Industries – Page 5 – Go Lean…Caribbean

Category: Industries

Food Security – Temperate Foods in the Tropics – Encore

Posted on December 27, 2019 in Economics, Industries, Strategy

So we want our own bread baskets to better Feed Ourselves here in the Caribbean.

This is normal and natural! According to this Bible scripture …

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. – The Bible – Genesis 1:28 KJV

… having dominion over the earth should mean being able to employ the arts and sciences of agriculture to harvest the food that we need, want and deserve.

While this is true, we still must contend with the reality of the seasons and weather. Or we do?

If it doesn’t rain, we can still water our crops through irrigation and plumbing.
If it is too cold, we can warm up the crops – greenhouses – to guarantee a warmer temperature.

Surely, if its too warm, then we can cool our crops to dictate a colder climate.

Surely?! This reflects “dominion” over the earth.

This is the continuation of the teaching series for December 2019, from the movement behind the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean. This is entry 2 of 5 in this series considering Food Security and Bread Baskets for the Caribbean. Again, the goal here is not to just list the problems, but rather to focus on solutions for a better Food Supply for our region. The full catalog of this series is as follows:

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

This talk of bread baskets reminds us of the thought and thesis presented in a previous blog-commentary on February 8, 2017, from the movement behind this book Go Lean book. It is only apropos to Encore that previous submission here-now:

————-

Go Lean Commentary – Science of Sustenance – Temperate Foods

The “bread basket” of _________ …

You can fill in the blanks with difbferent regions around the world:

“Central Valley”, the bread basket of California
“Kansas”, the bread basket of America
“Alberta”, the bread basket of Canada
“Ukraine”, the bread basket of Eastern Europe

So who or where is the bread basket of the Caribbean?

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

No, No, and No!

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

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

This was the original motivation for the publishing of this Go Lean book: to optimize the 30 Caribbean member-states into a Single Market so that we can be structured to do better in providing our basic needs. That structure would be the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The opening pages of the book feature this quotation (Page 3):

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

The CU Trade Federation is a technocracy, empowered to reboot the economic engines of the member-states, by fostering new industries (new “purse”) across the entire region and deploying solutions to better exploit the opportunities of the global trade market.

The Caribbean is in crisis for their dysfunctions in delivering their own basic needs. This is the focus of this commentary; it is 2 of 4 in a series on the modern advances in science for delivering basic needs: energy, food, clothing and shelter. It is possible to deliver all these basic needs without science. But for our modern world, the advances of science make a positive impact on daily life. So the full series for our consideration follows this pattern:

The book Go Lean…Caribbean asserts that “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste”. We must use our inadequate disposition to motivate stakeholders to forge change on our society; to implement the food supply solutions to do better at facilitating our own needs.

We are in the tropics…

… but science and technology allows us to deliver agricultural solutions for temperate produce (fruit and vegetables). Think:

Strawberries
Peaches
Apples
Spinach
Greens (Mustard, Collard, Kale, etc.)

Temperate produce need cooler temperatures to thrive. So the key is utilization of greenhouses, climate-controlled greenhouses. These allow for consistent temperatures of 20 to 30 degrees lower than the outside atmosphere. See a reference article on this subject here:

ARTICLE Grower 101: Using Evaporative Cooling, Part I
By John W. Bartok, Jr.
Find out what to use to keep your greenhouse ventilated and cool in the hot, humid summer.

On a bright, sunny summer day, a 30- x 100-foot greenhouse will gather about 32 million British Thermal Units (Btus) of heat. This is equivalent to burning 32 gallons of fuel oil or 320 therms of natural gas. If the greenhouse is full of plants, about one-half of this heat is used for transpiration and evaporation. The remainder of the cooling has to be conducted through ventilation. If the greenhouse is empty and closed, the temperature can exceed 150° F.

Understanding the basics
Shade on the outside of the greenhouse will keep some of the heat out. Shade on the inside, if it contains aluminum foil, will reflect some of the heat back out. Ventilation, either natural or fan, will remove a considerable amount of the heat that is collected. Still, on summer days, the temperature may exceed the desired level that promotes good plant growth by 10-20ºF. Excessive temperature results in delayed flowering and internode stretching. Evaporative cooling may be the best choice under these conditions.

Evaporative cooling, which uses the heat in the air to evaporate water from leaves and other wetted surfaces, can cool the greenhouse to 10-20° F below outside temperature. It takes one Btu of heat to raise the temperature of one pound of water 1° F, but it takes 1,060 Btus of heat to change the same amount of water to a vapor.

With an evaporated cooling system, humid air containing the heat that it picked up within the greenhouse is exhausted out through the vents or fans, and cooler, drier air is brought in. Evaporative cooling works best when the humidity of the outside air is low. For example, in Reno, Nev., the average summer dry bulb temperature is 96º F and the wet bulb is 61ºF. With an evaporative cooler having an efficiency of 80 percent, the temperature would be cooled to about 68° F. These conditions are most common in the dry Southwest, but even in the more humid sections of the United States, significant evaporative cooling can occur most days in the summer. In humid New Orleans, where the average summer dry bulb temperature is 93° F and the wet bulb is 78° F, the cooled air would be about 81° F, acceptable for the production of most plants.

Fan and pad system
Several evaporative cooling systems work well in commercial greenhouses. The most common is the fan and pad system. It contains a cellulose pad, overhead water supply pipe, gutter to collect excess water, a sump tank, pump, piping and control.

The 4- or 6-inch-thick pad is treated with anti-rot salts and stiffening and wetting agents. Pads are normally installed continuously along the side or end of the wall opposite the fans. The amount of pad area needed is calcuis the utillated by multiplying the floor area by 8 feet and dividing by 250 for a 4-inch pad or 400 for a 6-inch pad. For example, a 30- x 100-foot greenhouse with a 4-inch pad would require 96 sq. ft. of pads (30 x 100 x 8÷ 250 = 96 sq. ft.)

The overhead water supply pipe should distribute the water so the pad is wet uniformly. The minimum water flow rate is 0.5 gpm per sq. ft. for a 4-inch pad and 0.8 gpm per sq. ft. for a 6-inch pad.

Excess water is collected below the pad in a gutter and piped to a sump tank. Tank capacity needs to be 0.8 gallon per sq. ft. of pad for 4-inch pads and 1.0 gallon per sq. ft. for 6-inch pads. Water returning to the sump should be filtered to remove any debris. A make-up water supply and float valve keep the water level constant. In areas having water with a high mineral content, it is advisable to bleed 3-5 percent of the water to minimize salt buildup. Algae growth in the re-circulated water can be controlled with abiocide.

Modular pad systems of 5 and 6 feet are now available. These are self-contained and come completely assembled and ready to bolt to the wall. Installation time is reduced considerably. Only water and electrical connections have to be attached.

Next month, find out about swamp coolers, mist and fog systems and fan-generated fog and how they can work for you.

Source: Posted March 2003 from trade journal Greenhouse Product News; retrieved February 8, 2017 from: http://www.gpnmag.com/article/grower-101-using-evaporative-cooling-part-i/

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VIDEO – # 1 Best Thermal Cooled Greenhouse – https://youtu.be/HWXJ1ukEXa0

His Thermal Cooled Greenhouse in 1985 ran for 7 years, cooled itself day and night with 3 small Aquarium pumps, no fans or blowers; 14′ X 36′ ran on pennies a day – this worked!!! Now building a larger 24′ X 54′ Thermal Cooled Greenhouse. This works DAY OR NIGHT. Watch VIDEO !!!

Category – Science & Technology

License – Standard YouTube License

The science of greenhouses allows for temperate foods (fruit and vegetables) to be grown in a tropical zone – cold adds sweetness. This is what we want, what we need to fulfill our own basic needs. Other communities are doing this and we can as well. We have the role model of countries with colder climates supplying tropical fruit. Surely the reverse can be deployed as well, with strategic and tactical greenhouses.

Greenhouses allow for greater control over the growing environment of plants. Depending upon the technical specification of a greenhouse, key factors which may be controlled include temperature, levels of light and shade, irrigation, fertilizer application, and atmospheric humidity. Greenhouses may be used to overcome shortcomings in the growing qualities of a piece of land, such as a short growing season or poor light levels, and they can thereby improve food production in marginal environments. Greenhouses in hot, dry climates used specifically to provide shade are sometimes called “shadehouses”.^[42][43]

As they may enable certain crops to be grown throughout the year, greenhouses are increasingly important in the food supply of high-latitude countries. One of the largest complexes in the world is in Almería, Andalucía, Spain, where greenhouses cover almost 49,000 acres.
Source: Retrieved February 8, 2017 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse

The Caribbean is in crisis … we are not able to feed ourselves from the current food supply systems. We therefore have to expend foreign reserves to acquire food from foreign locations. This applies to food that, with the proper empowerments, can be grown locally in the Caribbean region.

This Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The goal is that the CU would adopt these food supply best practices to better delivery this basic need for the region. In fact, the prime directives of the CU are described as:

Optimize the economic engines – including food supply solutions – to elevate the regional economy to grow to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establish a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The Go Lean roadmap calls for the immediate adoption of best practices in food supply science (agriculture) and infrastructure. We do not have to re-invent the wheel in this quest; other communities are doing it already. Consider the photos here of giant greenhouses in The Netherlands:

This vision of temperature controlled greenhouses in the Caribbean assumes a supply of energy for cooling and ventilation. See more here on ventilation:

Ventilation is one of the most important components in a successful greenhouse, specially in hot and humid tropical climate condition.^[18] If there is no proper ventilation, greenhouses and their growing plants can become prone to problems. The main purposes of ventilation are to regulate the temperature, humidity and vapor pressure deficit ^[19] to the optimal level, and to ensure movement of air and thus prevent build-up of plant pathogens (such as Botrytis cinerea) that prefer still air conditions. Ventilation also ensures a supply of fresh air for photosynthesis and plant respiration, and may enable important pollinators to access the greenhouse crop.

Ventilation can be achieved via use of vents – often controlled automatically via a computer – and recirculation fans.
Source: Retrieved February 8, 2017 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse

All in all, the Go Lean book declares that “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste”. This siren call is for the establishment of a regional technocracy to facilitate the delivery of the region’s basic needs. According to the foregoing articles/references, we can grow temperate foods in the tropical zone without exhausting foreign currency.

The vision here of climate-controlled greenhouses requires heavy-lifting on the part of Caribbean stakeholders (governments and business communities). We need this heavy-lifting. A lot is at stake: our ability to feed our populations. The Go Lean roadmap calls for a separation-of-powers between CU federal agencies and the member-state governments. The CU presents Cabinet departments for Agriculture, Fisheries and Health (Food/Nutrition). These departments will have to collaborate with parallel departments at the member-state level.

This was the original motivation of the Go Lean roadmap, an interdependence of the 30 member-states of the Caribbean to offset the effects of globalization. This was pronounced early in the book in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 14), with this statement:

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 roadmap also calls for the installations of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) and Self-Governing Entities (SGE) that operate in controlled bordered territories like campuses, industrial parks, research labs and industrial plants. These can be a target for the climate-controlled greenhouses.

The Go Lean book declares that we must adopt a community ethos, the appropriate attitude/spirit to forge change in our region; then details the executions of the following strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to better impact the region’s preparation for food resources. See this sample here:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices / Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 24
Community Ethos – Non-Government Organizations	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederating 30 Member-States into a Single Market	Page 45
Strategy – Vision – Foster Local Economic Engines Food, Clothing & Shelter	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Prepare for Natural Disasters	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Exploit the Benefits and Opportunities of Globalization	Page 46
Strategy – Agents of Change – Climate Change	Page 57
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization	Page 57
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Separation of Powers – Food & Nutritional Administration	Page 87
Separation of Powers – Agriculture and Fisheries Department	Page 88
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Start-up Benefits from the EEZ	Page 104
Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities	Page 105
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 Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage Food	Page 162
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 Improve for Natural Disasters	Page 184
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Emergency Management	Page 196
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Fisheries	Page 210
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Rural Living – Agricultural eco-systems	Page 235

There are a lot of models of agricultural and infrastructural delivery that the Caribbean can learn from foreign shores. Previous Go Lean blog-commentaries have cited these models, samples and examples:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8982	GraceKennedy: A Caribbean Transnational tackles Food Supply
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6867	How to address high consumer prices
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6819	Supplying Foods for ‘Western’ Diets – We can do better!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6016	Hotter than July – An Appeal for Cooperative Refrigeration
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5098	Forging Change in Society Through Food
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3594	Lessons Learned from Queen Conch – A Caribbean Food
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2276	Climate Change May Affect Food Supply Within a Decade

Who or where will be the bread basket of the Caribbean? With the empowerments in this commentary, it could be all 30 member-states.

Change has come to the world of agricultural systems and sciences and change must come to the Caribbean region; we must be able to feed ourselves. We need to convene, collaborate and cooperate to satisfy our most basic needs. Yes, we can …

… come together to make the Caribbean a better homeland to live, work and play.

The people and institutions of the region are hereby urged to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap, to embrace the empowerments to reboot and turn-around our region. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Model, Transform

Food Security – Bread Basket 101

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

Go Lean Commentary

We gotta eat!

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

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

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

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

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

We do NOT have Food Security.

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

If … ever?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Food Cooperatives
Group Purchasing Organizations (GPO)
Refrigerated Warehouse Condominiums

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

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

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

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

Recent examples of Breadbasket Economic discussions:

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

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

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

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

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

Category: People & Blogs

According to a previous Go Lean commentary:

Who or where is the bread basket of the Caribbean?

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

No, No, and No!

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

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

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

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

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

10 Ways to Better Manage Food Consumption

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

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

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

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

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

10 Ways to Improve Fisheries

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who We Are
The movement behind the Go Lean book – a non-partisan, apolitical, religiously-neutral Community Development Foundation chartered for the purpose of empowering and re-booting economic engines – stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 14):

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

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

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

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

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

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A Gathering of ‘Old Men’ – 1972 Dolphins ENCORE

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

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

We must have really been moved!
Indeed we were …

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

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

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

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

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

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

————-

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

There was a time when these guys were my heroes.

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

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

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

Say it ain’t so …

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

🙁

See the story here in this recent Miami Herald article:

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

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

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

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

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

And was football the cause?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

…

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

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

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

———

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—————-

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

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

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

“They own an entire day of the week”.

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

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

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

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

Socio-Economic Impact Analysis of [Football] Sports Stadiums

Watch the Super Bowl … Commercials

Levi’s® NFL Stadium: A Team Effort

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

Sports Role Model – Turn On the SEC Network

Collegiate Sports in the Caribbean – Model of NCAA

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

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

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

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

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

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

See news article here on the release of the movie:

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

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

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

1 – It’s Based on a True Story

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

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

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

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

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

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

3 – Smith Is a Reluctant Hero

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

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

4 – Alec Baldwin and Luke Wilson

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

5 – “Tell the Truth”

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

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

———-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RIP Junior Seau.

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

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

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

——-

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

Uploaded on May 28, 2011 – Official Music Video

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Published on Oct 17, 2018

Category – News & Politics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—————–
Go Lean Commentary – Making a Great Place to Work®

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

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

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

————————

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

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

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

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

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

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

We know that great workplaces are better financial performers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Funding Caribbean Entrepreneurs – The ‘Crowdfunding’ Way

Where the Jobs Are – Entrepreneurial Jobs

Jamaica’s Public Pension Under-funded

The Criminalization of American Business – Bad Examples

STEM Jobs Are Filling Slowly

British public sector workers strike over ‘poverty pay’

Puerto Rico Governor Signs Bill on Small-Medium-Enterprises

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

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

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

————

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

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

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

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Missing Out on the ‘Rush’ – Encore

Posted on November 20, 2019 in Ethos, Industries, Strategy

The United States is missing out!

This is the summary of the VIDEO here from the news magazine 60 Minutes, as broadcasted on November 17, 2019 about the missed opportunities in the ‘Rush’ to source Rare Earth elements by deep-sea mining activities. See this VIDEO here:

VIDEO – Why the U.S. is missing out on the race to mine trillions of dollars worth of metals from the ocean floor – https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rare-earth-elements-u-s-on-sidelines-in-race-for-metals-sitting-on-ocean-floor-60-minutes-60-minutes-2019-11-17/

Published on November 17, 2019 – Rare earth elements and metals used in cell phones, supercomputers and more are sitting on the ocean floor, ready to be mined by multiple countries. So why is the U.S. on the sidelines?

Used for entertainment [and educational] purposes only. The property and rights for this video/audio go to ©CBS.

Perhaps the US, as the richest Single Market economy in the world can afford to pass up these economic opportunities. Maybe …

For us in the Caribbean, we cannot miss out.

We need all the economic help we can get. This was the strong urging from a previous blog-commentary on Rare Earths from March 23, 2015 and the new “Rush” to source (mine or extract) them.

Why is the US sitting on the sidelines?

The foregoing VIDEO explains that “they refuse to cede any governing authority to” … the International Seabed Authority, a subset of the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Perhaps they have the luxury to maintain this arrogance. We do not! On the contrary, here in the Caribbean, we are doubling-down on the UNCLOS protocols.

Let’s get busy in this new Gold Rush – this was the mandate from the prior blog-commentary. It is only apropos to Encore that submission now. See the commentary here:

—————

Go Lean Commentary – Rare Earths: The new ‘Rush’

There’s “Gold in dem there hills” – Legendary exclamation of the discovery of gold in 1848/49 California – the “Forty-niners”.

Thus started the California Gold Rush. Now there is a new rush … or quest; this time for alternative minerals to be extracted from the earth – all over the planet – that are considered even more valuable than gold: Rare Earth.

This class of minerals was recently depicted in an exposé by the CBS News Magazine 60 Minutes:

Video Title: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/modern-lifes-devices-under-chinas-grip – Modern life’s devices under China’s grip?

From smartphones to cars and defense missiles, modern U.S. life depends on rare earth elements but China dominates the industry. (VIDEO plays best in Internet Explorer).

The summary of the VIDEO portrays that the United States initially had the lead in this field of Rare Earth extraction and sourcing; but the US de-prioritized this substance, while China transcended it and now exploits the market to near-complete domination.

The urgency of Rare Earth is not so unfamiliar to this commentary. This point was declared emphatically in the book Go Lean … Caribbean in numerous references:

o Ways to Impact Extractions (Page 195) – There is a “rush”/quest to harvest rare earth elements.^[159] These include lanthanide elements (fifteen metallic chemical elements with atomic numbers 57 through 71, from lanthanum through lutetium) for metals that are ferromagnetic, this means their magnetism only appear at low temperatures. Rare earth magnets are made from these compounds and are ideal in many high-tech products. The CU will foster the regional exploration and extraction of these pricey materials.

o Start-up Benefits from the EEZ (Page 104) – The new Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) powers allows for the administration of mineral extraction (mines) and oil/natural gas. Risk management and disaster mitigation plan must therefore be embedded into every drilling permit/license, as a CU mandate is to protect tourism product – a “bird in hand is better than two in the bush”. In addition, there is the harvest possibility of rare earth elements, like lanthanide and lutetium. Recently (2010), these minerals were priced even higher than gold at $2,200/kg.

o Reference footnote # 159 (Page 361) – The Economist Magazine. “The Difference Engine: More precious than gold”. Posted September 17, 2010; retrieved for the book in September 2013 from: http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2010/09/rare-earth_metals. This news article stressed this point:

… the recent moves by the Chinese to restrict their exports of rare-earth elements—scandium, yttrium and lanthanum, plus the 14 so-called lanthanides. Today, China supplies 97% of the world’s demand for rare-earth metals, thanks to a far-sighted government policy going back to the 1960s that envisaged the rare earths as “the oil of the twenty-first century”.

The foregoing VIDEO depicts the need for technocratic management of the extraction process for Rare Earths. There is now a great demand for these minerals; but the supply source is rather limited. Yet they are not so rare; they may even be found in the Caribbean region. Thus the need to explore these opportunities. 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. 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 and the environment.
Improvement of Caribbean governance – including oversight of Self-Governing Entities and the Exclusive Economic Zone – to support these engines.

The Go Lean roadmap seeks to promote and oversee the effort for the exploration and extraction of these minerals, recognizing that modern life needs the efficiency that comes from science. The “brick-and-mortar” of a lot of today’s electronic equipment and computer components depend on the magnetic properties associated with Rare Earth minerals. The progress that the CU envisions in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine (STEM) will require engagements with the metallurgy of electronics. We need full exploration of the Caribbean homelands and waters for natural sources of these minerals. Plus with “prices higher than gold”, there is the economic incentive to push forth investments in this industry space.

Early in the book, the need is stressed to be on-the-look-out for opportunities to optimize the region’s economic-security-governing engines. These pronouncements are stated in the Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 11 & 13):

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.

v. Whereas the natural formation of our landmass and coastlines entail a large portion of waterscapes, the reality of management of our interior calls for extended oversight of the waterways between the islands. The internationally accepted 12-mile limits for national borders must be extended by International Tribunals to encompass the areas in between islands. The individual states must maintain their 12-mile borders while the sovereignty of this expanded area, the Exclusive Economic Zone, must be vested in the accedence of this Federation.

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.

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.

This commentary previously discussed details of mineral/oil extractions in the Caribbean region. Here is a sample of earlier blogs:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4476	Lessons Learned from Big Salt mining
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3743	Caribbean Oil Producer – Trinidad – cuts 2015 budget as oil prices tumble
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3213	Gas Prices Drop Below $2 due to global extraction policy
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2857	Recycling Rare Earths materials – Entrepreneurism in Junk

The Go Lean roadmap details a series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to foster the progress in the wide fields of extractions for mining, materials and drilling administration. The following list applies:

Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	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 for minerals	Page 43
Strategy – Mission – Regulatory powers mineral/oil exploration and extraction in the EEZ	Page 45
Strategy – Competitive Analysis – Businesses – Emergency Planning –vs- Litigation	Page 52
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Growing the Economy to $800 Billion – Industrial Extractions Driver	Page 68
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Environmental Control & Regulatory Commission	Page 83
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Extractions (Mining, Materials, Drilling) Administration	Page 83
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Transportation – Turnpike Operations – Pipelines	Page 84
Anecdote – “Lean” in Government Permitting	Page 93
Anecdote – Caribbean Energy Grid Implementation	Page 100
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Start-up Benefits from the EEZ	Page 104
Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities – Ideal for mines	Page 105
Implementation – Ways to Develop Pipeline Industry – For Rare Earth Transport	Page 107
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Public Works	Page 175
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Monopolies – Environmental concerns, systemic threats	Page 202
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Extractions – Mining, Materials, Drilling Optimization	Page 205
Advocacy – Ways to Develop the Auto Industry	Page 206
Appendix – North Dakota Extractions – Economic-Societal Effects of a Boom	Page 334

This commentary asserts that the need is undeniable for mineral exploration and extraction. This can help to build-up the economy and command more respect in the world’s industrial landscape. Shepherding the Caribbean economy – for Rare Earths extractions – is the job for technocrats, trained and accomplished from the battles of globalization and trade wars.

Industrial policy is among the heavy-lifting tasks for the lean, agile operations of the CU technocracy. Everyone, the people, businesses and institutions are hereby urged to lean-in to this roadmap to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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An Ode to JPMorganChase – This is how ‘Change’ happens

Posted on November 19, 2019 in Ethos, Government, Industries, Locations

Go Lean Commentary

Plan. Do. Review.

We told you change was imminent … for Detroit.

We, the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean for the introduction of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), published a detailed blog-commentary on May 22, 2014 – 5 plus years ago – on the plans for this one bank, JPMorganChase, who was advocating for a turn-around for the distressed City of Detroit in Michigan (USA). This is an excerpt from that previous submission:

The same as there is profit involved in destruction and construction, there is profit to be made in community redevelopment, within a city or even for a region. …

The City of Detroit is in crisis. In July 2013, Detroit became the largest U.S. city to seek bankruptcy protection. It is currently $19 billion in debt and has an unemployment rate of about 14% – more than double the national average. This is why the study of Detroit is such an ideal model for the Caribbean. We have many communities within the Caribbean’s 30 member-states with similar unemployment, urban blight, brain drain, and acute hopelessness.

… the rebirth of Detroit will be financed, in part, with $100 million of community investment dollars from JPMorganChase. The Go Lean roadmap presents a plan to generate funding to Pay for Change (Page 101). Both the JPMorganChase / Detroit plan and the CU/Go Lean plan extend over a 5 year period. The Detroit plan is branded the “Motor City Makeover”; this branding and messaging is important for soliciting support and participation from the community in general. This parallels to the CU/Go Lean effort to foster the attitudes and motivations to forge change from Caribbean stakeholders. This is defined in the book as a community ethos. One such ethos is turn-around: a collective vision, succeeded by appropriate steps and actions, to reject the status quo and demand change.

How has the “Motor City Makeover” been received in the 5 years since? Has the community responded? Have they supported this advocacy? Has there been return on the investment?

Yes, Yes, Yes and Yes.

See here, this review of the JPMorganChase effort from the news magazine 60 Minutes, as broadcasted on November 10, 2019. See this VIDEO here:

VIDEO – A mega-bank’s data-driven investment in Detroit – https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jamie-dimon-jp-morgan-chase-ceo-makes-data-focused-investment-in-detroit-60-minutes-2019-11-10/

Published on November 10, 2019 – JPMorganChase is using data to invest more efficiently, helping entrepreneurs open businesses in parts of the city that most need their services.
Used for entertainment [and educational] purposes only. The property and rights for this video/audio go to ©CBS.

In summary, JPMorganChase invested in Detroit and now has returns on that investment. This is how ‘Change’ happens.

The Go Lean movement also invested (time) in Detroit …

… we too have returns, rewards and reflections from our time of observing-and-reporting from there – which started 5 years ago. Consider the many lessons-learned about turn-around and re-development from these previous blog-commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14825	May Day! May Day! We Need Help With Jobs!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11453	Location Matters, Even in a Virtual World
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11386	Building Better Cities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10140	Lessons Learned: Detroit demolishes thousands of abandoned structures
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8669	Detroit makes Community College free
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7789	An Ode to Detroit – Good Luck on Trade!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7601	Beware of Vulture Capitalists – Lesson from Detroit
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7268	Detroit giving schools their ‘Worst Shot’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7235	Flint, Michigan – A Cautionary Tale on Infrastructure
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6965	Secrecy, corruption and ‘conflicts of interest’ pervade state governments
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6609	Before and After Photos Showing Detroit’s Riverfront Transformation
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6269	Education & Economics: Welcome to Detroit, Mr. President
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6022	Caribbean Diaspora in Detroit … Celebrating Heritage
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5055	A Lesson from an Empowering Family in Detroit
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4913	Ann Arbor: Model for ‘Start-up’ Cities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4476	De-icing Detroit’s Winter Roads: Impetuous & Short Term
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3713	NEXUS: Facilitating Detroit-Windsor Cross-Border Commerce
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3326	M-1 Rail: Alternative Motion in the Motor City
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3311	Detroit to exit historic bankruptcy
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3164	Michigan Unemployment – Then and Now
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3152	Making a Great Place to Work® – A Detroit Example
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2480	A Lesson in History: Community Ethos of WW II
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1656	Blue is the New Green – Managing Michigan’s Water Resources

These past 5 years have been busy for the Go Lean movement. In addition to observing-and-reporting on Detroit, we have also observed-and-reported on JPMorganChase – from the inside; (this writer worked for JPMorganChase and Jaime Dimon on 2 separate occasions). See the lessons-learned from this financial institution from these previous Go Lean commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16836	Crypto-currency: Here comes ‘Trouble’; Here comes “JPM Coin”
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16002	Good Governance: Good Corporate Compliance; JPMC Model
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11184	JPMorganChase spent $10 billion on ‘Fintech’ for 1 year
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=970	JP Morgan Chase $100 million Detroit investment not just for Press

This tenure with JPMorganChase now comes to an end; as we repatriate back to our Caribbean homeland. And so we say:

Ode to JPMorganChase; thanks for the lessons-learned.

These lessons-learned may be more than just pedestrian; they may actual change our Caribbean world. Like Detroit, we need to redevelop, turn-around and reboot. The JPMorganChase example above may just be an example of the Corporate Vigilantism that we need to forge change in society.

Corporate Vigilantism?

This has been exhaustingly defined in a previous Go Lean commentary; consider this excerpt:

Corporate Vigilantism – can be effective for forging change. Imagine the pressure: no credit line, mortgage, installment loan, credit card processing, nor check-cashing for the business. This can affect a company’s ability to meet payroll or operate as an ongoing concern. This is called controlling the purse strings.

And what is the bank asking for their continuation of business-as-usual?

Common sense … regulations …

We have been paying more than the usual attention to this banking industry, company (JPMorganChase), City of Detroit and turn-around advocacy. It is past time now to manifest the needed change in our Caribbean society.

This corresponds to the 5-L’s approach that we have previously defined:

Look
Listen
Learn
Lend-a-hand
Lead

Let’s get busy …

The JPMorganChase tenure … is now over! (The same as the Detroit tenure is over; goodbye and good luck to them).

The Go Lean book doubles-down on lessons-learned from the other communities, past and present. The book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society. Many of these strategies-tactics-implementations were conceived based on lessons-learned from the other observed stakeholders.

We have looked, listened, learned, lend-a-hand in Detroit and at JPMorganChase; now we are ready to go back to the Caribbean … and lead. This is the approach for us to make our own homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

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

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.

xxxiii. Whereas lessons can be learned and applied from the study of the recent history of other societies, the Federation must formalize statutes and organizational dimensions to avoid the pitfalls of communities like … Detroit … . On the other hand, the Federation must also implement the good examples learned from developments/
communities like … .

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

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Internet Birthday – Still Growing Up after 50 Years

Posted on October 30, 2019 in Ethos, Industries, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

Today – October 29, 2019 – is the 50th birthday of the Internet.

No joke …

This is a Big Deal – or should be – for the world and for us in the Caribbean. The Internet has brought Good, Bad and Ugly to the world:

Think of the ease of communications with people around the world. Have you paid for long distance telephone calls lately?
When was the last time you touched an encyclopedia book or volume? … a dictionary?
Think of retail industries that have disappeared: record stores, book stores, travel agencies.

In this commentary, we have been consistent in our advocacy of Internet & Communications Technologies (ICT); see this previous post:

Technology has also pounced on the modern world, the Caribbean included; what started as a counter-culture revolution – nerds, geeks and techies – has become mainstream and normal. People today are walking around with a computer in their pockets (smart-phones) that far exceeds Big Mainframe systems (Big Iron) from 30 years ago; think 1 terabyte of memory-storage; 3.5 Giga-Hertz processor chips; global communication networks with interconnected devices around the world.

This change is not all bad! The whole world – the people, media and information – is now accessible at our finger tips!

It is our assertion that the entire Caribbean region – all 30 member-states, Cuba included – must adopt, compete and thrive in our ICT endeavors. This is one strategy for leveling the playing field in our competition with the rest of the world. But to adopt, compete and thrive, we cannot only consume; we must produce (research and develop) as well.

Why? Because the internet can also lead consumers astray; there are lanes on the information superhighway that goes into some dark-dangerous corners of society. See how this was pronounced by this college professor, who so happens to be one of the Participating Founders of the Internet 50 years ago … today:

Opinion: 50 years ago, I helped invent the internet. How did it go so wrong?
By: Leonard Kleinrock
When I was a young scientist working on the fledgling creation that came to be known as the internet, the ethos that defined the culture we were building was characterized by words such as ethical, open, trusted, free, shared. None of us knew where our research would lead, but these words and principles were our beacon.

We did not anticipate that the dark side of the internet would emerge with such ferocity. Or that we would feel an urgent need to fix it.

How did we get from there to here?

While studying for my doctorate at MIT in the early 1960s, I recognized the need to create a mathematical theory of networks that would allow disparate computers to communicate. Later that decade, the Advanced Research Projects Agency — a research funding arm of the Department of Defense created in response to Sputnik — determined they needed a network based on my theory so that their computer research centers could share work remotely.

My UCLA computer lab was selected to be the first node of this network. Fifty years ago — on Oct. 29, 1969 — a simple “Lo” became the first internet message, from UCLA to Stanford Research Institute. We had typed the first two letters of “login” when the network crashed.

This quiet little moment of transmission over that two-computer communication network is regarded as the founding moment of the internet.

During its first 25 years, the internet grew dramatically and organically with the user community seeming to follow the same positive principles the scientists did. We scientists sought neither patents nor private ownership of this networking technology. We were nerds in our element, busily answering the challenge to create new technology that would benefit the world.

Around 1994, the internet began to change quickly as dot-coms came online, the network channels escalated to gigabit speeds and the World Wide Web became a common household presence. That same year, Amazon was founded and Netscape, the first commercial web browser, was released.

And on April 12, 1994, a “small” moment with enormous meaning occurred: The transmission of the first widely circulated spam email message, a brazen advertisement. The collective response of our science community was “How dare they?” Our miraculous creation, a “research” network capable of boundless computing magnificence had been hijacked to sell … detergent?

By 1995, the internet had 50 million users worldwide. The commercial world had recognized something we had not foreseen: The internet could be used as a powerful shopping machine, a gossip chamber, an entertainment channel and a social club. The internet had suddenly become a money-making machine.

With the profit motive taking over the internet, the very nature of innovation changed. Averting risk dominated the direction of technical progress. We no longer pursued “moonshots.” Instead advancement came via baby steps — “design me a 5% faster Bluetooth connection” as opposed to “build me an internet.” An online community that had once been convivial transformed into one of competition, antagonism and extremism.

And then as the millennium ended, our revolution took a more disturbing turn that we continue to grapple with today.

By suddenly providing the power for anyone to immediately reach millions of people inexpensively and anonymously, we had inadvertently also created the perfect formula for the “dark” side to spread like a virus all over the world. Today more than 50% of email is spam, but far more troubling issues have emerged — including denial of service attacks that can immobilize critical financial institutions and malicious botnets that can cripple essential infrastructure sectors.

Other dangerous players, such as nation-states, started coming onto the scene around 2010, when Stuxnet malware appeared. Organized crime recognized the internet could be used for international money laundering, and extremists found the internet to be a convenient megaphone for their radical views. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, facial recognition, biometrics and other advanced technologies could be used by governments to weaken democratic institutions.

The balkanization of the internet is now conceivable as firewalls spring up around national networks.

We could try to push the internet back toward its ethical roots. However, it would be a complex challenge requiring a joint effort by interested parties — which means pretty much everyone.

We should pressure government officials and entities to more zealously monitor and adjudicate such internet abuses as cyber-attacks, data breaches and piracy. Governments also should provide a forum to bring interested parties together to problem-solve.

Citizen-users need to hold websites more accountable. When was the last time a website asked what privacy policy you would like applied to you? My guess is never. You should be able to clearly articulate your preferred privacy policy and reject websites that don’t meet your standards. This means websites should provide a privacy policy customized to you, something they should be able to do since they already customize the ads you see. Websites should also be required to take responsibility for any violations and abuses of privacy that result from their services.

Scientists need to create more advanced methods of encryption to protect individual privacy by preventing perpetrators from using stolen databases. We are working on technologies that would hide the origin and destination of data moving around the network, thereby diminishing the value of captured network traffic. Blockchain, the technology that underpins bitcoin and other digital currencies, also offers the promise of irrefutable, indisputable data ledgers.

If we work together to make these changes happen, it might be possible to return to the internet I knew.

Leonard Kleinrock is distinguished professor of computer science at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering.

Source: Posted October 29, 2019; retrieved October 29, 2019 from: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-10-29/internet-50th-anniversary-ucla-kleinrock

————–

VIDEO – The internet is turning 50 this year, here’s how it all started – https://youtu.be/U58HO1FyQ04

CGTN America
Posted April 2, 2019 – The technology behind the very platform you’re reading these words on turns 50 years old on Oct. 29th. On this date in 1969, researchers sent the first message ever online.

CGTN’s Phil Lavelle reports on how it all started in room at UCLA back in 1969.

Watch CGTN LIVE on your computer, tablet or mobile http://america.cgtn.com/livenews

Subscribe to CGTN America on YouTube
Follow CGTN America:
Twitter: @cgtnamerica
Facebook: @cgtnamerica

Category: News & Politics

The founding of the internet is not unfamiliar to this movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean; one of the book authors benefited from the tutelage of another one of the Participating Founders of the computer science that led to today’s internet; see the obituary excerpts of Dr. Thomas Mason in the Appendix below.

The Way Forward for the Caribbean now relies heavily on Internet & Communications Technologies. We cannot get from “here to there” without a robust participation in the art and science of ICT.

This theme – doubling-down on ICT – aligns with many previous Go Lean commentaries; see a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=18524	One Step Closer: e-Money Solutions in One Country After Another
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17040	Uber: An ICT product that is a ‘Better Mousetrap’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16364	5 Years Later – Technology: Caribbean countries fully on board
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15875	Internet Giant “Amazon”: ‘What I want to be when I grow up’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15858	New Media Model – Network Mandates for a New Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15075	New Governing Model: e-Government 3.0
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13466	Future Focused – Personal Development and the Internet
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11358	Retail Apocalypse – Preparing for the e-Commerce Inevitable
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11184	JPMorganChase spent $10 billion on ‘FinTech’ for 1 year
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6341	Tourism Stewardship – What’s Next? Internet Sales & Administration
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5435	New Governing Model – China Internet Policing Lessons
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2126	Where the Jobs Are – ICT Reshaping Global Job Market

The Internet is not fully grown – it continues to mature, despite fully-developed eco-systems.

What will be the end-result for Cable Television? Electioneering? E-Learning?

We have more questions than we have answers.

There is still opportunity for Caribbean stakeholders to mold the landscape for Internet Commerce in our region; i.e. imagine what the end result will be for 3D-Printing?

We urge all stakeholders to tune-in to the next 50 years by leaning-in to this Go Lean roadmap. We are preparing the region to not just consume, but also to foster and forge internet solutions for our homeland. This is how we will make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—————

Appendix: Obituary of Dr. Thomas Mason

July 24, 2017 – It is with a heavy heart that we report the passing of a great educator and STEM influencer, Dr. Thomas W. Mason. He was the founder and legendary professor of Mathematics, Data Processing and Computer Science at Florida Agriculture & Mechanical University (FAMU).

…

Considering the proud legacy of Historical Black Colleges and University (HBCU), Dr. Mason was agnostic to all of that; he was first and foremost a computer scientist, who happened to be Black, He matriculated for his PhD at the University of Illinois (completing in 1973); there he worked on the ILLIAC project, directly on the ILLIAC IV effort:

ILLIAC (Illinois Automatic Computer) was a series of supercomputers built at a variety of locations, some at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). In all, five computers were built in this series between 1951 and 1974. Some more modern projects also use the name.

The architecture for the first two UIUC computers was taken from a technical report from a committee at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) at Princeton, First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC [1945], edited by John von Neumann (but with ideas from Eckert & Mauchley and many others.) The designs in this report were not tested at Princeton until a later machine, JOHNNIAC, was completed in 1953. However, the technical report was a major influence on computing in the 1950s, and was used as a blueprint for many other computers, including two at the University of Illinois, which were both completed before Princeton finished Johnniac. The University of Illinois was the only institution to build two instances of the IAS machine. In fairness, several of the other universities, including Princeton, invented new technology (new types of memory or I/O devices) during the construction of their computers, which delayed those projects. For ILLIAC I, II, and IV, students associated with IAS at Princeton (Abraham H. Taub, Donald B. Gillies, Daniel Slotnick) played a key role in the computer design(s).^[1]

———
The ILLIAC IV was one of the first attempts to build a massively parallel computer. One of a series of research machines (the ILLIACsfrom the University of Illinois), the ILLIAC IV design featured fairly high parallelism with up to 256 processors, used to allow the machine to work on large data sets in what would later be known as vector processing. After several delays and redesigns, the computer was delivered to NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Airfield in Mountain View, California in 1971. After thorough testing and four years of NASA use, ILLIAC IV was connected to the ARPANet for distributed use in November 1975, becoming the first network-available supercomputer, beating Cray’s Cray-1 by nearly 12 months. – Source: Wikipedia

Notice the reference here to ARPA and ARPANet – ARPA, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, renamed the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in 1972 – this was the forerunner to today’s Internet. He was proud of this participation and accomplishments of this endeavor – he often embedded this history in his lectures. He sought to influence the next generation of students to look, listen, learn, lend-a-hand and lead in the development of these cutting-edge technologies. (By extension, his impact extended to the Caribbean as well).

For those who listened and learned, we are forever grateful for Dr. Mason contributions and tutelage.

The publishers of the book Go Lean…Caribbean recognize the life contributions of Dr. Mason as a STEM educator, visionary and influencer. … Any hope of creating more jobs requires more STEM … students, participants, entrepreneurs and educators. The Go Lean roadmap seeks to put Caribbean people in a place of better command-and-control of the STEM field for their region. We need contributions from people with the profile like Dr. Mason; he provided a role model for inspiration … for this writer, a former protégé.

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College, e-Commerce, ICT, Model, Transform

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One Step Closer: e-Money Solutions

Posted on October 29, 2019 in Economics, Government, Implementation, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

Old: A penny saved … is a penny earned!
New: A penny saved … is a penny!

Don’t get it twisted! While the discipline of savings is a positive ethos, the end result of saving a penny is still just a penny. The goal must be to match the good ethos with some real financial resources:

A $Million saved, is a $Million earned
A $Billion saved, is a $Billion earned
A $Trillion saved, is a $Trillion earned

The assessment of the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean is that we need to foster the positive community ethos to save and invest – we need to be more Future Focused. At the same time, we also need to avail ourselves of the leverage of a regional Single Market economy for the 30 Caribbean member-states, rather than just one (1) little country by itself.

This commentary is advocating that the ethos that needs to be fostered is the adoption of Electronic Money schemes.

As related in a previous blog-commentary about Payment Cards…

…”there is now the opportunity to transform the industrial landscape of Caribbean communities; we can install controls so as to better manage our economy and industrial landscape. Among the many strategies and tactics discussed by this Go Lean movement, there is this one irresistible prospect of introducing electronic money (e-Money) or Payment Cards through out the region. So, instead of cash, industrial stakeholders will do most transactions … electronically.

This changes everything!

With an e-Money/Payment Cards deployment, there would be so many benefits; consider these possibilities:

Functional – Payroll and Government Benefits can be easily loaded; credit programs can also be added.

Universality – whether its e-Money or Payment Cards, all financial transactions can be executed.

Portability – e-Money can be used in Cyberspace and in the real world transactions (merchant POS, ATMs).

Security – Smartchips and PIN options can ensure against unauthorized use.

Resilience – card-to-card transactions can be conducted even with no online connection – think Block-chain.

Risk-aversion – The informal economy and Black Markets are mitigated, thereby fostering tax revenues.

Far-reaching – Benefits outside of the payment transaction; the scheme increases the money supply (M1), which increases available bank capital for community investments.

The Bahamas is now embarking on this journey …

… this is a great First Step. See the full story here:

Title: Island Pay Licensed to Provide Electronic Money Solution in The Bahamas
NASSAU (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – Island Pay, an electronic money mobile payment service provider has been granted a license by the Central Bank of The Bahamas. The Payment Service Provider license was issued after Island Pay met the qualifications of the Regulations and Guidelines of the Central Bank’s mandatory requirements set out in the “Payment Instruments (Oversight) Regulations, 2017” that came into force on July 21^th, 2017.

Island Pay has been granted the first license under these new Regulations.

Frank Svatousek, Island Pay CEO said, “the Central Bank regulates domestic payment service providers including retail banks, credit unions and money transmission businesses, but saw the need to establish a new class of provider, the payments institution. In a recent paper titled Digital Currency – Extending the Payments System Modernisation Initiative the Central Bank recognized that the shrinking footprint of the retail banks coupled with the increased shift in payments towards electronic modes necessitated regulatory review and the creation of the Payment Service Provider.”

“Among the benefits of this new class of service provider,” Mr. Svatousek said, “is that our Bahamian customers will have cost effective and easy to use bill payment, person to person transfers, mobile top-up and merchant solutions. As a tokenized service, it is as secure as existing mobile payment services and all of our customers’ data is securely held in The Bahamas. The smartphone application, available for Android and iOS, allows users to manage the service with security and control from any island in The Bahamas.”

About Island Pay
Island Pay was founded in 2016. The company recognizes the strong business case for mobile electronic money providers seeking to re-do the way consumers interact with payments, authentication and identity, especially in underserved areas of the globe. Before Island Pay, management co-founded Carta Worldwide and Mint Technology. More information can be found on the Island Pay website.

For further Information contact:

Frank Svatousek, CEO
Island Pay
media@islandpay.com

Source: Ltd posted October 9, 2018; retrieved October 28, 2019 from: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/10/09/1618817/0/en/Island-Pay-Licensed-to-Provide-Electronic-Money-Solution-in-The-Bahamas.html

————–

VIDEO – Introducing the Island Pay Digital Wallet – https://youtu.be/NHP7tzTEW4M

Island Pay
Posted May 27, 2019 – Island Pay is the first Payment Service Provider licensed by the Central Bank of the Bahamas. The Island Pay Digital Wallet will allow users to load and withdraw cash at Island Pay locations, transfer money between friends, pay bills and purchase mobile minutes for friends at home and abroad. Island Pay Customers will be able pay in-store and online at participating merchants.

Category: People & Blogs

This First Step – regulatory framework – is just One Step closer to the vision of a regional e-Money currency for the full Caribbean. Yes, we can …

Conceive, Believe, Achieve
We have conceived this e-Money plan, and now we see the regulatory framework being put in place. This was the intent of the Go Lean book, to serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) and the aligning Caribbean Central Bank (CCB), the issuer of Caribbean Dollar (C$). This Go Lean/CU/CCB roadmap depicts e-Money and Payment Cards as a hallmark of technocratic efficiency, with the agility to manage this deployment. This will affect all aspects of Caribbean society – economics, security and governance.

This reality of e-Money fits in with the quest of the Go Lean roadmap, to optimize all these societal engines. Notice how that aforementioned previous Go Lean blog-commentary identified vital areas in society that would be affected:

e-Government – The CU is prescribed as the regional administrator for ICT for the Single Market of 30 states and 42-million people. While the Caribbean Central Bank (CCB) will manage the region’s M1, they will embrace the e-Government mandate, calling for card-based, electronic payment options for all federal transactions and encouraging this mode for state/municipal/private facilitations as well. This means that the Caribbean dollar (C$) will be mostly cashless, an accounting currency much like the first years of the Euro. The CCB will settle all C$ electronic transactions (MasterCard-Visa style or ACH style) and charge interchange/clearance fees. – This scheme is fully defined on Page 198.
Cruise line passengers using smart-chips – The cruise industry needs the Caribbean more than the Caribbean needs the industry. But the cruise lines have embedded rules/regulations designed to maximize their revenues at the expense of the port-side establishments. The CU solution is to deploy a scheme for smartcards (or smart-phone applications) that function on the ships and at the port cities. This scheme will also employ NFC technology – see Appendix VIDEO below; (Near Field Communications; defined fully at Page 193 – so as to glean the additional security benefits of shielding private financial data of the guest and passengers. [This scheme will incentivize more spending among cruise line passengers.]
Electronic Commerce
This holds the promise of “leveling the playing field” so that small merchants can compete against larger merchants. To facilitate e-Commerce, purchased merchandise must get to their destinations as efficiently as possible. The CU’s implementation of the Caribbean Postal Union allows for better logistics for package delivery. – Defined fully on Page 201.
Internet Marketplace / Social Media – The CU‘s web portal, www.myCaribbean.gov, will grant free access, email, IM, and profile pages for CU stakeholders, even normalizing communications thru social media sites. This will facilitate internet commerce activities in the region, as the CU will have hot data on profiles, habits and previous activities, thereby creating opportunities for measured marketing. – Defined fully on Page 198.
Government Benefits / Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) – This sub-system allows State welfare departments to issue benefits via magnetically encoded payment cards, used in the United States and the United Kingdom. Common benefits provided (in the United States) via EBT are typically of two general categories: food and cash benefits. – Defined fully on Page 353.
Unemployment Benefits – The CU‘s mandate for e-Delivery and e-Payment will make the unemployment benefits process more effective and more efficient. Claimants will be able to apply online or on the phone, and payments will be disbursed to debit/payment cards, as opposed to paper checks. (Payments will be in Caribbean dollars, even in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands)- Defined fully on Page 89.
Remittance Solutions for Diaspora – By pursuing the e-Government / e-Payment strategy, the Caribbean Diaspora will be able to remit transfers back home by just loading values onto C$ payment cards [for free]. This simplified system will minimize transfer fees and furnish [Foreign Currency] (Fx) controls. – Defined fully on Page 154.

Having these many instances of electronic money solutions means that there must be a technocratic settlement / clearing entity. Enter the Central Bank of the Bahamas for the Bahamian offering. But for a regional deployment, Go Lean roadmap, we would need a regional Central Bank, enter the CCB.

Within its 370-pages, the Go Lean book provides details of the community ethos to adopt, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies that are necessary to execute in order to deliver e-Money solutions to the Caribbean region. The book re-affirms the mantra that Internet & Communication Technologies (ICT) can be used as a great equalizer so that small nation-states can compete against large nation-states.

Update
Now a 2nd player – Kanoo – has entered the Bahamas Market – see samples (photos) of their Mobile App here:

————–

The points of effective, technocratic e-Money stewardship were further elaborated upon in many previous blog/commentaries. Consider this sample:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17515	Changing the Culture & Currency of Commerce
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16836	Crypto-currency: Here comes ‘Trouble’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15923	Industrial Reboot – Payment Cards 101
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14248	Leading with Money Matters – Almighty Dollar
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10513	Transforming Money Countrywide – The Model of India
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7034	The Future of Money
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6635	New Security Chip in Credit Cards Unveiled
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5668	Move over Mastercard/Visa, Time for Local Settlement
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5210	Cruise Ship Commerce – Getting Ready for Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4425	Cash, Credit or iPhone …
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3889	RBC EZPay – Ready for Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2074	MetroCard – Model for the Caribbean Dollar
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1350	PayPal expands payment services to 10 markets
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=906	Bitcoin virtual currency needs regulatory framework to change image
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=528	Facebook plans to provide Fintech – Mobile payment services

One Step closer, is good progress, and is better than going in the wrong direction. An e-Money transformation will transform the economic landscape for the Caribbean region. This is good; our region needs a reboot!

In general, rebooting the region’s economics is not a new subject for this Go Lean movement; both the book and previous blog-commentaries have stressed rebooting. While every societal engine needs to be rebooted – including security and governance – all changes will stem from our economic initiatives. This was related in the opening of the Go Lean book as follows (Page 3):

The CU Trade Federation is a technocracy, empowered to reboot the economic engines of the member-states, by fostering new industries (new “purse”) across the entire region and deploying solutions to better exploit the opportunities of the global trade market.

Deploying e-Money solutions will be heavy-lifting; but it is worth all the hard work. Let’s lean-in to the Go Lean roadmap to reboot our economic-fiscal-monetary engines. Let’s build on this First Step; one country down, 29 more to go. (See the Appendix below, entitled “Island Pay Launches its first Caribbean Mobile Payment Solution in The Bahamas using Samsung technology”). This is how we can make our Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Optimize the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establish a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines ; where there is economic successes, “bad actors” always emerge, so there must be a solution for predictive and reactive mitigations and interdictions.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these above engines. This include a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies, including the independent administration of the Caribbean Central Bank.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

—————–

Appendix – Island Pay Launches its first Caribbean Mobile Payment Solution in The Bahamas using Samsung technology

NASSAU (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Island Pay, an electronic money mobile payment provider, will roll out the Contactless Companion Platform (CCP) – a digital cash service allowing consumers to load money onto cards, fobs and a range of wearable items. The new service will allow Bahamians and visitors alike to make contactless payments between themselves or with Island Pay merchants across the whole of the island archipelago. CCP is running on secure chip technology from Samsung Semiconductor, the software application platform is provided by Smartlink, a Swiss fintech specializing in mobile and alternative payment solutions.

Frank Svatousek, Island Pay CEO said, “By adding Smartlink to the Island Pay platform we bring immediate, critical benefits to our Bahamian customers including easy bill payment, mobile top-up and merchant solutions. The launch of the Island Pay cashless payment system, licensed by the Central Bank of The Bahamas, comes at a time when bricks and mortar banks are reducing their footprint allowing us to serve the under-banked as well as the un-banked.”

The Smartlink CCP solution brings contactless digital cash to everyone in all levels of society,” says Eric La Marca, CEO and founder of Smartlink. “With CCP in place, you can make contactless payments via any enabled device of your choice, whether it’s a dedicated smart card, wristband, key fob, or even your smart watch or ring. As long as it’s able to accommodate the secure chip technology from Samsung, there’s hardly any shape or size limit.”

Among the benefits of Island Pay Mr. Svatousek explained that, “It’s a tokenized service, making it as secure as existing mobile payments services. It gives parents the ability to safely transfer money to their children and ensure they can only spend it on what the parents want and with its Web-based or smartphone app interface, available for iOS and Android, it allows users to manage the service and deactivate the chip in the card, fob or wearable item if it is lost. We are thrilled to be working with Samsung and Smartlink as it brings together a powerful combination of security, control and utility for our consumers throughout The Bahamas.”

About Island Pay
Island Pay was founded in 2016. The company recognizes the strong business case for mobile electronic money providers seeking to re-do the way consumers interact with payments, authentication and identity, especially in underserved areas of the globe. Before Island Pay, management co-founded Carta Worldwide and Mint Technology. More information can be found on the Island Pay website.

About Smartlink SA
Smartlink SA, a fintech company based in Switzerland, is a pioneer in the payment industry. Smartlink offers an award-winning platform to banks and card issuers seeking a first-class mobile wallet application. Its innovation team has recently developed the disruptive Contactless Companion Platform which will be deployed worldwide, to facilitate cashless societies using Digital Cash. For more information, please visit www.smartlink.ch

For further Information contact:

Frank Svatousek, CEO
Island Pay
media@islandpay.com

Sébastien Piolat
Smartlink SA
sebastien.piolat@smartlink.ch

Source: Island Pay Ltd posted September 11, 2018; retrieved October 28, 2019 from: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/09/11/1568977/0/en/Island-Pay-Launches-its-first-Caribbean-Mobile-Payment-Solution-in-The-Bahamas-using-Samsung-technology.html

—————–

Appendix VIDEO – Island Pay discusses Samsung NFC technology – https://youtu.be/aBcBtcHE7Hs

Category: People & Blogs

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Banks, e-Commerce, ICT, Transform. Bahamas

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

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

Go Lean Commentary

Give and Take …

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

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

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

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

Some will actually lose!

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

It’s call a “Wind Down”:

Definition of wind down – per Merriam-Webster

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Refusing to Lose and bankruptcies …

… it is amazing how these two subjects align together.

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

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

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

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

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

This is the nature of a technocracy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Refuse to Lose – Despite American Expansionism

Posted on October 18, 2019 in Ethos, Industries, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

“Never bet against America” – Warren Buffet, American Billionaire and Industrialist; see Appendix A below.

While it may not appear be a competition, in truth, there are competitive forces at work for foreign communities in the shadows of the great American eco-system. Yes, the Caribbean member-states have been parasites of the American “hegemony”.

Hegemony = the political, economic, or military predominance or control of one state over others. – Oxford University Press

Consider these facts, from a previous Go Lean commentary:

State of the Union: Self-Interest of ‘Americana’
The United States of America is the “800-pound gorilla” or the BIG DOG of the Western Hemisphere; (in fact, the US is the last Super Power in the world).

There are two US Territories in our Caribbean: Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

The US is the Number 1 Single Marketeconomy in the world

The US is the Number 1 military (in terms of troop size, armament and defense spending).

The US is also the Number 1 destination for the Caribbean Diaspora.

We cannot avoid the influence of the American system – Americana – on our Caribbean region… “Resistance is futile!”

No society can survive with population losses; yet the status quo for the Caribbean is that we lose large fractions of our population to foreign shores, in the US. This was related in a previous blog-commentary in this series, Part 1-of-6:

So we are losing…

We need a turn-around; we need to win.

Is it possible to compete, to win, against the US?

(Or are we condemned to watching our best-and-brightest leave home and then we have to nation-build with the rest?)

Yes, we can win … with a new attitude – or community ethos. We can succeed; we can Do Well and Do Good – see this discussion elaborated on in the White Paper Summary in Appendix B below. We must …

Refuse to lose – a commitment by a group or society to the values of quality, success and winning.

If we adopt this attitude then we will believe that we can compete with the US; we can even be better. (America has active societal defects – i.e. institutional racism and Crony-Capitalism – that need not be an issue in our Caribbean homeland).

This is a mission of the roadmap embedded in the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean, to be a better homeland to live, work and play. This commentary is a continuation of this series on the Refuse to Lose ethos; this is Part 4-of-6. The full series is cataloged as follows:

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

It is the assertion of this commentary that the Caribbean can win, despite American Expansionism – they inserted themselves in our affairs on multiple occasions: think Cuba and Haiti. The American hegemony shows their military might – the world’s strongest – plus these three areas:

Trade – America insists on dominating trade for the region; they want to export; even if it means importing the finished goods, then re-exporting it. (Think of how often we buy Japanese consumer products from America, rather than from Japan directly).
Currency – Many Caribbean territories use the US Dollar as their primary currency or co-currency; i.e. Turks & Caicos, British Virgin Islands, Curacao.
Media – American movies, television, music and other media products are ubiquitous even in the Caribbean region.

How can we win, despite this dominance? We can Do Well and Do Good – see the White Paper Summary in Appendix B below. Also, see the answers-solutions here, as addressed in previous commentaries:

Trade
America is willing to consume; so we should produce more. American manufacturers look for cheaper places to re-locate their plants.

Senate bill targets companies that move overseas – July 31, 2014
The Caribbean is the “best address in the world” and provides the best of certain products … and is the best at performing certain services. We can compete! There should not be the need to “run for the shadows”. The world should be soliciting us, not us begging for the “crumbs following from the table” of the world economy.

Currency
The Caribbean member-states are urged to adopt e-Payment schemes as soon as possible so as to leverage the money-multiplier principle for our economic benefit, not America’s.

Changing the Culture & Currency of Commerce – May 27, 2019
We want to change Caribbean commerce. We want to make it Bigger, Better and Faster.

Bigger – Yes, we want to go from local markets to a regional Single Market. Imagine all 30 Caribbean member-states with 42 million people and the potential to produce $800 Billion in GDP.

Better – Free Market would be better for Caribbean economics as opposed to the restricted controls of extreme socialism; think Cuba. Yet, many other member-states have policies and practices that are socialistic in their priorities; i.e. Antigua & Barbuda does NOT allow for private property ownership on Barbuda. (This smells like communism).

Faster – We want more and more electronic commerce options. This means a comprehensive Marketplace & Social Media (www.myCaribbean.gov) plus the delivery-logistics options of the optimized Caribbean Postal Union (CPU), a subset of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU).

Media
Internet & Communications Technologies (ICT) allows equalization of Big Countries versus small countries. This equalizer effect will level the competition versus America; we can easily launch our own regional network.

Network Mandates for a New Caribbean – September 26, 2018
Change has come to the world and to the Caribbean region. The advent of Internet Communications Technologies (ICT) now has voluminous options for media to be delivered without the large footprint … or investment. Now anyone can easily publish VIDEO’s and Music files to the internet and sell them to the public – models abounds: i.e. pay-per-play, or subscription.

The failing-losing Caribbean member-states need societal progress; so we must adopt the new attitudes that reflect a Refuse to Lose mentality.

‘Yes We Can’ …

Refusing to Lose is a necessary new ethos for the Caribbean Way Forward . We must start winning, after so many years of losing.

We urge every Caribbean stakeholder to Refuse to Lose; this is how we will make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

————–

Appendix A – Buffett: Never bet against America
By: Alex Crippen

A significant part of Warren Buffett’s enormous financial success is built on the money he’s put behind his unwavering belief that America’s brand of capitalism, from the earliest days of its founding, has fueled ever-growing prosperity for its businesses and its people, and that it will continue to do so far into the future.

[See this Timeline of his pronouncements]

1. VIDEO – 1997: Why America will remain competitive – https://buffett.cnbc.com/video/1997/05/05/has-americas-industrial-age-passed.html

Posted May 1997 – At Berkshire’s Hathaway’s 1997 shareholder meeting, Buffett explains why he’s not worried the “age of classical industrial America has passed.”

1. 2004: Despite challenges, optimism for America’s future

Despite a war in Iraq, increasing consumer debt, and declining job growth, Buffett remains positive, pointing out that the country has always recovered in the past, even when facing “an equally impressive number of negative factors.”

1. 2004: “A country characterized by lots of immigration”

In response to a question about U.S. immigration law, Buffett talks about how he suspects America’s “incredible record” of economic growth over the decades has been helped by the people who came to the United States from other countries.

1. 2009: Seeing past the “Great Recession”

Just months after a devastating credit crisis helps plunge the U.S. into its worst economic crisis since the 1930s, Buffett still believes “the opportunities will win in the end.”

1. 2013: Born in the USA

At the 2013 Berkshire meeting, Buffett acknowledges that he’s benefited from luck, getting a “huge, huge, huge advantage” just from having been born in the United States. And he, says, he’s not the only lucky one.

1. 2016: “This country works … it’s working now”

During a presidential campaign in which Donald Trump was promising to “Make America Great Again,” Buffett, a backer of Hillary Clinton’s candidacy, tells Becky Quick on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” why he takes issue with Trump’s premise.

1. 2017: America will do fine no matter who is in the White House

On the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration, after the Dow had rallied 7.6 percent since Election Day, Buffett is asked how he thinks the new president will affect the stock market in the months ahead.

Source: Posted July 2 2018; retrieved October 16, 2019 from: https://buffett.cnbc.com/2018/07/02/buffett-on-america.html

————–

Appendix B – How to Do Well and Do Good
Sub-title: The key to achieving both of those goals together? Integrate societal benefits with company strategy.
By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Can companies do well by doing good? That question is asked frequently – but beware of false choices when considering it. In business, there is not a strict dichotomy between doing well and doing good; it is not an either-or proposition. Instead, social good and profitability are among the criteria by which companies make choices. In reality, any company is better off creating both bottom-line and societal benefits – and creating synergies between them.

That does not mean executives should lose sight of the goals and mission of the business, however. There is no reason certain kinds of good works – say, merely giving away money to areas unrelated to the business – should provide particular strategic advantage for a company. But if a company can integrate the benefits that it offers society more closely into its existing business, that integration can be very sensible and beneficial for the business. For example, people within the organization may recognize internal capabilities which they can build and develop to address a problem in society while simultaneously enlarging the company’s market.

As I describe in my book Supercorp, some smart companies are finding that including a focus on benefiting society in their mission can help yield competitive advantage. These companies, which are in the vanguard of creating a new business model, have discovered that a commitment to tackling societal problems can be one aspect of creating a corporate culture that leads to high performance and profits. (However, it is important to note that no company exemplifies this aspirational approach to management completely; all companies have flaws, and none live up to their ideals all of the time.)

There are a number of reasons why incorporating social good into strategy can help a company’s long-term performance. For one thing, it can help strengthen a company in the eyes of a number of important constituencies: its customer base, its employee base and the general public. In particular, a mission that includes serving society can help motivate employees – especially a younger generation of employees who seek meaning in work.

——

About the Author

Rosabeth Moss Kanter is the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. She is the author of numerous books, including Supercorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Innovation, Profits, Growth and Social Good (New York: Crown Business, 2009).

——-

Download/Buy the full Report at: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/how-to-do-well-and-do-good/ – Posted September 1, 2010; retrieved October 17, 2019.

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