March 2020 – Go Lean…Caribbean

Month: March 2020

BHAG – Caribbean Media: Learning from Netflix et al

Posted on March 29, 2020 in Economics, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

All stakeholders in America – and other countries – must act now to “flatten the curve” with this Coronavirus crisis:

There is the role for doctors, nurses and other clinicians in the delivery of medical best practices; then there is also the role for the general public. Yes, the Public Health prescription for America to get past this Coronavirus crisis is abbreviated to these 3 words:

Netflix and chill …

Yep, it is that simple; the country needs to Shelter-in-Place and practice Social Distancing, so the best option is to stay home and occupy your time with streaming video and other online media.

That is it! That is the heavy-lifting that Americans need to do to sustain their economy. (Overall, “Hollywood” has been severely impacted by this COVID-19 pandemic – see Appendix VIDEO).

Netflix, as the market leader – as of April 2019 … over 148 million paid subscriptions worldwide, including 60 million in the United States, and over 154 million subscriptions total including free trials^[12] – is being presented here as a “metonym“ …

[Metonym = a word, name, or expression used as a substitute for something else with which it is closely associated; like Wall Street for American Capital Markets or Hollywood for American Movie-TV-Game industries].

… an icon that symbolizes the rest of the media industry delivered by Internet & Communications Technologies (ICT). While Netflix is #1 – as a financial opportunity, early adaptors have seen an amazing 15,460% return on their investment – there are other streaming sites that deliver the same functionality. According to Wikipedia, this whole industry is referred to as:

Over-the-top media service
An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a streaming media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms, the companies that traditionally act as a controller or distributor of such content.^[1]

The term is most synonymous with subscription-based video-on-demand (SVoD) services that offer access to film and television content (including existing series acquired from other producers, as well as original content produced specifically for the service). Examples include:

Amazon Music, Apple TV+, Disney+, Google Play Movies & TV, HBO Max, Hulu, iTunes, Netflix, Prime Video, SiriusXM, and YouTube Premium.

OTT also encompasses a wave of “skinny” television services that offer access to live streams of linear specialty channels, similar to a traditional satellite or cable TV provider, but streamed over the public Internet, rather than a closed, private network with proprietary equipment such as set-top boxes.

Over-the-top services are typically accessed via websites on personal computers, as well as via apps on mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablets), digital media players (including video game consoles), or televisions with integrated Smart TV platforms.

Due to the public assimilation of these OTT services, the traditional American television networks have responded to the competition – for public eyeballs – with streaming products of their own. Consider these two examples:

CBS All Access – [This] American over-the-top subscription streaming video on demand service owned and operated by CBS Interactive, a subsidiary of ViacomCBS. It offers original content, content newly aired on CBS’s broadcast properties, and content from CBS’s library. In the United States, many markets offer a live stream of the local CBS affiliate’s main channel.
The service is noted for streaming the Grammy Awards and Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard,^[1] among other original shows. As of February 2019, it has more than 4 million subscribers.^[2][3]

Peacock (NBC) – an upcoming American over-the-top subscription video on demand streaming service by NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Named after the logo of NBC, the service is set to launch on July 15, 2020, with early availability for Xfinity customers starting on April 15, 2020.^[1][2][3]
… [The new service will feature] content from its entertainment brands. It was also announced that the service would be free and ad-supported for customers of NBCUniversal pay-TV, Comcast, and eventually Sky; viewers without a pay-TV subscription or viewers who do not want advertisements can also subscribe to an ad-free version of the service. … [The service will] also include new original programming.

There is a lesson in this directive for us in the Caribbean; we must design, develop and deploy our own Caribbean streaming network, our own Netflix. This is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) for Caribbean society; we must do what America has done with Netflix and do it better. The extra effort is tied to the fact that we are more pluralistic with a multilingual society. The Caribbean solution must accommodate 4 languages: Dutch, English, French and Spanish so as to cover the 42 million in the 30 member-states.

No one language is to be considered the default or preferred over the others.

Every month, the movement behind the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean presents a Teaching Series on a subject germane to Caribbean life. For this March 2020, our focus is on BHAG efforts that are too big for any one member-state alone. This is the final entry for this series, 6-of-6, which addresses live-work-play activities for all economic engines in society: economic, security and governance.

The full catalog of the series for this month – under the BHAG theme – is listed as follows:

BHAG – The Audacity of Hope – Yes, we can!
BHAG – Regional Currency – In God We Trust
BHAG – Infrastructure Spending … finally funding Toll Roads
BHAG – One Voice – Foreign Policy and Diplomatic Stance
BHAG – Outreach to the World – Why Not a Profit Center
BHAG – Netflix, Hulu, CBS, Peacock è Caribbean Media

In addition to the 42 million people in the Caribbean member-states, there is also the Diaspora, estimated in some circles to be 20 – 26 million people; (the disparity is due to the status of first generation “legacies”; only “some” identify with the homeland). Any network that emerges from this Caribbean effort would have the Diaspora included in the target market. This is a familiar theme for this movement behind the Go Lean book. In addition to the direct references to Internet & Communications Technologies (ICT) in the 2013 book, there have been a number of previous Go Lean commentaries that elaborated on this theme of deploying a new ICT-based Caribbean network; consider this sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17822	Caribbean Youtuber providing a Role Model with Expanded Audiences
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17250	Way Forward – Caribbean ‘Single Market’ for Media
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15858	Network Mandates for a New Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14224	How the Youth are Consuming Media Today
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13321	Making a ‘Pluralistic Democracy’ – Multilingual Realities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6464	Sports Role Model – ‘WWE Network’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3244	Sports Role Model – espnW.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2171	Sports Role Model – Turn On the SEC Network

In the Go Lean book and these previous blog-commentaries, this movement asserts that the market organizations and community investments to garner economic benefits of ICT is within reach of our people, with the proper technocracy. As related in a previous blog-commentary, the eco-system for streaming videos – i.e. Netflix, Hulu, WWE, ESPN-W, Amazon Prime, etc. – is inclusive of the roadmap’s quest to make the Caribbean region a better place to live, work and play.

Yes, we can …

… build our own Caribbean streaming network. We have the successful model to emulate in the deliveries of the company Amazon. They are an e-Commerce company that processes fulfilment services and ICT media services as well. We have previously (October 1, 2018) elaborated on this Amazon role model:

Amazon: ‘What I want to be when I grow up’
This one company is worth US$1 Trillion. The whole Caribbean’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is [far] less; it is our plan to elevate the economic engines in the region to get the economy’s output up to $800 Billion.

Amazon is a model for e-Commerce, logistics, media and innovation. This is the role model we want for our Caribbean Postal Union and the aligning online portal, www.myCaribbean.gov. It is good to have a roadmap to follow to duplicate the successful journey of Amazon.

This commentary concludes this March 2020 series on our Big Hairy Audacious Goals for the Caribbean. Many people are able to consume Netflix and other streaming services now, though the networks and programming is not really intended for us in the Caribbean. It is time now to design, develop and deploy our own. This will be a good investment for the future of media (TV and Movies) and ICT in our region.

This vision of our own streaming network is conceivable, believable and achievable. We urged all Caribbean stakeholders to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap. This is how we make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

——————

Appendix VIDEO – Coronavirus – Covid-19: film industry counting the cost of ongoing crisis – https://youtu.be/h-ZW6OU6tIU

FRANCE 24 English

Posted March 26, 2020 – The film industry, like many others, is affected by the coronavirus pandemic. FRANCE 24’s culture editor Eve Jackson tells us more.

Subscribe to France 24 now: http://f24.my/youtubeEN
FRANCE 24 live news stream: all the latest news 24/7 http://f24.my/YTliveEN
Visit our website: http://www.france24.com
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://f24.my/youtubeEN
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.Eng…
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Category: News & Politics

Share this post:

CPU, Model, New Media

BHAG – Outreach to the World: Why Not a Profit Center – Encore

Posted on March 28, 2020 in Economics, Government, Planning, Strategy

The plan to reform and transform the Caribbean member-states does not ignore the rest of the world. No, it recognizes that there must be a lot of “coming and going” with other people in other places.

We honestly admit that many of our own citizens have abandoned the homeland, yet these ones still want to be engaged with Caribbean institutions and can truly still have a positive impact on our societal engines. If only we can “profit” from this engagement.

Yes, we can …

How about a plan for the Caribbean member-states to build-out their “Outreach to the World” – Embassies, Consulates and Trade Mission Offices – in such a way so as to generate traffic from consumer and commercial stakeholders – think: retail, dining, entertainment and amusements.

Generate traffic and generate profits!

This is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG), but this can be done; this is being done; this could be expanded upon to a heightened extent.

Every month, the movement behind the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean presents a Teaching Series on a subject germane to Caribbean life, either at home or abroad. For this March 2020, our focus is on BHAG efforts that are too big for any one member-state alone. This is entry 5-of-6 for this series, which embraces the reality of the Caribbean Outreach to the World.

The full catalog of the series for this month – under the BHAG theme – is listed as follows:

BHAG – The Audacity of Hope – Yes, we can!
BHAG – Regional Currency – In God We Trust
BHAG – Infrastructure Spending … finally funding Toll Roads
BHAG – One Voice – Foreign Policy and Diplomatic Stance
BHAG – Outreach to the World – Why Not a Profit Center
BHAG – Netflix, Hulu, CBS, Peacock ==> Caribbean Media

In addition to the 42 million people in the Caribbean member-states, there is also the Diaspora, estimated in some circles to be 10 to 26 million people; (the disparity is due to the status of first generation “legacies”; only “some” identify with the homeland). So the subject of Caribbean Outreach to the World is familiar for this movement behind the Go Lean book. In addition to the direct references to Diaspora and Trade Mission Offices in the 2013 book, there have been a number of previous Go Lean commentaries that elaborated on this theme of Outreach to this population; consider this sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=19134	Caribbean Diaspora – All Member-states – Not the Panacea
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17992	The ‘Best of the Caribbean’ … now live abroad
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16532	Diaspora Reckoning – Settlers -vs- Immigrants – ‘We’ never catch-up
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16395	The Caribbean – A People or A Place?
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16208	Caribbean Trade and Outreach Can Transform Society
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15858	Opportunities for a New Media Network to reach the Diaspora
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15658	Realities and Dangers of American Immigrant Life – We need to protect our Diaspora
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14746	Calls for Repatriation Strategy
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13604	Outreach Goal: We Want Diaspora to Retire ‘Back at Home’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7151	The Caribbean is Looking For Heroes … to Return

In fact, this exact concept of Outreach to the World – Why Not A Profit Center has been addressed specifically in this prior Go Lean blog-commentary from May 3, 2014. It is only appropriate to Encore that 6-year old commentary now. But imagine how much progress has been made since then. For example, consider this establishment in Berlin Germany where developers have captured a Tropical Island experience indoors, open 365 days a year. Consider this VIDEO here:

VIDEO – Tropical Islans Water Park! – https://youtu.be/MRywPptaOrA

Posted March 12, 2017 – Tropical Islands is a tropical water park built in an old air ship hanger that protected air ships in bad weather. It is located about 45 minutes south of Berlin, Germany and is set in the largest freestanding hall in the world.
Category: Film & Animation

This is not the only one – there are many more “Indoor Water Parks” throughout the world; consider this list:

30 Top Indoor Water Parks around the World
i.e. #21: Castaway Bay, Cedars Point, Sandusky, Ohio, USA

Why can’t we do the same in other locations – especially our Trade Mission sites – in our Outreach to the World?!

“Can’t bring the people to the Caribbean? Then bring the Caribbean to the people.” – Yes, this is a BHAG.

See the Encore of the May 3, 2014 commentary here-now:

———————–

Go Lean Commentary – Why not … a Profit Center?

Most Caribbean countries have Embassies, Consular Offices and/or Trade Mission Offices in world capitals. These are normally cost centers, where the governments have to maintain the cost burden for these facilities. But why do they have to be cost centers, why not profit centers?

Why not … a profit center? As in one integrated, consolidated center on behalf of all the Caribbean member-states – a classic “cooperative” model. This strategy meets a basic requirement of retail design: traffic. All the embassy, consular and trade mission activities would create impactful retail traffic demands.

This vision comes into focus as a result of the emergence of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), and the news article^[c] below. The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the CU. The roadmap fully anticipated integrating and consolidating Trade Mission Offices (Page 116) to advance the causes of the Caribbean people in foreign countries; eight (8) cities are specified in details.

The resultant facility, and accompanying eco-system, would fulfill a CU mandate, global outreach to expand Caribbean trade within the source country, city and regional area.

From the outset of the roadmap, the intent to leverage Trade Mission Offices was pronounced in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 13), as follows:

xix. Whereas our legacy in recent times is one of societal abandonment, it is imperative that incentives and encouragement be put in place to first dissuade the human flight, and then entice and welcome the return of our Diaspora back to our shores. … The right of repatriation is to be extended to any natural born citizens despite any previous naturalization to foreign sovereignties.

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

The roadmap also urges the urban design approach for mixed-use developments; (Page 234). This dictates a structure designed as retail (ground floor), mezzanine for offices, and higher levels/floors for residences (apartments, condominiums, and hotels). See a sample site in a US Midwestern city here – Photos & VIDEO:

VIDEO Midtown Crossing Commercial – https://youtu.be/3Ua3FjWLfKk

A model of a successful mixed-use development is the Omaha-Nebraska Midtown Crossing^[a].

Consider New York City; it is one of 8 mission cities envisioned. This map below and the Appendix Table lists all the addresses of the Caribbean embassies, consulates, and outreach offices in New York City^[b] – all within a 5 mile radius. Imagine if all those facilities were in one property – a mixed-use development.

Imagine too, a climate-controlled atrium with Caribbean fauna & flora; a food court showcasing cuisines from all the participating Caribbean countries, (up to 30); art galleries, convention/banquet facilities, exhibit halls, night clubs, performing arts theaters and maybe even an indoor entertainment center (for instance, modeling the legacy of Caribbean Pirates). This vision would generate multiple streams of revenue – a profit center as opposed to 30 cost centers.

This vision would benefit a lot of Caribbean stakeholders with support and outreach services – those desiring to live, work, learn, heal and play in the Caribbean. These stakeholders include:

Visitors
Caribbean Citizens (travelling abroad)
Diaspora
Foreign Direct Investors
Students

There is the need for this manifestation right now in London, England (another designated Trade Mission Office – Page 116 ); as depicted in this referenced news story^[c]:

LONDON, England (May 1, 2014) — Overseas Territory representatives from the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Montserrat, the Cayman Islands and Anguilla met with United Kingdom business networking specialists, CaribDirect International Business Network (CIBN) in London last week, as the first networking session focusing on trade and investment gathers momentum.

These discussions, held at the offices of the Bermuda representative, focused on introducing the CaribDirect International Business Network (CIBN) concept; outlining its broad scope; revealing the economic and political opportunities available for the Caribbean Overseas Territories (OTs); and examining practical ways to work together for the benefit of the dependent territories of the Caribbean.

CIBN is an agency designed to facilitate and connect entrepreneurs and business people in the UK with Caribbean government and business representatives for trade and investment.

Representatives attending the meeting were Cayman Islands’ deputy director Charles Parchment, Montserrat director Janice Panton, BVI London Office director Kedrick Malone, Bermuda director Kimberley Durrant, CaribDirect director of policy Ron Belgrave and CaribDirect multi-media CEO David Roberts.

If only this profit center concept existed now … in London … and in New York.

The CU roadmap is designed to bring change to the Caribbean region. This commentary demonstrates that a lean, nimble organization structure can also be “at the corner of preparation and opportunity” and that opportunity can be made in turning a cost center into a profit center. This structure can optimize the Caribbean’s economic, security and governing engines – no matter the location. If the Trade Mission Offices were constituted as profit centers, the following details from the book Go Lean…Caribbean would manifest, with impacted community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocates; listed as follows:

Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 37
Strategy – Repatriating Caribbean Diaspora	Page 47
Strategy – Inviting Foreign Direct Investments	Page 48
Tactical – Separation of Powers – State Department	Page 80
Tactical – Design Requirements for the Capital District	Page 110
Implementation – Trade Mission Objectives	Page 116
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate	Page 118
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization	Page 119
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Trade	Page 128
Advocacy – Lessons from New York City	Page 137
Advocacy – Ways to Enhance Tourism	Page 190
Advocacy – Impact the Diaspora	Page 217
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living	Page 234

The Go Lean roadmap will make the outreach, and foreign support, for Caribbean stakeholders more efficient and effective. This plan would impact and change the Caribbean and the foreign world we reach out to.

All Caribbean stakeholders – citizens, businesses and governments alike – are urged to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap.

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

———————

Appendix – References

a. http://www.midtowncrossing.com/about/default.aspx
b. http://michaelbenjamin2012.com/2012/06/21/caribbean-region-consulates-in-nyc/
c. http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/topstory-Caribbean-overseas-territories-meet-with-UK-networking-specialists-20934.html

———————

Appendix – TABLE – Caribbean States Mission Offices – New York City

Member-State	Address
Anguilla	845 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022 Phone: 212-745-0277
Antigua & Barbuda	610 Fifth Avenue, Ste 311, New York, NY 10020 Phone: 212-541-4117
Aruba	666 Third Avenue, 19th floor, New York, NY 10017 Phone 877-388-2443
Bahamas	231 East 46^th Street, New York, NY 10017 Phone: 212-421-6420
Barbados	820 Second Avenue, 5^th Fl, New York, NY 10017 Phone: 212-551-4325
Belize	675 Third Avenue, Ste 1911, New York, NY 10017 Phone: 212-593-0999
Bermuda	845 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022 Phone: 212-745-8272
British Virgin Islands	845 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022 Phone: 212-745-8272
Cayman Islands	845 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022 Phone: 212-745-8272
Cuba	315 Lexington Ave 38th Street New York, NY 10016 Ph. 212-689-7215
Dominica	800 Second Ave, Ste 400H, New York, NY 10017 Phone: 212-949-0853
Dominican Republic	1500 Broadway, Ste 410, New York, NY 10036 Phone: 212-768-2480
Grenada	800 Second Ave, Ste 400K, New York, NY 10017 Phone 212-599-0301
Guadeloupe	45 W 34th Street, Suite 703, New York, NY 10001 Phone 877-203-2551
Guyana	370 Seventh Avenue, 4^th Fl, New York, NY 10001 Phone: 212-947-5110
Haiti	271 Madison Avenue, 17^th Fl, New York, NY 10016 Phone: 212-967-9767
Jamaica	767 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Phone: 212-935-9000
Martinique	444 Madison Avenue, 16^th Fl, New York, NY 10022 Phone: 212-838-6887
Monserrat	845 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022 Phone: 212-745-0200
Netherland Antilles:Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Eustatius, Saba	1 Rockefeller Plaza 11th Floor, New York, NY 10020 212-246-1429
Puerto Rico	666 5th Avenue # 15l, New York, NY, 10103-1599. Phone: 212-333-0300
St. Barthelemy	934 Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10021 Phone: 212-606-3601
St. Kitts & Nevis	414 East 75^th Street, New York, NY 10103 – 212-535-5521
St. Lucia	800 Second Avenue, 9^th Fl, New York, NY 10017 – 212-697-9360
St. Maarten	675 Third Avenue, Ste 1807, New York, NY 10017 – 800-786-2278
St. Vincent & The Grenadines	801 Second Avenue, 21^st Fl, New York, NY – 212-687-4490
Suriname	1 UN Plaza, 26^th Fl, New York, NY 10017 – 212-826-0660
Trinidad & Tobago	125 Maiden Lane, Unit 4A, 4^th Fl, New York, NY 10038 Ph. 212-682-7272
Turks & Caicos Island	845 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022 Phone: 212-745-8272
US Virgin Islands	45 W 34th Street, Suite 703, New York, NY 10001 Phone 877-203-2551

Share this post:

Diaspora, Foreign Policy, Model, Transform

[Top]

BHAG – One Voice: Foreign Policy and Diplomatic Stance

Posted on March 27, 2020 in Government, Planning, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

Face the truth, the “little one” is often invisible and ignored …

… but a Bible prophecy gives hope that the small inconsequential one can someday become significant and actually have a voice that is heard by the “powers that be”. Here is that prophecy from the Bible, from the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament); it is a great inspiration:

A little one shall become a thousand, And a small one a strong nation.- Isaiah 60:22 New King James Version

Here is another great directive from The Bible – this time from the Christian Greek Scriptures (New Testament), from Act 8:6:

And the people with one accord ^G3661 gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.

“One Accord”, in this case, does not refer to the vehicle from the Japanese Auto Company Honda …

… rather, it refers to the Art & Science of speaking in unison. This harmonizes with the source Greek word that is used in the above scripture: Homothumadon, which means “with one mind, with one accord, with one passion”.

This is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) of the planners for a new Caribbean. This was enunciated in the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean as a necessary engagement for the 30 member-states of the Caribbean region. Now more than ever, we – all 42 million people in the region – need to speak with one accord, one voice and one passion.

The average population for these territories is not the arithmetic formula of 1.4 million people or (42,198,874 divided by 30). No, the truth is, there are 4 Big Islands, the Greater Antilles of Cuba, Hispaniola (Haiti & Dominican Republic), Puerto Rico and Jamaica that have the majority of the population (11.2, 9.0 + 9.5, 4.0 and 2.8 million respectively). While the remaining 26 member-states only total 10 million people; some member-states (15) are so small that they only have 100,000 people or less. (All these figures are as of 2010 and published in the Go Lean book, Page 66).

So the small one can become a strong nation by speaking in unison, with One Voice One Accord.

This is entry 4-of-6 for the March 2020 monthly series from the movement behind the Go Lean book. This submission asserts that there is the need to reform the Foreign Policy of the Caribbean member-states, and further that the voices emanating from 30 different member-states now only sounds like noise. What we need instead is one melodious sound. This is why it is important for the region to speak with One Voice One Accord.

How is this possible, considering that there are 4 different languages and 5 different colonial legacies? The answer is heavy-lifting; but alas, we have the sample-example of a successful execution by the European Union with 28 countries and 15 languages. See how the Go Lean book related this:

The Bottom Line on EU Foreign & Security Policy
The European Union (EU) has its own foreign and security policy, which has developed gradually over many years and which enables it to speak – and act – as one in world affairs. Acting together the 28 member countries have greater weight and influence than if they act individually, following 28 different policies. The EU’s common foreign and security policy has been further strengthened by the 2009 Lisbon Treaty, which created the post of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. At the same time, it created a European Diplomatic Service – the European External Action Service (EEAS).

How about a Caribbean Diplomatic Service? Yes, we can.

Where as the Europeans developed their unified voice “gradually over many years”, our Caribbean must have our unified voice immediately. We must not settle for the luxury of “gradually over many years”. No, we have an urgent-emergent situation transpiring in the region where we need to be One Voice One Accord now. This urgency-emergency relates to the Coronavirus that is rocking our region and the whole world. See this chart of Coronavirus incidences in the region:

Title – Coronavirus cases in the Caribbean as of March 21 at 1 pm

Confirmed Caribbean coronavirus cases as of today, March 21:

Source: Retrieved March 23, 2020 from: http://www.loopnewsbarbados.com/content/coronavirus-cases-caribbean-date-11

China, South Korea, Iran, Italy have individually engaged in unifying their voice for consistent leadership in this Coronavirus battle. Now, we have many Caribbean nations that have been afflicted – people have died – but we need the rest of the world to respect our policies and decision-making. There need not be any guessing as to whether Caribbean nations are open or closed. We need the full region to “shelter-in-place” everywhere and close our borders. We need to allow this crisis to pass, with minimal contagions, so that we can quickly re-open to a disease free environment.

Remember, the Cruise ships in our waters as well.

There is much for us to learn by studying the success and failure of other peoples. Right now today, there is a lesson for us to contemplate from the American metropolitan area of Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, where the population is 7,690,420 (according to the U.S. Census Bureau‘s 2018 population estimates,^[4]) across a 13-county region. The 10 urban-suburban counties, despite having their own economic, security and governing engines, now need One Voice One Accord, in their management of the Coronavirus crisis; see this news article here:

Title: Dallas County judge to Collin County: Keep people at home
Sub-title: Clay Jenkins’ admonition comes on a day when North Texas tallies 100 more coronavirus cases. Dallas County had a seventh death, and Denton County recorded its first fatality.

On a day when more than 100 coronavirus cases were reported in North Texas, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins gave a blunt message Thursday night to counties that haven’t enacted shelter-in-place orders, singling out Collin County, which has told residents to stay home but told businesses to stay open.

“We need those in our region who have not moved to heed the scientific advice to do it now,” Jenkins said. “Every day we wait costs lives.”

Dallas County was the first in the state to announce a shelter-in-place order, which went into effect Monday night.

Jenkins said he and his counterparts in the 10-county area took part in a call Thursday with Jim Hinton, the chief executive of Baylor Scott & White Health System. Collin County was the only county that didn’t participate, he said.

Hinton told the county judges that “the only way we can keep people safe and not overrun our hospitals is [to] shelter in place,” Jenkins said at a news conference Thursday evening.

…

Jenkins said he’s taking on the issue of regional cooperation more bluntly “because every day gets us closer to that day when we don’t have enough hospital beds.”

“I don’t want us to get there,” he said.

Asked about the call with the hospital executive, Hill said it was accurate that he didn’t participate but that he had participated in two other calls with county judges Thursday that Jenkins didn’t take part in.

“We need regional cooperation right now in North Texas,” Hill said. “And I urge Judge Clay Jenkins to reconsider his position.”

…

See the full news article here: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/public-health/2020/03/26/dallas-county-reports-56-new-coronavirus-cases-7th-death/ retrieved March 26, 2020.

This commentary details the Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) for the Caribbean, that of having a unified voice on the world scene. This is only possible if we were a unified Single Market; then we will have the size – 42 million people – and leverage the whole region as a single entity; this is much better than any one small member-state “making noise alone”. There is an actual advocacy for this purpose in the Go Lean book; see here some of the specific plans, excerpts and headlines from Page 102, entitled:

10 Foreign Policy Initiatives at Start-up

1	*Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market* Confederation Treaty: Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU)** The CU is modeled after the EU and will allow for the unification of the Caribbean region into one market of 42 million people across 30 member-states, thereby creating an economic zone to promote and protect the interest of the participant trading partners. The CU’s Office of Trade Negotiation currently liaisons with foreign entities to secure better trade deals for the region; under the CU the first goal is to secure the Exclusive Economic Zone status, from the United Nations, for the territory between the islands. In addition, the CU treaty will allow for a collective security agreement of the Caribbean nations so as to ensure homeland security and negotiate better foreign relations with neighboring powers.
2	Speaking with one voice Acting together as the CU, the 30 member countries will have far greater weight and influence than if they act individually, following 30 different policies. The CU, in speaking for 42 million people, brings huge cost savings to the member-states by providing economies-of-scale for representative personnel and offices in foreign countries. The CU will not only perform diplomatic services, but economic ones as well. There is the need for collective bargaining with the Cruise Line industry. Then extending beyond the Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN), the CU will function as a Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) to garner savings for the member-states; and also create a revenue stream for the CU.
3	CU Security Pact
4	US Relationship The CU’s biggest neighbor is the United States, plus two member-states are US Territories. Plus, many of the Caribbean Diaspora live in the US. Therefore any serious foreign policy initiative must start with Washington, DC. The CU will staff an office in Washington to act as its legislative liaison (lobbyist) arm. The US also grants foreign aid to many CU member-states. The goal is to aggregate and streamline US aid to the region through the CU.
5	US Immigration Policy and ICE Policy-wise, the CU advocates repatriation and “drying up the brain drain”. But there are factions in the US that want to liberalize immigration and allow more foreigners to relocate to the US. On the other hand, there are factions that want to tighten US policy and secure the borders. The US agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) do exert some efforts to patrol the Caribbean region, as many illegal immigrants to the US use Caribbean pathways. The CU will advocate for more collaboration and intelligence sharing with ICE and embed CU personnel in tactical engagements.
6	Canada Relationship
7	EU Relationship
8	Mexico Relationship
9	South American Relationship
10	Intelligence Gathering and Analysis

This quest for One Voice One Accord for the 30 Caribbean member-states is one of our Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG). The full catalog of the series for this month – under the BHAG theme – is listed as follows:

BHAG – The Audacity of Hope – Yes, we can!
BHAG – Regional Currency – In God We Trust
BHAG – Infrastructure Spending … finally funding Toll Roads
BHAG – One Voice – Foreign Policy and Diplomatic stance
BHAG – Outreach to the World – Why Not a Profit Center
BHAG – Netflix, Hulu, CBS, Peacock ==> Caribbean Media

The subject of One Voice One Accord is familiar for this movement behind the Go Lean book. In addition to the direct references in the 2013 book, there have a number of previous Go Lean commentaries that elaborated on this theme; consider this sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=18243	After Hurricane Dorian, “Regionalism” new appreciation
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17250	Way Forward – Caribbean ‘Single Market’ for Voice & Media
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15858	Network Mandates – One Voice – for a New Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15521	A Plan for Caribbean Unity – Finally for Tourism
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15245	Righting a Wrong: Re-thinking CSME
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14718	‘At the Table’ or ‘On the Menu’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3090	Introduction to Europe – All Grown Up and Unified

The goal of this Go Lean roadmap is to reform and transform the 30 member-states of the Caribbean, individually and collectively as One Single Market – One Voice One Accord. This is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal, but this is conceivable, believable and achievable.

The Coronavirus crisis is not the first challenge to the global, regional, national or local well-being. We guarantee you that this will not be the last; we must simply be prepared or On Guard for any threats to our society. This is the quest of the Go Lean roadmap; this CU effort may be our best solution for protecting and promoting our society. We therefore urge all Caribbean stakeholders to lean-in to this roadmap. The CU Trade Federation is not the first attempt to unify the Caribbean region for a regional Public Health stance; no, there is CariCom and their related agencies; see the Appendix VIDEO below. The Go Lean movement have always maintained that CariCom is inadequate for Caribbean integration; it does not even include Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Island, the French or Dutch Caribbean territories. In fact, CariCom only includes 15 million of the 42 million in the region; this is truly inadequate, so we recognize it only as a First Step for regional integration.

The Go Lean roadmap for the CU Trade Federation and all its embedded agencies is better … and timely for what we need right now and for the future.

Despite the challenges to our status quo, due to this COVID-19 Coronavirus crisis, this 2013 published plan is the Way Forward for Caribbean society. This is how we will make our homeland a better place to live, work, heal and play. 🙂

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

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

ix. Whereas the realities of healthcare and an aging population cannot be ignored and cannot be afforded without some advanced mitigation, the Federation must arrange for health plans to consolidate premiums of both healthy and sickly people across the wider base of the entire Caribbean population. The mitigation should extend further to disease management, wellness, mental health, obesity and smoking cessation programs. The Federation must proactively anticipate the demand and supply of organ transplantation as developing countries are often exploited by richer neighbors for illicit organ trade.

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 accidence 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 – CARICOM One on One – Interview with CARPHA’s Dr James Hospedales – https://youtu.be/865DWo7OKp0

CARICOM: Caribbean Community

Dr James Hospedales of the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) speaks with the CARICOM Secretariat’s Jascene Dunkley-Malcolm on Measles and Immunization

Category: Travel & Events

Share this post:

EU, Foreign Policy, Model, Transform

[Top]

BHAG – Infrastructure Spending … finally funding Toll Roads

Posted on March 16, 2020 in Economics, Government, Planning

Go Lean Commentary

I have a dream …
… that one day people can easily get from Point A to Point B here in their Caribbean homelands.

Is that so fanciful?

Is it so “pie in the sky” to think that our Caribbean communities can organize, plan and execute infrastructure projects so that people can safely travel by road, mitigating traffic congestion, and get to their destinations to live, work and play?

“Pie in the sky” or just “sky” is the key reference here. This commentary asserts that some of the congested streets in the Caribbean member-states can find relief by building “skyways” and overpasses; and they can be Toll Roads. (Considers these samples-examples)

This vision was always part of the roadmap, as described in the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean. This roadmap introduces the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) as a super-national entity with Port Authority functionalities, to build highways, bridges, tunnels, docks and other Public Works (infrastructure) to facilitate the societal engines (economics, security and governance) of the Caribbean region. The book describes that transportation solutions must be embedded into any plan to elevate Caribbean society. See this reference to Turnpike-Toll Roads in the book (Page 205) in this advocacy:

10 Ways to Improve Transportation
#4 – Turnpike: Land Highways
The CU will fund and build limited-access “toll ways” to expedite transportation of people and goods. The tolls will be rebated as incentives for carpools, ride-share and zero-emissions promotion. “Build it and they will come” is the mantra for putting in the highways away from the current population centers. Overall, every densely populated community should have one North-South and one East-West artery.

Imagine existing roads, but with additional lanes that are elevated above the existing roads. This would indeed provide solutions and relief to the current traffic congestion.

Questions: What is missing today? Why is it that the local Caribbean governments (and other Third World countries) are not doing this now?

Answer: Money!

This is the focus of this commentary: Funding Toll Roads.

How do we fund the construction of such Toll Roads?

The book’s excerpt states that “the CU will fund and build”; but the focus is on raising the money, not “swinging the hammer”. This is the dream, or Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG), to be able to generate capital for Public Works projects. Another excerpt from the Go Lean book details the Art and Science of municipal financing; see these summaries here (Page 175):

10 Ways to Impact Public Works
# 2 – Union Atlantic Turnpike
The Union Atlantic Turnpike is a big initiative of the CU to logistically connect all member-states for easier transport of goods and passengers. There are many transportation arteries and facilities envisioned for the Turnpike: Toll Roads, Railroads, Ferry Piers, and Navy Piers. The CU plan calls for underwater tunnels, causeways and bridges in narrow straits where the economics dictate. While some CU states already have railroad installations, there is no uniform management, oversight or standards. The CU will regulate the railroad industry to complement the other transportation modes to offer integrated solutions. This approach will allow the conformity and logistics so that passengers/cargo can efficiently move to trains, ferries, pipeline (cargo only) to highway-bound buses/trucks… and vice-versa.

# 10 – Capital Markets
A Single Market and Currency Union will allow for the emergence of viable capital markets for stocks and bonds (public and private), thereby creating the economic engine to fuel growth and development. This forges financial products for “pre” disaster project funding (drainage, levies, dykes, sea walls) and post disaster recovery (reinsurance sidecars).

There are role models for us to emulate. Here is one example; we have been to New York City; we have studied the history and the progress of their transportation-focused Public Works. We have even published previous commentaries on the Port Authority of New York – New Jersey and on the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s MetroCard payment system; (also see VIDEO’s – one factual and one satirical – in the Appendices below). So the lesson-learned is to have the organizational structure so as to fund the construction and management of transportation projects, such as Toll Roads; consider the case of the George Washington Bridge (picture above) that connects New York and New Jersey. See this historic milestone in the timeline:

The New York City Planning Commission approved the George Washington Bridge improvement in June 1957,^[147] and the Port Authority allocated funds to the improvement that July.^[148][149] – Source: – Wikipedia.

Just like that! One group of experts made the plan and another group of experts arranged the funding – this is an example of a technocracy, and a role model for us to emulate here in the Caribbean region.

This is entry 3-of-6 for the March 2020 monthly series from the movement behind the Go Lean book. This submission considers the mechanics of funding Public Works projects. The strategy is simple: each transportation project will apply tolls, to generate ongoing revenues. When there are thousands and millions of journeys, and a toll is charged every time, then the economics finally make sense.

The full catalog of the series for this month – under the BHAG theme – is listed as follows:

BHAG – The Audacity of Hope – Yes, we can!
BHAG – Regional Currency – In God We Trust
BHAG – Infrastructure Spending … finally funding Toll Roads
BHAG – One Voice – Foreign Policy and Diplomatic Stance
BHAG – Outreach to the World – Why Not a Profit Center
BHAG – Netflix, Hulu, CBS, Peacock ==> Caribbean Media

The subject of Infrastructure is a Big Deal for the consideration of reforming or transforming the Caribbean region. The premise of the Go Lean roadmap is that the leverage of the 30 member-states and 42 million people will allow for Public Works initiatives that are bigger and better than any single (one) member-state alone. “Toll Roads” is one such example, though only a subset of the planned Union Atlantic Turnpike. The plan is for the Turnpike Authority to design and facilitate one North-South and one East-West highway as applicable in each island or coastal-state.

Yes, the highways will be Toll Roads; that charges fees for each ride. The “small pennies add up to millions” over time. This funding mechanism of the Turnpike Authority allows present infrastructure investments based on those future revenues; think bonds and loans. Look again at the New York-New jersey Port Authority example; see their gross revenues here from a recent year (2012), as reported in a previous blog-commentaries – ‘Cannot Break Up the Port Authority’ from August 20, 2014:

PANYNJ Revenues / Profits

TOTAL AVIATION: +$2.5 BILLION

Airport
Profit

JFK

+$990 million

LaGuardia

+$273 million

Newark

+$1.3 million

Teterboro, Stewart, heliports

-$65 million

TOTAL BRIDGE AND TUNNEL: -$537 MILLION*

Bridge/Tunnel
Profit

GW Bridge

+$1.3 billion

Lincoln Tunnel

+167 million

Holland Tunnel

+$141 million

Port Authority Bus Terminal

-$479 million

PATH

-$2.3 billion

TOTAL PORT COMMERCE: -$755 MILLION*

Port
Profit

Port Newark

-$317 million

Port Jersey

-$184 million

Howland Hook

-$160 million

Brooklyn Marine Terminal

-$27 million

TOTAL WORLD TRADE CENTER: -$3.1 BILLION
GRAND TOTAL: -$2.5 BILLION

The total shows the authority doesn’t generate enough from tolls, fees and grants to cover its costs. It borrows to cover the shortfall.
*Total includes other entities not listed here.

Source: Phase II Report to the special committee of Port Authority’s board, prepared by consulting firm Navigant in September 2012.

All these revenues for the PANYNJ are used to “Service Debt”, make loan payments or pay-off bonds that funded these projects over the decades. The purpose of the Port Authority is “not to make a profit per se”, but rather to facilitate the infrastructure for the regional communities, so that the people (citizens) can successfully live, work and play. This is a Good model for us!

This theme of Caribbean infrastructure projects have been elaborated in many other previous Go Lean commentaries; see a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=19327	‘Missing Solar’ – Inadequacies Infrastructure Exposed to the World
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=18828	Big Infrastructure to Better Feed Ourselves – Temperate Foods
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=18266	After Dorian, Still no Flood Prevention – ‘Fool Me Twice’ on Flooding
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=18228	After Dorian, The Need for the Science of Power Restoration
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17925	What Went Wrong? Failing the Lessons from ‘Infrastructure 101’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17434	Moving Forward with Transportation Solutions
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17377	Marshall Plans – Funding: How to Pay for Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17337	Industrial Reboot – Amusement Parks
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15662	Build It and They Will Come – Manifesting High-Tech Neighborhoods
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13856	Lesson Learned – Big Projects Designed for Failure
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8590	Build It and They Will Come – Politics of Infrastructure

The goal of these projects are not just to alleviate traffic congestion. No, it is bigger than that. The goal is to connect the people and places of the Caribbean region, better. This is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal, but this is conceivable, believable and achievable.

To recap, there is reform: mitigate traffic congestions by building bigger, better roads, maybe even adding skyways and overpasses …

… and there is transform: deploying alternative transit options: light rail, unmanned people-movers, busways, and even bicycle lanes and safe-ways.

This is the Way Forward for Caribbean society. 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 & 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 accidence 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.

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

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

——————-

Appendix VIDEO – The Port of New York and New Jersey – https://youtu.be/7XTi2oyPs2k

Port Authority New York & New Jersey
Posted February 20, 2019 – The Port of New York & New Jersey is the largest port on the U.S. East Coast and the third largest in the U.S. The Port plays an important role in getting goods to the region and to key inland markets while also contributing to the local communities we inhabit and our region.

http://www.portnynj.com

Category: Science & Technology

——————-

Appendix VIDEO – New York’s Port Authority: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) – https://youtu.be/44fCfJQV7yQ

LastWeekTonight

Posted August 3, 2014 – Locked in a dispute with Fishs Eddy, New York’s Port Authority wants to regain control of its own image. John Oliver wants to help them make it happen.

Category: Entertainment

Share this post:

Auto, Model, Transform

[Top]

BHAG – Regional Currency – ‘In God We Trust’

Posted on March 13, 2020 in Economics, Government, Industries, Planning

Go Lean Commentary

Got any money? Got any American coins or notes (US Dollars). Notice the engraving: ‘In God We Trust’. What does it mean?

The capitalized form “IN GOD WE TRUST” first appeared on the two-cent piece in 1864^[5] and has appeared on paper currency since 1957. The 84th Congress passed legislation (P.L. 84–851), also signed by President Eisenhower on July 30, 1956, declaring the phrase to be the national motto.^[6][7][8]

With the separation of “Church and State” mantra, isn’t this intended to imply that God backs this money? As such “In God We Trust” as a national motto and on U.S. currency has been the subject of numerous unsuccessful lawsuits by many individuals.^[72] But the legal defense has been validated repeatedly – see how this encyclopedic source details this historicity:

Some groups and people have objected to its use, contending that its religious reference violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.^[9] These groups believe the phrase should be removed from currency and public property. In lawsuits, this argument has not overcome the interpretational doctrine of accommodationism, which allows government to endorse religious establishments as long as [one religion is not favored over another].^[10] According to a 2003 joint poll by USA Today, CNN, and Gallup, 90% of Americans support the inscription “In God We Trust” on U.S. coins.^[11]

Don’t get it twisted: American money having a reference to “trusting in God” does not make it divine, or backed by God. There is nothing sacred about American currency, and thusly, it can be replaced or supplanted. This is our dream!

For the 30 member-states of the political Caribbean, there are a number of different currencies that represent our monetary efforts: local currencies (i.e. Jamaican, Caymanian, Bahamian, etc.) AND reserve currencies like US Dollar or the Euro. This is the dream that there would be just one Single Currency, not the US Dollar, to represent all of the Caribbean.

What a dream! In fact, this is considered a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG).

This is entry 2-of-6 for the March 2020 version of the monthly series from the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean. This submission considers the BHAG of the Caribbean Dollar or C$ – yes, we even have a brand name. Our one currency with coins and notes for all monetary exchanges in the Caribbean region.

Yes, we can!

Every month, we submit a Teaching Series on a subject germane to Caribbean life. The full series for this month – under the BHAG theme – is cataloged as follows:

BHAG – The Audacity of Hope – Yes, we can!
BHAG – Regional Currency – ‘In God We Trust’
BHAG – Infrastructure Spending … finally funding Toll Roads
BHAG – One Voice – Foreign Policy and Diplomatic Stance
BHAG – Outreach to the World – Why Not a Profit Center
BHAG – Netflix, Hulu, CBS, Peacock ==> Caribbean Media

The subject of a regional currency is a weighty responsibility, as it underpins the economic engines for the 42 million people in the region. This quest for the Caribbean Dollar, managed by a technocratic Caribbean Central Bank (CCB) was presented in the Go Lean book as a paramount strategy for elevating the societal engines. Next to the confederation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) itself, the establishment of the CCB is presented as the next highest priority.

In fact, the advocacy (Page 127) of 10 Big Ideas listed this detail as the #2 entry:

Currency Union / Single Currency
Apolitical technocratic monetary control, by the Caribbean Central Bank (CCB), and foreign trade with a globally respected currency allows for the methodical growth of the Caribbean economy without the risk of hyper-inflation and/or currency devaluations. The CU/CCB trades in Caribbean Dollars (C$) of which the currency’s reserves are a mixed-basket of strong foreign currencies: US Dollars, Euro, British Pound and Japanese Yen.

In addition to traditional monetary benefits – discussed below – there is the need to mitigate upheavals in the international financial markets; we have that reality today, on the heels of the Coronavirus pandemic – a global recession is surely coming.

The points of a BIG Hairy Audacious Goal of a Caribbean Dollar to optimize our economic engines have been addressed in previous Go Lean blog-commentaries; consider this one from December 11, 2018 addressing the need to leverage against upheavals in the international financial markets. See an excerpt here:

The strategy in this Go Lean book is to optimize money issues: consolidate monetary reserves for the region into a Single Currency, the Caribbean Dollar (C$), managed by the technocratic Caribbean Central Bank (CCB). The C$ will be based on a mixed-basket of foreign reserves (US dollars, Euros, British pounds & Yens).

This is a simple but effective plan – a best practice: introduce the Caribbean Central Bank (CCB) and Caribbean Dollar as a Single Currency for the region’s 30 member-states.

Huge benefits abound! And so this economic initiative is important for Caribbean elevation. The rationale is that this strategy “enables economies to be more resilient to exogenous shocks”.

exogenous shocks – In economics, a shock is an unexpected or unpredictable event that affects an economy, either positively or negatively. Technically, it refers to an unpredictable change in exogenous factors — that is, factors unexplained by economics — which may influence endogenous economic variables. – Wikipedia.

This benefit is so obvious that others have thought of this before …

Yet there has consistently been a Failure to Launch this economic initiative; or to do so successfully. Consider the historicity of the CariCom Multilateral Clearing Facility (CMCF) in Appendix A [of that previous commentary] – a normal functionality of regional Central Banks.

Currently, the Caribbean has no regional Central Bank, so safety-net, no shock absorption, and no integration. This is the quest of the book Go Lean…Caribbean; it urges the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) and the Caribbean Central Bank (CCB). The book serves as a roadmap for this goal, with turn-by-turn directions to integrate the 30 member-states of the region and forge an $800 Billion economy.

One traditional charter for the monetary responsibilities of a Central Bank is the minting of coins. This charter is now perilous for small units of currency, think the Penny.

One Caribbean member-state, the Bahamas, is embarking on the effort to eliminate the penny from national circulation; see article in the Appendix below and the Appendix VIDEO that relates the American Penny Drama. Yet, this Go Lean roadmap is advocating for a regional currency instead of just a national one. Question: What are our plans for the “Penny”?

Answer: Make it moot!

The Go Lean roadmap calls for doubling-down on electronic money and payments systems. That same previous December 2017 blog-commentary asserted:

Central Banks are required to …

facilitate monetary and currency policies,

oversee bank regulations, and

execute inter-bank financial transactions (like payment settlements …).

(Note: The strategy to including the US Territories of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Monetary Union is for Electronic Financial Transactions only).

This is how the Go Lean roadmap seeks to transform the Caribbean region, with legitimate, structured and technocratic schemes for electronic money, payments systems, and even crypto-currency. See this declaration here:

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

A successful digital money / electronic payment scheme is very important in the strategy for elevating the Caribbean economy, for reforming and transforming. Any “risky” image of technology-backed payments will be nullified with the image of a bleeding-edge technocracy, the CCB, deploying these regimes efficiently and effectively.

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

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16836	Crypto-currency: Here comes ‘Trouble’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14248	Leading with Money Matters – New Almighty Caribbean Dollar
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13744	Failure to Launch: The Quest for a Caribbean ‘Single Currency’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8381	Case Study on Central Banking for Puerto Rico
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7034	The Future of Money – For the Caribbean and Beyond
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=906	Bitcoin needs regulatory framework to change ‘risky’ image
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=467	Barbados Central Bank records $3.7m loss in 2013
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=360	Central Banks Can Create Money from ‘Thin Air’ – Here’s How

To recap, there is reform: mitigate upheavals in the international financial markets …

… and there is transform: deploying electronic money regimes.

This is the Way Forward for Caribbean society. This is our Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Let’s get started!

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 & 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.

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

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

——————

Appendix – Bahamas one cent coin to be discontinued
By: Chester Robards

The Central Bank of The Bahamas (CBOB) officially announced yesterday that The Bahamas’ one cent coins as legal currency will be relegated to the annals of history.

Central Bank Governor John Rolle announced during a press conference at the central bank that by the end of 2020, the Bahamian penny will no longer be accepted at the register. By June of 2021, banks will no longer cash in pennies.

This change will have no effect on the overall cost of goods and services, Rolle said.

CBOB made the decision after studying the cost of producing the penny versus its actual value. The bank found that it cost $443,000 to distribute the one cent coin and it could save $7 million over ten years by eliminating the penny.

The Central Bank has already stopped manufacturing the penny. The last time pennies were manufactured was in 2015, Rolle said.

In January CBOB will stop issuing the coin to commercial banks and will begin withdrawing the coin from circulation.

“There are lots of reasons why this process is being embarked upon. The key one is that it is not financially or economically viable to produce the penny,” Rolle said.

“Today we are spending four percent above the face value to produce them. In the past we used to spend 50 percent above the value to get them produced.

“The penny is not widely used in cash transactions and as many as 60 percent that we have produced over the years we estimate are lost permanently.”

Rolle said the central bank will place coin counting machines in high traffic areas where people with pennies can redeem them for a token that can be deposited to their bank accounts.

The bank explained in a previous press release that the removal of the coin will not have an effect on electronic payments, while cash payments will be rounded off to the nearest five cents.

CBOB outlines its rounding rules as such:

One and two would be rounded down to zero (e.g. $4.21 becomes $4.20).
Three and four would be rounded up to five (e.g. $7.23 becomes $7.25).
Six and seven would be rounded down to five (e.g. $15.67 becomes $15.65).
Eight and nine would be rounded up to 10 (e.g. $27.89 becomes $27.90).

The bank explained that rounding off should only take place on the total bill and individual item prices should not be adjusted.

Rolle explained yesterday that U.S. pennies will also not be accepted at the register after 2020.

He said CBOB will likely recycle the pennies it recovers from the public.

Rolle said of the 700 million pennies that have been circulated since the start of the Central Bank, half of those can no longer be found.

Source: Posted October 11, 2019; retrieved March 13, 2020 from: https://thenassauguardian.com/2019/10/11/bahamas-one-cent-coin-to-be-discontinued/

——————

Appendix VIDEO – Pennies: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) – https://youtu.be/_tyszHg96KI

LastWeekTonight
Posted November 23, 2015 – Pennies are not even worth what they’re worth. So why do we still make them?

Connect with Last Week Tonight online…

Subscribe to the Last Week Tonight YouTube channel for more almost news as it almost happens: www.youtube.com/user/LastWeekTonight

Find Last Week Tonight on Facebook like your mom would: http://Facebook.com/LastWeekTonight

Visit our official site for all that other stuff at once: http://www.hbo.com/lastweektonight

Category Entertainment

Share this post:

Banks, Model, Transform

[Top]

BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) Actuality

Posted on March 12, 2020 in Planning, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

There are times when your leaders need to go BIG, projecting hope, assurance and confidence. History is littered with such examples, think of these prominent ones (in chronological order):

Abraham Lincoln – Gettysburg Address
1863: One of the greatest and most influential statements on American national purpose; despite the Civil War, there is “hope that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”.
Winston Churchill – Identifying the Nazi’s ‘Dark Cloud over the Continent’
1940: In preparation, Churchill marshalled the nation (United Kingdom) for war: “Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour‘”.^[422]
Franklin D Roosevelt – Pearl Harbor Attack Response
1941: A positive statement – of ‘A Day that will live in infamy’ – on behalf of the entire American people in the face of a great collective trauma. “In proclaiming the indelibility of the attack, and expressing outrage at its “dastardly” nature, the speech worked to crystallize and channel the response of the nation into a collective response and resolve”.^[9]
John F Kennedy – Announcing the Moonshot
1961: President Kennedy announced his support for the American Space program’s “Apollo” missions and redefined the ultimate goal of the Space Race in an address to a special joint session of Congress: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth”. His justification for the Moonshot was both that it was vital to national security and that it would focus the nation’s energies in other scientific and social fields.
Ronald Reagan – Soviet’s Evil Empire
1983: Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as an “evil empire” and as “the focus of evil in the modern world”. He explicitly rejected the notion that the United States and the Soviet Union were equally responsible for the ongoing nuclear arms race between the two nations; rather, he asserted that the conflict was a battle between good and evil.
George H Bush – Declaring a New World Order
1990: President Bush’s speech presented the notion of world governance in a sense of new collective efforts to address worldwide problems that go beyond the capacity of individual nation-states to solve. After the end of the Cold War, he assured the nation (and the world) of the new unipolar status of the US; his vision was realistic in saying that “there is no substitute for American leadership”.^[1] The Gulf War of 1991 was regarded as the first test of the new world order: “Now, we can see a new world coming into view. A world in which there is the very real prospect of a new world order”.^[2][3]
George W Bush – Post 9-11 Response
2001: President G.W. Bush prepared the nation for a different kind of war, one with sustained battle against terrorist groups responsible for the 9/11 attacks on America. The President cast the terrorists as “evil” and awakened the country to their danger and the need to defend freedom. “Our grief has turned to anger, and anger to resolution. Whether we bring our enemies to justice, or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.
Barack Obama – Election Day Victory Speech – Yes, We Can
2008: “Because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America. … The road ahead will be long, our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year, or even in one term—but America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.”^[1] … “To all those who have wondered if America’s beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope”.

Yes, the need to project hope is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG); a leader has to transform despair to promise, darkness to light and pessimism to optimism.

This need is heighten right now today! Last night, the current President of the US (POTUS), Donald J. Trump, gave an Oval Office speech on the catastrophic imminence of the Coronavirus – COVID-I9. The consequence of the speech: “Rather than hope today, the people feel despair”. See this summary, from The Atlantic Magazine here:

There was one something in the speech: a ban on travel from Europe, but not the United Kingdom. It’s a classic Trump formulation. It seeks to protect America by erecting a wall against the world, without thinking very hard how or whether the wall can work. The disease is already here. … The travel ban is an act of panic. Financial futures began crashing even as Trump was talking, perhaps shocked by his lack of an economic plan, perhaps aghast at his latest attack on world trade.

The next day, today (March 12, 2020), the Stock Market or the New York Stock Exchange, had to be halted within minutes after the start of the trading day, a “pressure-release” valve to prevent drastic selling, had been triggered. – Consider this New York Post source:

The S&P 500 plunged 7 percent within minutes of the opening bell, triggering a New York Stock Exchange circuit-breaker that was last tripped on Monday. The drop put the index into bear market territory: It stopped trading at 2,549.05 points, down 24.8 percent from the 52-week high reached last month.

After trading was lifted 15 minutes later, the S&P 500 plunged even further — as much as 8.4 percent to an new intraday low of 2,508.93. … (See this actuality in the Appendix VIDEO).

This transcript on POTUS Donald Trump’s impact is in direct contrast to the transcript of POTUS Barack Obama. Plus, one president presented policies more conducive to the Caribbean compared to the other one. Which one?

Obama.

Why the parallel? Considering that 29 of the 30 Caribbean member-states possess a majority Black population, Obama is a Black Man who won the presidency of the US, despite the deficient racial history and actuality of that country.

In fact, the historicity of Obama, when he was only a US Senator, was started as a “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” – he published a pre-campaign book, a best-seller, with a similar title; (“audacity” is the noun for the adjective “audacious”):

Title: The Audacity of Hope : Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (2006)

Amazon Review: The Audacity of Hope is Barack Obama’s call for a new kind of politics—a politics that builds upon those shared understandings that pull us together as Americans. Lucid in his vision of America’s place in the world, refreshingly candid about his family life and his time in the Senate, Obama here sets out his political convictions and inspires us to trust in the dogged optimism that has long defined us and that is our best hope going forward. Source: Retrieved March 12, 2020 from: https://www.amazon.com/Audacity-Hope-Thoughts-Reclaiming-American/dp/0307455874

Reader Review By: Thriftbooks.com User:
I read this book out of pure curiosity. It was written in 2006. I am an octogenarian and a registered Independent. What impressed me was that it was written by the author and not a “ghost.” He expresses himself very well. The portions dealing with his background while growing up were fascinating. His grasp of what the general public can do to unite this country is quite provocative. I have listened to many politicians who impressed me negatively with subjects of hate and one liners. It is my concept that this man is a healer and a deep thinker. What’s more he is able to think on his feet. Most of the politicians I have heard all my life were so dependent upon a tele-prompter that I found them, to say the least, boring. This man excites this old man as never before. I applaud his writings. I recommend this book to any thinking person who wants to know this man a little more personally. Source: Posted October 20, 2008; retrieved March 12, 2020 from: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-audacity-of-hope-thoughts-on-reclaiming-the-american-dream_barack-obama/246072/item/545627/#isbn=0307237702&idiq=6376425

The foregoing refer to historic and current characters of the United States and the United Kingdom; though we have a lot of Caribbean Diaspora in those countries, the drama of their BHAG is all their drama. We can look, listen and learn from their experiences but it is not our actuality to embrace.

But can’t we have goals right here – in the Caribbean and for the Caribbean? Do we have our own aspirational goals?

Big Goals?
Big Hairy, Audacious Goals?

Yes, we can. Yes, we do!

Every month, the movement behind the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean present a Teaching Series on a subject germane to Caribbean life. For this March 2020, our focus is on the Big Hairy Audacious Goals for the Caribbean. This is entry 1-of-6 for this series, which details that there are BHAG’s for the Caribbean, as a whole region, and the individual member-states. The world BHAG was not used in the 2013 book, rather there was a Chapter with a similar theme: “Big Ideas”. There is an actual advocacy for this purpose in the Go Lean book; see here some of the specific plans, excerpts and headlines from Page 127, entitled:

10 Big Ideas … in the Caribbean Region

1	*Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market* Confederation Treaty: Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU)** The CU is a big idea for the Caribbean, our parallel of the American “moon quest”, allowing for the unification of the region into one market of 42 million people. This creates the world’s 29th largest economy, based on 2010 figures. The pre-ascension GDP figures are actually less than $800 Billion, but the aggregation into a single market will manifest the economic “catch-up” principle [180], in 5 years. Further, after 10 years the CU’s GDP should double and rank among the Top 20 or G20 nations.
2	Currency Union / Single Currency
3	Defense / Homeland Security Pact The political reality is that the economics of the region is tied to the security of the region, This treaty teams-up to implement anti-crime, anti-terrorism measures, both proactive and reactionary, to insure the economic engines. This will be in supplement with the US Defense initiatives but our role will increase while the US role decreases, we must assume the security needs for our own commerce.
4	Confederation Without Sovereignty
5	Four Languages in Unison
6	Self-Governing Entities (SGE)
7	Virtual “Turnpike” Operations Ferries, Causeways/Bridges, Pipelines, Tunnels, Railways and limited access highways will function as “blood vessels to connect all the organs” within the region, thus allowing easier transport of goods and people among the islands and the mainland states (Belize, Guyana or Suriname) – See Appendix IC (Page 280) Alaska Marine Highway.
8	Cyber Caribbean
9	e-Learning – Versus – Studying Abroad The Caribbean has tried the Study Abroad model, the result: a “brain drain” where our best students leave and may never return for residence, employment or investments, (only family visits). The new approach is to keep the talent here in the Caribbean, educate them here and notice the positive efforts on societal institutions.
10	Cuba & Haiti Cuba has suffered under the US Trade Embargo for 50-plus years. Now the paradigm shift is that the CU will trade with the rest of the world on behalf of Cuba. The CU will be a reboot for Cuba. Haiti is the poorest nation in the hemisphere. But what they have is impassioned human capital as opposed to financial capital or valuable minerals. The CU is an economic reboot for this country, one that involves developing internally and not thru emigration. The economic principle is “every year of education raises a country’s GDP”. Haiti will exploit the opportunities of the rest of the Caribbean by employing “leap-frog” methodologies; there is no need for gradual advances, rather just jump to where technological infrastructure is moving to, not coming from.

These 10 Big Ideas is just the introduction on our discussion on BHAG’s. The other entries in this month’s series are cataloged as follows:

BHAG – The Audacity of Hope – Yes, we can!
BHAG – Regional Currency – In God We Trust
BHAG – Infrastructure Spending … finally funding Toll Roads
BHAG – One Voice – Foreign Policy and Diplomatic Stance
BHAG – Outreach to the World – Why Not a Profit Center
BHAG – Netflix, Hulu, CBS, Peacock ==> Caribbean Media

The points of BIG Hairy Audacious technocratic projects and initiatives have been further elaborated upon in these previous blog-commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=19347	Missing Solar (Panel) Systems – One Caribbean Country Goes Green … finally
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=19097	Forging Big Changes – Public-Private Partnerships
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=18831	Food Security – Opportunity: Supplies Beef for Cruise Lines
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=18301	After Hurricane Dorian, Rebuilding Partners: China Versus America
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17358	Marshall Plans: Past and Future Strategy for Big Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17337	Industrial Reboot – Big Amusement Parks
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15346	Industrial Reboot – Shipbuilding … for Big Cruise Ships
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15331	Industrial Reboot – Introducing Auto-making to the Region
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15075	e-Government 3.0 – This is how to do ‘More’ with ‘Less’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8590	Build It and They Will Come – Politics of Infrastructure

This is how change is forged; first it starts as a vision, a goal. We must plan the plan; then work the plan; then … after a lot of heavy-lifting, the vision is materialized. This is how we make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

——————-

Appendix VIDEO – Stock trading halted as markets plunge after Trump’s coronavirus travel ban – https://nypost.com/2020/03/12/stock-trading-halted-as-markets-plunge-after-trumps-coronavirus-travel-ban/

Big Think
Posted March 12, 2020 – US stocks fell fast enough Thursday to halt trading for the second time in a week after President Trump’s efforts to address the coronavirus outbreak further panicked global markets instead of relieving them.

Share this post:

Book Review, History, Model, Transform

[Top]

Coronavirus: ‘Clear and Present’ Threat to Economic Security

Posted on March 11, 2020 in Economics, Government, Planning, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

There is a Clear and Present Danger threatening the world’s economic establishments – Coronavirus. Everyone will be affected! If you catch this flu, you are affected. If you do not catch this flu, you are still affected!

Travel, transport and systems of commerce are preparing for the worst-case scenario. This is the …

Sum of All Our Fears.

Things will get worse before it gets worst. Expect a global recession!

For the 30 Caribbean member-states, the dangers are starting to materialize in this region and among the Diaspora:

Travel alerts are going up; with restrictions to/from countries like: China, Italy, South Korea, Singapore, Iran, Spain, France and Germany – Consider this instance in the Bahamas:
Updated Border Control and Quarantine Measures for Persons Coming from Selected Countries
https://bahamaschronicle.com/updated-border-control-and-qu…/
Jamaica has Coronavirus incidents:
BREAKING: 2nd case of COVID-19 confirmed in Jamaica
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/BREAKING:_2nd_case_of_COVID-19_confirmed
Cruises are being cancelled: https://www.nbcmiami.com/on-air/as-seen-on/coronavirus-impact-on-the-tourism-industry/2202976/
See Appendix VIDEO below.
Events are being cancelled: https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/coronavirus-concerns-in-south-florida-a-guide-to-which-events-are-cancelled-which-arent/2201679/

All in all, there is impact on the Caribbean region, and the whole world for that matter. These are not our words alone; these are the words of the cover story of this week’s edition of the globally iconic journal The Economist Magazine (March 7, 2020). This story looked at how governments should prepare for the spread of this virus, COVID-19. In truth, the pandemic threatens an economic crisis as well as a health crisis and both will need fixing. So far, as of this publication date, the disease is in 85 countries and territories, up from 50 a week earlier. More than 95,000 cases and 3,200 deaths have been recorded. See the full “The Economist” article here and a related VIDEO:

Title: COVID-19 – The right medicine for the world economy
Sub-Title: Coping with the pandemic involves all of government, not just the health system

It is not a fair fight, but it is a fight that many countries will face all the same. Left to itself, the COVID-19 pandemic doubles every five to six days. When you get your next issue of The Economist the outbreak could in theory have infected twice as many people as today. Governments can slow that ferocious pace, but bureaucratic time is not the same as virus time. And at the moment governments across the world are being left flat-footed.

The disease is in 85 countries and territories, up from 50 a week earlier. Over 95,000 cases and 3,200 deaths have been recorded. Yet our own analysis, based on patterns of travel to and from China, suggests that many countries which have spotted tens of cases have hundreds more circulating undetected (see Graphic detail). Iran, South Korea and Italy are exporting the virus. America has registered 159 cases in 14 states but as of March 1st it had, indefensibly, tested just 472 people when South Korea was testing 10,000 a day. Now that America is looking, it is sure to find scores of infections—and possibly unearth a runaway epidemic.

Wherever the virus takes hold, containing it and mitigating its effects will involve more than doctors and paramedics. The World Health Organisation has distilled lessons from China for how health-care systems should cope (see Briefing). The same thinking is needed across the government, especially over how to protect people and companies as supply chains fracture and the worried and the ill shut themselves away.

The first task is to get manpower and money to hospitals. China drafted in 40,000 health workers to Hubei province. Britain may bring medics out of retirement. This week the World Bank made $12bn and the IMF $50bn available for COVID-19. The Global Fund, which fights diseases like malaria and tb, said countries can switch grants. In America Congress is allocating $8.3bn of funding. The country has some of the world’s most advanced hospitals, but its fragmented health system has little spare capacity. Much more money will be needed.

Just as important is to slow the spread of the disease by getting patients to come forward for testing when outbreaks are small and possible to contain. They may be deterred in many countries, including much of America, where 28 [million] people are without health coverage and many more have to pay for a large slug of their own treatment. People also need to isolate themselves if they have mild symptoms, as about 80% of them will. Here sick pay matters, because many people cannot afford to miss work. In America a quarter of employees have no access to paid sick leave and only scattered states and cities offer sickness benefits. Often the self-employed, a fifth of Italy’s workforce, do not qualify. One study found that, in epidemics, guaranteed sick pay cuts the spread of flu in America by 40%.

Sick pay also helps soften the blow to demand which, along with a supply shock and a general panic, is hitting economies. These three factors, as China shows, can have a dramatic effect on output. Manufacturing activity there sank in February to its lowest level since managers were first surveyed in 2004. In the quarter to March the economy as a whole could shrink for the first time since the death of Mao Zedong. The OECD expects global growth this year to be its slowest since 2009. Modelling by academics at the Australian National University suggests that GDP in America and Europe would be 2% lower than it would have been in the absence of a pandemic and perhaps as much as 8% lower if the rate of deaths is many times higher than expected. Financial markets are pricing in fear. The S&P 500 has fallen by 8% from its peak on February 19th. Issuance of corporate debt on Wall Street has more or less stopped. The yield on ten-year Treasuries dipped below 1% for the first time ever.

In rich countries, most of the economic effort has been directed towards calming financial markets. On March 3rd America’s Federal Reserve cut rates a fortnight before its monetary-policy meeting, and by an unusually large half-a-percentage point (see article). The central banks of Australia, Canada and Indonesia have also acted. The Bank of England and the European Central Bank are both expected to loosen policy, too.

Yet this slowdown is not a textbook downturn. Lower rates will ease borrowing costs and shore up sentiment, but no amount of cheap credit can stop people falling ill. Monetary policy cannot repair broken supply chains or tempt anxious people into venturing out. These obvious limitations help explain why stockmarkets failed to revive after the Fed’s cut.

Better to support the economy directly, by helping affected people and firms pay bills and borrow money if they need it. For individuals, the priority should be paying for health care and providing paid sick leave. The Trump administration is considering paying some hospital bills for those with the virus. Japan’s government will cover the wages of parents who stay at home to care for children or sick relatives; Singapore’s will help cab drivers and bosses whose employees are struck down. More such ideas will be needed.

For companies the big challenge will be liquidity. And although this shock is unlike the financial crisis, when the poison spread from within, that period did show how to cope with a liquidity crunch. Firms that lose revenues will still face tax, wage and interest bills. Easing that burden, for as long as the epidemic lasts, can avoid needless bankruptcies and lay-offs. Temporary relief on tax and wage costs can help. Employers can be encouraged to choose shorter hours for all their staff over lay-offs for some of them. Authorities could fund banks to lend to firms that are suffering, as they did during the financial crisis and as China is doing today. China is also ordering banks to go easy on delinquent borrowers. Western governments cannot do that, but it is in the interest of lenders everywhere to show forbearance towards borrowers facing a cash squeeze, much as banks did to public-sector employees during America’s government shutdown in 2018-19.

There is a tension. Health policy aims to spare hospitals by lowering the epidemic’s peak so that it is less intense, if longer-lasting. Economic policy, by contrast, aims to minimise how long factories are shut and staff absent. Eventually governments will have to strike a balance. Today, however, they are so far behind the epidemic that the priority must be to slow its spread. ■

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “The right medicine for the world economy”

Source: Retrieved March 5, 2020 from: https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/03/05/the-right-medicine-for-the-world-economy?cid1=cust/ednew/n/bl/n/2020/03/5n/owned/n/n/nwl/n/n/NA/420030/n

————–

VIDEO – Coronavirus | Plunging stocks on Wall Street over COVID-19 outbreak anxiety – https://youtu.be/Boof8NfPQRI

SABC Digital News
Mar 10, 2020 – A chaotic trading day on Wall Street ended with plunging stocks coupled with collapsing crude oil prices as the global anxiety from the Coronavirus continues to take hold. The Dow Jones industrial average ended over 2000 points lower while other indexes also followed suit. The stock deluge was intensified after a dispute between OPEC members and Saudi Arabia’s decision to slash its oil prices while boosting output in an angry response to Russia’s refusal to reduce production due to a fall in Chinese demand. For more news, visit sabcnews.com and also #SABCNews on Social Media.

Category: News & Politics

The present Caribbean region is short-handed for the kind of cross-border coordination that is needed to manage this pandemic – and others like it. This is truly the Sum of All Our Fears. This is a crisis …

… alas, according to the noted Nobel-prized winning Economist Paul Romer, a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.

Now, more than ever, we need a super-national organizational structure, a technocracy, to shepherd the protection for the people and trading partners in the region.

Economists …
Economist Magazine

You see the trend, right? The Coronavirus is appearing on the radar screens for the world’s community of Economists. The world in general, and the Caribbean in particular, is about to “get hammered with the surge and tides of an economic tsunami”. Be afraid; be very afraid. (See the related experiences in the Appendix VIDEO below).

We have been here before …

This is very similar to the events of 2008, the exigency of the Great Recession and International Financial Crisis. This actuality inspired the composition of the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean. The book traced that crisis, and availed the opportunity to propose strategies, tactics and implementations to mitigate against future crises. The premise was that the Caribbean status quo was not equipped to contend with trans-border crises alone; that not one of the 30 member-states that constituted the political Caribbean is fortified for any serious economic upheavals or threats to homeland security.

This is our actuality today!

We need those mitigations, those strategies, tactics and implementations. We need “them” now!

The book presents a roadmap to introduce the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), to empower the economic, security and governing engines of the region for when there is a “Clear and Present Danger”. We are there now!

We must not delay in confederating this regional technocracy.

This will not be the last. We must prepare for global, regional and national crises as the New Normal.

This was the assertion in many previous Go Lean blog/commentaries, that highlighted the theme of a “Clear and Present Danger”; see this sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=18195	Disaster Planning – Rinse and Repeat
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16836	Crypto-currency: Here comes ‘Trouble’ – Clear and Present Danger?
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15796	Lessons Learned from 2008: Righting The Wrong
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12348	Caribbean Economists: ‘Region is in Trauma’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8132	Venezuela: Watching a ‘Train Wreck in Slow Motion’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7345	The Urgency of ISIS reached the Caribbean Region
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7327	The Exigency of Zika – Lessons Learned on Threat Management
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7119	The Need for a Standby Force for Threats to the Homeland
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6531	A Lesson in History – ‘Exigency of 2008’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5002	Managing a ‘Clear and Present Danger’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2397	Stopping the Clear and Present Danger from ‘Ebola’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1003	Painful and rapid spread of Chikungunya virus in the Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=623	Harsh Reality: ‘Only at the precipice, do they change’

This Coronavirus threat will not subside anytime soon. We must prepare!

We are not the only entities around the world with this concern; States and governments everywhere have the same urgency. This is the whole premise of the standard Social Contract:

Citizens surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the State in exchange for protection of remaining natural and legal rights.

The Caribbean member-states are not equipped on the national level; they need a super-national solution. The CU ascension creates another layer of government hierarchy for the region. This is the long awaited Way Forward for Caribbean survival.

Let’s get to work.

This is very much so the theme of the 1970 song “Lean On Me” by Singer-Songwriter Bill Withers; this became the clarion call for the Go Lean moment. Be reminded of these lyrics, as quoted in the Go Lean book (Page 5):

Sometimes in our lives
We all have pain
We all have sorrow
But if we are wise
We know that there’s always tomorrow

Lean on me, when you’re not strong
And I’ll be your friend
I’ll help you carry on
For it won’t be long
‘Til I’m gonna need
Somebody to lean on

Please swallow your pride
If I have things you need to borrow
For no one can fill those of your needs
That you won’t let show
You just call on me brother, when you need a hand

(Chorus)

We all need somebody to lean on
I just might have a problem that you’d understand
We all need somebody to lean on

Second Verse

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

Today’s reality is the manifestation of this song (lyrics). It is time for the Caribbean neighborhood to “lean on” each other, for the mitigation of this Coronavirus. This is how we make our regional homeland a better place to live, work, heal and play. 🙂

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

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

ix. Whereas the realities of healthcare and an aging population cannot be ignored and cannot be afforded without some advanced mitigation, the Federation must arrange for health plans to consolidate premiums of both healthy and sickly people across the wider base of the entire Caribbean population. The mitigation should extend further to disease management, wellness, mental health, obesity and smoking cessation programs. …

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 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 – The Impact of Coronavirus on Tourism Industry – https://www.nbcmiami.com/on-air/as-seen-on/coronavirus-impact-on-the-tourism-industry/2202976/

March 10, 2020 – NBC 6 Investigator Tony Pipitone reports on the Coronavirus’ impact on the cruise industry.

Share this post:

Disaster, Health, Tourism

[Top]

Chef Jose Andres – A Hero … Not Just for the Caribbean Alone – Encore

Posted on March 10, 2020 in Ethos, Implementation, Social

We would like to keep this international hero – Chef José Andrés – just for ourselves, but his whole character, is being an “Angel of Mercy” for all people suffering from natural disasters.

🙂

He is at it again, coordinating feedings for the poor victims of this Coronavirus-affected Cruise Ship – The Grand Princess – in Oakland, California. See the full story and Twitter-VIDEO here:

Title: Chef José Andrés serving Grand Princess cruise ship guests
By: Sandra Gonzalez, CNN

Celebrity chef José Andrés has mobilized his charity World Central Kitchen and set up camp near the Grand Princess cruise ship.

The ship is carrying at least 21 people who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and is currently at an Oakland port. Some passengers began to disembark on Monday while thousands remain on the ship.

“@WCKitchen team is ready with lunch for guests leaving today & we will be loading meals for dinner onto the ship….Wishing the best for everyone on board! #ChefsForCalifornia,” Andrés tweeted.

The charity shared photos of some salads the team prepared in San Francisco that were due to be dispersed to passengers.

World Central Kitchen also fed those aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan.

“If you are in a place, a hotel, a cruise ship, where everybody may be infected, it’s logical to say that you want to make sure, in this case, food is prepared outside,” Andrés told CNN last week.

The nonprofit is known for being on the front lines of all sorts of emergency scenarios. The team has served meals to people affected by hurricanes, wildfires and even furloughed workers during a government shutdown.

Source: Retrieved March 10, 2020 from: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/09/entertainment/jose-andres-world-central-kitchen/index.html?utm_content=2020-03-10T07%3A31%3A02&utm_term=link&utm_medium=social&utm_source=fbCNN&fbclid=IwAR1YsAQcEUjJK3e1COr_iow2Era5tVBD_85L3v_shqS7otz3Q-17yVVq5uk

Twitter Message:

We @WCKitchen are up & running in Oakland for the #GrandPrincess! #ChefsForCalifornia pic.twitter.com/UGfDIOcqbt

— José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) March 9, 2020

Chef José Andrés is truly an international hero, and role model for the type of person we’d like to foster in the new Caribbean. Thank you Chef.

This is also a good time to Encore a previous blog-commentary on Chef José Andrés from September 4, 2019. See that submission here-now:

——————–

Go Lean Commentary – Chef Jose Andres – Role Model for Hurricane Relief – “One Meal at a Time”

We gotta eat!

Even when a devastating Category 5 Hurricane impacts your homeland, that natural law applies: We gotta eat!

Thank you Chef José Andrés for pulling out all the stops to feed the people of the Bahamas during this, their most desperate hour.

Why does he help? Why does he do “this”? Just because: People gotta eat!

Even though he has help – he brings a team – it is with the full might of his will, reputation and connections that he is able to have this impact. He is proof-positive that one man – or woman – can make a difference in society. See this VIDEO news story here-now:

VIDEO – Chef José Andrés in the Bahamas, helping save lives “one meal at a time” – https://youtu.be/woeweQTXZRg

Posted September 4, 2019 – The renowned chef’s non-profit World Central Kitchen is one of the aid groups spearheading relief efforts in the stricken island nation. CBS Reports.

Chef José Andrés did the same thing in Puerto Rico, after Hurricane Maria; and in Haiti after the 2010 Earthquake. He has been a great benefactor for all of the Caribbean – and he does not even have a Caribbean heritage.

He is from Spain; see his profile in the Appendix below.

Yes, one man can make a difference! The 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean posits that one person – an advocate – can change the world (Page 122). It relates:

An advocacy is an act of pleading for, supporting, or recommending a cause or subject. For this book, it’s a situational analysis, strategy or tactic for dealing with a narrowly defined subject.

Advocacies are not uncommon in modern history. There are many that have defined generations and personalities. Consider these notable examples from the last two centuries in different locales around the world:

Frederick Douglas

Mohandas Gandhi

Martin Luther King

Nelson Mandela

Cesar Chavez

Candice Lightner – (Mothers Against Drunk Driving)

This is a consistent theme from the movement behind the Go Lean book– available to download for free. We have repeatedly presented profiles of “1” persons who have made lasting impacts on their community and the whole world. Consider this sample list, of previous blog-commentaries where advocates and role models have been elaborated upon:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17871	‘Ross Perot’, Political Role Model – He was right on Trade – RIP
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16942	Sallie Krawcheck – Role Model for Women Economic Empowerment
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16926	Viola Desmond – Canadian Role Model for Blacks and Women
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16702	W.E.B. Du Bois – Role Model in Pan-Africana
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16696	Marcus Garvey – An Ancient Role Model Still Relevant Today
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14558	Being the Change in ‘Brown vs Board of Education’ – Role Model Linda Brown, RIP
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14556	“March for Our Lives” Kids – Observing the Change … with Guns
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14139	Carter Woodson – One Man Made a Difference … for Black History
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8165	Role Models Muhammad Ali and Kevin Connolly – Their Greatest Fight
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7682	Frederick Douglass: Role Model for Single Cause – Death or Diaspora
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=866	Bob Marley: The legend of this Role Model lives on!

The Go Lean roadmap seeks to reform and transform Caribbean life and culture. But first we have to make sure our people’s basic needs are covered.

We gotta eat!

So thank you Chef José Andrés for pitching in and feeding our Bahamian and Caribbean people.

The Go Lean roadmap calls on every man, woman and child in the Caribbean to be an advocate, and/or appreciate the efforts of other advocates. Their examples can truly help us today with our passions and purpose.

In summary, we conclude about Chef José Andrés the same as we do about all the other Caribbean advocates; we say (Go Lean book conclusion Page 252):

Thank you for your service, love and commitment to all Caribbean people. We will take it from here.

The movement behind Go Lean book – the planners of a new Caribbean – stresses that a ‘change is going to come’, one way or another. As depicted in the foregoing VIDEO, Chef José Andrés facilitated all the logistics himself for our post-Hurricane Dorian Rescue/Relief – i.e. boats, helicopters and the food – but the new Caribbean should really be matured enough to handle our own Hurricane Response:

Rescue
Relief
Recovery
Rebuild

We must Grow Up, Already!

Haiti, Puerto Rico and now the Bahamas – these were the natural disasters of the past; but there will be more … in the future.

Climate Change guarantees it.

We must copy the patterns and good examples of our role models; Chef José Andrés has provided us a perfect example of how to make the Caribbean a better homeland 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!

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

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

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

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.

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 …. On the other hand, the Federation must also implement the good examples learned from [successful] developments/communities.

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

—————

Appendix Reference Title: José Andrés
José Ramón Andrés Puerta (born 13 July 1969) is a Spanish-American^[1] chef often credited with bringing the small plates dining concept to America.^[2] He owns restaurants in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Las Vegas, South Beach, Florida, Orlando, New York City, and Frisco, Texas. Andrés is the founder of World Central Kitchen, a non-profit devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters.^[3] He was awarded a 2015 National Humanities Medal at a 2016 White House ceremony.^[4]

…

Trump Hotel restaurant and lawsuit
Andrés planned to open a restaurant in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, in 2016. After Donald Trump made disparaging comments about Mexicans in June 2015, Andrés withdrew from the contract with the Trump Organization, which then sued him.^[13] Andrés counter-sued, and the parties reached a settlement in April 2017.^[14] Andrés remains an outspoken critic of Trump.^[15][16]

World Central Kitchen
In response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Andrés formed World Central Kitchen which provides healthy food to families and individuals touched by disasters.^[17] Since its founding, the NGO has organized meals in the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Zambia, Peru, Cuba, Uganda, and in Cambodia.^[3]

In January 2019 Andrés opened a World Central Kitchen on Pennsylvania Ave, Washington DC to feed federal workers that were furloughed during the government shutdown.^[18]

Puerto Rico Hurricane Maria response
Andrés emerged as a leader of the disaster relief efforts in Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria in 2017. His efforts to provide assistance encountered obstacles from FEMAand government bureaucrats, so instead, “we just started cooking.”^[19] He organized a grass-roots movement of chefs and volunteers to establish communications, food supplies, and other resources and started serving meals. Andrés and his organization World Central Kitchen (WCK)^[20] served more than two million meals in the first month after the hurricane.^[21][22][23] WCK received two short term FEMA contracts and served more meals than the Salvation Army or the Red Cross, but its application for longer term support was denied.^[24][25]

For his efforts in Puerto Rico, Andrés was named the 2018 Humanitarian of the Year by the James Beard Foundation.^[26] He wrote a book about the experience called We Fed an Island: The True Story of Rebuilding Puerto Rico, One Meal at a Time.^[27]

Source: Retrieved September 4, 2019 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Andr%C3%A9s

Share this post:

Disaster, Model, Transform

[Top]

‘Missing Solar’ – Moral Authority to “Name, Blame and Shame” the Big Polluters – Encore

Posted on March 4, 2020 in Ethos, Government, Strategy

The Bahamas, finally installing solar arrays, wants to send a message to the world – Big Polluters in particular – that societies can transform to alternative energy sources, use less fossil fuels and abate Climate Change.

Go on and preach …

It is good that the Bahamas is making this pursuit, as a formal government initiative – it’s about time! Actually it’s past time; (see the Alternate VIDEO below).

Unfortunately, the Bahamas is so tiny – 400,000 people compared to the 7,700,000,000 global population (.0052%) – that they are not even a “pimple on the back-side of the beast” that is the world’s large population centers.

But, as related in a previous blog-commentary on December 19, 2018 by the movement behind the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean, small countries have “No Moral Authority” to preach to these Bigger Nations unless they themselves comply with the best-practice of using renewable energy.

“Welcome to the fight Bahamas”; now that you are taking serious the need to deploy “Solar Micro-grids”, you can stand on the soapbox and point at others. Only with these installations can you “name, blame and shame” the Big Polluters – think China, India and the USA. This was alluded by the the US-based media-television-network CBS , in their titular news magazine show 60 Minutes, in this story this week. See the VIDEO here of the 60 Minutes report:

VIDEO – Bahamas installing solar power after storms – https://www.cbsnews.com/video/bahamas-hurricanes-power-grid-solar-60-minutes-2020-03-01/

60 Minutes
Posted March 1, 2020 – A tiny country in “Hurricane Alley” is trying to be an example to the world after Category 5 storms demolished parts of its electrical grid. Bill Whitaker reports on the Bahamas’ adoption of solar energy.
Click on PLAY Button to watch; expect commercial advertising before and during.
——————-
Alternate VIDEO
60 Minutes’ first report on solar energy, in 1979
More than four decades ago, 60 Minutes reported, “Solar energy may be an idea whose time has come for all of us.” Today, the Bahamas is turning to solar arrays to restore power after Hurricane Dorian
Click here to see that 1979 VIDEO: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-1979-solar-energy-report-2020-03-01/

That Sunday March 1, 2020 report revealed that:

The solar systems are now cheaper than diesel power options.
The Bahamas goal is to produce 30 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.

How about more … in less time.

Yes, we can …

We must “fight like our lives depend on it”. The technology is here now to produce all the energy from renewable sources for households, or businesses, or government buildings, or schools.

Do you see the trending here? We must all do something … now. What are we waiting for? The will? Well, the Bahamas seems to now have the will …

… and the way.

… and the motivation – Category 5 hurricanes are a “clear and present danger”.

This is an appropriate time to Encore that previous blog-commentary from December 19, 2018 – 9 months before that devastating Category 5 Hurricane Dorian made landfall in the Northern Bahamas. Now that this is March 2020, there is the opportunity to look back at the previous submission and echo an encore appeal “we must fight like our lives depend on it”. This desperation was depicted in this 60 Minutes story. This entry is 3-of-3 in that “Look Back“. The other entries are cataloged as follows:

60 Minutes Story – Bahamas Self-Made Energy Crisis
60 Minutes Story – Go Green … finally
60 Minutes Story – Moral Authority to “Name, Blame & Shame” the Big Polluters

See the Encore of that December 19, 2018 blog-commentary here-now:

———————

Go Lean Commentary – 5 Years Later – Climate Change: Coming so fast, so furious

A little less conversation, a little more action – Elvis Presley song

3 years ago – Paris COP21 – the world came together and devised a plan to tackle the global threat of Climate Change. This year, many of the same players came back together to implement the actions.

So we went from “planning the plan” to now “planning the action”.

This is a slow-motion response to a fast-moving threat.

This commentary is the second of a 4-part series – 2 of 4 – from the movement behind the Go Lean book in consideration of the 5 year anniversary of the book’s publication. The theme on these 4 submissions is “5 Years Later and what is the condition now“. The focus here is on the Agents of Change that the book identified: Globalization, Climate Change, Technology and the Aging Diaspora.

The first entry in this series asked the question: “Have the problems lessened, or have they intensified?

The answer is so emphatic! Climate Change has been all the rage in these 5 short years. The fast-and-furious threat is more than just academic; this is real-life and real-bad; especially for us in the Caribbean.

The other commentaries in the series are cataloged as follows:

5 Years Later: New Post Office Eco-system – Globalization issues ‘loud and clear’ now.
5 Years Later: Climate Change – Coming so fast, so furious.
5 Years Later: Technology – Caribbean fully on board.
5 Years Later: Aging Diaspora – Finding Home … anywhere.

The Go Lean book was written 5 years ago as a 5 Year Plan to reform and transform the Caribbean region. Had the plan been adopted by the regional stakeholders, then the Agents of Change would have been better addressed. The plan, or roadmap, to introduce and implement the Caribbean Union Trade Federation is still rearing to start; and while we cannot single-handedly solve Climate Change, we can better prepare the region for the heavy-lifting involved. The book describes the community ethos to adopt plus the many strategies, tactics and implementation that need to be executed.

After the 2013 publication of the Go Lean book, many countries came together for COP21 (December 2015), also known as the Paris Accords. As alluded to above, this year’s follow-up, Katowice (Poland) 2018 had a few less participants for this “put speech into action” plan. See the news article about COP24 here:

News Title: Nations agree on rules for implementing Paris climate agreement
Sub-title: Nations dragged a deal over the line Saturday to implement the landmark 2015 Paris climate treaty after marathon UN talks that failed to match the ambition the world’s most vulnerable countries need to avert dangerous global warming.

Katowice, Poland – Delegates from nearly 200 states finalised a common rule book designed to deliver the Paris goals of limiting global temperature rises to well below two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit).

“Putting together the Paris agreement work programme is a big responsibility,” said COP24 president Michal Kurtyka as he gavelled through the manual following the talks in Poland that ran deep into overtime.

“It has been a long road. We did our best to leave no-one behind.”

But environmental groups said the package agreed in the Polish mining city of Katowice lacked the bold ambition needed to protect states already dealing with devastating floods, droughts and extreme weather made worse by climate change.

“We continue to witness an irresponsible divide between the vulnerable island states and impoverished countries pitted against those who would block climate action or who are immorally failing to act fast enough,” executive director of Greenpeace Jennifer Morgan said.

The final decision text was repeatedly delayed as negotiators sought guidelines that are effective in warding off the worst threats posed by our heating planet while protecting the economies of rich and poor nations alike.

“Without a clear rulebook, we won’t see how countries are tracking, whether they are actually doing what they say they are doing,” Canada’s Environment Minister Catherine McKenna told AFP.

At their heart, negotiations were about how each nation funds action to mitigate and adapt to climate change, as well as how those actions are reported.

Developing nations wanted more clarity from richer ones over how the future climate fight will be funded and pushed for so-called “loss and damage” measures.

This would see richer countries giving money now to help deal with the effects of climate change many vulnerable states are already experiencing.

Another contentious issue was the integrity of carbon markets, looking ahead to the day when the patchwork of distinct exchanges — in China, the Europe Union, parts of the United States — may be joined up in a global system.

“To tap that potential, you have to get the rules right,” said Alex Hanafi, lead counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund in the United States.

“One of those key rules — which is the bedrock of carbon markets — is no double counting of emissions reductions.”

The Paris Agreement calls for setting up a mechanism to guard against practices that could undermine such a market, but finding a solution has proved so problematic that the debate has been kicked down the road to next year.

‘System needs to change’

One veteran observer told AFP Poland’s presidency at COP24 had left many countries out of the process and presented at-risk nations with a “take it or leave it” deal.

Progress had “been held up by Brazil, when it should have been held up by the small islands. It’s tragic.”

One of the largest disappointments for countries of all wealths and sizes was the lack of ambition to reduce emissions shown in the final COP24 text.

Most nations wanted the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to form a key part of future planning.

It highlighted the need for carbon pollution to be slashed to nearly half by 2030 in order to hit the 1.5C target.

But the US, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Kuwait objected, leading to watered-down wording.

The final statement from the Polish COP24 presidency welcomed “the timely conclusion” of the report and invited “parties to make use of it” — hardly the ringing endorsement many nations had called for.

“There’s been a shocking lack of response to the 1.5 report,” Morgan told AFP. “You can’t come together and say you can’t do more!”

With UN talks well into their third decade sputtering on as emissions rise remorselessly, activists have stepped up grassroots campaigns of civil disobedience to speed up action on climate.

“We are not a one-off protest, we are a rebellion,” a spokesman for the Extinction Rebellion movement, which disrupted at least one ministerial event at the COP, told AFP.

“We are organising for repeated disruption, and we are targeting our governments, calling for the system change needed to deal with the crisis that we are facing.”

Source: AFP – France24 News Service – Posted December 16, 2018; retrieved December 18, 2018 from: https://www.france24.com/en/20181215-cop24-poland-climate-summit-deal-paris-climate-agreement-negotiations-un-environment

—————-

VIDEO # 1 – Nations agree on rules for implementing Paris climate agreement – https://youtu.be/SBUZS3cl2X0

FRANCE 24 English
Published on Dec 17, 2018 – Nations dragged a deal over the line Saturday to implement the landmark 2015 Paris climate treaty after marathon UN talks that failed to match the ambition the world’s most vulnerable countries need to avert dangerous global warming.

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com

FRANCE 24 live news stream: all the latest news 24/7 http://f24.my/YTliveEN

Category: News & Politics

———————

VIDEO # 2 – UN climate talks: ‘A transition to a greener economy is possible’ – https://youtu.be/qqbQ1hyWc_Y

FRANCE 24 English
Uploaded on Dec 15, 2018

Subscribe to France 24 now: http://f24.my/youtubeEN

FRANCE 24 live news stream: all the latest news 24/7 http://f24.my/YTliveEN

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com

Category: News & Politics

One notable absentee from Katowice has been the United States of America. This is due to the sad fact that the “Leader of the Free World” – a moniker assigned to the US President – is a Climate Change denier. Donald Trump campaigned on his denial and has manifested his dismay with subsequent actions. His blatant disregard was previously detailed in a prior Go Lean commentary from June 1, 2017, as follows:

Its June 1st, the start of the Hurricane season. According to Weather Authorities, it is going to be a tumultuous season, maybe even more destructive than last year….

Thanks Climate Change.

What hope is there to abate the threats from Climate Change?

Thanks to the Paris Accord, there is now hope; (we remember the effectiveness of the accord to abate “Acid Rain”).

But wait! The American President – Donald Trump – announces that he is withdrawing the United States from the Paris Accord. WTH?!?!
…

The Caribbean status quo is unsustainable under the real threats of Climate Change. The region must reboot, reform and transform. We must do the heavy-lifting ourselves; we cannot expect relief and refuge from others, like the American Super-Power. We must find and “sail” under our own power. 🙂

The Caribbean is more on the frontlines of Climate Change distress than the US – think hurricanes. We do not have the luxury to deny, defer and dispute. We must “batten down the hatches” and prepare for the worst. (Many claim this is also the disposition of many American destinations, think California forest fires). So we must take the lead ourselves for our own relief!

The Caribbean frontlines have been depicted in many previous Go Lean blog-commentaries. Consider the sample – as follows – highlighting some of the many Climate Change-infused storms that have impacted our region and others over the short timeframe – 5 years – since the publication of the Go Lean book:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15996	Good Governance: Stepping Up in an Emergency October 2018 Trinidad heavy rains – not associated with a hurricane.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14925	‘Climate Change’ Reality!? Numbers Don’t Lie There is no longer any doubt, the Numbers don’t lie: the earth has had 400 straight warmer-than-average months.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13391	After Maria, Failed-State Indicators: Destruction and Defection Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands. 1 year and a half later, recovery is still slow and frustrating. Islands like Dominica, are still struggling to recover; Ross University fled there to go to Barbados.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12996	After Irma, Failed-State Indicators: Destruction and Defection Hurricane Irma devastated Caribbean islands, like Saint Martin.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12977	After Irma, Barbuda Becomes a ‘Ghost Town’ Climate Change threats are real for the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda. Barbuda is no more, after Hurricane Irma.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12924	Hurricane Categories – The Science Category 5 Hurricanes – Once rare; now normal and common.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12879	Disaster Preparation: ‘Rinse and Repeat’ Hurricane Harvey proved that even the advanced democracy of the USA is not ready.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12834	Hurricane Andrew – 25 Years of Hoopla Climate Change disasters are not new; 1992 storm was an eye-opener.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7896	The Logistics of Disaster Relief “Preparing for the worst” means being more efficient and technocratic.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7449	‘Crap Happens’ – So What Now? Hurricane Wilma brought chaos to this city’s economic engines in 2004.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6189	A Lesson in History – ‘Katrina’ is helping today’s crises There are many lessons learned from this 2005 American disaster.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4741	Vanuatu and Tuvalu – Inadequate response to human suffering Lessons learned from these small Pacific Islands climate failures.

So it has been 5 years since the publication of the Go Lean book. Climate Change was identified as an Agent of Change that the region was struggling with and losing. Since then, conditions have worsened. The book asserts that the entire region must unite in order to “hope for the best and prepare for the worst”. The “hope” is really a call to action, that the regional neighbors would confederate and join in to the global campaign of mitigating and abating Climate Change. This aligns with the first pronouncement (Page 11) of the opening Declaration of Interdependence:

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

The Go Lean book – a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) – presents a 370-page roadmap for re-booting the economic, security and governmental institutions of the 30 member-states in the Caribbean region, especially in light of the realities of Climate Change. While this is a global battle, we, the Caribbean member-states, are on the frontlines, so we must be doubly prepared for the surety of destruction from this threat. We must do our share and “Go Green” to arrest our own carbon footprint. We must not be hypocritical as we call on the Big Polluting nations to reform – we must reform ourselves, so as to have moral authority.

As detailed in a previous blog-commentary, the dire effects of Climate Change may be irreversible after the next 12 years, if we do not work to abate this disaster. So we must fight!

This is an inconvenient truth: We must fight like our lives depend on it. A product of these COP24 Katowice Accords, is now definitive plans and rules for implementing abatements around the world; carbon footprints must be reduced … globally, now!

A change has now come to the Caribbean region. This is Climate Change and it is not a good thing. Now is the time for a permanent union to provide efficient stewardship for our economic, security and governing engines. All regional stakeholders – the people and governing institutions – are hereby urged to lean-in to the empowerments described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. Yes, we can … make our region, these islands and coastal states, better places to live, work and play.

There is the successful track record of abating environment pollution: remember Acid Rain in the 1990’s. So despite the doom and gloom, mitigation and abatement of Climate Change is conceivable, believable and achievable. 🙂

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

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

Share this post:

Disaster, Green Energy, Transform

[Top]

‘Missing Solar’ – Go Green … finally – Encore

Posted on March 3, 2020 in Implementation, Industries, Strategy, Tactical

The sun-drenched tropical Bahamas has inadequate infrastructure to provide electricity efficiently and effectively. Then when storms come – they are in Hurricane Alley – the delivery challenges become even more overwhelming.

This is a familiar assertion for the movement behind the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean. On May 15, 2014, this commentary proclaimed to the region that it was time to ‘Go Green’. That previous blog made an economic appeal, as opposed to environmental. Needless to say, the Bahamas did not heed that sage advice. Well, they are listening now. This week, the US-based media-television-network CBS reported, in their titular news magazine show 60 Minutes, on the progress that this island-nation is making to deploy solar-panels-based Micro-Grids.

Better late than never …

Had these systems been in place since 2014, the restoration after 2019’s Category 5 Hurricane Dorian would have been less painful. See the VIDEO here of the 60 Minutes report:

VIDEO – Bahamas installing solar power after storms – https://www.cbsnews.com/video/bahamas-hurricanes-power-grid-solar-60-minutes-2020-03-01/

60 Minutes
Posted March 1, 2020 – A tiny country in “Hurricane Alley” is trying to be an example to the world after Category 5 storms demolished parts of its electrical grid. Bill Whitaker reports on the Bahamas’ adoption of solar energy.
Click on PLAY Button to watch; expect commercial advertising before and during.

Is it too little too late now? Let’s hope not.

There is one more Big Issue that the Bahamas Government will have to deal with, as reported in the VIDEO:

The Bahamian Government pays $400 million dollars on diesel fuel to keep its power plants operating and they pass that cost on to the consumers.

The Finance-Treasury-Revenue departments in this country will have to prepare for new revenue streams beyond Fuel Surcharges. But alas, since 2014, this country has implemented Value-Add Tax regime. So it is easier to tweak the revenue streams.

So … go on Bahamas, install your Solar Micro-Grids … at government establishments, commercial enterprises and even residential homes. Yes, we can.

This is an appropriate time to Encore that previous blog-commentary from May 15, 2014 – 6 years ago; (better late than never). Now that this is March 2020, there is the opportunity to “look back” at the Bahamas in the wake of the issues raised by the 60 Minutes story: the Go Green movement is not so new; this common-sense best-practice was not so common in the Bahamas specifically or the Caribbean as a whole. Now, we must not miss our chance to reform and transform.

This entry is 2-of-3 in that “Look Back“. The other entries are cataloged as follows:

60 Minutes Story – Bahamas Self-Made Energy Crisis
60 Minutes Story – Go Green … finally
60 Minutes Story – Moral Authority to “Name, Blame & Shame” the Big Polluters

See the the May 2014 Encore here-now:

———————

Go Lean Commentary – Go Green … Caribbean

Go ‘Green’ …

Get it? A simple play on words; Green instead of Lean. The word Green is more than just a color; it is a concept, a commitment and a cause. This is the same with ‘Lean’; for the purpose of this effort, ‘lean’ is more than just a description, it’s a noun, a verb, an adjective and an adverb. It is also a concept, commitment and cause in which the entire Caribbean region is urged to embrace; or better stated: “lean in”.

What is the motivation behind the ‘Green’ movement? Love for the Planet; many proponents feel that man’s industrial footprint has damaged the planet and the atmosphere, causing climate change, due to the abundance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Early in the book, Go Lean…Caribbean, the pressing need to be aware of climate change is pronounced in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 11), with these words, (the first of many “causes of complaints”):

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

Stop yawning!

For many, an advocacy to save the planet is a bore. But if we are not mindful of these issues we could face serious consequences.

Now a new motivation has emerged: saving money. Since energy costs has skyrocketed beyond the rate of inflation, adapting to more clean/green energy options has proven to be more cost effective.

Power generation from the sun or wind (free & renewable sources) is far cheaper than generation based on fossil fuels. (Even the fossil fuel of natural gas is cheaper than oil or coal).

The motivation behind the Caribbean “Lean” movement is also love, love of the homeland. This point is detailed in the book Go Lean… Caribbean, a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This Go Lean roadmap has 3 prime directives:

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

The following two news stories relate to this effort to optimize “green” energy options in the region:

1. Op-Ed Title: Green Energy Solutions Could Save the Caribbean $200 Million

By: Jun Zhang, Op-Ed Contributor
(04/11/2014) HIGH ENERGY costs are the Achilles heel of the Caribbean.
More than 97 percent of this region’s electricity is generated from fossil fuels and many islands devote a hefty portion of their GDP to fuel imports.

On some Caribbean islands, electricity bills can soar up to six times higher than in the United States, which creates a burden for many local businesses. At the same time, these islands are vulnerable to the environmental impacts associated with fossil-fuels, including air pollution, rising sea levels, and coral bleaching.

Reducing the reliance on fossil fuels and supporting cleaner, more efficient energy production is critical to helping island economies grow sustainably. But many companies face hurdles in accessing credit to invest in clean energy.

That’s where the banking sector can play an important role.

The International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group and the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector, is developing a regional programme to help local financial institutions provide the credit needed for companies to adopt more energy efficient practices and utilize cleaner energy sources.

This in turn can help reduce costs – and environmental footprints -for Caribbean hotels and other businesses.

At a recent seminar in Kingston, IFC presented a market analysis of sustainable energy finance opportunities in Barbados, Belize, Jamaica, Grenada, and St. Lucia.

It found that energy demands in the Caribbean are expected to double by 2027. Continued dependence on fossil fuels is likely to exacerbate pollution and other environmental impacts, while diverting significant resources from these economies. But there are upsides as well.

According to the analysis, incorporating energy efficiency measures across these five countries over the next few years could save approximately US$200 million. For example, solar water heaters offer a ready solution to water heating in the Caribbean. Barbados has already installed more than 50,000 solar water heaters, saving the country some US$6.5 million a year on oil imports.

Caribbean countries could also benefit from water efficiency measures. Right now, anywhere from 25 to 65 percent of clean water is lost in inefficient water distribution systems, which also results in lost energy due to unnecessary pumping.

Some entrepreneurs say the tide is beginning to turn, but the financial sector needs to catch up.

“Businesses are already starting to shift to more energy efficient technologies,” said Andre Escalante, founder of Energy Dynamics, a Trinidad based company that helps hotels and other businesses adopt new energy-saving technologies. “However, financial institutions in the region are still reluctant to provide credits to implement new technologies that they may not be familiar with.”

IFC intends to close this knowledge gap by advising local financial institutions to help them meet the financing needs of sustainable energy projects. IFC also plans to work with energy service companies and equipment vendors to help them understand how to best structure projects for financing.

In the Dominican Republic, IFC helped Banco BHD become the first financial institution in the country to offer a credit line to finance sustainable energy projects. Over two years, BHD provided US$24 million in financing for projects that are bringing more cost-efficient energy solutions to the Dominican Republic, from natural gas conversion to solar energy.

“We’ve seen first-hand how sustainability adds value, be it by helping hotels cut their energy costs or by financing solar energy solutions for businesses,” said Steven Puig, General Manager of Banco BHD. “In fact, BHD intends to implement energy efficiency measures and install solar panels on each of its 43 stand-alone bank branches. So far, with IFC’s support, four offices have done this, which resulted in US$43,000 in savings each year as well as reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.”

Sustainability presents challenges for businesses, but also wide-ranging, evolving opportunities — especially as the cost of renewable energy technologies goes down. The private sector is well suited to innovate and leverage new technologies to turn challenges into opportunities.

(Jun Zhang is IFC’s Senior Manager for the Caribbean. IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector).

————

2. Title: Solar Car-Charging Station Opens in Grand Cayman

By: Alexander Britell
(05/05/2014) It may be the Caribbean’s most abundant resource, but in a region where energy costs are oppressive, solar energy isn’t used nearly enough.

That’s starting to change, though, and it got a significant boost last week with the opening of the Caribbean’s first-ever solar-powered car charging station.

The station is viewed to be one of the first standalone, public solar car-charging stations in the Caribbean, a place for electric-powered cars to come and top off their energy supplies.

“We started about a year ago and now it’s finally up and operational,” said John Felder, CEO of Cayman Automotive, which partnered with Philadelphia-based U-Go Stations on the project. “I don’t know of any solar panel charge stations for electric cars.”

While the stations won’t be used for complete charges, an hour spent charging at the station will provide about 20 percent of an electric car’s power supply.

Felder, who is the leading distributor of electric cars in the Caribbean, said the region’s electric car movement was already expanding.

“I’m now in the Bahamas, in Jamaica, in Bermuda,” he said. “The Aruban government called me last week and they want me to move to start doing electric cars there.”

Indeed, Aruba has been at the forefront of the regional green energy movement, with plans to have 100 percent renewable energy by the year 2020.

Barbados opened its first solar car-charging station in 2013 at the Wildey Business Park.

The new Cayman station, which is located at Governors Square, is one of six electric charging stations on the island.

“I can see in the next 10 years that 30 to 40 percent of the cars on the roads will be electric vehicles,” Felder said.

Something that could help that measure regional is the lowering of import duties on 100 percent electric cars, Felder said.

Cayman’s government lowered its duty from 42 percent to 10 percent, which is now the third-lowest in the region, although many islands lag behind in that regard.

“The government is promoting [electric] and that’s why they reduced the duty to 10 percent,” he said.

The electric movement on Cayman got an similarly big boost earlier this year when Grand Cayman’s Budget Rent-a-Car announced plans to offer 100 percent EV vehicles on the island.

Caribbean Journal News Source (Articles retrieved 05/14/2014) a. http://www.caribjournal.com/2014/04/11/op-ed-green-energy-solutions-could-save-the-caribbean-200-million/ b. http://www.caribjournal.com/2014/05/05/solar-car-charging-station-opens-in-grand-cayman/

Photo Credits:
a. Jennifer Hicks, Forbes.com Technology Contributor: Field with six 850 kW turbines in Cuba’s Holguín Province
b. Cayman Automotive: The first ever public, commercial solar car charging station in Grand Cayman

This Go Lean/CU roadmap recognizes that modern life has expanded the definition of basic needs to now include food, clothing, shelter and energy. And thusly the book proposes many solutions for the region to optimize energy …

generation
distribution
consumption

No “stone is left unturned”. Go Lean posits that the average costs of energy can be decreased from an average of US$0.35/kWh to US$0.088/kWh in the course of the 5-year term of this roadmap; (Page 100). A 75% savings is not a yawn, this should keep you alert!

The two foregoing articles relate to new ‘green’ power generation initiatives in different Caribbean member-states.

These initiatives took some effort on the part of the community and governmental institutions. We commend and applaud their success and executions thus far. But there is more heavy-lifting to do. Help is on the way! The Go Lean roadmap details a series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to foster the progress in the wide fields of energy generation, distribution and consumption. The following list applies:

Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Regional Taxi Commissions	Page 25
Community Ethos – Non-Government Organizations	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Negotiations	Page 32
Anecdote – Pipeline Transport – Strategies, Tactics & Implementations	Page 43
Strategy – Harness the power of the sun/winds	Page 46
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 82
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Energy Commission	Page 82
Anecdote – “Lean” in Government – Energy Permits	Page 93
Anecdote – Caribbean Energy Grid Implementation	Page 100
Implementation – Ways to Develop Pipeline Industry	Page 107
Implementation – Ways to Improve Energy Usage	Page 113
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Public Works	Page 175
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Monopolies	Page 202

Energy needs are undeniable. The world is struggling with this issue.

Fulfilling those needs is easier said than done; and thus a great opportunity for the lean, agile operations envisioned for the CU technocracy. “It’s good to be green!”

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

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Share this post:

Green Energy, Sales, Transform

[Top]

Airport	Profit
JFK	+$990 million
LaGuardia	+$273 million
Newark	+$1.3 million
Teterboro, Stewart, heliports	-$65 million

Bridge/Tunnel	Profit
GW Bridge	+$1.3 billion
Lincoln Tunnel	+167 million
Holland Tunnel	+$141 million
Port Authority Bus Terminal	-$479 million
PATH	-$2.3 billion

Port	Profit
Port Newark	-$317 million
Port Jersey	-$184 million
Howland Hook	-$160 million
Brooklyn Marine Terminal	-$27 million