other societies – think North America and Europe yes, but even India and China – have already remediated. The full catalog:

What Went Wrong? Asking ‘Why’ is Important
What Went Wrong? ‘We’ never had our war!
What Went Wrong? ‘7 to 1’ – Caribbean ‘Less Than’
What Went Wrong? ‘Be our Guest’ – The Rules of Hospitality
What Went Wrong? Failing the Lessons from Infrastructure 101
What Went Wrong? Losing the Best; Nation-building with the Rest

In this series, reference is made to the need for a comprehensive roadmap for elevating the societal engines of the Caribbean member-states. We do not want war! But we want to make the progress that is possible when society reforms and transforms. And we want to do this without a war. The movement behind the Go Lean book asserts that this progress is possible. See how this theme was developed in many previous Go Lean commentaries; see a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16477	Transforming Hindus versus Women – What it means for us?
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15580	The Cause of Caribbean Disunity: Religion’s Role – False Friend
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14633	Despite Embedded ‘Bad Nature’, Women Have Nurtured Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14378	Legislating Morality – Yes, We Can
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13063	Gender Equity without a ‘Battle of the Sexes’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13882	Managing ‘Change’ in California – Calm and Smooth Evolutions
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5695	Repenting, Forgiving and Reconciling the Past
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3090	Learning from Modern Europe – Evolution without Revolution

Most of the Caribbean profess the religious affiliation with Christianity. The Founder of the Church, Jesus Christ, taught his followers an important lesson about manifestation versus faith. See here relating the story of Doubting Thomas:

A doubting Thomas is a skeptic who refuses to believe without direct personal experience—a reference to the Apostle Thomas, who refused to believe that the resurrected Jesus had appeared to the ten other apostles, until he could see and feel the wounds received by Jesus on the torture stake.

The Holy Scriptures relates, from the Gospel account of John 20: 24 – 29 NWT:

… ²⁴ But Thomas,+ one of the Twelve, who was called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples were telling him: “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them: “Unless I see in his hands the print* of the nails and stick my finger into the print of the nails and stick my hand into his side,+ I will never believe it.”
²⁶ Well, eight days later his disciples were again indoors, and [this time] Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and he stood in their midst and said: “May you have peace.”+ ²⁷ Next he said to Thomas: “Put your finger here, and see my hands, and take your hand and stick it into my side, and stop doubting* but believe.” ²⁸ In answer Thomas said to him: “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹ Jesus said to him: “Because you have seen me, have you believed? Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe. While it is only at the precipice that people change, how much better it would be for Caribbean society to change (reform and transform) without being at the precipice, without enduring the pangs of war. It is the assertion here that despite the heavy-lifting, “we” can succeed in optimizing Caribbean society … without war.

Is this possible? Can we reboot our society? Can we ‘weed out’ the bad ethos – i.e. rent-seeking and domestic violence – in our communities and adopt new more positive ethos? Can we implement the strategies and tactics we need to optimize our society, without first going to the brink of self-destruction?

Yes, we can!

This is the urging of the book Go Lean…Caribbean and the resultant roadmap. We hereby urge all Caribbean stakeholders to lean-in to this roadmap. Let’s get busy and go to work. This roadmap is conceivable, believe and achievable. We can make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

————-

Appendix VIDEO – Edwin Starr – War (What is it good for) – https://youtu.be/ztZI2aLQ9Sw

Matze 1987
Published on Aug 4, 2011 – Edwin Star – War

Lyrics:
War…huh…yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Uh ha haa ha
War…huh…yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutley nothing…say it again y’all
War..huh…look out…
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing…listen to me ohhhhh

WAR! I despise, ‘cos it means destruction of innocent lives,
War means tears to thousands of mother’s eyes,
When their sons gone to fight and lose their lives.

I said WAR!…huh…good God y’all,
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing…say it again
War! Huh…What is it good for
Absolutely nothing…listen to me

WAR! It ain’t nothing but a heartbreaker,
War. Friend only to the undertaker. Ohhh!
War is an enemy to all mankind,
The thought of war blows my mind.
War has caused unrest within the younger generation
Induction then destruction…who wants to die? Ohhh

WAR! good God y’all huh
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing…say it say it SAY IT!
WAR!…uh huh yeah huh
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing…listen to me

WAR! It ain’t nothing but a heartbreaker,
War! It’s got one friend that’s the undertaker.
Ohhhh! War has shattered many a young man’s dream,
Made him disabled, bitter and mean,
Life is much too short and precious to spend fighting wars these days.
War can’t give life, it can only take it away!

Ohhh WAR! huh…good God y’all What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing…say it again War!…huh…woh oh oh Lord
What is it good for? Absolutely nothing…listen to me

War! It ain’t nothing but a heartbreaker,
War. Friend only to the undertaker…woo
Peace lovin’ understand then tell me,
Is there no place for them today?
They say we must fight to keep our freedom,
But Lord knows there’s got to be a better way.

Ohhhhhhh WAR! huh…good God y’all…
What is it good for?…you tell me!
Say it say it say it saaaay it!
War! good God now…huh
What is it good for?
Stand up and shout it…NOTHING

Music in this video – Listen ad-free with YouTube Premium

Song: War
Artist: Edwin Starr
Album: Can You Dig It? The 70’s Soul Experience
Licensed to YouTube by: UMG (on behalf of Rhino); UMPI, AMRA, CMRRA, Sony ATV Publishing, UNIAO BRASILEIRA DE EDITORAS DE MUSICA – UBEM, SOLAR Music Rights Management, LatinAutor – SonyATV, LatinAutor, EMI Music Publishing, UMPG Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing, and 13 Music Rights Societies

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Hurricane in Africa? That’s ‘Climate Change’

Posted on March 22, 2019 in Ethos, Social, Tactical

Go Lean Commentary

This is the headline, in case you missed it:

“Mozambique Braces for More Floods as Cyclone Deaths Climb”. Bloomberg News Source. Posted 19 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.

Mozambique is not a Caribbean country in the typical bulls-eye for hurricanes. No, this is a country in the South African region; not normally threatened by tropical cyclones or hurricanes. This is proof-positive that something is wrong with the earth’s climate. This is the reality of Climate Change.

We told you so …

In fact, we told you (in 2018) that climate conditions will go from bad to worse on a daily basis and that we only have 12 years, before the damage we are causing to the planet will be irreversible.

We did not give this warning about Africa; this is not our charter. But we can still learn by observing-and-reporting on developments there. See here, the consequential damage from this cyclone:

Reference: Cyclone Idai
Intense Tropical Cyclone Idai is regarded as one of the worst tropical cyclones on record to affect Africa and the Southern Hemisphere as a whole. The storm caused catastrophic damage in multiple nations, leaving more than 400 people dead and hundreds more missing.^[4] Its death toll is comparable to that of south-west Indian Ocean cyclones Eline in 2000, and Gafilo in 2004.^[5] The tenth named storm and record-breaking eighth intense tropical cyclone of the 2018–19 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season, Idai originated from a tropical depression that formed off the eastern coast of Mozambique on 4 March.

The depression made landfall in the aforementioned country later in the day and remained a tropical cyclone throughout the entirety of its trek over land. On 9 March, the depression reemerged into the Mozambique Channel and was upgraded into Moderate Tropical Storm Idai next day. The system then began a stint of rapid intensification, reaching an initial peak intensity as an intense tropical cyclone with winds of 175 km/h (110 mph) on 11 March. Idai then began to weaken due to ongoing structural changes within its inner core, falling to tropical cyclone intensity. Idai’s intensity remained stagnant for about a day or so before it began to re-intensify. On 14 March, Idai reached peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of 195 km/h (120 mph) and a minimum central pressure of 940 hPa (27.76 inHg). Idai then began to weaken as it approached the coast of Mozambique due to less favorable conditions. On 15 March, Idai made landfall near Beira, Mozambique, as an intense tropical cyclone, subsequently weakening into a remnant low on 16 March.

Idai brought strong winds and caused severe flooding in Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe that has killed 431 people – 268 in Mozambique, 104 in Zimbabwe, 56 in Malawi, and one in Madagascar – and affected more than 2.6 million others. Catastrophic damage occurred in and around Beira in southern Mozambique. The President of Mozambique stated that more than 1,000 people may have died in the storm.^[3] A major humanitarian crisis unfolded in the wake of the cyclone, with hundreds of thousands of people in urgent need of assistance across Mozambique and Zimbabwe. In the former nation, rescuers were forced to let people die in order to save others.
…

Source: Wikipedia – retrieved March 21, 2019 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Idai

Over 1,000 dead!!! Ouch!

While Climate Change is a global crisis, our focus, our scope is limited to the Caribbean member-states.

From our Caribbean homes, we can NOT reach across the oceans and fix the climate in Africa, What we can do is mitigate the environment here at home.

Then name, blame and shame the culprit nations that are crippling our planet with more pollutants.

Due to the laws of hypocrisy, we cannot “Cry Wolf” to anyone until we conform ourselves. This theme and assertion was elaborated in these other/previous blog-commentaries from the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15511	Plastics and Styrofoam – A Mitigation Plan
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14925	Climate Change Doubt?! Numbers Don’t Lie …
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14832	Manifesting Environmental Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11858	Islands are Disappearing – The Cautionary Tale of Kiribati
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10367	Science of Sustenance – Green Batteries for Fossil-Fuel-Free Energy
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9455	Fix ‘Climate Change’ – Yes, We Can
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7103	COP21 – ‘Climate Change’ Acknowledged
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7056	Electric Cars: ‘Necessity is the Mother of Invention’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=915	Go ‘Green’ … Caribbean

It is possible to mitigate the contributors to Climate Change. We can burn less fossil fuels; we can engage more alternative energy options (solar, wind, tidal); use electric cars and public transit. But the efforts must be executed across the whole world.

At a bare minimum, we must do our part; each individual, family, community and nation. No one can be excused. For this we must be prepared to name, blame and shame the dissenters.

This should be a national emergency. Check that! This is a global emergency!

There are still deniers of Climate Change. Those ones should not be debated; just ignored; we must proceed forward as if these ones are inconsequential. Think Flat-Earth theorists; see a related VIDEO in the Appendix below.

These ones should not even get an audience.

I assure you: No one in Mozambique is a Climate Change denier today. Can we say the same for Caribbean stakeholders … in government, security or economic leadership?

This must be a basic requirement for Caribbean leadership. If a politician dissents, we must vote them out of office. If a security/government official dissents, then we must replace them. If a business leader dissents, we must boycott their establishments. This is what is meant by name, blame and shame.

This is how we must now act to forge change in our communities. And then, the whole world. This is the quest of many young protesters around the world, today. They have indicted the older generation for mis-management; see story and VIDEO here:

Title: ‘It’s Literally Our Future.’ Here’s What Youth Climate Strikers Around the World Are Planning Next
By: Suyin Haynes

Inside the U.K. houses of parliament, the grown-ups were at work. Outside, thousands of others — many of whom were not old enough to vote — were doing their best to make sure business was anything but usual. With their chants echoing down the streets, they were among an estimated 1.6 million students in over 120 countries who left school on March 15 in protest of adult inaction on climate change. “It shocks me how great a length we have to go to be heard,” said 16-year-old Miranda Ashby, who’d traveled more than two hours to London with roughly 50 of her classmates. “We are protesting now because if not now, when?”

The school climate strikes started with teen activist Greta Thunberg standing vigil outside Sweden’s parliament one Friday last August. “When I first started this strike, I didn’t really expect anything,” Thunberg told TIME on March 14, shortly after Norwegian lawmakers nominated her for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Thunberg’s idea has grown into a global movement; the March 15 action was its biggest yet. Extensive coverage of the strikes by media outlets and individuals on social media have helped elevate the cause in the minds of people across the world. Meanwhile, the lack of a centralized organizational hub makes it easy for teenagers to arrange actions in their own towns and cities; rallies took place in more than 2,200 towns and cities worldwide on March 15. “We’re tired of waiting for politicians to care,” says Nosrat Fareha, an organizer for the Sydney strikes, where 30,000 young people turned out — more than three times Fareha’s expected estimate.

In Uganda, where drought and desertification are already devastating, the walk-out took place despite officials blocking strikers from an intended rally location in Kampala. “I realized that my country has to change too,” 14-year-old organizer Leah Namugerwa says. And in the U.S., 17-year-old Feliquan Charlemagne, National Creative Director of the U.S. movement, believes the energy of March for Our Lives, the 2018 student-led initiative for gun control, must be harnessed for this cause too. Born in the Caribbean island of St Thomas, Charlemagne and his family have personally suffered the powerful effects of climate change, after Hurricane Irma devastated the island in September 2017. “This is not something we can play around with,” he says. “This is literally our future.”

It’s also their present. The warning of the landmark October 2018 report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that the planet was only 12 years away from catastrophe unless “far-reaching and unprecedented changes” are taken, weighs heavily on the minds of young organizers, who are quick to point out that they are the ones who have to live in that world. The deadline means there’s a lot of work to be done, and they don’t have time to wait to grow up first.

Their most pressing hope is for immediate policy measures to meet the terms of the Paris Agreement, limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5° celsius this century, as well as specific local action. In Australia, campaigners want to halt the proposed construction of a controversial coal mine. For activists across the U.S., preservation of public lands and political implementation of the Green New Deal are top priorities. And in the U.K., organizers want a fair portrayal of the climate crisis in school curricula and government information. And they’ve had some success already: youth organizers have met with members of the European Parliament and their strikes have been welcomed by leaders including Angela Merkel and U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres. “It really has changed the discourse,” says Sini Harkki, program manager at Greenpeace Nordic.

But at least for now, that’s all they can change; the youth that draws them to the cause is also an obstacle. Most of the movement’s participants are not just battling the obvious challenges of political inertia, powerful fossil fuel lobbies and disbelieving critics—they are also too young to play a bigger role in business or politics. And so they are determined to continue the Friday strikes. The U.K. Student Climate Network is demanding a meeting with political leaders, U.S. activists are planning a mass strike for May 3 and a pan-European organizer meeting is also in the pipeline. And Thunberg, no longer on her own, is committed to striking every Friday until Sweden reduces its carbon emissions in line with the Paris Agreement. “I know I have something to say,” Thunberg says, referring to her frank speeches in front of international leaders. “I have a message I want to get out and I want people to listen.” Students worldwide have heard her loud and clear. It’s up to the world’s politicians to act.

Source: Time Magazine Online Edition – posted March 20, 2019; retrieved March 22, 2019 from http://time.com/5554775/youth-school-climate-change-strike-action/

———-

VIDEO – Youth Climate Strike – http://time.com/5554775/youth-school-climate-change-strike-action/

Posted March 20, 2019 – ‘It Will Be Too Late for My Generation.’ Meet the Teens Who Organized a Massive Climate Change Protest

These young people get it: name, blame and shame the culprits and bad actors affecting Climate Change and the urgent mitigation that must be done. And as for Africa? We hereby present them a role model to follow.

The Public Campaign of environmentalists and activists is Spot-On: “Think Global. Act Local.” 🙂

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

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

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.

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

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

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

————

Appendix VIDEO – An Astronomer Responds To Flat Earth Theory – https://youtu.be/thxbiR-XfJo

Tech Insider
Published on Jan 9, 2018 – Business Insider UK sat down with Dr Stuart Clark, who spoke to us about a range of subjects regarding astronomy and astrophysics. We asked him what he thought of flat earth theory, a school of thought which believes that the earth is not spherical but flat.

“All our physics is constructed now, the physics of orbits of things going around the earth is all constructed with this three dimensional world. And the pictures from space show our world as a globe and yet somehow there are some people that still seem to believe the earth is flat.”

“My own pet theory is that they’re doing it for comic effect.”

Tech Insider tells you all you need to know about tech: gadgets, how-to’s, gaming, science, digital culture, and more.

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Category: Science & Technology

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Women Empowerment – Accepting Black Women ‘As Is’

Posted on March 11, 2019 in Ethos, Social, Tactical

Go Lean Commentary

“Don’t go changing to try to please me … I love you just the way you are” – Song by Billy Joel
(See Appendix A VIDEO below).

There is the need to reform and transform Caribbean society. Period!

When we say society, we are referring to the community institutions, governmental agencies and … the people.

The people need to change … some more than others. One group needs a lot of help: Black Men & Boys. Another group needs to curtail their behavior and their preponderance to abuse others: White Males. Then there is also one group who needs less of the effort to change but needs to be accepted more … “just the way they are”:

Black females (women and girls).

Don’t get it twisted! Black women are not perfect.

But, they are not inferior either. (See the related news article on “Black Hair and Politics” in Appendix B below).

Yet, these Black women devote so much concern and resources to conform their natural hair to a different standard. This theme has been elaborated on by the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean, in these previous Go Lean blog-commentaries:

Network Mandates for a New Caribbean
In the media industry you must look the part. So if you have facial or grooming features that are different – zag while everyone else zig – you may not be selected for promotion and production. …
Caribbean beauty should be recognized in the eyes of Caribbean beholders.
At a bare minimum …
But truth be told, if the media networks in the region are owned by foreign entities, then foreign standards are still “the rule”.

‘Good Hair’ and the Strong Black Woman
Black kinky hair is considered worthless in the global marketplace. But the market for mitigating, treating (chemicals) and covering the hair (wigs & extensions) is worth $9 Billion annually. This seems like such a dichotomy for the Black community, especially among women. This ethnic group prides itself on a proud heritage of Strong Black Women, and yet there is this unspoken rejection of natural Black Hair. This is sad!

Caribbean Image: Dreadlocks
Many people in the Caribbean, though not a majority in the region, wear dreadlocks, despite their occupation. These “locs” can be an expression of deep religious or spiritual convictions, ethnic pride, a political statement, or simply be a fashion preference. Yet, their wear can be detrimental in job placement and advancement.

It turn out that there is one BIG compelling reason why this may be the norm – religion…

… the African experience in the New World started with the Slave Trade. This was also related in a previous blog-commentary:

European Reckoning – Christianity’s Indictment

The Church felt justified with the Slave Trade, Slavery and Colonialism because of their distorted values to make new disciples at all costs. …

Pope Innocent VIII, he permitted trade with Barbary merchants, in which foodstuffs would be given in exchange for slaves who could then be converted to Christianity. …

… reconciling the European experience, previous submissions addressed European economic leadership. This submission however asserts that the conduct of the Christian-side of White-Christian-European history has been worthy of indictment and the European institutions need to be held to account. Even though the New World and the Caribbean were established by European military power, the Church was aligned and complicit.

The Christian faith of the Europeans is based on The Bible; there is one scripture that has been wrongly interpreted to malign Black Women and their default hair styles. See here, this scripture from 1 Timothy 2:9 and notice the actual prohibition on the hair style of “braided hair” in some translations, while other translations used neutral terms like “elaborate hair” or “immodest hair“:

Biblical Reference: Scriptural “1 Timothy 2:9” Translation Comparison

New International Version – I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,

New Living Translation – And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes.

English Standard Version – likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire,

Berean Study Bible – Likewise, I want the women to adorn themselves with respectable apparel, with modesty, and with self-control, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,

Berean Literal Bible – Likewise also women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing,

New American Standard Bible – Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments,

King James Bible – In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;

Christian Standard Bible – Also, the women are to dress themselves in modest clothing, with decency and good sense, not with elaborate hairstyles, gold, pearls, or expensive apparel,

Contemporary English Version – I would like for women to wear modest and sensible clothes. They should not have fancy hairdos, or wear expensive clothes, or put on jewelry made of gold or pearls.

Good News Translation – I also want the women to be modest and sensible about their clothes and to dress properly; not with fancy hair styles or with gold ornaments or pearls or expensive dresses,

Holman Christian Standard Bible – Also, the women are to dress themselves in modest clothing, with decency and good sense, not with elaborate hairstyles, gold, pearls, or expensive apparel,

International Standard Version – Women, for their part, should display their beauty by dressing modestly and decently in appropriate clothes, not with elaborate hairstyles or by wearing gold, pearls, or expensive clothes,

NET Bible – Likewise the women are to dress in suitable apparel, with modesty and self-control. Their adornment must not be with braided hair and gold or pearls or expensive clothing,

New Heart English Bible – In the same way, that women also adorn themselves in decent clothing, with modesty and propriety; not just with braided hair, gold, pearls, or expensive clothing;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English – Likewise also the women shall be modest in fashion of dress, their adornment shall be in bashfulness and in modesty, not in braiding with gold or with pearls or in gorgeous robes,

GOD’S WORD® Translation – I want women to show their beauty by dressing in appropriate clothes that are modest and respectable. Their beauty will be shown by what they do, not by their hair styles or the gold jewelry, pearls, or expensive clothes they wear.

New American Standard 1977 – Likewise, I wantwomen to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments;

Jubilee Bible 2000 – In like manner also that the women adorn themselves in an honest manner, with shyness and modesty, not with ostentatious hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing

King James 2000 Bible – In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with decency and propriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;

American King James Version – In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with modesty and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;

American Standard Version – In like manner, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefastness and sobriety; not with braided hair, and gold or pearls or costly raiment;

Douay-Rheims Bible – In like manner women also in decent apparel: adorning themselves with modesty and sobriety, not with plaited hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly attire,

Darby Bible Translation – In like manner also that the women in decent deportment and dress adorn themselves with modesty and discretion, not with plaited [hair] and gold, or pearls, or costly clothing,

English Revised Version – In like manner, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefastness and sobriety; not with braided hair, and gold or pearls or costly raiment;

Webster’s Bible Translation – In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in decent apparel, with modesty and sobriety; not with broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array,

Weymouth New Testament – and I would have the women dress becomingly, with modesty and self-control, not with plaited hair or gold or pearls or costly clothes,

World English Bible – In the same way, that women also adorn themselves in decent clothing, with modesty and propriety; not just with braided hair, gold, pearls, or expensive clothing;

Young’s Literal Translation – in like manner also the women, in becoming apparel, with modesty and sobriety to adorn themselves, not in braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or garments of great price, ….

Source: Scripture 1 Timothy 2:9 – retrieved March 10, 2019 from: https://biblehub.com/1_timothy/2-9.htm

You see it, right?

Considering the full context and the diverse translations, it is self-evident that there is no Biblical prohibition on natural Black Hair, only elaborate/immodest hairstyles.

Yet, many women in the Black community never feel comfortable wearing braids (or dreadlocks) “into Church” (or before God). They would rather press and “perm” their hair, add weaves, wear a wig, and/or wear a hat.

(There is a parallel conflict in the Halls of Democracy; see the related news article on “Black Hair and Politics” in Appendix B below).

This discussion of this actuality completes this series of commentaries from the Go Lean movement. This is part 6 of 6 for Women History Month; this series addresses how women can make a difference in society; and how society can make a difference for women. This submission asserts that Black Women should not have to change anything to conform to some White/European standard, especially their hair; they are adequate, beautiful and complete “just the way they are”. Other commentaries in this series include these entries:

Women History Month 2019: Thoughts, Feelings, Speech and Actions
Women History Month 2019: Viola Desmond – The Rosa Parks of Canada
Women History Month 2019: Kamala Harris – Caribbean Legacy to the White House?
Women History Month 2019: Captain Marvel – We need “Sheroes”
Women History Month 2019: Ellevest CEO: Sallie Krawcheck
Women History Month 2019: Accepting Black Women ‘As Is’

In this series, references were made to a “Next Frontier” of gender relations, how women in modern society are now on the verge of breaking all “glass ceilings” in their communities; maybe even the “Leader of the Free World”. Yes, they can! To transcend to that next plateau, more is needed from the greater population; this means us all.

More?

Actually, the same is needed! The acceptance that all woman, Black women included, are good enough “just as they are”. If there is a problem – there is one – it is a defect with the societal orthodoxies, not our Black women. See this theme developed in these previous blog-commentaries.

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16541	Black ‘Greco-Roman’ Wrestler victimized for his hair
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16534	European Reckoning – Christianity’s Indictment
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9216	‘Time to Go’ – No Respect for our Hair
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=809	Muslim officials condemn “abductions” of Nigerian education-seeking school girls

It is conceivable, believable and achievable that we can live in a world with empowered women, Black women and all the other ethnic groups. There is beauty in all the races – the Caribbean is constituted with 5 different ethnicities (Amerindian, African, European, Indian and Chinese) fused and intermingled together – there must always be full acceptance of all our strengths and weakness. Keep it real!

There is beauty in each culture too; see Appendix C below. (Though, there may be a push-back based on a bad orthodoxy, we shall overcome).

The world must accept that women are dutiful partners for elevating society. The world? Yes, but right now our focus and scope is for the Caribbean to accept that women are dutiful partners for elevating our communities. We need, want and love our women … “just the way they are”.

Yes, we can do this – partner up with our women – and make our homeland a better place to live, work and play for all. Let’s do this! Let’s get busy! 🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

—————-

Appendix A VIDEO – Billy Joel – Just the Way You Are (Audio) – https://youtu.be/HaA3YZ6QdJU

Billy Joel
Published on Mar 22, 2013 – In 1977, Billy Joel released his album titled The Stranger. Listen to Billy Joel perform ‘Just the Way You Are‘: http://smarturl.it/BJ_MOTS_YT?IQid=yt…

Lyrics:
Don’t go trying some new fashion
Don’t change the color of your hair
You always have my unspoken passion
Although I might not seem to care

I don’t want clever conversation
I never want to work that hard
I just want someone that I can talk to
I want you just the way you are.

Category: Music

—————-

Appendix B – News Article: Ilhan Omar will be first Muslim woman to wear hijab in Congress with Democrats set to end head covering ban

Summary: Democrats worked to change the rule banning head coverings on the House floor …

See full story here: Retrieved March 10 2019: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ilhan-omar-muslim-hijab-congress-democrats-ban-head-covering-a8708696.html

—————-

Appendix C – News Article: Black Women Left Off Cosmo List Of The Most Beautiful Women In The World

Ummm, who approved this list?

See full story here: Posted March 13, 2017; retrieved March 10, 2019: https://blackamericaweb.com/2017/03/13/black-women-left-off-cosmo-list-of-the-most-beautiful-women-in-the-world/?fbclid=IwAR2oNVP5DC0HeTsZEPuiJxb8ZlNyD1Thn6Qrxhz8olYJtknoFjqQJJHwtsE

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Civil Rights, Diaspora, Gender, Image, Power

[Top]

Crypto-currency: Here comes ‘Trouble’

Posted on February 20, 2019 in Economics, Industries, Strategy, Tactical

Go Lean Commentary

What materials should money be made from: Gold, Silver, Copper, Diamonds, Emeralds, Rubies and other precious stones?

How about “nothing”? Thin Air?

To insist on some orthodoxy of precious materials, would be inconsequential. Remember, the default currency now is paper. How much more precious a material is paper as opposed to Digits (1’s and 0’s). These are all close to “nothing”.

Yet, this is our economy. Yes, the medium for our currency is not the physical material, but rather: Trust.

The Trust equation is about to change, again. This time, instead of National Trust, we are looking at Corporate Trust.

Here comes the banks; here comes blockchain; here comes crypto-currency; here comes digitization.

Yes, here comes ‘trouble’. Here comes Big Wall Street Bank JPMorganChase. Here comes other players in other markets – see the news articles in the Appendices below:

Appendix A – JPMorganChase
Appendix B – Belarus
Appendix C – Sweden

All of these articles and news developments speak to the digitization of money and banking, highlighting that the primary ingredient in this recipe for success is Trust.

This is where this discussion comes home. In the Caribbean we need to embrace digital money and electronic payment solutions, but first we need Trust in a regional financial institution to manifest this roadmap. When we look at the reality of our Caribbean geography, we see:

American, Dutch, English, French, Spanish, Independent and Overseas Territories

Here comes trouble! We realize something very obvious: we do not trust each other! So we may actually have to do the heavy-lifting that was always needed for our regional society to finally function as a coherent neighborhood. We have always needed to come together … in trust and unity; but never have.

Now more than ever, we must convene, collaborate and confederate banking solutions for our Caribbean homeland by committing vital resources for every Caribbean country, all 30 member-states. The basis for our trust must be, that we all have something to lose.

Then, only then, will we have no choice but to trust each other for a unified monetary and currency solution.

Trust but verify – Russian proverb Doveryai, no proveryai used by the 40th US President Ronald Reagan to emphasize “the extensive verification procedures that would enable both sides to monitor compliance with the INF Treaty of 1987 for nuclear disarmament by the US and USSR”^[4].

We are urged to follow this wise “trust but verify” course of action. If it worked for bilateral cooperation between arch-enemies – USA and USSR – it can work for friendly neighbors in the Caribbean region.

The verification is key. The book Go Lean … Caribbean proposed a monetary-currency (Caribbean Dollar or C$) solution involving a cooperative of the Central Banks already in the region, dubbed the Caribbean Central Bank (CCB). Such a move should not be so unnerving. There is already currency interdependence for many member-states:

Eastern Caribbean Central Bank – services the monetary-currency needs of 8 countries (Antigua & Barbuda, Anguilla, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent & the Grenadines)
US Dollar is used as the monetary-currency solution for 4 Caribbean countries: British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Turks & Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands. (Plus used widely along with local currency in 9 countries).

With a Central Bank cooperative, we would already be half-way there! The Go Lean book (Page 73) details this CCB cooperative as follows:

The Caribbean Central Bank (CCB) is actually a cooperative among the region’s Central Banks. All the existing Central Banks, at the time of ascension, will cede their monetary powers to the CCB and continue their participation using well-established cooperative principles (Rochdale). This includes these 7 prime directives:
1). Open/voluntary membership – based on CU treaty ratification;
2). Democratic member control – the CCB cooperative is controlled by their Central Bank Governor-members, who actively participate in setting monetary policies and making tactical decisions;
3)-a. Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their co-operative – the C$ is the capital;
3)-b. Members are compensated for funds invested in the CCB cooperative, and decide how surpluses should be used – how much reserves to maintain and how much to return to the member-state governments;
4). Autonomous and independent – the very definition of a technocracy;
5). Provide education and training to their members and the public – the CCB champions the cause of an integrated currency to the public;
6). Co-ops cooperate with each other;
7). Work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies approved by their members – the community is the region as a whole.

Now, we can launch our own crypto-currency and electronic payments, clearing and settlements from this strong foundation. The missing ingredient, Trust, would be fulfilled. See how the underlying technology behind crypto-currencies, Blockchain, is explained in this TED Talk VIDEO here:

VIDEO – How the blockchain will radically transform the economy | Bettina Warburg – https://youtu.be/RplnSVTzvnU

TED
Published on Dec 8, 2016 – Say hello to the decentralized economy — the blockchain is about to change everything. In this lucid explainer of the complex (and confusing) technology, Bettina Warburg describes how the blockchain will eliminate the need for centralized institutions like banks or governments to facilitate trade, evolving age-old models of commerce and finance into something far more interesting: a distributed, transparent, autonomous system for exchanging value.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more. Find closed captions and translated subtitles in many languages at http://www.ted.com/translate

Follow TED news on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tednews
Like TED on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TED
Subscribe to our channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/TEDtalksD…

Category: Science & Technology

A successful digital money / electronic payment scheme is very important in the strategy for elevating the Caribbean economy. The “risky” image of crypto-currency may now be nullified with all the global developments taking place.

Let’s get started!

This theme of Caribbean monetary and currency solutions have been elaborated in previous Go Lean commentaries; see a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14248	Leading with Money Matters – New Almighty Caribbean Dollar
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13744	Failure to Launch: The Quest for a Caribbean ‘Single Currency’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8381	Case Study on Central Banking for Puerto Rico
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7034	The Future of Money – For the Caribbean and Beyond
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=906	Bitcoin needs regulatory framework to change ‘risky’ image
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=467	Barbados Central Bank records $3.7m loss in 2013
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=360	Central Banks Can Create Money from ‘Thin Air’ – Here’s How

The world of crypto-currency and electronic payment systems is here! But this is a good thing. The benefits of these new schemes are too enticing to ignore: fostering more e-Commerce, increasing regional money supply, mitigating Black Markets, more cruise tourism spending, growing the economy, creating jobs, enhancing security and optimizing governance.

Yep! Count us in!

Now is the time for all stakeholders of the Caribbean, (residents, visitors, merchants, vendors, bankers, and governing institutions), to lean-in for the empowerments described in the book Go Lean roadmap. These empowerments can help to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

The CCB provides a comprehensive role in this roadmap: facilitating and settling interbank transactions for the region, especially in light of the introduction of for new digital payment systems: new cards, telephony apps and crypto-currency. The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on these solutions; and on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society.

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

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

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

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

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

————-

Appendix A – JPMorgan launches ‘JPM Coin’ cryptocurrency, becomes first major bank to create its own digital coin By: Jade Scipioni

Nearly two years after JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon Opens a New Window. famously bashed bitcoin, calling it a “fraud,” the big bank announces it has created its own cryptocurrency Opens a New Window. prototype.

Dubbed JPM Coin, the new tokens, which will be the first cryptocurrency backed by a U.S. bank, are set to be tested to instantly settle transactions, on a small portion of payments, among clients of the big bank’s wholesale payments business.

“The JPM Coin isn’t money per se. It is a digital coin representing United States Dollars held in designated accounts at JPMorganChase,” the company said in a press release.

In short, a JPM Coin will have a fixed value redeemable for one U.S. dollar. However, it won’t trade freely like bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.

“When one client sends money to another over the blockchain, JPM Coins are transferred and instantaneously redeemed for the equivalents amount of U.S. dollars, reducing the typical settlement time,” the company added.

JPMorgan Opens a New Window. said it believes the new technology can help lower costs and risks associated with big money transfers around the world.

While the new tokens are initially designed for major ‘institutional clients’ for business-to-business transactions, not individuals, the cost-savings and efficiency benefits “would extend to the end customers of our institutional clients,” the company said.

The news does not come as a surprise either, as JPMorgan has been leading the charge in testing blockchain payments for more than two years.

As reported by FOX Business last September,Opens a New Window. more than 157 banks globally have joined a blockchain-based payment project led by JPMorgan to test how to streamline cross-border transactions.

The shared ledger called Interbank Information Network (IIN) was built by Dimon’s team in 2017 through its own blockchain platform called Quorum.

While Dimon did famously call bitcoin a “fraud” and “worse than tulip bulbs” — a reference to the 17th century economic bubble — he and his key managers have consistently said that blockchain and regulated digital currencies do have promise.

Source: Posted February 14, 2019; retrieved February 19, 2019 from: https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/jpmorgan-set-to-roll-out-the-first-bank-backed-cryptocurrency

————-

Appendix B – Belarus’ Biggest Bank is ‘Working on’ Launching Its Own Cryptocurrency Exchange
By: Jimmy Aki, CCN
According to a report by local news outlet BeITA, Belarusbank, the largest bank in Belarus, is considering the launch of its very own cryptocurrency exchange platform.

The plans for the exchange were revealed by Viktor Ananich, the Chairman of Belrusbank’s board. Speaking with Belarus 1 TV channel, Ananich remarked:

“We are considering a possibility to establish a cryptocurrency exchange. We are working on it.”

For Belarusbank, Digitization is the Future
The bank is looking to intensify its focus on digitization, and it is reportedly seeking ways to expand its range of services by forming alliances with various mobile service providers. In addition to the reported cryptocurrency exchange, BeITA also stated that the bank is in the process of issuing virtual cards soon.

Source: Posted January 31, 2019; retrieved February 20, 2019 from: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/belarus-biggest-bank-working-launching-155444267.html

————-

Appendix C – Sweden Officially Backs a Cryptocurrency and Establishes It As Their Official Coin

It’s finally happened. A major worldwide government has just bestowed a huge vote of confidence and legitimacy onto the world of cryptocurrencies. Sweden, in an unprecedented move, just announced that they are officially adopting a certain cryptocurrency as Sweden’s official coin!

The Swedish government just informed us that they have chosen a preferred firm for the purchase and marketing of their new coin – Kryptonex Research Group. The sales of Sweden’s coin officially started on Friday, April 27th and currently these coins can be bought only from Kryptonex Research Group.

Industry experts weren’t surprised when Kryptonex was chosen by Sweden as their preferred firm for the release of their official coin. They had all seen for their own eyes the cutting edge insight that Kryptonex had brought to the cryptocurrency markets for their clients.

See the full article here: https://elevenews.com/2018/04/28/sweden-officially-backs-cryptocurrency-and-establishes-it-as-their-official-coin/ – posted April 28, 2018; retrieved January 20, 2018.

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Banks, e-Commerce, Model, Transform

[Top]

Justice and Economics – Both needed to forge change

Posted on January 30, 2019 in Economics, Government, Tactical

Go Lean Commentary

Duels are now a thing of the past – Yippee!!!

Modern civilizations would not tolerate people using violence to avenge their honor or property loss. The new way is to sue in the Court of Law …

… lawsuits are even prevalent when there is the Wrongful Death of an individual:

Wrongful death is a claim against a person who can be held liable for a death.^[1] The claim is brought in a civil action, usually by close relatives, as enumerated by statute. …
Many wrongful death claims are based upon death resulting from negligence, for example following a motor vehicle accident caused by another driver, a dangerous roadway or defective vehicle, or medical malpractice.^[2] Dangerous roadway claims result from deaths caused in whole or in part by the condition of the roadway.^[3]
Source: Retrieved January 30, 2019 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrongful_death_claim

While the life of a loved one cannot be substituted for money, it does help to bring justice to the survivors that there is a judgment that “someone” has to pay.

But what if there was a “magic bullet” that can just swipe out the accountability of a valid Wrongful Death claim. There is …

… it’s called bankruptcy!

See this actuality portrayed in this news article here about the recent forest fires in California. People died; there is corporate negligence; there should be a reckoning, accountability and justice. See the full article and VIDEO here:

Title: PG&E to file for bankruptcy following devastating California wildfires
Sub-title: Company blames liabilities, reconstruction costs and ‘increase in wildfire risk resulting from climate change’
By: Hamza Shaban and Steven Mufson

California’s largest power company intends to file for bankruptcy as it faces tens of billions of dollars in potential liability after massive wildfires devastated parts of the state over the past two years, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Pacific Gas and Electric said Monday that declaring insolvency is “ultimately the only viable option to restore PG&E’s financial stability to fund ongoing operations and provide safe service to customers.”

The California wildfires, which have killed dozens of people and destroyed thousands of homes, have led to a surge in insurance claims. PG&E estimates that it could be held liable for more than $30 billion, according to the SEC filing, not including potential punitive damages, fines or damages tied to future claims. The company’s wildfire insurance for 2018 was $1.4 billion.

The PG&E bankruptcy promises to be more complex and political than most bankruptcies, pitting fire victims, ratepayers, bankers, insurance companies and renewable-energy providers against one another. Homeowners with property insurance will collect from their insurers, and a person familiar with the bankruptcy planning said that hedge funds are already offering to buy settlement claims from insurance companies.

One casualty of a bankruptcy could be billions of dollars of funding for clean-energy initiatives designed to fight the effects of climate change, Ralph Cavanagh, a California-based energy expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), said in an email. “PG&E is the state’s largest investor in energy efficiency and electric vehicle infrastructure alone, with annual commitments well in excess of $1 billion,” he said. “Other threatened initiatives involve grid upgrades, small-scale ‘distributed’ resources and technology innovation.”

Solar and wind-energy providers are among those who could suffer. In its drive to make the state electricity grid free from carbon dioxide emissions, California has pushed utilities to buy renewable energy. Gabe Grosberg, a utilities analyst at S&P Global, said Monday that “many of the power contracts are above market price” and that a renegotiation of those contracts “is something the bankruptcy judge will take a look at.”

The company said financial alternatives to bankruptcy would not serve the best interests of PG&E and its shareholders and “would not address the fundamental issues and challenges PG&E faces.” Among the many considerations that pushed the company closer to bankruptcy were the need to resolve its potential liabilities, extensive rebuilding efforts and “the significant increase in wildfire risk resulting from climate change,” PG&E said.

PG&E’s shares plummeted Monday, and closed at $8.38 a share, down 52 percent.

[As wildfires rage, California frets over a future of greater perils and higher costs]

The filing comes a day after the company announced the resignation of its chief executive, Geisha Williams. Williams, three other top executives who resigned last week and the company have come under harsh criticism in recent weeks over the utility’s corporate culture. The president of the California Public Utilities Commission had in November widened his investigation of PG&E to include its “safety culture” more generally.

“In our opinion, [PG&E] has significant organizational and leadership problems that have eroded the utility’s trust capital in Sacramento,” the investment advisory firm Height Securities said in a note at the time.

The company was already on federal probation as a result of a 2010 natural-gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, Calif., that exposed violations of the Natural Gas Act and led to obstruction-of-justice charges. The five-year probation period runs through this year.

PG&E said it was required to give employees at least 15 days’ notice before it filed for bankruptcy, which it plans to do “on or about” Jan. 29.

PG&E said that, as of last week, it had about $1.5 billion in “cash or cash equivalents on hand” and was in discussions with “a number of major banks” to secure more than $5 billion to fund its ongoing operations as it seeks bankruptcy protection.

As a regulated utility, PG&E has appealed to the California Public Utilities Commission for higher gas and electric rates to recover costs. And the company has appealed to the California state legislature for protection, asking it to cap liabilities stemming from the fires.

Few politicians want to rush to the defense of a big utility, but many policy experts argue that PG&E wouldn’t be in this position if it weren’t for a unique California legal standard that makes utilities strictly liable for damages from wildfires linked to their equipment, even if the utilities were not negligent or unreasonable.

“The report of PG&E’s likely bankruptcy is deeply concerning news for the state, fire victims, and ratepayers,” California State Assembly member Chris Holden (D) said in a statement. “We don’t want to see the victims victimized again.” Holden, who has been an ally of PG&E, said he would work with the legislature and the state’s new governor, Gavin Newsom (D), on how to protect fire victims and ratepayers.

Newsom issued a statement saying that he would seek “a solution that ensures consumers have access to safe, affordable and reliable service, fire victims are treated fairly, and California can continue to make progress toward our climate goals.” He said the utility should “honor promises made to energy suppliers and to our community.”

Energy suppliers and the community, however, will join others with unsecured claims. Much of the power over how much they receive depends on how much higher the California Public Utilities Commission is willing to raise rates, PG&E’s revenue source.

PG&E, formed more than a century ago, has been blamed for dozens of major California fires that have started when trees have fallen on power lines, sending sparks onto dry grass or other trees. In response in May to a report by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) regarding October 2017 blazes, PG&E said it prunes or removes about 1.4 million trees a year in an effort to prevent such fires.

The company, which serves about 5.4 million electricity customers and 4.5 million natural-gas customers, also blamed changing weather for exacerbating the task of preventing fires. “Years of drought, extreme heat and 129 million dead trees have created a ‘new normal’ for our state,” the company said.

Moody’s investor rating service warned Nov. 15 that the potential liability of 21 major wildfires in 2017 was roughly $10 billion and that the destructive 2018 Camp Fire, which devastated the town of Paradise, Calif., and killed 86 people, would add further costs. PG&E said the cause of that fire was still under investigation, but Cal Fire is focusing on several of the utility’s transmission lines and towers.

The 2018 fires have compounded concerns about the viability of the company. Its stock has plunged about 80 percent since early November, wiping out about $19 billion of market value.

S&P Global’s Grosberg said that PG&E’s ratings were slashed as “public anger” spread after the Camp Fire, with protesters demonstrating outside a regulatory hearing in late November and in front of PG&E’s headquarters in early December.

“All Californians sympathize deeply with the victims of our recent catastrophes, which caused dozens of deaths and wreaked unprecedented destruction across the state,” the NRDC’s Cavanagh said. “But victims’ interests won’t be served by pushing utilities into bankruptcy, converting wildfire sufferers into one more class of frustrated creditors pursuing inadequate funds.”

Scott Wilson contributed to this report.

Source: Washington Post Daily Newspaper – Posted January 14, 2019; retrieved January 30, 2019 from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/01/14/pge-file-bankruptcy-following-devastating-california-wildfires/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b0662c33d98e

———-

VIDEO – California deadly Camp & Woolsey fires, compared by the numbers – https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/national/californias-deadly-camp-and-woolsey-fires-compared-by-the-numbers/2018/11/20/7d71bb96-ecd3-11e8-8b47-bd0975fd6199_video.html

Published January 14, 2019 – The wildfires reduced Paradise to ashes and razed much of Malibu’s landscape. (Luis Velarde /The Washington Post)

This foregoing article was composed before hand, with the anticipation that PG&E would file bankruptcy, despite being profitable – see Appendix below. They did file; see here:

January 29, 2019 – Pacific Gas and Electric’s bankruptcy filing on Tuesday, to deal with billions of dollars in wildfire liability, set off a scramble by the company, investors and elected leaders in California to protect themselves and influence what happens next.

The corporate reorganization is shaping up to be one of the most complicated and difficult in recent years. In addition to traditional legal tussles between the company and its creditors and suppliers, the bankruptcy court will contend with demands by California officials and victims to force PG&E to pay damage claims estimated at tens of billions of dollars for wildfires started by its equipment. …
See the full article here; (retrieved January 30, 2019): https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/29/business/energy-environment/pge-file-bankruptcy.html

This is about the Social Contract – where citizens surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the State in exchange for protection of remaining natural and legal rights. The important lesson is that to have security and justice, there must be an economic requirement as well. The book Go Lean…Caribbean presents a roadmap to reform and transform the Caribbean societal engines of economics, security and governance. It introduces a new federal government branded the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU); this plan asserts that bankruptcy functionality must be elevated to federal jurisdiction rather than remain at the member-state level for processing. The need for justice is the rationale why; (as related here from the Go Lean book):

Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds – Bankruptcy Processing (Page 33)
Upon acceding this treaty, all bankruptcy processing in the region will be assimilated under the CU Federal Courts – applying to individuals, companies and even municipalities – thereby bringing protection to plaintiffs, but also balance and fairness to creditors.

Separation of Powers – Federal Courts (Page 90)
Upon the accedence of this CU Trade Federation, all the bankruptcy processing in the region will be assembled and rolled under the federal courts. These cases apply for individuals, companies and even municipalities. This federalized process will bring protection to plaintiffs, but also will bring balance and fairness to the creditors and avoid abuse by debtors.

Ways to Better Manage Debt – CU Federal Bankruptcies (Page 114)
When debt become too excessive and can no longer be managed by the debtor, the usual solution is bankruptcy. Most advanced economies even allow for governmental entities to avail this privilege. The CU treaty will grant this oversight (and receivership) to CU federal courts, with a mandate to lean towards reorganization, rather than outright dismissal of legitimate debt, though all creditors may have to take a “hair-cut” (minor loss). The courts will appoint direct receivership to Trustees to facilitate the processing of the bankruptcy obligations for municipalities, companies and individuals.

This bankruptcy theme aligns with previous Go Lean commentaries; see a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15965	Retail Apocalypse and Sears Bankruptcy; Another One Bites the Dust
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15787	Lessons Learned from 2008: Too Big to Fail –vs- Too Small to Thrive
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11647	Righting a Wrong: Puerto Rico’s Bankruptcy
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3311	Detroit to exit historic bankruptcy

If bankruptcies are not regulated with the economic engines, then justice becomes elusive. This is because, as the Go Lean book posits, “bad actors” will always emerge in times of economic optimizations to exploit opportunities, with bad or evil intent. The institutions must be in place to marshal against injustice in society. Once there is a reckoning, it must not be easily undermined with abusive bankruptcy practices.

Everyone in the Caribbean, the people and institutions, are hereby urged to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap for elevation of Caribbean society. The roadmap calls for the heavy-lifting so that justice institutions, including the courts, can execute their responsibilities in a just manner, thus impacting the Greater Good.

We must do the heavy-lifting to ensure justice reigns – no justice; no peace. This is how we can make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

—————

Appendix – PG&E Fortune 500 Metrics

PREVIOUS RANK: 157
REVENUES ($M): $17,135
REVENUE CHANGE: -3.0%
PROFITS ($M): $1,646.0
PROFIT CHANGE: 18.2%
ASSETS ($M): $68,012
MARKET VALUE AS OF 3/29/18 ($M): $22,664
EMPLOYEES: 23,000

Source: Retrieved January 30, 2019 from: http://fortune.com/fortune500/pge-corp/

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Good Governance: Good Corporate Compliance

Posted on October 30, 2018 in Ethos, Government, Industries, Tactical

Go Lean Commentary

(Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

Private business versus public government …

Business is to the East, while government is to the West. … East is East and West is West – never the twain shall meet.

Not quite!

Governments many times place restrictions and regulations on private businesses; think:

Workers Compensation
Child Labor Restrictions
Occupational Hazards
Social Security / National Security
Family Leave / Pregnancy Job Guarantees

So we accept that in a modern society, corporate entities may be required to comply with intrusive government mandates that go above and beyond basic consumer protections; and we call it Good Governance …

… then in 2002, considering an American example, along came an even more intrusive government mandate on corporate enterprises (publicly-traded corporations) and the repercussion has been:

Crickets!

… no one complains; in fact, all the qualifying companies comply and buy into the notion that these sets of intrusive laws are good for the overall society. Whew! How did this happen?

This is the drama of the Sarbanes-Oxley law in the US. See the encyclopedic details here:

Title: Sarbanes–Oxley Act
The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002, also known as the “Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act” (in the Senate) and “Corporate and Auditing Accountability, Responsibility, and Transparency Act” (in the House) and more commonly called Sarbanes–Oxley, Sarbox or SOX, is a United States federal law that set new or expanded requirements for all U.S. public company boards, management and public accounting firms. A number of provisions of the Act also apply to privately held companies, such as the willful destruction of evidence to impede a federal investigation.

The bill, which contains eleven sections, was enacted as a reaction to a number of major corporate and accounting scandals, including Enron and WorldCom. The sections of the bill cover responsibilities of a public corporation’s board of directors, adds criminal penalties for certain misconduct, and requires the Securities and Exchange Commission to create regulations to define how public corporations are to comply with the law.

5.0 Implementation of key provisions

1 Sarbanes–Oxley Section 302: Disclosure controls

2 Sarbanes–Oxley Section 303: Improper influence on conduct of audits

3 Sarbanes–Oxley Section 401: Disclosures in periodic reports (Off-balance sheet items)

4 Sarbanes–Oxley Section 404: Assessment of internal control

4.1 Sarbanes–Oxley Section 404 and smaller public companies

5 Sarbanes–Oxley Section 802: Criminal penalties for influencing US Agency investigation/proper administration

6 Sarbanes–Oxley Section 806: Civil action to protect against retaliation in fraud cases

7 Sarbanes–Oxley Section 906: Criminal Penalties for CEO/CFO financial statement certification

8 Sarbanes–Oxley Section 1107: Criminal penalties for retaliation against whistleblowers

Source: Retrieved October 30, 2018 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarbanes%E2%80%93Oxley_Act

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VIDEO 1 – Enron Scandal Explained in One Minute: Corporate Recklessness, Lies and Bankruptcy – https://youtu.be/jrEf8uabe7E

One Minute Economics

Published on Aug 9, 2016 – Enron represents perhaps the most popular example of how a corporation can go from hero to zero or in their case, from a stock price of $90.75 and a market capitalization which made it the 7th largest US corporation to bankruptcy. Enron’s bankruptcy made it clear just how far corporate recklesness can go and represented a warning signal that should have been taken a lot more seriously, as the Great Recession has proven.

Category: People & Blogs

—————–

VIDEO 2 – WorldCom – What Went Wrong – https://youtu.be/7g_d-phoUrU

Published on Nov 28, 2008 – A brief documentary dealing with the largest corporate scandal in history. Created for a second year college accounting class.

Category: Education

The historicity of those events that spurred the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is most incredible. Those two companies – Enron and WorldCom – flouted the presumption of integrity in American business; even the external auditors – Arthur Anderson – was complicit in the wrong-doing. Reform became inevitable. Something had to be done to ensure Good Corporate Governance.

Sarbanes-Oxley became the Good Governance solution. It details roles and responsibilities for firms and auditors alike!

The book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free – serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), as a technocratic federal government among the 30 member-states in the region. The goal is for expressions of Good Governance in all of Caribbean life; two role models are presented for the Caribbean to emulate: Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) for Corporate Compliance and the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) for computer-based data processing. These assert Good Corporate Governance models. The Go Lean book specifically quotes these references “10 Ways to Grow the Economy” (Page 151) and “Appendix ZN – ITIL Supplement” (Page 338) respectively:

Better Corporate Governance and Financial Markets Oversight
Learning from the experiences of the US and Europe, provisions embedded in legislation like Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Dodd-Frank Act would be in place from the beginning. The CU will apply the lessons-learned proactively, rather than wait for the economies to implode before instituting reform, like common sense lending standards, transparency, full disclosure, “sunshine” laws. The CU will also implement controls on automated trading systems, ensuring the proper safety valves, monitoring and metering oversight. These measures equal security, a secondary mandate for the CU.
Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)
A set of practices for IT Service Management (ITSM) that focuses on aligning IT services with the needs of business. …
History
Responding to growing dependence on IT, the UK Government’s Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) in the 1980s developed a set of recommendations. It recognized that without standard practices, government agencies and private sector contracts had started independently creating their own IT management practices.
The IT Infrastructure Library originated as a collection of books, each covering a specific practice within IT service management. ITIL was built around a process-model based view of controlling and managing operations. [From among the many, the Go Lean book details these 2 practices:]
o IT Service Continuity Management
o Availability Management

Good Governance is important in the government realms – member-states, federal and non-governmental organization (NGO’s) – but also in the private-corporate sector. Implementing these practices and compliance may be Too Big for Any One Caribbean country alone to introduce and implement; but together – with some interdependence – a leveraged roll-out is viable. Notice this theme, as pronounced in these statements in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 10 – 12):

Preamble: … while our rights to exercise good governance and promote a more perfect society are the natural assumptions among the powers of the earth, no one other than ourselves can be held accountable for our failure to succeed if we do not try to promote the opportunities that a democratic society fosters.

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

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

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 & 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.

While the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is an American law, that is not the only country that needs to ensure Good Corporate Governance. As related in a recent blog-commentary, the Caribbean specifically, and the whole world in general, is still reeling from the dire effects of the Great Recession of 2008. This crisis was spurned by bad corporate governance: over-leveraged banks, mis-stated credit ratings, and NINJA home mortgage-holders. We cannot afford a repeat of these mistakes … ever.

This commentary concludes a 5-part series from the movement behind the Go Lean book in consideration of the Good Governance needs for a new Caribbean regime. The other commentaries in the series are cataloged as follows:

Good Governance: … Versus Partisan Politics
Good Governance: Stepping Up in an Emergency
Good Governance: The Kind of Society We Want
Good Governance: Getting ‘Out of the Way’ of Local Economic Empowerment
Good Governance: Good Corporate Compliance

The Go Lean book was written in the wake of the Great Recession of 2008, reflecting all of the lessons learned from the earlier 2002 crises of Enron and WorldCom referenced in the foregoing encyclopedic reference.

Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.

The book featured Good Corporate Governance practices; this is best described in this one chapter entitled “10 Ways to Impact Wall Street“. The goal of this chapter was to look, listen and learn about best-practices by studying the American eco-system of Wall Street. We do not want to be America; we want to be better! See the specific plans, excerpts and headlines from the book on Page 200 entitled:

10 Ways to Impact Wall Street

1	Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market This treaty allows for the unification of the region into one market, thereby expanding to an economy of 30 countries, 42 million people and a GDP of over $800 Billion. The CU’s single market and currency union will allow for the emergence of viable capital markets for stocks, public/private bonds, and securities to create the economic engines needed to fuel growth, expansion and development. The CU will fill in the missing piece of the equation for successful international financial centers by providing the “whole institutional infrastructure of laws, regulations, contracts, trust and disclosure”.
2	Ensure Corporate Governance The CU adoption of a “Good Governance” principle in its charter extends to its oversight of corporations and other publicly-held institutions. The CU regulatory agencies will oversee under a laissez-faire policy (minimum governmental interference in the economic affairs of individuals and society), yet be vigilant against systemic risks to the monetary and economic engines. So provisions like full disclosure, certifiable accounting integrity and risk-best-practices will maintain public confidence. The CU’s initiatives allows for more separating of duties versus the state regulators.
3	Protect Public Financing Vehicles
4	Adopt Advanced Products
5	Apply Common Sense – Derivatives – Lessons Learned The use of derivatives helped cause the 2008 Financial Crisis in the US. Though these have the potential of being beneficial products, the compliance, leverage limits, and reserve requirements will not be abandoned as in the US.
6	Ensure Quality and Limits on Electronic Trading systems These computer programs will have to be certified by CU Independent Auditors before coming online. The process for Quality Assurance (QA) will be assumed by the CU for maintenance of these systems. Before program changes can be implemented the CU will conduct the Test Plan to certify compliance and rollback strategies are in place.
7	Downplay Lawless Impressions – Offshore Banking
8	Protect Against Foreign Currency Manipulators
9	Protect Against Insider Trading and Securities Fraud Economic crimes involving the securities industry can have far reaching consequences beyond normal felonies. As such, the CU will maintain jurisdiction and marshal the investigations, prosecutions and sentencing of these crimes.
10	Learn from Occupy Wall Street Protest Movement

This Go Lean book presents that the expansion of the 9 stock exchanges in the Caribbean region …

Bahamas (BISX), Barbados (BSE), Bermuda (BSX), Cayman Islands (CSX), Eastern Caribbean (ECSE), Guyana (GASCI), Haiti (HSE), Jamaica (JSE) and Trinidad (TTSE).

… will provide many opportunities to implement Good Corporate Governance standards and practices. But it is conceivable, believable and achievable that we can provide good stewardship to this financial eco-system, for the betterment of all Caribbean society.

The roll-out of these Financial-Watchdog duties for CU agencies will be Day One / Step One of the Go Lean/CU roadmap.

There have been many glimpses of economic governance for a new Caribbean in previous blog-commentaries; consider:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15923	Industrial Reboot – Payment Cards 101
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15787	Lessons Learned from 2008: Too Big to Fail –vs- Too Small to Thrive
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14834	Counter-culture: Monetizing the Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14596	Change! Forging Change – Corporate Vigilantism
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13677	Model: Economics of ‘South Beach’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11184	JPMorganChase spent $10 billion on ‘Fintech’ for 1 year
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10585	Two Pies: Economic Plan for a New Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9839	Alibaba Cloud stretches global reach with four new Data Center facilities

It is the assertion of the Go Lean book and the many previous blog-commentaries that Good Governance is a requirement to reform and transform Caribbean society. Reforming and transforming the homeland is our quest, our prime directive. This intent has been proclaimed with the following 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 ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

This is the vision of a new regime for governments and corporate institutions. We want and need Good Governance. We must have this future. While it may be heavy-lifting, it is worth every effort. This is how we make our society a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

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