Go Lean Commentary
im·mi·nent
adjective 1. about to happen.
Sample use: “they were in imminent danger of being swept away”
synonyms: impending, at hand, close, near, approaching, fast approaching, coming, forthcoming, on the way, about to happen, upon us, in store, in the offing, in the pipeline, on the horizon, in the air, in the wind, brewing, looming, looming large; threatening, menacing; expected, anticipated;
informal sample: “in the cards”
“there was speculation that a ceasefire was imminent”
This is the assertion – and the whole world knows it – Cuba will imminently re-emerge as a ‘Free Market’ economy.
Cuba sera libre!
The book Go Lean…Caribbean asserts that the “sleeping giant” – that is the Cuban economy – will awaken. The book presents a roadmap in preparation for Cuba’s re-emergence as a ‘Free Market’ economy. (Their 60-year experiment with extreme Socialism is concluding and has yielded a verdict: Failure). The realities and possibilities of Cuba’s past and future are identified early in the Go Lean book, embedded in the opening Declaration of Interdependence, pronouncing a need for reconciliation efforts (Page 12):
xiii. Whereas the legacy of dissensions in many member-states (for example: Haiti and Cuba) will require a concerted effort to integrate the exile community’s repatriation, the Federation must arrange for Reconciliation Commissions to satiate a demand for justice.
Change is on the way for Cuba!
Already the Castro’s (Fidel & Raul) have moved on from the daily administration of the country; (Fidel has died and Raul has retired). See the related VIDEO in the Appendix below.
But 60 years is still 60 years; these Bad Old Days have created quite a legacy to overcome. This actuality “cries out” for a reboot and a turn-around. The 2013 Go Lean book anticipated as such and introduced the proposal for a Marshall Plan for Cuba in order to reform and transform that society. The country is a de facto Failed-State.
While the purpose of the Go Lean roadmap is NOT Cuba alone, we know that we cannot elevate the societal engines for all of the Caribbean while ignoring Cuba. It possesses 26% of the region’s population and a huge portion of the landmass. There is no Caribbean without Cuba.
So to repeat, if we can fix Cuba, we can fix the entire Caribbean region. This is the “Why’; but for the “How”; we need that Marshall Plan.
The focus of the Go Lean roadmap is the recognition that our region’s status quo is bad, critical and even to be considered “in crisis”. The book declares that “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste”, intimating that we must use crises as opportunities to forge change. This is the rationale for the Marshall Plan for Cuba. See the book’s proposal here (Page 236):
| The Bottom Line on Marshall Plan By the end of World War II much of Europe was devastated. The Marshall Plan, named after the then Secretary of State and retired general George Marshall, was the American program to aid Europe where the United States gave monetary support to help rebuild European economies after the end of the war. During the four years (1948 – 1952) that the plan was operational, US $13 billion in economic and technical assistance was given to help the recovery of the European countries. The plan looked to the future, and did not focus on the destruction caused by the war. Much more important were efforts to modernize European industrial and business practices using high-efficiency American models, reduce artificial trade barriers, and instill a sense of hope and self-reliance. This worked! By 1952 as the funding ended, the economy of every participant state had surpassed pre-war levels. Generally, economists agree that the Marshall Plan was one of the first elements of European integration, as it erased trade barriers and set up institutions to coordinate the economy on a regional level—today, the European Union, the latest successor of the integration effort, is the world largest integrated economy. |
Will someone walk-up to Cuba and give them $13 Billion (or $91 Billion in today’s dollars) to reboot, recover and turn-around 60 years of dysfunction?
Probably, not!
It will be up to the Caribbean to solve the Caribbean’s problems. We have more than one Failed-State; think Haiti. We have many other member-states, just a few notches behind Cuba & Haiti on the Failed-State indices. The lyrics of this song – “Lean On Me” – nails it:
If there is a load you have to bear
That you can’t carry
I’m right up the road
I’ll share your load
If you just call me
— Lean On Me; by Bill Withers (1971)
Cuba’s 60-year experiment with extreme Socialism is concluding with this Failed-State acknowledgement. Now, we must execute strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to effect the needed reboot, recovery and turn-around. Yes, we can succeed, the same as Europe succeeded with the 4-year execution of their Marshall Plan.
Yes, we can! The next step:
Invite Cuba to join the regional integration effort; such as the Caribbean Community (CariCom).
The book Go Lean … Caribbean, serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). It provides this one advocacy for Cuba, entitled: “10 Ways to Re-boot Cuba“. These “10 Ways” include the following highlights, headlines and excerpts:
| 1 | Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market – Ratify treaty for the CU.
This regional re-boot 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. Following the model of European integration, the CU will be the representative and negotiating body for Cuba and the entire region for all trade and security issues. This helps to assuage the political adversity expected from Anti-Castro [and Anti-Socialists] groups. |
| 2 | Political Neutrality of the Union
Cuba is the only Communist-led state in the CU region. Other states have multiple party systems: left-leaning or right-leaning governments; many have more than 2 parties. The CU is officially neutral! The election of the popular leaders of each country is up to that country. The Election functionality of member-states can be outsourced to the CU as the organization structure will provide the systems, processes and personnel to facilitate smooth and fair election. |
| 3 | US Trade Embargo By-Pass
The US embargo against Cuba is an economic, and financial embargo imposed in October 1960. It was designed to punish Cuba to dissuade communism and the nationalization of private property during the revolution. To date, there are judgments of up to $6 billion worth of claims against the Cuban government. Despite this US action, the rest of the Caribbean, Canada and Europe do trade with Cuba, with no repercussions in their relationship with the US. It is expected that after Fidel and Raul Castro, there will be greater liberalization of trade and diplomacy with the US. |
| 4 | Marshall Plan for Cuba
To reboot Cuba will require a mini-Marshall Plan. The infrastructure, for the most part, is still the same as in 1958. The engines of the CU will enable a rapid upgrade of the infra-structure and some “low hanging fruit” for returns on the investment. The US-based Cuba Policy Foundation estimates that the embargo costs the U.S. economy $3.6 billion per year in economic output. The vision is for the CU to be the benefactor of a re-booted Cuban economy, not the US. |
| 5 | Leap Frog Philosophy
There is no need to move Cuba’s 1950’s technology baseline to the 1960’s, then the 1970’s, and so on; rather, the vision is to leap-frog Cuba to where technology is going. This includes advance urban planning concepts like electrified light-rail, prefab house, alternative energies and e-delivery of governmental services and payment systems. |
| 6 | Repatriation and Reconciliation of the Cuban Diaspora |
| 7 | Access to Capital Markets |
| 8 | Optimization of Agricultural Exports |
| 9 | National Historic Places |
| 10 | World Heritage Sites
As of 2012, there are 9 World Heritage Sites in Cuba. The CU will promote these sites as tourist attractions for the domestic and foreign markets. |
Now is the time to prepare the Marshall Plan to execute in Cuba.
Cuba needs the Caribbean and the Caribbean needs Cuba; the more people/places we can leverage, the better. This is entry 2-of-5 in this series of commentaries on the Marshall Plan, the historic European one and Caribbean versions. Here, as follows, is the full series being presented this month of May (2019):
- Marshall Plan: A Lesson in History
- Marshall Plan: Cuba – An Imminent need for ‘Free Market’ Emergence
- Marshall Plan: Haiti – Past time for Mitigation
- Marshall Plan: Funding – What Purse to Fund Our Plans?
- Marshall Plan: Is $91 Billion a Redux for Puerto Rico?
In this entry for this series we focus on Cuba, reforming and transforming that homeland. The theme of rebooting Cuba – the story arc and progress towards a ‘Free Market’ – has been detailed in many previous Go Lean commentaries; consider this sample list here:
| https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16864 | Cuba’s Progress: New Constitution with some ‘Free Market’ Guarantees |
| https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14732 | ‘Red Letter Day’ for Cuba – Raul Castro Retires |
| https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7412 | The Road to Restoring Cuba: Normalization of Travel, Mail, Internet, etc. |
| https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3455 | Restoration of Diplomatic Relations Between Cuba and the USA |
| https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3354 | CariCom Chairman calls for an end to US embargo on Cuba |
| https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2330 | ‘Raul Castro reforms not enough’, Cuba’s in-country bishops declare |
| https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1609 | Cuba’s Parliament mulls economy and some ‘Free Market’ changes |
| https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=789 | A Lesson in History – America’s War on the Caribbean |
| https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=436 | Cuba Approves New “Law on Foreign Investment” – a Start for Progress |
The status quo for the Caribbean is deficient and defective. The status quo for Cuba is deficient and defective. This same assessment requires some of the same solutions. If/when we fix Cuba, we fix the entire region.
Cuba needs a Marshall Plan.
The entire Caribbean needs a Way Forward.
Our Way Forward for the entire Caribbean includes the entire Caribbean, with Cuba too. So we have prepared the region for this full inclusion of Cuba in the political, social, musical, athletic, security and economic fabric of the regional society. This is the Caribbean’s future … and Cuba’s future. This is how we intend to make our homeland, Cuba included, a better place to live, work and play. 🙂
About the Book
The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:
- Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
- Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
- Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.
The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society.
Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!
——-
Who We Are
The movement behind the Go Lean book – a non-partisan, apolitical, religiously-neutral Community Development Foundation chartered for the purpose of empowering and re-booting economic engines – stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the aforementioned Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):
xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.
xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.
xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.
Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.
————-
Appendix VIDEO – Cuba After Castros: Facing the future without Fidel and Raul Castro – https://youtu.be/0hJrXYnpqbE
TRT World
Published on Apr 15, 2018 – Cuba’s President Raul Castro will step down on Thursday. His departure will mean the end of almost 60 years of the Castro family’s dominance over the Carribbean island. In the second part of our series on Cuba, Giles Gibson reports on Raul Castro, who in 2008, took over from his more famous brother Fidel.
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