Economics – Page 30 – Go Lean…Caribbean

Category: Economics

Forging Change: ‘Food’ for Thought

Posted on April 29, 2015 in Economics, Implementation, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

“The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” – Old Adage.

Could it be that simple? Have we been laboring all the while, trying to forge change in the Caribbean region while missing out on the easiest driver: Food?

Seriously! We “gotta” eat!

While the publishers of the book Go Lean…Caribbean wants to forge change in the Caribbean, we recognize that it is a heavy-lifting task. There are so many societal defects in the region and we need effective strategies, tactics and implementation to effect turn-around. Despite all the advance research and academic exercises, we seem to have left off this simple yet effective model: Food.

This is the impression gleaned from this University of Pittsburgh (USA) study and VIDEO here:

Video: Study: Changing Diet May Affect Colon Cancer Risk – http://www.today.com/video/study-changing-diet-may-affect-colon-cancer-risk-436297283693

As the foregoing VIDEO depicts, change can be forged in as soon as 2 weeks. That simple! This is impactful enough for us to all lean-in to this guidance.

Cancer – this is the underlying threat being mitigated in the foregoing VIDEO. While this is a complicated medical issue – where many people have lost their lives – it is not oversimplifying to say that our food choices can endanger our overall health. While everything is not known about cancer – there is no actual cure, only treatments – it is the accepted wisdom that diet and exercise minimize the risk of affliction.

The subject of cancer is a community health crisis. But if we can forge change in this threatening area by our food choices, then we need to pay heed.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), a confederation of all 30 member-states in the region. This effort is an initiative to bring change and empowerment to the Caribbean region, to make the region a better place to live, work, heal and play. From the outset, the book recognized the significance of our culture, how food and diet plays a significant role in the Caribbean eco-system with these statements in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 14):

xxvi.     Whereas the Caribbean region must have new jobs to empower the engines of the economy and create the income sources for prosperity, and encourage the next generation to forge their dreams right at home, the Federation must therefore foster the development of new industries, like that of … frozen foods … impacting the region with more jobs.

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

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

The purpose of the Go Lean roadmap is societal change, not food; yet there is this acknowledgement that food can help forge change. This is against the backdrop that there are many threats to Caribbean life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Food choices affect these executions. Think: obesity, health care, cancer, poverty and jobs.

This Go Lean roadmap calls for the heavy-lifting in shepherding many important aspects of Caribbean life; these food-related issues included. This is not so simple anymore. For one, the book reports (Page 157) that in the United States “Cancer strikes nearly 1 in every 2 men and more than 1 in every 3 women” and then sounds the alarm that the Caribbean cannot be far behind. This may be considered a “Clear and Present Danger”. So there is the need for change in this important area.

The Go Lean book, as an empowerment roadmap, must therefore examine the reality and consequences of food, under the guise of this regional effort. This roadmap has 3 prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion GDP and create 2.2 million new jobs, many of which are projected for food-related and allied health industries (30,000 in direct agriculture; 20,000 in direct Health Care; 4000 in direct Fisheries; and 2000 related to Frozen Foods).
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improvement of Caribbean governance, including a separation-of-powers with the member-states, to support these engines.

The book is not a public health instruction manual. Nor is it is a book on science and nutrition. But it does describe the CU as a hallmark of a technocracy, a commitment to efficiency and effectiveness, but still with a commitment to concepts of culture, food, and fun – overall happiness. The Go Lean book declares that before any real change takes root in the Caribbean that we must reach the heart, that there must be an adoption of new community ethos, the national spirit that drives the character and identity of its people. We must therefore use effective and efficient drivers to touch the heart and forge this change. How? We know there is truth to the opening quotation: “through the stomach”.

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

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Choose	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development – Nouvelle Caribbean Cuisine	Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Around	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness – Promotion of Domestic Cultural Institutions	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Mission – Build and foster local economic engines to satiate food needs	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Celebrate the Culture and Cuisine of the Caribbean	Page 46
Strategy – Customers – Outreach to Caribbean Diaspora	Page 47
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization	Page 57
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Creating $800 Billion Economy – New High Multiplier Industries – Frozen Foods	Page 70
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Department of State – Culture Administration	Page 81
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Food / Nutritional Administrations	Page 87
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Agriculture & Fisheries Licensing – Inspections	Page 88
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Farm & Marine Credit – Economic Influence	Page 88
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization – Dynamics of Food Supply	Page 119
Implementation – Ways to Promote Independence – Food Interdependence	Page 119
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region – 4 Languages & Culture in Unison	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Improve Trade – Diaspora Marketing	Page 128
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 136
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Cancer – Promote Wellness – Better Diets	Page 157
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage Food Consumption	Page 162
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Communications – Public Broadcasting of “Sound-bites”	Page 186
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Events – Food Festivals	Page 191
Advocacy – Ways to Develop Frozen Foods	Page 208
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Fisheries	Page 210
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage – Promote Culture	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Improve the Arts	Page 230
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living – Promotion of Farmers Markets	Page 234
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Rural Living – Agricultural Co-existence Mandate	Page 235

This roadmap wants to change the Caribbean diet plan, branded Nouvelle Caribbean Cuisine: more fiber, less fats; more green vegetables, less processed food; no more S.A.D., meaning Standard American Diet.

As depicted by the S.A.D. references, there is the expectation not to allow the American eco-system to lead in this sphere of influence. There was a time when much of the Caribbean food supply originated locally. That is not a difficult message to convey. Lesser developed countries, (think Africa), are more successful with local food production and consumption, the Caribbean can succeed. While this plan is optimistic, it is realistic too. People can and do change.

There is the acknowledgement that the business of food has changed in the light of modern dynamics, particularly due to globalization. To spur more local agricultural development, the economic engines of the food supply must be secured. This point was previously detailed in these Go Lean blog/commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3276	Role Model Shaking Up the World of Cancer
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2522	The Cost of Cancer Drugs
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2276	Climate Change May Affect Food Supply Within a Decade
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1847	Cuban All Natural – Declared “the best in the world”
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=658	Wellness Advocates push for junk-food tax
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=554	Cuban cancer medication registered in 28 countries
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=286	PR’s Comprehensive Cancer Center Project Breaks Ground

“Do what you have always done, get what you’ve always got” – Old Adage.

The effort to forge change has also been stressed in previous Go Lean blog/commentaries, as detailed here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3568	Forging Change: Music Moves People
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3512	Forging Change: The Sales Process
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2291	Forging Change: The Fun Theory
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=623	Only at the precipice, do they change

In the Caribbean, we need better food consumption habits. According to the foregoing VIDEO, it does not take a lot to change habits in this regard. We must simply push hard (messaging) on the needed changes, and then labor to get the community ethos to take hold. All the earnest effort will be a waste unless people are moved to change. So we must use all effective tools to forge the required change; food or the “stomach” is one of the best ways … to reach people.

This is serious; this is life-and-death.

The quest to change the Caribbean is more complex than just feeding people. But their food options can signal their willingness to change and assimilate the empowerments being advocated for the region. This is the mandate of the Go Lean roadmap: making the Caribbean a better place to live, work, heal and play.

We “gotta” eat …

So everyone is encouraged to lean-in for this change and the full Go Lean roadmap. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Immigrants account for 1 in 11 Blacks in USA

Posted on April 29, 2015 in Economics, Social

Go Lean Commentary

More fallout from the Caribbean “Brain Drain” …

A wave of immigration from the Caribbean, Africa and Latin America is reshaping the USA’s black population, new findings show, with no sign of ending soon. About one in 11 blacks in America are foreign-born. The figure is likely to rise to one in six by 2060.

The group is still fairly small compared with the numbers of Asian and Latin American immigrants who arrive each year, but it “has been a big part of the black immigrant story at least since 2000,” said Mark Hugo Lopez of the Pew Research Center, which released the findings Thursday.

Using U.S. Census Bureau data, Pew found that a record 3.8 million black immigrants live in the USA, more than four times as many as in 1980. Overall, there are about 42 million immigrants in the USA.

Taken as a group, black immigrants — the vast majority of them from the Caribbean and Africa — comprise nearly 9% of the nation’s black population, three times their share in 1980.

The group is likely to continue growing rapidly: According to Census projections, nearly 17% of U.S. blacks will be immigrants by 2060.

“That’s a big change, particularly when you take a look at Asian and Hispanic populations in the U.S.,” Lopez said. “Their foreign-born shares are actually declining.” For Africans in particular, their share of foreign-born population is likely to rise.

In a few places, black immigrant populations equal or exceed the 2060 projection [already], including:

15% of the black population in the Washington metro area.

28% in the New York metro area.

34% in Miami.

As a group, the study found, about one-fourth of black immigrants 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or higher, slightly lower than the overall U.S. population. They’re about even with the rest of the population when it comes to advanced degrees.
Source: USA Today – Online News – Posted April 9, 2015; Retrieved April 28, 2015 from: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/04/09/pew-african-immigrants/25521471/

This must stop. Period.

From a strictly economic point-of-view, this is a ‘Clear and Present Danger’. Our Caribbean community cannot survive, nor any other community for that matter, with the constant drain against the population and human capital. Ghost towns are a reality.

This is therefore a Declaration of [Economic] War!

This is a consistent theme in the book Go Lean…Caribbean. The book posits that the most serious threat to Caribbean prosperity is the high abandonment rate among its citizens, especially its highly educated, skilled-labor classes.

“A crisis is a terrible thing to waste” …

… so states the book quoting noted Economist Paul Romer. The opportunity therefore exists to forge change in the economic, security and governing engines of the Caribbean, in response to this crisis.

The foregoing news story shows that the USA is preparing to assimilate more Caribbean and African immigrants in the next 45 years. Declaring an economic war, complete with battle strategies and tactics, allows the region to organize the resources and investments to pursue victory in this fight. This is the advocacy of the Go Lean book, to position the region at the corner of preparation and opportunity, so as to benefit from impending change.

The issue from this article is more pressing for the Caribbean, as our economic growth has been stagnant or only “inched” along at a slow pace – our job creation engines have failed to keep pace with the population, therefore fewer and fewer jobs are at home. Thus this region has had a higher and higher emigration rate as the decades pass; and according to this foregoing news article, that rate will grow even further. This nightmare becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy! This point was crystalized in a previous blog/commentary with this quotation:

We tend to think economic growth comes from working harder and smarter. But economists attribute up to a third of it to more people joining the workforce each year than leaving it. The result is more producing, earning and spending.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), a technocratic regional (super-national) entity with federal powers to forge change in the Caribbean community. One goal is incentivizing the return of the far-flung Caribbean Diaspora. Another goal is to dissuade further human flight/brain drain. The numbers don’t lie: we need population growth here at home, not population contraction.

The Go Lean roadmap provides the details of the primary mission, defined as the prime directives, to:

Optimize the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establish a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines and mitigate internal and external threats.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The primary mission to lead in the job creation and economic growth is at the root of the Go Lean effort, embedded in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 13):

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.

xxvi. Whereas the Caribbean region must have new jobs to empower the engines of the economy and create the income sources for prosperity, and encourage the next generation to forge their dreams right at home, the Federation must therefore foster the development of new industries … In addition, the Federation must invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries … impacting the region with more jobs.

The following details from the book Go Lean … Caribbean are the community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocates prescribed to create jobs and elevate the Caribbean economy, society and life:

Who We Are – SFE Foundation	Page 8
Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – new Economic Principles	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – new Security Principles	Page 22
Community Ethos – new Governing Principles	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Integrate to a Single Market	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Repatriating Caribbean Diaspora	Page 47
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Growing the Economy to $800 Billion GDP	Page 67
Implementation – Assemble all Member-States	Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate	Page 118
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Improve Leadership – The Art of War	Page 171
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Empowering Immigration	Page 174
Advocacy – Impact the Diaspora	Page 217
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Help the Middle Class	Page 223
Advocacy – Ways to Re-boot Haiti	Page 238

The social science of Anthropology teaches that communities have two choices when confronted with endangering crises: Fight or Flight. The foregoing article, this commentary and the Go Lean book had asserted that Caribbean people have only chosen the option of flight.

The caption on the foregoing article relates a young Haitian-American immigrant as he completes his naturalization to American citizenship. Congratulations.

But, perhaps there will be less of these going forward as this Go Lean effort seeks to rekindle the revolutionary fight of the Haitian people; (and by extension, the fighting resolve for all the Caribbean). This spirit was admired – from afar – by many people for a long time. The history even became legend, worthy of song …

The “Haitian Fight Song” was composed by Jazz musician Charles Mingus in the mid-1950s, during the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement. Just as significant social change was sweeping across the United States, Mingus said he wrote this song while thinking about the injustices in the world, and because of the success of the Haitian Revolution in ending slavery and French colonialism. Haiti was used as a symbol of resistance to racism, colonialism, and every kind of injustice one could think of. (Source: http://ryfigueroa.blogspot.com/2011/08/tracing-evolution-of-haitian-fight-song.html)

That is the fighting spirit …

… It is not all lost!

(The Go Lean book declares – Page 8 – that this is not a call for a revolt against the governments, agencies or institutions of the Caribbean region, but rather a petition for a peaceful transition and optimization of the economic, security and governing engines in the region).

VIDEO: The Haitian Fight Song – https://youtu.be/YSodXzfNdQA

New York Ska Jazz Ensemble – Haitian Fight Song + Volare (Live @ CSOA Gabrio)

Published on Dec 29, 2013 – New York Ska Jazz Ensemble play live a “cover” of Volare & the Haitian Fight Song live @ CSOA Gabrio – Via Revello 3 – Zona San Paolo Antirazzista – Torino Gabrio.noblogs.org
In Spanish and Italian, Volare translates to “Fly or Soar”

The Go Lean roadmap is a product of the Diaspora – residing in the USA – looking at Caribbean residents and longing to go home. These promoters realize that the grass is “not greener on the other side”. But they rightfully know that the quest for economic opportunities is the driving force for all the recent immigrants. There is no greater motivator than a crying stomach … or a crying baby. It is what it is! From this fallout, this roadmap was inspired. But subsequently the promoters have been joined with other resources and Subject Matter Experts in economics, security and governance and those experienced with forging change in other societies.

Now, to do this at home!

How to create jobs at home? The execution of this goal has been detailed in previous blog/commentaries; the following is a sample:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4913	Ann Arbor, Michigan: Model for ‘Start-up’ Cities and Job Creation
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3164	Michigan Unemployment – Then and Now – Lessons Learned
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2953	Funding Caribbean Entrepreneurs – The ‘Crowdfunding’ Way
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2857	Where the Jobs Are – Entrepreneurism in Junk
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2800	The Geography of Joblessness
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2750	Disney World’s example of Self Governing Entities and Economic Impacts
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2126	Where the Jobs Are – Computers Reshaping Global Job Market
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2003	Where the Jobs Are – Ship-breaking under the SGE Structure
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1698	Where the Jobs Are – STEM Jobs Are Filling Slowly
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1214	Where the Jobs Are – Fairgrounds as Landlords for Sports Leagues
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=398	Self-employment on the rise in the Caribbean – World Bank

This book reports that this roadmap – this hope for change – is now also conceivable, believable and achievable. Yes, we can … make the Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play. Everyone in the Caribbean is hereby urged to lean-in to this Go Lean … Caribbean roadmap. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Patents: The Guardians of Innovation

Posted on April 26, 2015 in Economics, Ethos, Government

Go Lean Commentary

As evident in the following quotation regarding patent offices, the book Go Lean…Caribbean focuses heavily on the promotion and protection of Intellectual Property:

“A patent office is a governmental or intergovernmental organization which controls the issue of patents & trademarks. Patent offices may grant a patent or reject the patent based on whether or not the application fulfils the requirements for patent-ability. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is 1 of the 17 specialized agencies of the United Nations. WIPO was created in 1967 “to encourage creative activity, to promote the protection of Intellectual Property throughout the world.” [But international coordination did not only begin in 1967 as] the predecessor to WIPO was the United International Bureau for the Protection of Intellectual Property established in 1893 to administer the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary & Artistic Works (1886). WIPO currently has 185 member states and administers 24 treaties..” – Go Lean…Caribbean (Page 29)

The book posits that this strategy of facilitating patent offices to promote Intellectual Property can help grow economies. Yet, the book relates that this strategy is not new. Looking back on history, the book asserts (Page 29) that this strategy was adopted as a pivotal right for citizens in the early days of the United States of America. Even still, patents pre-dated the birth of the US, as they were awarded as Royal charters and decrees before hand. While the American Revolution was a rejection of the monarchy, the principles of patents continued. So the legal basis for the US Patent system, was embedded in the US Constitution at the start – Article 1 Section 8 – back in 1789. That clause states that …

“the Congress shall have Power … to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.“

On 31 July 1790, the first patent was issued to inventor Samuel Hopkins and signed by then-President George Washington.

What a fine start!

But where did the road turn?

There are now organizations that go out and buy patents, then look for anyone that may consume the concepts similar to those patents. These Patent Trolling parties are not focused on future innovations, rather just litigation. The following is a VIDEO, using comedy and buffoonery, to highlight the abuse of this practice:

VIDEO – https://youtu.be/3bxcc3SM_KA – Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Patents (HBO)

Published on Apr 19, 2015 – For inventors, patents are an essential protection against theft. But when Patent Trolls abuse the system by stockpiling patents and threatening lawsuits, businesses are forced to shell out tons of money.
Content warning: Some profanity!

This issue is part-and-parcel of the recognition that American leadership may not always pursue the Greater Good. There are times, as reflected in this VIDEO, where Crony Capitalism may hi-jack good policies. This is an example of Big Legal where lawyers are quick to litigate a civil case just for a quick gain, as opposed to a pursuit of justice. See related news articles here:

Number of Patent Violation Lawsuits

There seems to be conflicting community ethos: the production of lawyers versus the production of engineers; (see Appendices below). In this case, it is the conclusion of this commentary that Patent Trolls stifle technical innovation through predatory litigation.

This issue of Patent Trolling aligns with the Go Lean book, in its mission to provide proper stewardship for the patent process in the Caribbean. The book posits that efficient management – technocratic – of this vital area is essential for the elevation of regional society by optimizing the economic, security and governing engines here in the Caribbean.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean champions the cause of building and optimizing the Caribbean eco-system. There is a lot of expectations for Intellectual Property (technology, music, film, art and literature) in the region, to aid and assist with all aspects of the Go Lean prime directives; defined as follows:

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

The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), a federal government to administer and optimize the economic/security/governing engines in the homeland of the region’s 30 member-states. The book Go Lean…Caribbean clearly recognizes that promoting and protecting Intellectual Property will contribute to industrial and cultural development of any society. The Caribbean does not only want to be on the consumption end of Intellectual Property; we want to create, develop and contribute to innovation. This starts by fostering genius in Caribbean stakeholders who demonstrate competence in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Since Intellectual Property apply to more than STEM endeavors, we need the proper oversight – not too lax, as in the current Caribbean, and not trolling, as in the foregoing VIDEO. We need the proper oversight for music, film, art and literary copyrights as well.

At the outset, the Go Lean roadmap recognizes the value of harnessing careers related to Intellectual Property (IP). This intent was pronounced early in the book with these statements in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12 & 14):

xiii. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must … recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

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

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

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

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

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

The Go Lean book presents the promotion and protection of Intellectual Property as a community ethos, a fundamental character/spirit that the Caribbean must adopt. This spirit must reflect an underlying sentiment that would inform the beliefs, customs, or practices of the Caribbean people. Community ethos would therefore cover strategies, tactics and implementations. This roadmap was constructed with this and other community ethos in mind, plus the execution of related strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to impact our society. The following is a sample of these specific details from the book:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Security Principles – Anti-Bullying and Mitigation	Page 23
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development	Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide	Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate 30 Member-States	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Exploit the benefits and opportunities of Intellectual Property	Page 46
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Patent, Standards, and Copyrights Office – One for entire Region	Page 78
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Communications and Media Regulatory Authority	Page 80
Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities	Page 105
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Impact Social Media – Caribbean Cloud	Page 111
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization	Page 119
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region – Cyber-Caribbean	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 136
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce	Page 198
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Main Street	Page 201
Advocacy – Ways to Improve the Arts	Page 229
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Music	Page 231
Appendix – Copyright Infringement – Protecting Intellectual Property Businesses	Page 351

This Go Lean roadmap calls for the heavy-lifting to build-up Caribbean communities, to shepherd important aspects of Caribbean life, so as to better prepare for the future, dissuade skilled-labor emigration and encourage repatriation. Promotion of industries related to Intellectual Property (IP) is vital for this quest.

These goals were previously featured in blog/commentaries, as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4913	The City of Ann Arbor, Michigan: Model for Communiies Promoting IP Start-ups
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4126	Small town IP Innovator: Daktronics – Makes the largest video displays
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3974	IP Innovator Google and Mobile Phones – Here comes Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3915	‘Change the way you see the world; you change the world you see’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3641	‘We Built This City on Music, Entertainment and Leisure Businesses’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3490	How One IP Entrepreneur Can Rally a Whole Community
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3384	Plea to Detroit: Less Tech, Please
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3187	Robotic Innovation helps Amazon tackle Cyber Monday
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2953	Funding Caribbean IP Entrepreneurs – The ‘Crowdfunding’ Way
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2126	Where the Jobs Are – Computers & IP Reshaping Global Job Market
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1698	STEM Jobs Are Filling Slowly
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1416	IP Innovator Amazon’s new FIRE Smartphone
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1277	The need for highway safety innovations – here comes Google
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=673	Innovative Autonomous cargo vessels without crews
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=308	CARCIP Urges Greater IP Innovation

The Go Lean book focuses primarily on economic issues; it recognizes that engineered products, computer hardware, software and appliances (innovative hybrid products combining hardware and software) are the future direction for job growth. As conveyed in the foregoing VIDEO, these initiatives will require IP protections. This is where new jobs will be found. The foregoing VIDEO also conveys how IP rights can be easily abused, with too little enforcement or too much application; (too wide an interpretation).

The Go Lean roadmap describes the heavy-lifting for people, organizations and governments to forge innovations here at home in the Caribbean, and to protect the scientists, artists and the public.

We can do this; we must make the Caribbean region a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

————-

Appendix – Newspaper Letter-to-Editor: Commentary on adding more Law Schools in Florida – August 11, 1999

Title: Lawyers Vs. Engineers

I get a real hoot out of our Florida schools of higher learning wanting to add law schools. Especially when you consider we have a lawyer for every 450 people in our country as opposed to Japan’s one lawyer per 30,000 people. Furthermore, Japan has half of our population but graduates twice as many engineers.

Japan may be leaving us in the dust as far as technology is concerned but if we ever get them in court, well make monkeys out of them.

Sometimes I wonder.

Chic Volturno, Hollywood, Florida

(Source: http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1999-08-11/news/9908100847_1_florida-schools-japan-lawyer)

————-

Appendix – JOKE: Three lawyers and three engineers are traveling on a train…

Three lawyers and three engineers are traveling by train to a conference.

At the station, the three lawyers each buy tickets and watch as the three engineers buy only a single ticket.

“How are three people going to travel on only one ticket?” asks a lawyer.

“Watch and you’ll see,” answers an engineer.

They all board the train. The lawyers take their respective seats but all three engineers cram into a restroom and close the door behind them. Shortly after the train has departed, the conductor comes around collectingtickets. He knocks on the restroom door and says, “Ticket, please.” The door opens just a crack and a single arm emerges with a ticket in hand. The conductor takes it and moves on.

The lawyers see this and agree that it is quite a clever idea so, after the conference, they decide to copy the engineers on the return trip and save some money (recognizing the engineers’ superior intellect).

When they get to the station, they buy a single ticket for the return trip. To their astonishment, the engineers don’t buy a ticket at all.

“How are you going to travel without a ticket?” says one perplexed lawyer.

“Watch and you’ll see,” answers an engineer.

When they board the train the three lawyers cram into a restroom and the three engineers cram into another one nearby.

The train departs.

Shortly afterward, one of the engineers leaves his restroom and walks over to the restroom where the lawyers are hiding. He knocks on the door and says, “Ticket, please.”

(Source: http://www.ebaumsworld.com/jokes/read/80430977/)

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US Backs LNG Distribution Base in Jamaica

Posted on April 15, 2015 in Economics, Government, Locations

Go Lean Commentary

All of a sudden, the US wants to take the lead in providing energy solutions for the Caribbean. What happened?

Oh yeah, another suitor came calling on this beautiful “sweetheart” that the US had taken for granted. That suitor: Venezuela; (see Appendix).

Though this is a simplistic analogy, the appearance of romancing the Caribbean heart (and dollars) regarding energy fuel seems to follow the dramatic sequences of “teenage love”.

The book Go Lean… Caribbean relates (Page 100) how the Caribbean has among the most expensive energy costs in the world, despite having abundant alternative energy natural resources (solar, trade winds, tidal, geo-thermal). The societal administrations only focused on imported petroleum to provide energy options and as a result retail electricity rates in the Caribbean average US$0.35/kWh, when instead it could be down to US$0.088/kWh.

These are just the economic issues. There is also the matter of burning fossil fuels and contributing to global warming and climate change. For this teenage love scenario, that is too far-reaching for this original suitor; his only focus is the short-term. The Go Lean book posits that the embrace of this identified alternative energy generation source (Natural Gas) could be more impactful on the environment in addition to remediating the high energy costs.

The US is now the world largest energy producer. But Venezuela is the largest oil exporter in all of Latin America; they turned their attention – with their PetroCaribe program – to aid the Caribbean member-states with very attractive and enticing delivery and payment terms to consume more Venezuelan oil. Most of the independent Caribbean states acquiesced to these advances.

But now, the Empire Strikes Back…

Previously, this commentary detailed how the US Ambassadors to the Caribbean were soliciting more US trade in energy options and dissuading the Venezuelan connections. Now we follow-up to see the US making strides with Jamaica to help diversify energy generation – include natural gas – and establish this central Caribbean destination as a hub for natural gas logistics to the rest of the region.

See the news article here from the NGI* entity about Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG):

Title: U.S. Backs Fuel Diversification, LNG Distribution Base in Jamaica
By: Charlie Passut

The United States will help Jamaica with fuel diversification and embrace liquefied natural gas (LNG) for its energy needs, and will also back plans for the island nation to become a base for delivering LNG to the rest of the Caribbean region.

On Thursday [(April 9, 2015)], U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Ernest Moniz signed an agreement with Jamaica’s energy minister, Phillip Paulwell, at the U.S.-CARICOM summit in Mona, Jamaica.

“We believe that Jamaica could be a part of [an LNG export] hub because of our geographic location, in proximity to places like Haiti and other areas in the western Caribbean,” Paulwell said, according to video of the summit provided by the government’s Jamaica Information Service (JIS). “After these meetings, we are hoping to zero in on some of the specificity.”

Moniz countered that DOE would help facilitate discussions between Jamaica and the Inter-American Development Bank, which provides financial and technical support to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. He also suggested talks with the bank’s president, Luis Alberto Moreno.

“We are happy to [facilitate the discussions],” Moniz said on JIS. “We think it’s good for the Western Hemisphere and certainly good for the Caribbean in terms of energy security, environmental impact and economic development.”

Rick Smead, managing director of advisory services for RBN Energy LLC, said Jamaica had been expected to become a major trading center for LNG, with larger tankers coming in to offload onto smaller barges and tankers for shorter trips to the different islands.

“But until Secretary Moniz’s visit, I didn’t know how close we were to supporting that or doing anything to try to foster it,” Smead told NGI on Friday.

“One of the rapidly evolving dynamics of U.S. gas abundance, and especially our LNG export capability, is that in addition to the large volume [of international cargoes bound] for Europe and Asia, there should be a lot of opportunities for smaller cargoes to taxi all over the place in the Caribbean. The technology of both floating liquefaction and especially floating regasification along the lines of accelerates stuff, frees up the ability to go to a lot of these smaller markets without needing to build a giant regasification facility.

“There’s been a proliferation of smaller LNG transportation and regasification technologies all over the Caribbean, in large part in anticipation of there being a lot more supply available.”

Smead predicted that the U.S. will eventually become the world’s second or third largest exporter of LNG, with the Caribbean becoming a significant importer.

“The Caribbean [is] a very gas hungry market,” Smead said. “Being very close to the U.S. Gulf Coast, where four out of our five operational LNG export facilities that are close to getting done will be [located], it seems pretty obvious that there would be a lot of vitality to that market.”

Last month, American LNG Marketing LLC was granted DOE authorization to export up to 60,000 tonnes per annum of containerized LNG from Florida, mostly to free trade agreement (FTA) countries in the Caribbean and Central America (see Daily GPI, March 23).

In 2014, Carib Energy LLC, a subsidiary of Crowley Maritime Corp., won a multi-year contract to export containerized LNG produced in the U.S. to an undisclosed pharmaceutical company in Puerto Rico (see Daily GPI, Nov. 17, 2014). That followed DOE approval for Carib and Sempra Energy’s Cameron LNG project to export domestically-produced LNG. Both facilities are in Louisiana, on the Gulf Coast (see Daily GPI, Sept. 10, 2014

The U.S. Energy Administration has also touted the benefits of LNG exports to U.S. island states and territories (see Daily GPI, Aug. 19, 2014).
Source: Natural Gas Intelligence Magazine (Posted April 13, 2015) – http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/101954-us-backs-fuel-diversification-lng-distribution-base-in-jamaica

This foregoing news article highlights some important issues, most of which have been detailed in the Go Lean book. That publication coupled energy as a basic need with food, clothing and shelter; and then addressed ways to elevate Caribbean society by optimizing the delivery of these needs. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This entity would serve as a regional confederation of all 30 Caribbean member-states to provide better leverage to source the energy resources for the region, including natural gas options that had previously been overlooked; (see Appendix-VIDEO below). Many benefits abound from this approach. This Go Lean roadmap identifies these benefits as prime directives, as detailed in these 3 declarative statements:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improvement of governance to support these engines.

The motivation of the Go Lean…Caribbean book is love for this homeland and the quest to make it a better place to live, work and play. If the US now wants to show more leadership in this area, we welcome their positive contribution. But we stand cautioned in knowing that America is plagued with the history of prioritizing their self-interest above the needs of the Caribbean people. We now therefore dread an American leadership and instead look for a partnership. We want to be protégés and no longer parasites.

Early in the book, the need to better leverage our small Caribbean populations in trade negotiations with the US or Venezuela was pronounced in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 11), with these statements:

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

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.

So we welcome America’s natural gas options; (see Appendix-VIDEO below) …

… and we add renewables and other energy alternatives into the mix for Caribbean energy. These would be more cost efficient and ecologically friendly for the planet, of which we share with our bigger neighbors in North and South America. This would truly be lean!

This concept of lean is very important for this roadmap to elevate Caribbean society. For the purpose of this effort, ‘lean’ is more than just a description, it’s a noun, a verb, an adjective and an adverb. It is also a commitment and a cause in which the entire Caribbean region is urged to embrace; or better stated: “lean in”.

Why were natural gas solutions not considered in the past?

It is an imported resource, just like petroleum; it requires the same logistical considerations as crude oil or refined products of gasoline and diesel. Except though natural gas (LNG) does not need to be refined, only converted from liquid form back to gas form: regasification. LNG is more stable for transport.

The Go Lean roadmap also anticipates the transport option of pipelines. The strategies, tactics and implementation (above ground, underground and undersea of this technology) have been fully detailed in the book. The roadmap thereby details the series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to foster progress in the wide fields of energy generation and energy distribution. The following list applies:

Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Regional Taxi Commissions – To Adopt Natural Gas	Page 25
Community Ethos – Non-Government Organizations	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Negotiations	Page 32
Anecdote – Pipeline Transport – Strategies, Tactics & Implementations	Page 43
Strategy – Harness the power of the sun/winds	Page 46
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 82
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Energy Commission	Page 82
Anecdote – “Lean” in Government – Energy Permits	Page 93
Anecdote – Caribbean Energy Grid Implementation	Page 100
Implementation – Ways to Develop Pipeline Industry	Page 107
Implementation – Ways to Improve Energy Usage	Page 113
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Monopolies	Page 202

The energy needs for the Caribbean are undeniable. The Caribbean region must take the lead in providing Caribbean energy needs. Though we welcome the US partnership, we should be cautious as to their motives and priorities. We accept that at this moment, the US may have altruistic motives, especially with declining oil prices possibly affecting Venezuela. But for far too often, American leadership has been motivated by crony-capitalistic intentions. The points of mitigating the risks of American Big Business (in this case Big Oil) were further elaborated upon in these previous blog/commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4294	Ambassadors to Caribbean discuss PetroCaribe-Energy, Security
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3397	A Christmas Present for the Banks from the Omnibus Bill
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2887	Caribbean must work together to address US rum subsidies
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2670	A Lesson in History: Oil Magnate Rockefeller’s Pipeline
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2522	The Cost of American Cancer Drugs
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2465	Book Review: ‘This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2338	Lessons: How Best to Welcome the Dreaded American ‘Plutocracy’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2259	The Criminalization of American Business – Big Banks Let Loose
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=789	America’s War on the Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273	10 Things We Don’t Want from the US – #1: American Self-Interest

Fulfilling the Caribbean energy needs is a great target for lean, agile operations, perfect for the CU technocracy. This allows us to prove, to ourselves and to the world, that we can truly be protégés and not just parasites.

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people, business, institutions and governments, to lean-in for the optimizations and opportunities described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. 🙂

Download Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———-

* Appendix – About …

NGI – Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI), is a leading provider of natural gas, shale news and market information for the deregulated North American natural gas industry. Since the first issue of Natural Gas Intelligence was published in 1981, NGI has provided key pricing and data relied upon daily by thousands of industry participants in the U.S, Canada and Mexico as well as Central and South America, Europe and Asia.
NGI Corporate – Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI), operating under the corporate entity of Intelligence Press, Inc., is the publisher of the NGI family of newsletters–a leading provider of news and physical market pricing information for the deregulated North American natural gas industry. Since the first issue of the Natural Gas Intelligence newsletter published in 1981, NGI has provided information and data relied upon daily by thousands of industry participants in the U.S, Canada and Mexico as well as Central and South America, Europe and Asia.

———

Appendix – Venezuela’s PetroCaribe Distribution:

Appendix – VIDEO: ExxonMobil’s Discussion on Energy Supply – https://youtu.be/faDKwEl1BcY

Published on Jan 23, 2015 – Advances in technology continue to make a wide range of energy supplies available to consumers. At the same time, the fuels that people and businesses choose to meet their needs continue to evolve. These choices are based not just on price, but also on attributes like convenience, performance and environmental effects. Natural gas is expected to be the fastest-growing major fuel through 2040.

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Is Martinique the Next Caribbean Surfing Capital?

Posted on April 14, 2015 in Economics, Locations

Go Lean Commentary

Sports could be big business; culture is big business. Every now-and-then there is the opportunity to merge sports and culture into a single economic activity. One such expression is the sports/culture of surfing. This focus is a priority for the movement to elevate the Caribbean society, stemming from the book Go Lean…Caribbean.

The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). While the CU is not intended as a sports promotion entity, it does promote the important role of sports in the quest to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play.

Though surfing activities originated with Polynesian culture (see Appendix below), the sport has assimilated well in other societies – the Caribbean included.

In terms of cultural expressions of surfing in the United States, the most iconic portrayal is the Rock-n-Roll group the Beach Boys; see VIDEO in the Appendix below of a milestone performance in Tokyo, Japan.

Yes surfing is global in its participation and appreciation.

Now a Caribbean community, the French-domain of Martinique is exploring the surfing sub-culture for sport, tourism and sports-tourism.

Cowabonga* Dude!

By: The Caribbean Journal staff

Long an under-the-radar surfing spot, the French Caribbean island will get its place in the spotlight when the surfing world gathers on the island later this month for the first-ever Martinique Surf Pro.

From April 21-26, the Caribbean’s only World Surf League Qualification Series event this year will take place along the shores of Basse-Pointe in Martinique.

The event, which is being organized by Martinique Surfing in partnership with the World Surf League, will bring together 100 world-class surfers from the United States, Japan, Europe, Brazil and the Caribbean.

“Martinique has been among the best-kept secrets in Caribbean surfing for some time now,” said Muriel Wiltord, director of the Americas for the Martinique Promotion Bureau. “Such a high-profile event as this cements the island’s position as a prime surfing destination. As one the top watersports competitions being held in the Caribbean in 2015, Martinique Surf Pro also shines a spotlight on the wide range of additional watersports options that Martinique has to offer.”

Martinique’s surfing season typically lasts between November and May along its northern and northeastern Atlantic coasts.

Source retrieved April 13, 2015: http://www.caribjournal.com/2015/04/13/is-martinique-the-next-caribbean-surfing-capital/

Not every coastline is ideal for surfing; thusly many Caribbean residents do not surf; it is not an indigenous activity to this region. But the past-time – and culture for that matter – is adaptable. Why is this? While the Caribbean has been blessed with many natural gifts, the physical conditions for surfing are not everywhere; (based on factual information retrieved from Wikipedia).

There must be a consistent swell. A swell is generated when wind blows consistently over a large area of open water, called the wind’s fetch. The size of a swell is determined by the strength of the wind and the length of its fetch and duration. Because of this, surf tends to be larger and more prevalent on coastlines exposed to large expanses of ocean traversed by intense low pressure systems.

Local wind conditions affect wave quality, since the surface of a wave can become choppy in blustery conditions. Ideal conditions include a light to moderate “offshore” wind, because it blows into the front of the wave, making it a “barrel” or “tube” wave. Waves are Left handed and Right Handed depending upon the breaking formation of the wave.

Waves are generally recognized by the surfaces over which they break.^[7] For example, there are Beach breaks, Reef breaks and Point breaks.

The most important influence on wave shape is the topography of the seabed directly behind and immediately beneath the breaking wave. The contours of the reef or bar front becomes stretched by diffraction. Each break is different, since each location’s underwater topography is unique. At beach breaks, sandbanks change shape from week to week. Surf forecasting is aided by advances in information technology. Mathematical modeling graphically depicts the size and direction of swells around the globe.

So mastering the sport of surfing is now an art and a science.

Despite the fun and joy of surfing, there are a lot of dangers with this activity:

Drowning
Collisions
Marine life – Sharks mistake surfers for their natural prey
Rip currents
Seabed – Injuries from the reefs, fauna and flora of the seabed

This activity is not for the faint of heart.

Not every market, especially in the Caribbean, can support the demands of surfing as a sport and as a cultural event. As depicted in the foregoing article, Martinique uniquely qualifies. This year’s professional tournament is the inaugural event. This Caribbean island makes a very short-list of all locations where this activity is practical. The following is a sample of the competitive/major surfing locations (Surf Cities) around the globe:

1. In Australia

2. In Asia

2.1 Arugam Bay, Ullae (Pottuvil, Sri Lanka)

3. In the South Pacific

3.1 Teahupoʻo (Tahiti)

4. In South Africa

4.1 Jeffreys Bay (Eastern Cape)

5. In North America

5.1 Zicatela Beach (Mexican Pipeline)

6. In Central America

6.1 La Libertad (El Salvador)

7. In South America

7.1 Chicama (La Libertad-Peru)

8. In the USA

9. In Europe

The Martinique effort and initiative to satiate the thirst … and fascination of surfing aligns with the objects of the CU/Go Lean roadmap; especially the mission “to forge industries and economic drivers around the individual and group activities of sports and culture” (Page 81).

The Go Lean vision is a confederation of the 30 member-states of the Caribbean forming the CU as a proxy organization to do the heavy-lighting of building, funding, maintaining and promoting sports venues. The strategy is for the CU to be the landlord, and super-regional regulatory agency, for sports leagues, federations and associations (amateur, collegiate, and professional). The embrace and promotion of the sport and culture of surfing can contribute to the Greater Good for the Caribbean. This aligns with the prime directives of the CU/Go Lean roadmap; summarized in the book with these 3 statements:

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

This roadmap commences with the recognition that genius qualifiers can be found in many fields of endeavor, including sports. The roadmap pronounces the need for the region to confederate in order to invest in elevation of the Caribbean eco-systems in which such athletic geniuses can soar. These pronouncements are made in the opening Declaration of Interdependence, (Pages 13 & 14) as follows:

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

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

The Go Lean book and accompanying blogs declare that the Caribbean needs to learn lessons from Surf City communities and other sporting venues/administrations. So thusly this subject of the “business of sports” is a familiar topic for Go Lean blogs. This cause was detailed in these previous blogs:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4019	Melding of Sports & Technology; the Business of the Super Bowl
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3414	Levi’s® Stadium: A Team Effort
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3244	Sports Role Model – espnW.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2222	Sports Role Model – Playing For Pride … And More
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2171	Sports Role Model – Turn On the SEC Network
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2152	Sports Role Model – US versus the World
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1715	Lebronomy – Economic Impact of the Return of the NBA Great
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1446	Caribbean Players in the 2014 World Cup
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1341	College World Series Time – Lessons from Omaha
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1214	Landlord of Temporary Stadiums
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1148	Sports Bubble – Franchise values in basketball
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1020	Sports Revolutionary: Advocate Jeffrey Webb
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=498	Book Review: ‘The Sports Gene’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=318	Collegiate Sports in the Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=60	Could the Caribbean Host the Olympic Games?

This Go Lean roadmap is committed to availing the economic opportunities of all the Caribbean sports eco-system to respond to the world’s thirst for surfing. The book details the series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to deliver the regional solutions to better harness economic benefits from sports and sports-tourism activities:

Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways	Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Return on Investments	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategic – Staffing – Sporting Events at Fairgrounds	Page 55
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Sports & Culture Administration	Page 81
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Fairgrounds Administration	Page 83
Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities	Page 105
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Local Government – Parks & Recreation	Page 169
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Public Works	Page 175
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Events	Page 191
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Fairgrounds as Sporting Venues	Page 192
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Sports	Page 229
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living – Sports Leagues	Page 234

What could be the end result for the Go Lean roadmap’s venture into the sport of surfing and the business of sports? Economic growth and “jobs”. The Go Lean roadmap anticipates 21,000 direct jobs at sports enterprises throughout the region.

But surfing is also a leisure amenity, a “play” activity within the Go Lean roadmap. Many participate in this activity with no competitive motives. So the promotion of surfing in the Caribbean region can appeal to many enthusiasts far-and-wide to come visit and enjoy our Caribbean hospitality. This subject therefore relates back to the primary regional economic activity of tourism. This fits into the appeal of the Caribbean sun, sand and surf.

Overall, with these executions, the Caribbean region can be a better place to live, work and play. There is a lot of economic activity in the “play” aspects of society. Everyone, surfers, athletes and spectators alike, are hereby urged to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap.

Cowabonga Dude!

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———-

Appendix – *Cowabunga: (slang) an expression of surprise or amazement, often followed by “dude”. Popular among California surfers.

———-

Appendix – Encyclopedia of Surfing:

For centuries, surfing was a central part of ancient Polynesian culture. This activity was first observed by Europeans at Tahiti in 1767 by Samuel Wallis and the crew members of the Dolphin; they were the first Europeans to visit the island in June of that year.

Surfing is a surface water sport in which the wave rider, referred to as a surfer, rides on the forward or deep face of a moving wave, which is usually carrying the surfer toward the shore. Waves suitable for surfing are primarily found in the ocean, but can also be found in lakes or in rivers in the form of a standing wave or tidal bore. However, surfers can also utilize artificial waves such as those from boat wakes and the waves created in artificial wave pools.

The term surfing refers to the act of riding a wave, regardless of whether the wave is ridden with a board or without a board, and regardless of the stance used. The native peoples of the Pacific, for instance, surfed waves on alaia, paipo, and other such craft, and did so on their belly and knees. The modern-day definition of surfing, however, most often refers to a surfer riding a wave standing up on a surfboard; this is also referred to as stand-up surfing.

George Freeth (8 November 1883 – 7 April 1919) is often credited as being the “Father of Modern Surfing”.

In 1907, the eclectic interests of the land baron Henry Huntington (of whom the City of Huntington Beach is named after) brought the ancient art of surfing to the California coast. While on vacation, Huntington had seen Hawaiian boys surfing the island waves. Looking for a way to entice visitors to the area of Redondo Beach, where he had heavily invested in real estate, he hired the young Hawaiian George Freeth to come to California and ride surfboards to the delight of visitors; Mr. Freeth exhibited his surfing skills twice a day in front of the Hotel Redondo.

In 1975, professional contests started.^[6]

Today, the Surfing Hall of Fame is located in the city of Huntington Beach, California. The city brands itself as Surf City USA.

(Source retrieved April 14 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfing)

———-

Appendix – VIDEO – The Beach Boys: Surfin’ Safari~Surf City~Surfin’ U.S.A – https://youtu.be/qpSwdQMn8xs

Uploaded on Jul 29, 2011 – Live at Budokan in Japan November 2, 1991

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Welcoming WTO? Say Goodbye to Nationalism

Posted on March 26, 2015 in Economics, Government, Locations

Go Lean Commentary

The catch-phrase “Think Global, Act Local” does not only apply to “green” conservational objectives, it also applies to trade promotion. Though not officially adopted as a mantra for the World Trade Organization (WTO), this catch-phrase is the ethos by which they administer their policies.

The words “World” and “Trade”, combined together should signal the spirit of doing commerce as global citizens, not reserving a market for some special interest group, even if the special qualifier is just citizenship.

World Trade coordination is a new creation, a product of 20^th century post-WW II reconstruction. The prevailing ethos beforehand was that “all men were created equal, but some were more equal than others”. This status quo, with features like colonialism, was fraught with societal defects that would just continue to spurn uprisings. A better eco-system was needed. From this planning – Photo here – came the structure for the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Trade Organization (ITO). The ITO was proposed in 1948, but never fully ratified. In its place, a weaker framework was enacted branded GATT for General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The goal was to tear down all the inequities with inter-country interactions that caused so much dissension. (The planet could not risk another global war). GATT remained the standard for almost 50 years, until finally the formation of the newly-branded WTO, which ascended on January 1, 1995.

The goal of the ITO/WTO was to be a United Nations’ specialized agency that would address not only trade barriers but other issues indirectly related to trade, including employment, investment, restrictive business practices, and commodity agreements. But the original ITO treaty was not approved by the U.S. and a few other signatories and never went into effect.^[17][18][19] The WTO has all of these countries’ full participation and all these attributes. It’s a New World Order.

The WTO is not mandatory; it’s a club and membership has its privileges…and responsibilities. The book Go Lean…Caribbean had always encouraged participation in this club (Page 119); urging joining and conforming to the international standards. Why? The region depends on the global market – imports of all commodities and exports of services like tourism. So we are already participating in these “club activities” whether we want to or not. We had better get the full benefits. For starters we would get voting rights par-for-par with the big trading countries like the US and Canada, and EU member-states. We would get a voice and a vote; something missing in our current US interaction, where foreign, trade and security policies often times do not align with the priorities of the Caribbean. Even more, no Caribbean member-states, even US Territories, have voting powers in the US Capitol where those policies are codified. It is what it is!

Click on photo to Enlarge

The World Map Photo here depicts the Commonwealth of the Bahamas in a Red Circle, indicating that the WTO status is still pending. There are a number of provisos that must first be put in place. This article relates one such requirement:

Title: WTO To End Property Tax Advantages For Bahamians
By: Neil Hartnell, Business Editor

NASSAU, Bahamas — The Bahamas will have to eliminate its nationality-based real property tax exemptions that discriminate in favour of locals before it becomes a full World Trade Organisation (WTO) member, a report warning the current system is “not in accordance with international practice”.

The ‘Conditions for improving real property tax in the Bahamas’ report, never before revealed to the Bahamian people, thus warns that the exemptions enjoyed by Bahamian ‘vacant land’ owners in New Providence, and in every Family Island [(Bahamas Out Islands)], will either have to be completely changed or abandoned.

The report’s authors, Dr Roy Kelly, Dr Graham Glenday and Wayne Forde, said: “Exempting property based on the nationality of the property tax owner is not in accordance with international practice.

“This nationality-based exemption will need to be changed when the Bahamas joins the WTO, since the Bahamas will not be allowed to differentially tax based on nationality.”

The Government, via the Ministry of Financial Services, has already given notice of its intention to continue with the WTO accession process, with new minister, Hope Strachan, effectively saying she has picked up where her predecessor, Ryan Pinder, left off.

Messrs Kelly, Glenday and Forde thus called for the Government to review all property tax exemptions extended to Bahamians only, reiterating that these would need to be eliminated upon WTO accession.

“This means that the current exemption on unimproved land owned by Bahamians on New Providence will need to be adjusted. In addition, the current exemptions given to Bahamians on all property on the Family Islands will need to be restructured,” they warned bluntly.

This provides further evidence of how the ‘rules of the game’ for the conduct of business in the Bahamas will change suddenly, and dramatically, once this nation accedes to full WTO membership.

It is unclear how many in the private sector, and wider Bahamian society, have been paying attention to this, given that Value-Added Tax (VAT) and possibly now National Health Insurance (NHI), have dominated the policy agenda.

The ‘Conditions for improving real property tax in the Bahamas’ report, meanwhile, went further in calling for the Government to review what it described as “several unique and generous tax exemptions and relief schemes” when it came to real property tax.

In particular, it called for the $250,000 ‘exemption threshold’ for owner-occupied real property tax to be reduced back to $100,000.

Explaining the rationale for this recommendation, it said: “First, the current owner-occupied exemption of $250,000 is substantially higher than those in the neighbouring United States.

“Second, the exemption is not means-tested, meaning that the exemption is given to rich and poor alike, perpetuating inequity. Third, the level of exemption was increased without a systematic updating of property tax roll values. Fourth, the exemption is difficult to administer to ensure that second homes are not also receiving a second exemption.”

Messrs Kelly, Glenday and Forde said the $250,000 Bahamian exemption was more than 2.5 times’ higher than the largest equivalent in the US, where exemptions ranged from $7,500 to $100,000.

“Increasing the exemption levels, while not systematically adjusting the property assessed values to be closer to market values, means that many properties drop off the property tax roll through reverse ‘bracket creep’,” the report said,

“It is reported that the increase in the exemption level from $100,000 to $250,000 reduced the number of taxpayers substantially, eliminating many properties from the tax roll. Due to the lack of an effective reassessment process, many of the owner-occupied houses have not been revalued in many years. “Thus, increasing the exemption by 150 per cent, while not reassessing the properties to keep up with real market value, meant that many houses fell below the valuation threshold.”

Messrs Kelly, Glenday and Forde also described the exemption Bahamians enjoy from paying real property tax on any Family Island as “overly generous”, because it made no distinction between rich and poor persons, plus high value and low value properties.

“Both rich and low income Bahamians are tax exempt from the property tax, thus not directly contributing to the payment for government services on the Family Islands,” the report said.

“There is no good reason why richer Bahamians (owning expensive properties) on the Family Islands should not be contributing to the payment for government services.”

And, significantly in the current context, Messrs Kelly, Glenday and Forde recommended that real property tax be imposed in Freeport from August 2015 onwards.

“As with the exemption granted to hotels, the Hawksbill Creek Agreement provisions on property taxation should also be reviewed, with property brought into the tax net upon expiration of the current agreement,” they argued.

Many Bahamas-based resorts are exempt from paying real property tax for up to 20 years under their Hotels Encouragement Act agreements, thus ensuring they enjoy a substantial concession, while the Government suffers “quite large” revenue losses.

“The property tax exemption for hotels, rental pooling, and time shares should be reviewed and reduced,” the report recommended.

“Although perhaps well intentioned, the generous property tax exemption on hotels and other tourist-related investments may be extravagant and unwarranted, potentially allowing hotel investments to be property tax exempt for up to 20 years.

“This exemption provides a major subsidy to the hotel investors, and to users of those hotels who receive government services without paying the property tax and the true costs of government-funded services.”

Calling for the Government to conduct cost/benefit analysis of all its tax exemptions, the report said: “Countries do provide a number of tax exemptions to stimulate economic development.

“These tax exemptions should be costed and monitored to evaluate the impact from the exemption, and to ensure that the property is brought on to the tax roll at the conclusion of the exemption. In accordance with international best practice, all property tax exemptions should be included in the property tax act to encourage greater transparency.”

Messrs Kelly, Glenday and Forde concluded: “To mobilise increased property taxes in an equitable and efficient manner, the Government must review existing tax base exemptions, potentially leading to a broadening of the tax base.

“As identified above, the tax base currently has very generous and perhaps unnecessarily generous exemptions, which dramatically reduces the potential property tax revenues and introduces possible, un-intentional impacts on the equity and efficiency of the tax system.”

No property tax advantage for Bahamians over foreigners?!?! That is a big change for the Bahamas. They have a Bahamian-ization policy that prioritizes citizens over foreigners in so many societal endeavors. See VIDEO in the Appendix below.

The whole policy is flawed. (Bahamian-ization calls for all Bahamian businesses to at least be owned 51% by a Bahamian citizen).

This policy was communicated previously in a blog/commentary where the business community there was complaining about the lack of skilled labor in the marketplace and the impediment that the Bahamian-ization policy has forced on the local market. Job creation is affected.

There are also similar complaints related to investments, property ownership, gambling, immigration-citizenship, education and other facets of society.

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”. – Book: Animal Farm by George Orwell (1945)

The tongue-in-check allusion in this expression is more apropos, (and stands in contrast):

The Golden Rule: He who has the gold makes the rules.

The motivation of Bahamian-ization was always to neutralize corporate abuses.

The book Go Lean… Caribbean posits that the Bahamas cannot succeed in a world of globalization leading with this Bahamian-ization policy. Foreign Direct Investors will be less inclined to “plant” in a country with little chance of prospering. They will be inviting a second class existence for themselves, spouses and children. That policy “acts locally” with no consideration for global ramifications. (Mostly, the only qualifying Bahamian for new business endeavors is the government). On the other hand, the book urges regional federalism, asserting that the best solution is a regional integration with all Caribbean member-states, despite the colonial or language legacies. The book therefore serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This represents a confederation, a brotherhood, of the 30 member-states of the Caribbean region, including the US Territories (2): Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands); the French Territories (5); 6 Dutch Territories constituted as 1 member; British Overseas Territories (5) and independent states and Republics (17).

This would mirror the European Union (EU) participation in the WTO where there is a dual membership. The Caribbean Union Trade Federation is modeled after the EU, with the regional focus on Trade for the Caribbean.

The words “Caribbean” and “Trade”, combined together should signal the spirit of doing commerce as regional citizens. This CU/Go Lean roadmap therefore extolls the priority of trade, not nationalism, in the execution of its prime directives; defined by these 3 statements:

Optimize the economic engines of the region to grow the GDP of the economy to $800 billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establish a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance – including tax collection and Self-Governing Entities – to support these engines.

The Go Lean roadmap opens with the call for the consolidation of trade negotiation for the Bahamas, and the rest of the Caribbean – treating everyone as equals. This point is echoed early, and often, in the book, commencing with these opening pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 11 – 14), as follows:

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

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.

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

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

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

The Go Lean roadmap specifically details steps to optimize property taxes for the region’s member-states. The plan is to deploy advanced government systems for property assessments, registration and tax collections. The CU will deploy these systems and share the utilization with the member-states. This is classic e-Government in-sourcing and out sourcing. The financial eco-system will even provide predictive funding for the member-states based on these new efficiencies.

The Bahamas needs help with their “property tax” eco-system.

The Bahamas is currently operating only at 40 per cent of its tax capacity, according to a Government-engaged consultancy. They have warned the country, ranking this nation at near-bottom of a list of 98 countries… “The IMF has estimated that The Bahamas collects only 40 per cent of its maximum attainable tax-to-GDP ratio as determined by the economic structure of the country, a metric on which it ranks 92nd out of 98 nations,” [Consultancy] Compass Lexecon said. “In comparison, Sweden and Denmark collect 98 percent of their tax capacity.”

The Bahamas, and other Caribbean member-states for that matter, can do better.

For example, if the Bahamas Ministry of Finance should be collecting $160 million in property taxes for 1 year, then the CU (Union Revenue Administration) can issue a discounted check – or a warrant – for $140 million and engage the collections directly, to recoup $160 million. This is classic Agent-Principal servicing, with the exception of no profit motives for the agents. The CU is the agent! (This example relates only to property taxes, not the newly enacted VAT regime launched in country on January 1).

This is the hallmark of a technocracy.

Go Lean … Caribbean therefore constitutes a change for the Caribbean. This is roadmap provides the tools/techniques (but without sovereignty) to bring immediate elevation to the region to benefit one and all member-states.

How?

The book details the community ethos to forge such change; plus the executions of the following strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to empower the governing engines to better deliver on the Social Contract for Caribbean stakeholders:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Minority Equalization	Page 24
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Negotiations	Page 30
Community Ethos – Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Unified Region in a Single Market Economy	Page 45
Strategy – Customers – Foreign Direct Investors	Page 48
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization	Page 57
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Growth Approach – Trade and Globalization	Page 70
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Union Revenue Admin	Page 74
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Securities Regulatory Agency	Page 74
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Interstate Commerce Admin	Page 79
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Office of Trade Negotiations	Page 80
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change – Warrants	Page 101
Implementation – Foreign Policy Initiatives at Start-up	Page 102
Implementation – Steps for Implementing Self-Governing Entities	Page 104
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Trade Mission Office Objectives	Page 116
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization	Page 119
Implementation – Ways to Promote Independence – Interdependence Preferred	Page 120
Planning – Ways to Improve Trade	Page 128
Planning – Ways to Improve Interstate Commerce	Page 129
Planning – Ways to Model the EU	Page 130
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Job	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Housing – Government Property Registration	Page 161
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract – Non-Profitable Endeavors	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Government Revenue	Page 172
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Main Street	Page 201

The issues in this commentary are important for the development of the Bahamas and the rest of the Caribbean. There is the need to fully participate in the WTO; it is the only way to fully compete in a globalized marketplace. This is the new regulatory regime for the free market. Free market dynamics are normally based on supply-and-demand. The Caribbean, with its small population and market-size cannot compete with the voluminous demand nor voluminous supply of some of the bigger countries (i.e. China, India, EU, the US, etc). With the one-man-one-vote (one-state-one-vote) structure of the WTO, we will truly be able to compete with the bigger states.

WTO calls for level playing fields. A member-state cannot give preferential treatment to one group within the population over another group within the population. For the WTO, “all men are treated equal, period!”

There is no place for Bahamian-ization; no place for nationalism from any Caribbean country. Say Goodbye to the past. Say Hello to the future, the new landscape for world trade.

The Go Lean book is a detailed turn-by-turn step-by-step roadmap for how to lean-in for this new regime, and how to pay for it. We now urged everyone in the region, all stakeholders (citizens, Foreign Direct Investors, trading-partners, business establishments) to lean-in to this roadmap. Let’s fulfill this vision: let’s make the Caribbean region a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

——-

Appendix – VIDEO: Bahamas Minister of State for Investments Khaalis Rolle on foreign direct investment in The Bahamas – https://youtu.be/THD7Yejp1fs

Published on Nov 8, 2013 – Khaalis Rolle, the Minister of State for Investments of The Bahamas, speaks with The Prospect Group about the government’s investment plans and priorities, attracting foreign direct investment, and where investments can be made today.

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A Lesson in History – SARS in Hong Kong

Posted on March 24, 2015 in Economics, Government, Implementation

Go Lean Commentary

Sadly, we report – though it is only a reminder – that there is no cure for the common cold; nor its more debilitating “Big Brother”, influenza or “the flu”.

Sometimes the flu is just the flu. Symptoms may include cough, sore throat, fever, myalgia (muscle pain), and lethargy (fatigue or drowsiness, or prolonged sleep patterns). Unfortunately this normal start for influenza may morph into more serious concerns. For example, consider the SARS epidemic of 2003; see Appendix A. The same symptoms, above, were the applicable descriptors at the start of the SARS outbreak.

Why would anyone think of anything more than the common/annual flu? How can a community – the Caribbean region in this case – manage such an epidemiological crisis?

For this, we have a well-documented lesson from Hong Kong in 2003. There is much for us to learn from this lesson in history.

The people, institutions and governance of the Caribbean need to pay more than the usual attention to the lessons of SARS in Hong Kong, not just from the medical perspective (see Appendix B), but also from an economic viewpoint.

During the “heyday” of the SARS crisis, travel and transport to Hong Kong virtually came to a grinding halt! Hong Kong had previously enjoyed up to 14 million visitors annually; they were a gateway to the world. The SARS epidemic became a pandemic because of this status. Within weeks of the outbreak, SARS had spread from Hong Kong to infect individuals in 37 countries in early 2003.^[3]

Can we afford this disposition in any Caribbean community? Consider this VIDEO:

VIDEO: SARS on Hong Kong’s Economy – BiA Fall 2013 – https://youtu.be/l0rSJhUaCU8

Published on Dec 5, 2013 – Documentary of the impact of the 2003 SARS period in Hong Kong and on its economy. (Business in Asia presentation clip)

Consider how this history may impact the Caribbean region. SARS in Hong Kong was 12 years ago. But last year the world was rocked with an Ebola crisis originating from West Africa. An additional example local to the Caribbean is the Chikungunya virus that emerged in Spring 2014. The presentation of these facts evinces that we cannot allow mis-management of any public health crisis; this disposition would not extend the welcoming hospitality that the tourism product depends on. Our domestic engines cannot sustain an outbreak of a virus like SARS (nor Ebola nor Chikungunya). Less than an outbreak, our tourism economic engines, on the other hand, cannot even withstand a rumor. We must act fast, with inter-state efficiency, against any virus.

This is the goal as detailed in the book Go Lean … Caribbean as it serves as a roadmap for the introduction of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The vision of the CU is to ensure that the Caribbean is a protégé of communities like the US and EU states, not a parasite. This roadmap is an anti-parasite campaign. A virus, like SARS, is a parasite! This commentary is the factual lesson:

Medically, there are effective remedies for SARS; (thank you Hong Kong for teaching this lesson); see Appendix B.

Antibiotics are ineffective, as SARS is a viral disease. Treatment of SARS is largely supportive with antipyretics (fever reducers), supplemental oxygen and mechanical ventilation as needed.

Suspected cases of SARS must be isolated, preferably in negative pressure rooms, with complete “barrier nursing” precautions taken for any necessary contact with these patients; (protective gear: masks, gloves, etc).

The full details of the Hong Kong experience is provided here:

Title: SARS legacy still felt in Hong Kong, 10 years on
By Katie Hunt, BBC News; posted 20 March 2013

Hong Kong – Bathed in low evening light, Amoy Gardens is a hive of activity. People duck in and out of noodle joints, fast food chains and convenience stores before heading home to the warren of apartments nestled in the estate’s nineteen tower blocks.

But 10 years ago, this densely populated Hong Kong apartment complex, home to 19,000 people, was an eerie ghost town.

Two hundred residents had contracted a deadly respiratory disease, now known as SARS, within a week and no-one knew how it was spreading.

Rats and cockroaches were touted by the press as possible culprits.

“Taxi drivers refused to come here,” Yip Hing Kwok, a long-time resident and now a local councillor, recalls of the deadly 2003 outbreak.

Alarm turned to panic on March 31 when residents of block E, which experienced the densest concentration of cases, woke up to find that they were unable to leave their building as police and medical staff clad in protective suits enforced an emergency quarantine order.

Police were ordered to chase down those who had already left and residents were later moved to two holiday camps.

“We tried to improve the cleaning of the estate but the number of cases kept increasing,” says Mr Yip, who did not live in the blighted block. “The situation was uncontrollable.”

Starring role
Amoy Gardens played an unwanted starring role in the 2003 SARS epidemic that infected 8,096 worldwide, and killed 744. The disease, from the same family of viruses as the common cold, emerged in southern China at the end of 2002.

It was carried to Hong Kong by a doctor, whose one-night stay in the Metropole Hotel resulted in seven other guests being infected. These guests then jumped on planes, spreading SARS around the world.

While the disease appeared to spread fast, the number of people killed by the virus was relatively small, especially compared with the half a million people who died of influenza in the same year.

But these facts were not known until the disease had come under control in the summer. In March and early April of 2003, as the epidemic seemed to spiral out of control, Hong Kong was a city gripped by fear.

Surgical masks became hot commodities and the city’s usually crowded shopping malls, restaurants and mass transport emptied. Expats fled, schools closed and those who could worked from home.

Back then, working as a reporter in the city, I recall being urged by a contact to head straight for the airport as Hong Kong was to be declared an infectious port and sealed from the outside world. A teenager was later arrested in what turned out to be an April Fool’s Day stunt.

On the same day, a hugely popular singer and actor, Leslie Cheung, committed suicide by jumping from the 24th floor of the Mandarin Oriental hotel in the middle of the financial district, plunging an already anxious Hong Kong into mourning.

Of course, Hong Kong was not the only place to suffer during the epidemic.

Singapore, Taipei, Beijing and Toronto were hard hit and China’s citizens were kept in the dark about the outbreak as the country’s leaders initially refused to acknowledge the extent and severity of the disease.

But it is perhaps in Hong Kong, the city that suffered the greatest number of casualties, that its legacy is felt most keenly.

Praise and criticism
Hong Kong earned praise for its transparency in reporting the spread of the disease, in sharp contrast to the cover-up in China.

Like the rest of the city, I was glued to the daily 4.30pm televised press conference during the outbreak that detailed the latest death toll and new cases.

However, the government was criticised for its early handling of the outbreak, particularly at Amoy Gardens, where 42 died and 329 were infected.

Hong Kong has taken the lessons to heart, both in its approach to managing new diseases and maintaining hygiene.

Ten years after the outbreak, apartment and office blocks still boast of how many times daily they sanitise lift buttons, hand rails, door knobs and almost all public surfaces. Masks are de rigueur if you have a cold, and a sneezing or coughing fit on public transport meets with disapproving glances.

Kindergartens, like the one my daughter attends, require parents to record their child’s body temperature in a special notebook each morning. If we forget, a note comes back admonishing us.

The threat of a new outbreak is taken extremely seriously and measures are taken that might seem excessive elsewhere. In 2009, the city quarantined 286 guests staying at a downtown hotel for seven days after a Mexican traveller was confirmed as contracting swine flu.

And the city is closely monitoring the emergence of a new SARS-like illness after rumours, later proved unfounded, of a case in Hong Kong in February. The disease has infected 12 and killed six people worldwide.

Bounced back?
Amoy Gardens, like the rest of Hong Kong, has recovered from the SARS outbreak and the economic downturn it triggered with the panache typical of this fast-paced city.

The apartment complex and shopping plaza has since had a HK$60 million (5.1m; $7.7m) facelift, including changes to the drainage and sewage system that was ultimately found to have played a role in the quick spread of the disease at the estate.

Two-bedroom apartments that once struggled to find buyers in the outbreak’s aftermath now fetch HK$3.9m (0.33m; $0.5m) – beneficiaries of a recent property boom.

On a tour of the infamous block E, Mr Yip proudly points out the air purifiers in the marbled lobby, where a cleaning lady stands with detergent and a grey cloth poised to wipe away any germs left by visitors.

But the memories are harder to erase.

Mr Yip said many residents, fed up with the stigma attached to their address, left after the outbreak, and those that remained have asked him to deflect the media attention the 10-year anniversary has attracted.

In the residents’ committee office, Mr Yip flips through a binder of old newspaper clippings and stops on a picture of a young quarantined boy peering from a window at the armed policemen encircling the entrance to his home – a photograph he says made a particular impression on him at the time.

“l felt so helpless,” he tells me. “We want to forget our unhappy image.”
BBC News Website (Posted 20 March 2013; Retrieved 24 March 2015) –
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-21680682

Prior to this SARS outbreak, the WHO had developed a Pandemic War Plan, reserved for the worst situations; see Appendix C. This features strategies and tasks to identify, isolate and eradicate a major virus outbreak … at the start. But the War Plan presents a cautionary warning: should the disease ever escape the isolation attempts, the result could be socio-economic disaster, with millions dead.

The possibility of this warning is the motivation of this commentary and the Go Lean movement.

In general, the CU will employ its own “War Plan”; its strategies, tactics and implementations to impact its prime directives. These prime directives are defined with the following 3 statements:

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

The issue in this commentary relates to economics, security and economic security; in effect this is a governance issue. This is an issue of business continuity for the region. Early in the Go Lean book, this need for careful technocratic stewardship of the regional Caribbean economy was pronounced (Declaration of Interdependence; Page 12 – 13) with these acknowledgements and statements:

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

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

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

The Go Lean book, and previous blog/commentaries, stressed the key community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies necessary to regulate and manage regional threats and emergencies. These points are detailed in the book as follows:

Community Ethos – Privacy versus Public Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – “Crap” Happens	Page 23
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 24
Community Ethos – Non-Government Organizations	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Non-Sovereign “Unified” Proxy Entity	Page 45
Strategy – Customers – Residents & Visitors	Page 47
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization	Page 57
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Separation of Powers – Emergency Management	Page 76
Separation of Powers – Disease Control & Management	Page 86
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Security Initiatives at Start-up	Page 103
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Foster International Aid	Page 115
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization	Page 119
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices	Page 134
Planning – Ways to Measure Progress	Page 148
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Healthcare	Page 156
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Terrorism	Page 181
Advocacy – Ways to Improve for Natural Disasters	Page 184
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Emergency Management	Page 196

The Go Lean movement posits that wisdom, prudence and best practices can be adopted by careful study of complex matters. This is defined in the Go Lean book and subsequent blogs as a hallmark of a technocracy. The points of effective, technocratic stewardship gleaned from facts in history were further elaborated upon in these previous blog/commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4166	A Lesson in History: Panamanian Balboa
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2809	A Lesson in History: Economics of East Berlin
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2670	A Lesson in History: Rockefeller’s Pipeline
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2585	A Lesson in History: Concorde SST
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2480	A Lesson in History: Community Ethos of WW II
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2297	A Lesson in History: Booker T versus Du Bois
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1531	A Lesson in History: 100 Years Ago – World War I
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=798	Lessons Learned from the American Airlines merger

The Go Lean book reports that previous Caribbean administrations have failed miserably in managing regional crises. There is no structure for cooperation, collaboration and coordination across borders. This is the charge of the Go Lean/CU roadmap. To effectuate change in the region by convening all 30 Caribbean member-states, despite their historical legacies or governmental hierarchy.

The CU is not designed to just be in some advisory role when it comes to pandemic crises, but rather to possess the authority to act as a Security Apparatus for the region’s Greater Good. This is the mandate as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 11) related to climate change, but it applies equally to pandemics, to …

“protect the entire region 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 … challenges”.

Legally, each Caribbean member-state would ratify a Status of Forces Agreement that would authorize this role for the CU agencies (Emergency Management and Disease Control & Management) to serve as a proxy and deputy of the Public Health administrations for each member-state. This would thusly empower these CU agencies to quarantine and detain citizens with probable cause of an infectious disease. The transparency, accountability and chain-of-command would be intact with the appropriate checks-and-balances of the CU’s legislative and judicial oversight. This is a lesson learned from Hong Kong 2003 with China’s belligerence.

SARS was eradicated by January 2004 and no cases have been reported since. ^[4] We must have this “happy-ending”, but from the beginning. This is the lesson we can learn and apply in the Caribbean. This exercise makes our Caribbean elevation quest conceivable, believable and achievable.

Yes, we can make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

———

Appendix A – SARS Definition / Timeline

What is SARS? SARS stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and was the name given to the respiratory disease by the World Health Organization on March 15, 2003. Like the common cold, it belongs to the coronavirus family.

Scientists think the disease jumped from civet cats, a delicacy in southern China, to humans. It has also been linked to bats.

Timeline – SARS Outbreak 2003:

January 23 – Health authorities in China’s Guangdong province produce a report on cases of atypical pneumonia occurring in the province. The report is not shared with the WHO or Hong Kong government
Feb 21 – A medical professor from Guangzhou checks into the Metropole Hotel in Hong Kong for one night, bringing the virus to Hong Kong. He infects other guests, who spread the virus to Vietnam, Singapore and Toronto
March 12 – Hong Kong reports 23 cases of the disease at one hospital.
March 15 – WHO names the new disease as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and says cases have been found in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam
March 31 – Amoy Gardens Block E isolated and residents quarantined
April 5 – China apologises for its slow response to the SARS outbreak amid allegations that officials have covered up the true extent of the spread of the disease
April 16 – WHO announces that a new pathogen, a member of the coronavirus family never before seen in humans, is the cause of SARS
May 23 – Research teams in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China detect several coronaviruses closely related to SARS in masked palm civet and raccoon-dog at a market in southern China selling wild animals for human consumption
June 4- WHO says the outbreak is in decline
June 11 – Hong Kong’s last SARS case reported

——–

Appendix B – Referenced Citation

The SARS epidemic in Hong Kong: what lessons have we learned [medically]? Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine; August 2003; retrieved March 24, 2015 from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC539564/

———

Appendix C – VIDEO: Additional homework – BBC Horizon: SARS, The True Story (2003)

Link: https://youtu.be/MXPaee0uEQM

(This VIDEO length is 45 minutes)

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Health, History, Model, Security, Tourism

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Tobago: A Model for Cruise Tourism

Posted on March 18, 2015 in Economics, Locations, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

The Caribbean is composed of 30 member-states: countries, territories, and commonwealths. There are a lot of differences (5 colonial legacies, 4 different languages – even more dialects), and yet just one economy…primarily. The economic driver for most of the region is focused first on tourism.

This is good!

Non-renewal resources are not exhausted, exploited or consumed.

This is bad!

The mono-industrial reality overly depends on the prosperity of foreign countries.

It is what it is!

The book Go Lean…Caribbean addresses the economic needs of all the Caribbean, including the dimensions of the tourism sector. There are two options for visiting the Caribbean: stay-overs and cruises.

Scarborough, Tobago

Beach scene on Tobago

From a strictly economic consideration, stay-overs are preferred. The visitors consume more of the local culture and spend more monies on amenities like hotels, taxis, restaurants, shopping and excursions. On the other hand, cruise passengers consume most of these amenities onboard the ships, with just spin-off revenues to the local port cities.

The experience of tourism in the Caribbean is that there has been a sea-change since 2008; the crisis of the Great Recession deeply impacted the region as prosperity in the foreign countries – source markets – became spurious. Yes, the high-end tourist resorts have flourished since the Great Recession, but properties catering to the general middle class have floundered. The one exception being the emergence of the cruise industry as a viable vacation option for the general American population. The CU therefore plans to empower the industry directly, and to elevate the cruise industry’s impact on Caribbean society.

Plus, cruise lines are an effective way to introduce and grow a tourism product “from scratch”. This is the model for the island of Tobago, the secondary island (population of 62,000) in the federated Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Tobago’s main economy is based on tourism, fishing, and government spending, with government spending being the largest; (the local governing body – the Tobago House of Assembly – employs 62% of the labor force). Tourism is still a fledgling industry on the island and needs to be further developed. There are no casinos, just two golf courses, and perhaps just one hotel classified among the Caribbean resort-variety; but the island boast great eco-tourism opportunities.

See this article here referring to the pending expansion of cruise operations to Tobago:

1. Title: More on Carnival’s Tobago Plans
By: The Caribbean Journal staff; retrieved from: http://www.caribjournal.com/2015/03/16/more-on-carnivals-tobago-plans/

Carnival Cruise Lines has already announced its plans to visit Tobago next year, and now the company has revealed more information on its schedule.

The cruise line began visiting Tobago in February 2015, part of a longer itinerary that includes St Maarten, Dominica, Barbados, Scarborough, Grenada, Martinique, St Kitts and St Thomas.

“Based on feedback from our guests and travel agent partners, we’re delighted to offer these longer length voyages which provide vacationers an opportunity to visit some of the world’s most breathtaking destinations while enjoying all the wonderful on-board innovations and features found aboard Carnival’s ships,” said Terry Thornton, senior vice president of itinerary planning at Carnival.

The cruise line’s arrival will bring an estimated 10,642 Carnival passengers to the island next year.

VIDEO: Top 5 Beaches of Tobago – https://youtu.be/lpIg_6kzW0Q

Published on Dec 22, 2014 – Check out Tobago’s Top 5 Beaches as listed in the 2014 Tobago International Cycling Classic show which aired on ESPN in November. Tobago is one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean and it’s many beaches is one of the reasons.

The Go Lean book posits that this strategy is not enough; it is deficient to support a growing economy; to state better: an economy that should be growing. In general, the Caribbean economy is in crisis. Communities that are too dependent on tourism have suffered since 2008, directly and indirectly. Directly, the communities are deriving fewer returns from the tourism investments, especially where cruise operations are concerned. Indirectly, the crisis has driven many young ones to flee the region, setting their sights on foreign shores as the destination for their dreams and aspirations.

While Tobago is looking to expand its cruise traffic, as a way to springboard its nascent tourist industry, other communities are looking at ways to expand the yield from the existing cruise tourist traffic.

Consider this second news article here relating the efforts in Jamaica (and elsewhere) to increase the per-passenger average “spend” amounts:

2. Title: Jamaica unhappy with cruise pax spending
By: Gay Nagle Myers; Travel Weekly Magazine – Industry Periodical – Posted September 25, 2012; retrieved 03/18/2015 – http://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Jamaica-unhappy-with-spending-levels-of-cruise-passengers/

Jamaica’s cruise numbers saw solid growth last year, but tourism authorities there are not pleased with the level of per-passenger spending, which trails most other major cruise destinations in the Caribbean.

Data about Jamaica’s cruise industry are contained in the recently released Annual Travel Statistics 2011, a hefty document published by the Jamaica Tourist Board that examines all facets of visitor arrivals, hotel occupancy by room size category and visitor expenditure.

Tourism data were compiled from embarkation/disembarkation cards filled out by visitors arriving by air and by exit surveys at the airports and at cruise ship piers.

Data on cruise ship arrivals were obtained from the ships’ manifests.

In many instances, the current figures are compared to figures for the years since 2007 to illustrate how well or poorly certain tourism segments are faring.

Jamaica had solid cruise growth in 2011, welcoming more than 1.1 million passengers, a jump of 23.7% over 2010.

The main contributing factor to the turnaround in passenger arrivals was the opening of the Falmouth pier in Trelawny in February 2011.

In the 11 months that followed, the port of Falmouth hosted 110 cruise ship calls and was the entry point for 456,442 cruise ship passengers, or 40.6% of all passengers arriving in Jamaica. That included 21 calls by Royal Caribbean International’s Oasis of the Seas, accounting for 125,023 passengers.

The port of Ocho Rios, which in the past provided the largest share of Jamaica’s cruise arrivals, accounted for 417,520 of total cruise passengers in 2011, or 37.1%.

The port of Montego Bay accounted for 250,491 passengers, or 22.3%. The problem lies in how much those passengers spent in their ports of arrival. Overall gross visitor expenditure in 2011 was estimated at just over $2 billion, an increase of just 0.4% over 2010.

Foreign visitors arriving by air spent $1.85 billion, while cruise passenger spend totaled $80 million, and nonresident Jamaicans visiting friends and family contributed $76 million.

This means that the average tourist on holiday spent $115.74 per person per night, while cruise passengers strolling the streets of Falmouth or the vendor stalls in Montego Bay spent just $71.27.

The level of cruise passenger spend is not sitting well with tourism officials. It represents a drop of 20%, or $16 per passenger, the lowest in 10 years, according to the JTB annual report.

This is a disappointing payback following the opening of the much-touted Falmouth pier.

William Tatham, vice president of the Port Authority of Jamaica, said tourism officials would like to see a 70% jump in the cruise spend per passenger, to $120 per person, in the coming cruise season.

That goal could be realized with the opening of Margaritaville Falmouth at the cruise pier later this year.

The planned $7 million, 17,000-square-foot attraction will include a pirate ship with a pool and water slide, a zipline and a Jacuzzi right on the dock, according to Ian Dear, CEO of Island Entertainment Brands, which operates 27 Margaritaville venues, four of them in Jamaica.

Even if Jamaica should reach its goal of passengers spending $120 a day, the island still will trail the Bahamas and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Caribbean’s two top-volume cruise ports, when it comes to per-passenger spend.

The Bahamas welcomed 4.1 million cruise passengers in 2011, up 9.4% from the 3.8 million it welcomed in 2010.

The average spend of a Bahamas cruise passenger in 2012 is $111, up from $73 in 2011, according to Carla Stuart, director of cruise development for the Ministry of Tourism.

“The Bahamas remains the leader in the cruise industry in the region,” Stuart said. “For the first quarter of 2012, we saw more than an 11% increase in cruise arrivals compared to the same period in 2011. We expect this growth will continue throughout the year, bringing in significant revenue to small businesses and individuals employed directly and indirectly in the tourism sector.”

The USVI cruise numbers stood at 2 million in 2011, up 8.1% from 1.8 million in 2010, putting it third in cruise volume in the Caribbean region. (If Cozumel, Mexico, an island port in the Western Caribbean off Mexico’s Riviera Maya region, is factored into the Caribbean cruise data, it actually outranks the USVI with 2.8 million cruise arrivals in 2011, down 1.4% from the 2.9 million in 2010.)

Passengers disembarking in St. Thomas and St. Croix outspent those in Nassau and Freeport, Bahamas last year, dropping $156 per person on duty-free items, island tours, banana daiquiris at Mountaintop in St. Thomas or Buck Island snorkeling tours in St. Croix.

However, the 2011 figure fell from the 2010 figure of an average spend of $167 per cruise passenger, according to the Department of Tourism.

Projected cruise passenger spend for the U.S. Virgin Islands during the 2012-2013 cruise season is $165 per person.

The Caribbean region needs to focus on growing the economy and creating jobs. The Go Lean book asserts that this effort is too big a task for any one Caribbean member-state alone, that Jamaica, Tobago and other port cities need to convene, confederate and collaborate with the other regional member-states. As such, the Go Lean book 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 including Tobago. 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 protect the resultant economic engines.
Improvement of Caribbean governance – including local government – to support these engines.

The Go Lean book (Page 193 – 10 Ways to Impact Cruise Tourism) makes this simple assertion that the unification of the region into a Single Market will allow for collective bargaining with the cruise industry; no one nation-state would have the clout of a unified market. The industry needs the Caribbean more than the Caribbean needs the industry. The ports-of-calls need to be able to generate more revenue from the visiting passengers, but the cruise line have embedded rules/regulations designed to maximize their revenues at the expense of the port-side establishments. There is a better way!

Yet still, the strategies and tactics of the Go Lean roadmap are not to be contrarian for the region’s business stakeholders, but rather to promote and facilitate more business options, even for the cruise lines – we are cheerleaders. The cruise lines will have a partner in this Trade Federation for facilitating the best Caribbean experience for their passengers. We want to make the Caribbean better … to live, work and play for visitors and residents alike. And when something goes awry, the CU’s Emergency protocols will be engaged to facilitate a quick recovery.

A win-win…

The book stresses (early at Page 11 & 14) the need to be on-guard for opportunities to expand cruise industry performance in these pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence:

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.

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

This commentary previously related details of Caribbean tourism dynamics and the region’s own job-creation efforts. Here is a sample of earlier blogs:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4263	State of Aruba’s Mono-Industrial Economy
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4145	The African Renaissance Monument – Model for Art Tourism
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4058	The Bahamas missed tourism marketing in New York due to the New York Times focus on immigration dysfunction.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3743	Trinidad cuts budget as oil prices tumble – Perils of a mono-industrial economy.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2750	Disney World – Role Model for Touristic Self-Governing Entities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2571	More Business Travelers Flock to Airbnb
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2207	Bad Model – Hotels making billions from Resort Fees
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1984	Casinos Changing/Failing Business Model for Tourism activities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1943	The Future of Golf; Vital for Tourism, but failing badly
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=510	Florida’s Snowbirds Chilly Welcome – Bad Model for managing a great demographic and market potential.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273	10 Things We Want from the US – #2: Tourists
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=242	The Erosion of the Middle Class
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=235	Tourism’s changing profile

The Go Lean book and accompanying blogs posit that for the Caribbean tourism is undergoing change due to … a changing world:

“If we do what we have always done, we will no longer get what we always got”.

The world is now considered flat, because it is digital and connected. The region must explore all the marketing opportunities there-in. This is the charge of the Go Lean…Caribbean roadmap, to do the heavy-lifting, to implement the organizational dynamics to optimize Caribbean tourism here and now. The following are the community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and operational advocacies to effectuate this goal:

Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influences Choices & Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Negotiations – Cruise Collective Bargaining	Page 32
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Make the Caribbean the Best Address on Planet	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Facilitate transportation options for passengers and cargo	Page 46
Strategy – Agents of Change – Technology	Page 57
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization	Page 57
Anecdote – Carnival Corporation Strategy Report	Page 61
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Tourism Promotion and Administration	Page 78
Implementation – Assemble Regional Organs	Page 95
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Impact Social Media – Tourism Outreach	Page 111
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization	Page 119
Implementation – Ways to Promote Independence	Page 120
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean – Confederate to Single Market	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Improve Trade	Page 128
Planning – Lessons Learned from 2008	Page 136
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Local Governance – Help communities like Tobago	Page 169
Advocacy – Ways to Reduce & Mitigate Crime – Against Tourist Protected Class	Page 178
Advocacy – Ways to Enhance Tourism – Regional promotion and facilitation	Page 190
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Cruise Tourism – 10 specific steps/actions for improvement	Page 193
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Transportation – More efficiency in moving people	Page 205
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage … and Culture	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Trinidad & Tobago – More can be done	Page 240
Appendix – Lessons Learned – Trinidad & Tobago – Floating the T&T Dollar	Page 316

Cruising in the Caribbean is a great experience; we must grow this business. Staying-over in the Caribbean is even better, allowing more time to enjoy sun, sand, sea, surf, savor, salsa and smoke; (savor as in foods; salsa as in dance and smoke as in cigars). We can definitely grow this business with more technocratic deliveries. The Go Lean book provides 370 pages of turn-by-turn directions on how to accomplish this grandiose goal.

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean – the people, business and governing institutions – to lean-in to this Go Lean … Caribbean roadmap. This plan is conceivable, believable and achievable to make the region better places to live work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Cruise, Model, Play, Sales, Tourism, Transform

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Role Model: Innovative Educator Ron Clark

Posted on March 15, 2015 in Economics, Government

Go Lean Commentary

There are many empowerment plans to elevate communities; these have many different strategies, tactics, and implementations. But one thing is always consistent: Education. More education always benefits individuals and communities; it brings social mobility and facilitates new economic opportunities.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean asserts that education must be transformed and reformed to glean the full benefits for the Caribbean region. The region has often failed at education; and education has often failed the region. There is the need for new education systems and role models, for primary, secondary and tertiary institutions.

We have to rise above the failures and garner some success. We need the upward mobility that education can generate.

While there is a consideration for adult, vocational and on-the-job education in the Go Lean book, the focus of this commentary is directed more towards young people.

We now have the privilege to study other role models; this time an innovative educator Ron Clark of Atlanta; see Appendix A below and VIDEO here:

VIDEO: Innovative educator Ron Clark inspires passion for learning – http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/innovative-educator-ron-clark-inspires-passion-for-learning/

March 13, 2015 – Math and history are just some of the subjects at the Ron Clark Academy. The Atlanta middle school teaches everything from eye contact to the value of friendly competition. It’s a method that makes kids want to attend class. Mark Strassmann reports on how the founder maintains the fun under a cloud of 55 strict rules. (VIDEO plays best in Internet Explorer).

From a strictly micro, or individual perspective, education is great for the individual. Research by Economists have established that with every additional year of schooling, an individual increases their earnings by about 10%. This is a very impressive rate of return. The Go Lean book quotes these proven economic studies, showing the impact that these additional years of college education have on individuals’ earning power (Page 258). But from the macro perspective – the community – the experience is different for the Caribbean; rather than gains, the Caribbean has experienced losses because of an incontrovertible brain drain. Previous blogs/commentaries on education subjects relate to this theme of empowering education; see sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4263	Aruba’s economy and education brain drain to the Netherlands
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4240	Immigration policy exacerbates further the worker productivity crisis due to education deficiencies
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2183	Bad American Model: Education Textbooks – Case of price-gouging
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1698	The need for more specialized education – STEM jobs are filling slowly
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1634	Book Review: ‘Chasing Youth Culture and Getting It Right’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1433	Caribbean loses more than 70 percent of tertiary educated to brain drain
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1112	Bad Model: Zuckerberg’s $100 Million for Newark’s schools wasted
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=459	Caribbean Examination Council and an UK education publisher hosting workshops in Barbados
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=228	Egalitarianism versus Anarchism – The latter is best for Education

The foregoing VIDEO is not a focus on college/tertiary education, but rather primary-secondary education (middle school) and how the embrace of advanced teaching “arts & sciences” can level the playing field for those enabled or disadvantaged for societal progress. The VIDEO relates this anecdote of just one role model. This aligns with the Go Lean book’s assertion (Page 122) that one motivated person can make a difference in society. We truly need many advocates, many more “Ron Clarks”.

This book Go Lean… Caribbean, serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). While education policy is a direct responsibility of individual member-state/territory governments, the CU will make an impact as it represents change/empowerment for the region’s societal engines, corresponding with the prime directives, as follows:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improvement of Caribbean governance, including member-states educational administrations, to support these engines.

The Go Lean book posits that education is a vital consideration for Caribbean economic empowerment, but there have been a lot of flawed decision-making in the past, both individually and community-wise. (Consider one example of Government grants and scholarships for students that never return “home”). The vision of the CU is a confederation of the 30 member-states of the Caribbean to do the heavy-lifting of championing better educational policies. There is the structure of a separation-of-powers between CU agencies and the individual member-states.

The Go Lean roadmap provides turn-by-turn directions on how to reform the Caribbean education systems, economy, governance and Caribbean society as a whole. This roadmap asserts that the Caribbean is in crisis, and that this “crisis would be a terrible thing to waste”. As a planning tool, the roadmap commences with a Declaration of Interdependence, pronouncing the approach of regional integration (Page 12 & 14) as a viable solution to elevate the region’s educational opportunities:

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

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

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

Ron Clark, in the foregoing VIDEO, is a role model for the Caribbean to emulate. While we cannot duplicate him personally, we can duplicate his creation and the passion of his academy; defined as follows, retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Clark_(teacher):

Ron Clark Academy

History
The Ron Clark Academy is a non-profit middle school, housed in a renovated red brick warehouse^[5] and is located in southeast Atlanta, Georgia, and accommodates fifth through eighth grade students. Students are from low wealth to high wealth families. Clark had planned to build the school for ten years before construction began. Along with the proceeds of his two books The Essential 55 and The Excellent 11, Clark raised additional funding for the project which eventually cost over $3.5 million. Clark then went on an interviewing rampage for students and faculty and established his team and the academy was established on June 25, 2007. Classes began for students on September 4, 2007. The Ron Clark Academy hosts a Model United Nations conference in Atlanta, called the Ron Clark Model UN. The conference does not accept pre-written resolutions, instead requires position papers. Ron Clark gave a speech during the opening ceremonies about how he and his students raised $12,000 for an ad in USA Today, and then how he raised the money for bus fares to Washington. “The Academy has received both national and international recognition for its success in educating students with academic rigor, passion, and creativity balanced by a strict code of discipline”.^[6] The mission of the academy is “to deliver the highest quality educational experience where global citizens are born through advanced rigor, engaging teaching methods, and a passionate climate and culture”.^[6]

A collection of business professionals make up the Board of Trustees.^[7] The Coca Cola Foundation is among its “Founding Sponsors” and The Atlanta Hawks is one of its “Head of the Class” donors.^[8]

Atmosphere
The overall atmosphere of the academy is fun, electrified, and blissful. All the students are very welcoming with greetings of hugs and smiles. There is music playing all throughout the school; kids and teachers are all dancing and jumping on a trampoline. The walls are painted with bright colors and there’s a huge slide right in front of the door going from the second floor to the first floor, welcoming the children, which is “a reminder to the kids that anyone can learn in their own way”.^[9]

Test scores
Ron Clark is best known for raising test scores, his improvements of scores are as followed. In 2013, the students at the academy had a high percentage of growth in their test scores in all subjects. This helped students receive scholarships for high schools in Georgia. “In Reading, the test scores went up by 19%, in Math they went up by 29%, Language Arts was increased by 15%, Science 15% and Social Studies 20%”.^[6] Ron was able to raise his students test scores by encouraging everyone to try harder. Ron Clark also always had faith in the kids and tried to build them up and not put them down. The fun learning atmosphere also helped the growth of test scores.

Teaching styles
All the teachers at the academy have their own way of teaching, including Clark, but all the teachers share the passion of what they do. The educators not only teach the students the necessary subjects, they also teach them manners and how to be a better person. The whole school just has a great atmosphere which carries on into the classroom and makes the students excited to learn. The kids and the teachers are always up dancing and always moving. Boring moments are one thing that do not exist at the academy. The students are very involved and are very uplifting to each other, for example, when a kid gets a question right all the other students applaud.

Technology and facilities
Each classroom provides students with technology such as notebook computers, interactive whiteboards, digital cameras, projectors, and audio-video equipment. In addition to the technologically-equipped classrooms, the school provides students with accessible amenities such as a recording studio, a darkroom, a two-story vaulted ceiling library, a gymnasium, and a dance studio.

The Ron Clark Academy uses donated computers in all classrooms and offices.^[10] As a result, students will be able to study photography, music production, and business leadership.

Student population
The students that attend The Ron Clark Academy come from a range of backgrounds, including students from high wealth families. Students must go through an application process in order to be accepted into the school. Only 50 students were accepted out of 350 applications the first school year. Students must be nominated for the school and then must apply. Students’ applications are then reviewed by Ron Clark and other teachers and students are selected to be interviewed by the school. If accepted, students’ parents must sign a Contract of Obligation in which parents agree to volunteer 40 hours of their time each quarter. They also will have to allow their child to go on mandatory field trips essential to the curriculum.^[11]

Media attention
Students in debate class at Ron Clark Academy created a song about the 2008 U.S. presidential election, “Vote However You Like”, to the same beat and melody of “Whatever You Like” by [Hip Hop Artist] T.I. A performance of the song by 6th and 7th graders was posted on the internet and drew national attention. The video had now been viewed over 2 million times.^[12] T.I., himself, paid a surprise visit to the Academy after learning of their remake of his song to watch them perform it in person.^[13] On October 31, 2008, the “Students of Ron Clark Academy” were named the ABC Person of the Week by ABC World News Tonight.^[14] They were also invited to perform at the 2009 Inauguration.^[15] [Subsequently, the Academy repeated this effort for the 2012 Presidential election, see the VIDEO in Appendix B].

In December 2008, Oprah Winfrey donated $365,000 to Ron Clark, for the Ron Clark Academy, for his profound dedication to teaching.

There is much for the Caribbean to glean considering this model of Ron Clark and his Academy. For starters, the Go Lean roadmap details a plan for Charter Schools. This allows for Public-Private-Partnerships in the education arena. This would force a new regime on the region’s educational landscape.

Change has now come. The driver of this change is technology and globalization. Under the tenants of globalization, the Caribbean labor pool is a commodity; their talents are subject to the economic realities of supply-and-demand. The Go Lean book posits therefore that the governmental administrations of the region should invest in better education options, and as much technological educational advances (e-Learning) as possible, for its citizens. The bottom-line motive should be the Greater Good not profit or emigration.

How exactly do we accomplish this goal? The book details new education policies; and other community ethos to adopt, plus the executions of the following strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to impact the education arena in the region:

Foreword – Lean On Me Film – Inspiration for Educational Reform	Page 5
Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Return on Investments (ROI)	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship – Incubator Training	Page 28
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Education Department	Page 85
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Labor Department – O.J.T. Oversight	Page 89
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Education	Page 159
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Student Loans – Forgive-able for incentives	Page 160
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 169
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Libraries	Page 187
Appendix – Education and Economic Growth	Page 258
Appendix – Measuring Education with Standardized Testing	Page 266

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to lean-in for the empowerments described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. We welcome role models like Ron Clark and others with a desire to empower young people in their communities, especially disadvantaged minorities. Except that we would want this empowerment done in the Caribbean so as to benefit the Caribbean. No more societal abandonment; no more brain drain!

This is the quest of the Go Lean/CU effort. The roadmap contains the complete solution to elevate the Caribbean through education. This will thusly help the region to be better place to live, work, learn and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———

Appendix A – Ron Clark Profile:

Ron L. Clark, Jr. (born 1972)^[1][2] is an American educator – currently teaching in Atlanta, Georgia – who has worked with disadvantaged students in rural North Carolina and Harlem, New York City. He is best known for his ability to raise test scores and his books on teaching children in middle schools. Clark is a New York Times bestselling author and has been interviewed by many TV personalities including Oprah Winfrey. He is also a speaker who goes from school to school talking to educators about all of his thoughts and opinions on inspiring his educators.

Background
Clark was educated at East Carolina University through the North Carolina Teaching Fellows program. After graduation he got a job and saved up enough money to buy a plane ticket to London. When he arrived in London he got a job at a restaurant where he was a singing and dancing waiter. He then started traveling from country-to-country.^[3] He then flew home to North Carolina and accepted a job in Aurora, North Carolina. Four years later he departed for Harlem to take a job teaching elementary school in an inner-city setting. Clark’s latest project is the Ron Clark Academy, a private non-profit school in Atlanta, Georgia where students follow a unique curriculum. The school also gives students opportunities for international travel and offers training workshops for teachers to learn more about Clark’s teaching methods.

Accolades
Clark is known for his ability to raise test scores by using unique methods that incorporate innovation, creativity and 55 classroom rules. He has appeared on many national TV shows, including two appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, where Ms. Winfrey named him as her first “Phenomenal Man.”

Clark received the 2000 Disney Teacher of the Year award^[4] from Disney, which owns Hyperion Books.

Clark’s first year spent in Harlem was the focus of a 2006 made-for-TV movie, The Ron Clark Story, starring Matthew Perry, which garnered an Emmy nomination for Executive Producers Howard Burkons, Adam Gilad and Brenda Friend. See the trailer/VIDEO in Appendix C.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Clark_(teacher); retrieved March 14, 2015.

———

Appendix B – VIDEO: “Vote Like That” 2012 Election Song – The Ron Clark Academy – https://youtu.be/9hqme4X1b7E

Published on Oct 25, 2012 – The students of the Ron Clark Academy perform “Vote Like That”, a parody of Cher Lloyd’s “Want U Back” designed to encourage everyone to vote.

———

Appendix C – VIDEO: Ron Clark Story Music Video – https://youtu.be/E-oSgrEaVd0

Uploaded on Dec 30, 2006 – This made-for-TV movie starring Matthew Perry is truly inspiring movie. This music video previews the film. The entire film (90 minutes) is available here: https://youtu.be/xVsld1Wls10

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Big Defense: Peace is bad for business

Posted on March 12, 2015 in Economics, Ethos, Government

Go Lean Commentary

The US Government is trying to negotiate with the Republic of Iran to dissuade them from developing a nuclear bomb. This is a delicate negotiation, as the US and other world powers do not want any other countries added to the Nuclear Club. The current members are:

United States of America
Russia
Great Britain
China
France
India
Pakistan
Israel (Suspected; not confirmed nor acknowledged)
North Korea

This delicate negotiation is likened to a “bull in a china shop”. At stake is more than just politics; rather this involves the most destructive weapons mankind has ever known; it is life-or-death … for the planet.

No pressure!

The President of the US is spearheading the negotiations…

Alas, his political opposition, the Republicans, have now thrown a “monkey wrench” into the plans. 47 Republican US Senators wrote a letter to “the leaders of Iran”; designed to derail any international agreement governing that country’s nuclear program. The Senators intent is for their advanced concurrence on any treaty negotiations; (the constitution call for Senate ratification of any Treaty, afterwards). Numerous leading Democrats — in Congress and the media — have since condemned this action with language of criminality, sedition and even treason in denouncing that letter.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, (a member of the President’s Party, the Democrats), said:

“Republicans are undermining our Commander-in-Chief while empowering the Ayatollahs.”

The New York Daily News put mugshot-like photos of four of the GOP signatories above the headline “TRAITORS.” The Washington Monthly’s Ed Kilgore called it “sedition in the name of patriotism.” The Washington Post’s Paul Waldman said it is “appalling” because it shows Republicans “can act as though Barack Obama isn’t even the President of the United States.”

This commentary asserts that from the American perspective, there is more involved in this issue than just politics. Rather there is a nefarious Big Business agenda. Because peace is bad for business. The “Military Industrial Complex” – see Appendix below – is lobbying, cheerleading and teasing both sides here for continued hostilities. There is too much money involved, as the US Department of Defense maintains an annual budget of $526.6 billion (2014), with a lot earmarked for supplies, artillery and weapon systems. These amounts are so big that the realities of Crony-Capitalism cannot be ignored. It can be argued that this is actually the primary driver in these Republican-Iran-Nuclear developments.

It is obvious from this review that one consequence of Crony-Capitalism is that it short-changes the future for immediate gains, or profits. This paradox has been a constant concern of the commentary for the promotion of this movement, the book and blogs for Go Lean…Caribbean, the concerted effort to elevate Caribbean society by rebooting the region’s economic, security and governing engines.

There is much for our region to learn in this discussion.

For starters, both sides in the American eco-system practice these same policies; it can be argued that what is “Good for the Goose; is Good for the Gander”. During the last decade when the party in power and party in opposition were reversed, the same strategy was employed; as reported here in the this news article:

1. Title: The Parties’ Role Reversal on ‘Interfering’ with the Commander-in-Chief’s Foreign Policy

Senate Republicans, obsessed as always with carrying out the agenda of the Israeli government and leading the U.S. into more militarism and war, yesterday wrote a letter to “the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran” designed to derail an international agreement governing that country’s nuclear program.
…
To see how thoroughly Democrats have adopted the GOP’s Bush-era authoritarian rhetoric about not “undermining the commander-in-chief,” and to see how craven is GOP behavior now on Iran, just look at what was being said in 2007 when then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled to Syria and met with President Bashar Assad. The Bush administration was furious about that meeting because its strategy at the time was to isolate Assad as punishment for his alleged aid to Iraqi insurgents fighting against U.S. occupying forces, and the right-wing media and even mainstream media precincts attacked Pelosi in ways quite redolent of today’s attacks on the Senate Republicans over Iran.

In April, 2007, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by right-wing law professor Robert Turner, headlined “Illegal Diplomacy,” declaring that “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may well have committed a felony in traveling to Damascus this week, against the wishes of the president, to communicate on foreign-policy issues with Syrian President Bashar Assad.”

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/10/gop-2007-attacks-pelosi-interfering-bushs-syria-policy-v-todays-similar-dem-attacks-iran/

Despite the high stakes involved in the politics, the Big Business alignments are more shocking, and thus providing a lesson for the Caribbean region, aligning with the book Go Lean…Caribbean. This book asserts that America should not be looked to for leadership in Caribbean affairs. They have their own self-interest in mind, even at the disregard to threats for the whole planet; peace is bad for business.

Crony-Capitalists only focus on short-term benefits … and profits.

Just consider the “post-Letter” activities of one of the champions of the group of 47 Republican Senators, Tom Cotton of Arkansas. See the VIDEO here of his eloquent defense of this action on a daily morning TV news show:

VIDEO – Cotton on MSNBC: GOP Message to Iran About Nuclear Deal – http://youtu.be/RSbE26EPnZs

Published on Mar 10, 2015 – Sen. Tom Cotton joins MSNBC’s Morning Joe to discuss the letter sent to the Iranian leaders.

But within the same 24 hour news cycle, Senator Cotton is an honored speaker at an industry event for the Military Industrial Complex. This article here relates the story:

2. Title: Immediately After Launching Effort to Scuttle Iran Deal, Senator Tom Cotton to Meet with Defense Contractors

(Retrieved 03-11-2015: https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/09/upon-launching-effort-scuttle-iran-deal-senator-tom-cotton-meets-defense-contractors/)

In an open letter organized by freshman Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., 47 Senate Republicans today warned the leaders of Iran that any nuclear deal reached with President Barack Obama could expire as soon as he leaves office.

Tomorrow, 24 hours later, Cotton will appear at an “Off the Record and strictly Non-Attribution” event with the National Defense Industrial Association, a lobbying and professional group for defense contractors.

The NDIA is composed of executives from major military businesses such as Northrop Grumman, L-3 Communications, ManTech International, Boeing, Oshkosh Defense and Booz Allen Hamilton, among other firms.

Cotton strongly advocates higher defense spending and a more aggressive foreign policy. As The New Republic’s David Ramsey noted, “Pick a topic — Syria, Iran, Russia, ISIS, drones, NSA snooping — and Cotton can be found at the hawkish outer edge of the debate … During his senate campaign, he told a tele-townhall that ISIS and Mexican drug cartels joining forces to attack Arkansas was an ‘urgent problem.’”

On Iran, Cotton has issued specific calls for military intervention. In December he said Congress should consider supplying Israel with B-52s and so-called “bunker-buster” bombs — both items manufactured by NDIA member Boeing — to be used for a possible strike against Iran.

Asked if Cotton will speak about his Iran letter tomorrow, Jimmy Thomas, NDIA Director of Legislative Policy, said, “[M]ost members … talk about everything from the budget to Iran … so it’s highly likely that he may address that in his remarks.” According to Thomas, the Cotton event was scheduled in January, “but certainly we bring people to the platform that have influence directly on our issues.”

This foregoing article relates that this is more an issue of Crony-Capitalism, than it is about negotiating for peace.

Just “follow the money” is a constant refrain among conspiracy theorists. Many sources, including this Go Lean book and accompanying blogs, have reported on the “bad intent” in the American eco-system, associated with Crony-Capitalism.

This consideration aligns with the Go Lean book, which serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This empowerment effort represents a change for the region, calling on all 30 member-state governments in the region to confederate and provide their own solutions in the areas of economics, security and governance. The book is motivated for the Greater Good, not some adherence to a profit objective; so decisions in this regards should never be based on short-term benefits or lining the pockets of any particular special interest group.

The CU/Go Lean roadmap defines these 3 prime directives as follows:

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

The negative community ethos of Crony-Capitalism is an example for the Caribbean to avoid in emulating American society. The book Go Lean…Caribbean asserts that the Caribbean region must do better; we must not allow the US to take the lead for our own nation-building, for American capitalistic interests tend to hijack policies intended for the Greater Good. This assessment is logical considering the realities of so many of these Big Corporate Bullies where public policy is set to benefit private parties. The subject of Big Defense, the Military Industrial Complex, is just another example; peace is bad for their business. Consider this chart of well-documented cases of bad corporate behavior:

Big Media	Cable companies conspire to keep rates high; kill net neutrality; textbook publishers practice price gouging; Hollywood insists on big tax breaks/ subsidies for on-location shooting.
Big Oil	While lobbying for continuous tax subsidies, the industry have colluded to artificially keep prices high and garner sky-high profits ($38+ Billion every quarter).
Big Box	Retail chains impoverish small merchants on Main Street with Antitrust-like tactics, thusly impacting community jobs.
Big Pharma	Chemo-therapy cost $20,000+/month; and the War against Cancer is imperiled due to industry profit insistence.
Big Tobacco	Cigarettes are not natural tobacco but rather latent with chemicals to spruce addiction.
Big Agra	Agribusiness concerns bully family farmers and crowd out the market; plus fight common sense food labeling efforts.
Big Data	Brokers for internet and demographic data clearly have no regards to privacy concerns.
Big Banks	Wall Street’s damage to housing and student loans are incontrovertible.
Big Weather	Overblown hype of “Weather Forecasts” to dictate commercial transactions.
Big Real Estate	Preserving MLS for Real Estate brokers only, forcing 6% commission rates, when the buyers and sellers can meet on the internet without them.
Big Salt	Despite the corrosiveness of salt on roads and the environment, it is the only tactic used to de-ice roads. Immediately after the weather warms, the roads must be re-constructed, thus ensuring a continuous economic cycle.

The Go Lean book, and accompanying blog commentaries, go even deeper and hypothesize that American economic models are dysfunctional from the Caribbean perspective. The American wheels of commerce stages the Caribbean in a “parasite” role; imperiling regional industrialization even further. The foreign policy for the Caribbean is to incentivize consumption of American products, and serve as a playground for their leisure. Considering the military eligibility for citizens of US Territories, the US defense policy is to feed its military with as many territorial young men and woman as possible. Many sources report that on the average 1% of the American population serve in the military. (While some states, like Texas, register 2 – 3% engagement, many records numbers like .50%). On the other hand, the US Territories (PR, VI, Guam, Samoa) engage 10 – 12 percent of its population to the US Armed Forces. One report relates that since 1917, more than 200,000 American citizens from Puerto Rico have served in the Armed Forces, serving in every conflict since World War I.

“We are fodder for the cannons”! – an informal, derogatory term for combatants who are regarded or treated as expendable in the face of enemy fire.

One reason for a high military enrollment is the lack of jobs. While the Go Lean roadmap does not discourage the National Sacrifice ethos required for military enlistments, we do plan to facilitate job creation otherwise. We do not want to just be “fodder”!

The Go Lean roadmap provides turn-by-turn directions on how to forge the elevation of the Caribbean region from a parasite role to the preferred role of protégé. We simply need our own security solutions for our own objectives. This point is made early in the Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 & 13) with these statements:

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

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, including piracy and other forms of terrorism, 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.

xxiii. Whereas many countries in our region are dependent OverseasTerritory of imperial powers, the systems of governance can be instituted on a regional and local basis, rather than requiring oversight or accountability from distant masters far removed from their subjects of administration. The Federation must facilitate success in autonomous rule by sharing tools, systems and teamwork within the geographical region.

The Go Lean book purports that the Caribbean can – and must – do better than Crony-Capitalism. The vision of the CU is a confederation of the 30 member-states of the Caribbean to do the heavy-lifting of optimizing economic-security-governing engines. While the region must provide “new guards” to ensure our homeland security, there is no agenda to build up a Military Industrial Complex in the Caribbean region. The Go Lean roadmap only calls for the installations of local security forces to remediate and mitigate regional threats and ensure public safety; not create a military-industrial eco-system. The Go Lean book details the community ethos to adopt, plus the executions of the following strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to elevate Caribbean society, and make our homeland a better place to live, work, play:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principle – Consequences of Choices Lie in Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Privacy –vs- Public Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – Anti-Bullying and Mitigation	Page 23
Community Ethos – Intelligence Gathering	Page 23
Community Ethos – “Crap” Happens	Page 23
Community Ethos – Minority Equalization	Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Manage Reconciliations	Page 34
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Unified and Integrated Single Market	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Protect the Homeland’s Natural Resources	Page 45
Tactical – Confederating a non-sovereign union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Homeland Security	Page 75
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Start-up Foreign Policy Initiatives	Page 102
Implementation – Start-up Security Initiatives	Page 103
Implementation – Ways to Promote Independence – Interdependence	Page 120
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices	Page 134
Planning – Lessons Learned from the West Indies (WI) Federation – WI Regiment	Page 135
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Reduce Crime	Page 178
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Terrorism	Page 181
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering and Analysis	Page 182
Advocacy – Ways to Protect Human Rights	Page 220

While the US is the world’s largest Single Market economy and has the largest military establishment, we want to only model some of the American example. We would rather foster a business climate and Armed Forces to benefit the Greater Good, not just some special interest group. There are many Go Lean blog commentaries that have echoed this point, addressing the subject of the Caribbean avoiding American consequences of Crony-Capitalism. See sample here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4476	Big Salt: Short-term Benefit; Long-term Damage
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4381	Net Neutrality: It Matters Here …
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4337	American Study: Homes Marketed via the MLS Sell for More
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4076	American Media Fantasies versus Weather Realities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3397	A Christmas Present for the Banks from the Omnibus Bill
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3326	Detroit’s M-1 Rail – Finally avoiding Plutocratic Auto Industry Solutions
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2522	The Cost of Cancer Drugs
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2465	Book Review: ‘This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2259	The Criminalization of American Business
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2183	A Textbook Case of Industry Price-gouging
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1143	Health-care fraud in America; Criminals take $272 billion a year
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=709	Student debt holds back many would-be home buyers
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273	10 Things We *Don’t* Want from the US – American Self-Interest Policies

The book Go Lean…Caribbean posits that many problems of the region are too big for any one member-state to solve alone, that there is the need for the technocracy of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation. The Go Lean roadmap calls for some integration of the regional member-states, a strategy of confederation with a tactic of separation-of-powers between CU federal agencies and member-states’ governments. This allows for a lot of autonomy … and abuse. We must therefore be on-guard – with transparency and accountability – against conspiracy or some special interest hijacking our Greater Good for private gains.

This concept of conspiracies to force some military action to support/grow the Military Industrial Complex sound more like fiction than fact. But, the details in this commentary are true and real. This is classic “life imitating art”; or is it “art imitating life”. Just consider the movies and TV shows based on the concept of shadowy conspiracy to get the US government (or European governments) to commit to military actions so as to enrich some conniving defense contractors. The following is a sample list:

Film Name	Date	Description
Death of a President	2006	Faux documentary; government officials cover up the truth of President Bush’s assassination to push an anti-terrorism agenda
Defence of the Realm	1985	A reporter investigating an MP’s sex scandal stumbles onto a web of MI5 cover-ups involving murder and nuclear weapons
Murder at 1600	1997	A Washington, D.C. detective investigates the murder of a White House intern inside the West Wing, and begins to suspect that a member of the First Family is the killer
Seven Days in May	1964	An Army colonel discovers that rogue generals are plotting a coup d’état against the President to get their war
Shadow Conspiracy	1997	The White House Chief of Staff conspires to assassinate the President
Snake Eyes	1998	A corrupt Atlantic City police detective investigates when the Secretary of Defense is assassinated ringside at a championship boxing event, so as to ensure the sale of a missile defense system
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country	1991	Science fiction; rogue Federation and Klingon military officials attempt to assassinate the Klingon chancellor and Federation president to prevent the end of their cold war and continued militarization
The Fourth Protocol	1987	A rogue KGB chief bent on prolonging the Cold War sends his top spy to detonate an atomic bomb at an American nuclear airbase in Great Britain
The Man Who Knew Too Little	1997	Comedy; an innocent American tourist in England stumbles on a plot by the heads of MI6 and the KGB to bomb a treaty signing ceremony and reignite the Cold War
The November Man	2014	An ex-CIA operative is brought back in on a very personal mission and finds himself pitted against his former pupil in a deadly game involving high level CIA officials to assassinate Russian president-elect to justify the 2nd Chechen War
The Package	1989	An American soldier stumbles onto an assassination plot by rogue American and Soviet military officials who wish to prevent the signing of a nuclear disarmament treaty
The Tailor of Panama	2001	A rogue MI6 operative fabricates a Panamanian revolutionary group and starts a war to line his own pockets
Wrong Is Right	1982	Black comedy; a journalist is embroiled in plot and counterplot involving the CIA, Islamic fundamentalists, a ruthless arms trafficker, and a tight presidential election
xXx: State of the Union	2005	The Secretary of Defense plots a coup d’état against the president to force a war
TV Show Name	Date	Description
24	2006	In the television series 24, many seasons plot involved a vast conspiracy from the government. For example in season 5, terrorist took Ontario airport terminal passenger in hostage in order to take possession of a deadly gas. CIA had put gas there in order for terrorist to take it and explode it while in transit in Middle-East, providing a reason for United States to send troops in Middle East.
Scandal	2015	The 4th season related a season-long conspiracy by the Vice-President to kidnap the President’s Mistress and show’s star Olivia Pope to force the President to authorize war in fictitious East Angola.

These considerations are especially poignant for citizens of US Territories; though the entire region suffers from dysfunction. These “American citizens” are on the move; their Caribbean homelands is at near-Failed-State status; the abandonment factor is unbelievably high. According to one report, Florida is gaining a net 7,300 Puerto Ricans a year, far more than any other U.S. state. The Go Lean book posits that “if we leave well enough alone, things will not just get better on their own”. Much more is needed to reverse these trends; new remediation and new mitigation must be put in place. A better future must be guided, girded and navigated. This is among the heavy-lifting tasks for the Caribbean; this is the charge of the CU.

The people and governing institutions of all the Caribbean are hereby urged to take heed to the exhortations in this commentary; and also to learn more, and do more, by leaning-in to this Go Lean roadmap for Caribbean empowerment. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

——

Appendix – Referenced Citations:

1. Those who serve: http://www.npr.org/2011/07/03/137536111/by-the-numbers-todays-military

2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/17/AR2007081702175.html

3. http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2005/11/who-bears-the-burden-demographic-characteristics-of-us-military-recruits-before-and-after-9-11

4. The military–industrial complex ^[1] comprises the policy and monetary relationships which exist between legislators, national armed forces, and the arms industry that supports them. These relationships include political contributions, political approval for military spending, lobbying to support bureaucracies, and oversight of the industry. It is a type of iron triangle. The term is most often used in reference to the system behind the military of the United States, where it gained popularity after its use in the farewell address of President Dwight D. Eisenhower on January 17, 1961,^[2] though the term is applicable to any country with a similarly developed infrastructure.^[3][4] The term is sometimes used more broadly to include the entire network of contracts and flows of money and resources among individuals as well as corporations and institutions of the defense contractors, The Pentagon, the Congress and executive branch.^[5] A similar thesis was originally expressed by Daniel Guérin, in his 1936 book Fascism and Big Business, about the fascist government support to heavy industry. It can be defined as, “an informal and changing coalition of groups with vested psychological, moral, and material interests in the continuous development and maintenance of high levels of weaponry, in preservation of colonial markets and in military-strategic conceptions of internal affairs.”^[6]

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