Power – Page 19 – Go Lean…Caribbean

Tag: Power

Innovative Partnership Aids Farm Workers

Posted on August 11, 2015 in Ethos, Government, Implementation, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

“We used to own our slaves, now we just rent them” – Quotation from a farmer in 1960 CBS Documentary

This reminds us of a common expression:

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

In the landmark 1960 Documentary by famed TV Journalist Edward R. Morrow, the conclusion was that American Agricultural Interest would always seek some scheme for cheap labor. That even though slavery had been abolished for 100 years, there were still labor practices that were tantamount to modern-day slavery.

So sad! American society hadn’t reformed.

How about now, 55 years later?

Truthfully, despite this innovative partnership here to aid farm workers, there has only been small progress forward for a journey of thousands of miles. Just consider this latest CBS News story/VIDEO here:

VIDEO – CBS News – Posted 08-09-2015; retrieved 08-11-2015 from: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/innovative-partnership-aids-farm-workers/

August 9, 2015 – For decades, the tomato farms in South Florida have been known for their awful working conditions, but things are changing thanks to some unlikely partners. Mark Strassmann reports on how a coalition of migrant farm workers and some of the nation’s biggest tomato buyers are helping improve working conditions and raise pay. (VIDEO plays best in Internet Explorer).

Welcome to the America of 1865, 1960 and 2015.

Only now after decades, American society is finally reporting progress for the conditions of migrant farm workers. Too little, too late!

Perhaps the American shores should not be the destination for Latin American Migrant Farm Labor. This is definitely the position of the book Go Lean … Caribbean. The publishers of the Go Lean book campaign that it would be better for Caribbean citizens (subset of Latin America) to remain in their homeland and work to remediate conditions there, than to migrate to American destinations looking for better labor options. (Previously the same futility had been detailed regarding a Jamaican-Canadian Labor Exchange program). Considering the statistics and anecdotal evidence in the foregoing VIDEO, these 2 conclusions appear indisputable:

Crony Capitalism – America has a disease where much of its public policy is set based on some special/private interest benefiting from public resources. This is Crony Capitalism and it is defined as public interest being hijacked for private gain.
Institutional Racism – Racial discrimination still permeates much of American society, though not always blatant. Statistics and anecdotes prove that so many aspects of American society disenfranchise the Black and Brown of this country.

Considering this reality, it is sad that the eco-systems of Caribbean society are failing so that now many Caribbean citizens still long for the opportunity to emigrate to the United States. There have been many that have taken to the seas on risky vessels to reach this land of their dreams. Many Caribbean member-states (St Vincent, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, etc.) have lost more than half of their populations to foreign shores. While others have lost more than 70 percent of their college educated populations. This situation is so impactful that now 1 out of 11 Black persons in the US is now of Caribbean (or African) descent, and these numbers are only expected to grow. This is a crisis for the Caribbean.

The reasons for this Caribbean crisis are identified as “push-and-pull”. Failures in our society are so acute that many feel compelled to seek their future abroad. While this is “push”, the “pull” refers to the propaganda and image that American life is better – the “place to be”.

Hopefully this commentary succeeds in dispelling this mis-information that life in the American Migrant Labor eco-system is better than enduring Caribbean society. This is one of the motives of this commentary; another motive is to highlight the success of Farm Labor Reform Advocates, in this case the #FairFoods movement; this innovative partnership to aid farm workers.

This cause and campaign is not unfamiliar to the Go Lean movement. The Go Lean book had identified another effective advocate in the farm labor movement: Cesar Chavez of the 1960’s/1970’s United Farm Workers Union movement. (In many ways, #FairFoods stands on the shoulders of the late-great Cesar Chavez). The book relates (Page 122) this summary of the historicity of Cesar Chavez:

Chavez (1927 – 1993) was an American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist, who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (later the United Farm Workers Union (UFW)). He became the best known Latino American civil rights activist, and was strongly promoted by the American labor movement, which was eager to enroll Hispanic members. His public-relations approach to unionism and aggressive but nonviolent tactics made the farm workers’ struggle a moral cause with nationwide support. By the 1970s, his tactics had forced growers to grant respect to migrant workers, and recognize the UFW as the bargaining agent for 50,000 field workers in California & Florida.

There is now new update on the national appreciation and societal impact of Cesar Chavez:

Chavez is buried at the National Chavez Center, on the headquarters campus of the United Farm Workers of America at 29700 Woodford-Tehachapi Road in the Keene community of unincorporated Kern County, California.^[36]^[37]He received belated full military honors from the US Navy at his graveside on April 23, 2015, the 22nd anniversary of his death.^[38]

The efforts of this commentary is not to reform America, but to reform the Caribbean. The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). While the branding Trade connotes economics, the roadmap also addresses labor and justice assurances. In fact, the Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines and the Caribbean homeland against abuse from “bad actors” in society.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between CU agencies and member-state governments.

The goal of the Go Lean roadmap therefore is to forge a better society, to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. By optimizing our justice and labor institutions, we would lower our own “push” factors. These requirements were pronounced at the outset of the Go Lean book, in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12) with these statements:

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

xxi. 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.

How can the Caribbean be different than the United States in the pursuit of labor justice?

The CU/Go Lean roadmap seeks to apply best-practices in labor regulations; we do not want to repeat America’s mistakes; we have enough “push” reasons to contend with already.

This review of American Farm Labor past-and-present also helps with the “pull factors. We see a more accurate portrayal of American values. The Go Lean book cites the historic example and abuses of the Peonage system that emerged in the Southern US after the Civil War (Page 211). It was obvious that many “bad actors” in American society wanted cheap labor even though slavery had just been outlawed in the country. With the realities of migrant farm workers and their need for civil rights, obviously, there remains factions in the American Agriculture eco-system that have not matured in their appreciation of the working classes. This class of people have still “not overcome”.

Welcome to America … a land of two destinations: richer or poorer.

To all those in the Caribbean desiring to emigrate to the US, we urge you to take heed: the “grass is not greener” on that other side! This point was highlighted in other Go Lean…Caribbean commentary, as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6089	American Jobs – Futility of Minimum Wage
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5597	American Wage-Seeking – Market Forces -vs- Collective Bargaining
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5238	American Crony-Capitalism – Prisoners for Profit
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5210	Cruise Ship Labor-Practices – Getting Ready for Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4278	American Businesses Try to Stave-off Brain Drain as Boomers Retire
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3694	Jamaica-Canada employment program try to pump millions into local economy

The book Go Lean … Caribbean details these strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to elevate Caribbean society, mitigating the “push” reasons:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principle – Economic Systems Influence Choices & Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Whistleblower Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – Anti-Bullying and Mitigation	Page 23
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius – Leadership Skills	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Negotiations	Page 32
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Mission – Education Without Further Brain Drain	Page 46
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Tactics to Forge an $800 Billion Economy – High Multiplier Industries	Page 70
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Justice Department – Trade Anti-Trust Regulatory Commission	Page 77
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Labor Department – Labor Relations Board	Page 89
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Foster International Aid	Page 115
Planning – Ways to Improve Trade	Page 128
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage Food Consumption – Optimizing Agriculture Supply Chain	Page 162
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Labor Markets and Unions	Page 164
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Leadership	Page 171
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Foundations	Page 219
Advocacy – Ways to Battle Poverty – Third World Realities	Page 222
Advocacy – Ways to Help the Middle Class	Page 223
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Youth – Incentivizing STEM Careers	Page 227
Appendix – Growing 2.2 Million Jobs in 5 Years	Page 257
Appendix – Job Multipliers	Page 259

The Go Lean roadmap asserts to all those desiring to flee to the US: America is not so alluring … from a labor justice perspective, especially if you’re poor, Black-and-Brown. The admonition: Lower the “pull” factors for Coming to America.

There is the need for new jobs; exporting workers for seasonal agricultural harvests had been a popular strategy. This Go Lean roadmap though takes an alternate approach; it creates local jobs; high paying, career-enhancing ones. The Go Lean book pronounces this need in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 14):

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

More jobs would help to lower “push” factors. We must do this; address all possible “push” factors. The region must address its issues, as to why its population is so inclined to emigrate; this is the purpose of the Go Lean roadmap. It features the assessments, strategies, tactics and implementations to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play.

Now is the time for the Caribbean region to lean-in for the empowerments described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. The benefits of this roadmap are too alluring to ignore: emergence of our own $800 Billion (GDP) economy, 2.2 million new jobs, new industries, new services and optimized justice institutions.

The end result of the Go Lean roadmap – after the defined 5 year plan – is to lower both the “push” and the “pull” factors. Instead we want to incentivize our citizens to remain home, participate in new job initiatives and to prosper here where we are planted. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Civil Rights, Jobs, Model, Power, Transform

Sum of All Fears – ‘On Guard’ Against Deadly Threats

Posted on August 6, 2015 in Government, Tactical

Go Lean Commentary

It’s time for some serious talk:

There are people out there that would like to kill us, and destroy our way of life.

Doubtful? Consider ISIS, Al Qaeda or Boko Haram!

These groups are Terrorist organizations, and they are committed, even at the risk of their own lives to carry out what they consider “a sacred service to their God”. (This aligns with the Bible at John 16:2 – “the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service” – KJV).

From the Caribbean perspective, this is a scary proposition. This also considers that the people, institutions of the Caribbean may not be the Terrorists’ target; they are really at enmity with the United States, not the Caribbean.

The US has a massive security apparatus, with huge budgets, systems, hardware (ships, submarines, fighter jets, satellites, etc.) and military personnel; the largest in the world. These enemies may not be able to get to their ideal target, the American homeland, but will settle with successful attacks against its bordering neighbors, allies and defenseless island territories (Puerto Rico, and/or the US Virgin Islands).

God forbid, they may get their hands on nuclear materials and detonate a “dirty bomb” on our Caribbean homeland.

This is the sum of all our fears!

This title, “Sum of All Fears”, comes from a quote by the late British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, quoted as follows:

Why, you may take the most gallant sailor, the most intrepid airman or the most audacious soldier, put them at a table together – what do you get? The sum of their fears.

In the modern lexicon however, the title draws reference to the movie based on the novel of the same name. These works of fiction portray a scenario where a nuclear bomb is exploded on US soil at a celebrated American football game. The movie truly depicted an ominous scenario. See the movie trailer here:

VIDEO – Sum of All Fears (2002) – Movie Trailer – https://youtu.be/p4Y-0Pun2Eg

Published on Feb 22, 2013 – CIA analyst Jack Ryan must thwart the plans of a terrorist faction that threatens to induce a catastrophic conflict between the United States and Russia’s newly elected president by detonating a nuclear weapon at a football game in Baltimore.
Alternate Synopsis: When the president of Russia suddenly dies, a man whose politics are virtually unknown succeeds him. The change in political leaders sparks paranoia among American CIA officials, so CIA director Bill Cabot recruits a young analyst to supply insight and advice on the situation. Then the unthinkable happens: a nuclear bomb explodes in a U.S. city, and America is quick to blame the Russians.

Life imitating art; art imitating life.

Atomic bombs have been detonated before … twice, in World War II against Japan on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (Today, August 6, is the exact 70th Anniversary of the Hiroshima detonation).

No one can therefore claim that this fear of an atomic, hydrogen or nuclear bomb is far-fetched.

This consideration is presented in conjunction to mitigations and remediation for protecting the Caribbean homeland. The assertion in the book Go Lean … Caribbean (Page 23) is that with the emergence of new economic engines, “bad actors” will also emerge thereafter to exploit the opportunities, with good, bad and evil intent. The book warns that this “bad actor” emergence is a historical fact; it is not inconceivable that it can be repeated, even on the Caribbean homeland.

This is the sum of our fears!

This point is pronounced early in the book with the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12) that claims:

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 … to assuage continuous threats against public safety.

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

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

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The branding Trade connotes economics, but the roadmap also addresses Homeland Security. Thusly, ascending the CU treaty would also enact a Defense Pact for the region’s security interest. Therefore the Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy and create new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines and the Caribbean homeland.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

This structure heeds the pleas of the foregoing Declaration of Interdependence. The Caribbean appointing “new guards”, or a security pact to ensure public safety includes many strategies, tactics and implementations considered “best-practices”. We must be on a constant vigil against the eventual emergence of a “bad actor” that would be the “sum of our fears”. This indicates being pro-active in monitoring, mitigating and managing risks. The Go Lean book describes an organization structure with Intelligence Gathering and Analysis, a robust Emergency Management functionality, plus the Unified Command and Control for Caribbean Disaster Response, anti-crime and military preparedness.

This type of initiative was attempted before. Some Caribbean region member-states came together, starting in 1982, to establish the Regional Security System (RSS); it is an international accord for the defense and security of the eastern Caribbean region. The CU/Go Lean roadmap “stands on the shoulders” of that nascent beginning and extends the vision further with a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) embedded in the treaty to create the CU Trade Federation. It is past time now for some real assurances. The world has become a scarier place. The threat of an unknown, non-state-sponsored enemy, terrorism is real. The World Trade Center/Pentagon attack on September 11, 2001 was an undeniable game-changer. But in a recent blog/commentary, it was reported that 17 recent terrorist attacks against the American homeland was cited for this decade alone, since 2010.

The CU Homeland Security Pact would roll the charters of the RSS and other regional efforts, such as:

… into one consolidated apparatus, the SOFA, thusly creating one entity, under a Commander-in-Chief would be “on guard” 24-7-365 for real or perceived threats.

The CU‘s requirement for the SOFA is “Step One, Day One” in the Go Lean roadmap. The Go Lean book details the series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to provide the proactive and reactive public safety/security in the Caribbean region:

Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Privacy –vs- Public Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – Intelligence Gathering	Page 23
Community Ethos – Whistleblower Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – “Crap” Happens	Page 23
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Manage Reconciliations	Page 34
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederating a non-sovereign permanent union	Page 45
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Coast Guard & Naval Authorities	Page 75
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Ground Militia Forces	Page 75
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Emergency Management Agency	Page 76
Tactical – Separation of Powers – CariPol: Marshals & Investigations	Page 75
Implementation – Assemble Regional Organs into the CU	Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Start-up Foreign Policy Initiatives	Page 102
Implementation – Start-up Security Initiatives	Page 103
Implementation – Ways to Foster International Aid – Military Aid	Page 115
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – #3: Consolidated Homeland Security Pact	Page 130
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better – Improved Public Safety	Page 131
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices – Escalation Role	Page 134
Planning – Lessons from the American West – Needed Law & Order	Page 142
Planning – Lessons from Egypt – Law & Order to not undermine Tourism	Page 143
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy – Quick Disaster Recovery	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice – Policing the Security Forces	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Reduce Crime – Regional Security Intelligence	Page 178
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Gun Control	Page 179
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Terrorism	Page 181
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering & Analysis	Page 182
Advocacy – Ways to Improve for Emergency Management	Page 196
Advocacy – Ways to Protect Human Rights	Page 220

Other subjects related to security and governing empowerments for the region’s defense have been blogged in other Go Lean…Caribbean commentaries, as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5840	Computer Glitches – Cyber Attacks Maybe – Disrupt Business As Usual
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5183	A Lesson in History – Cinco De Mayo and Mexico’s Security Lapses
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5002	Managing a ‘Clear and Present Danger’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4809	Americans arrest 2 would-be terrorists – Mitigating threats
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4360	Dreading the ‘Caribbean Basin Security Initiative’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3881	Intelligence Agencies to Up Cyber Security Cooperation
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1965	America’s Navy – 100 Percent – Model for Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1554	Status of Forces Agreement = Security Pact
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1531	A Lesson in History: 100 Years Ago – Root Causes of World War I
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1076	Trinidad Muslims travel to Venezuela for Jihadist training
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=960	Lessons from NSA recording all phone calls in Bahamas
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=809	Muslim officials condemn abductions of Nigerian girls
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=535	Remembering and learning from Boston
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273	10 Things We Want from the US – #4: Pax Americana

The Caribbean is arguably the best address of the planet. The people are kind, and hospitable. History shows that kindness is often disregarded as weakness. So we must project strength, underlying the regional smiles and touristic “welcome mat”.

Unfortunately, there are those out in the “mad-mad” world that will kill … with no qualms. What’s worst, they will overkill.

Overkill? See this Photo here:

Nuclear/Hydrogen/Atomic weapons are overkill.

This is the formation of human society; any opening for exploitation will be explored. Someone must be “on guard” for these risks, threats and abuses.

Help is on the way; here comes the Caribbean Union Trade Federation, to help make the region a better, safer homeland to live, work and play.

Everyone in the Caribbean – citizens, institutions and governments – are hereby urged to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap. 🙂

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

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Disaster, Foreign Policy, History, Power, Security

[Top]

Carnival to ban carry-on bottled beverages

Posted on July 23, 2015 in Industries, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

According to the news article below, Carnival Cruise Lines is now banning carry-on bottled beverages on their ships. They claim that this move “is not intended to raise beverage revenues”.

Does anybody believe that?

Hardly!

This is the consistent theme in the book Go Lean…Caribbean; it posits that cruise lines have progressively tighten their practices and policies to ensure more revenues for them and less for the port cities (Page 32).

Scratch a liar, catch a thief!

Why so harsh a criticism? Simple: the dynamics of the Crony-Capitalistic cruise industry in the past, present and future.

The cruise line industry was not always as reflective of this Crony-Capitalism … as they are today. There was a time when passenger shipping companies submitted to the laws of the land – the home countries of the ship owners, i.e. US, England, Netherlands, Greece. This compliance dictated that the shipping lines conformed to labor, anti-trust and competition laws. Then the Crony-Capitalistic influence was embedded and the shipping lines started seeking ship-registry third-party countries that are agnostic to community best-practices (Liberia, etc.).

Today the Caribbean cruise industry is dominated by 3 cruise companies (with large percentages of the passenger traffic; Carnival alone had 52% global market share in early 2012), and the fast-growing Disney Cruise Line. These companies are now all publicly-traded on Wall Street – see stock-symbols listing as follows – so they now answer to new bosses, whose goal is singular: increase shareholder value:

Symbol	Name	Price Today
CCL	Carnival Corporation	51.87
RCL	Royal Caribbean Cruise Line	83.20
NCLH	Norwegian Cruise Line	59.81
DIS	Disney (Cruise Line)	118.80

The “modus operandi” is no longer a matter of extending hospitality to their guests, but rather the business ethos – fundamental spirit that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of an enterprise – is simply to maximize profits. This means increasing revenues while simultaneously lowering costs. (In a previous blog/commentary the full extent of the industries’ labor practices were detailed).

This is not a good trend!

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU is a confederation of 30 Caribbean member-states with the mission to form a unified negotiating front in bargaining with the cruise line industry. The CU goal is simple: integrate the region into a Single Market.

Why a Single Market?

The Go Lean book posits (Page 3) that the problems of the Caribbean, cruise industry manifestations included, are too big for any one member-state to tackle alone. Even though some cruise destinations, (like the Bahamas, Jamaica, Cayman Islands and St Martin) have demonstrated some success with this business model, the trend is for the opposite direction. (Wall Street firms try to improve profits more and more for each passing fiscal quarter). As demonstrated in the following news article, the trending is for this cruise industry to extract more and more passenger spending, not share. See the news article here:

Title: Carnival to ban carry-on bottled beverages
By: KDSK Reporting

Carnival Cruise Line is trying to put a stop to alcohol being smuggled aboard its ships disguised as bottled water.

Beginning July 9, Carnival will effectively ban beverages in bottles from being brought onboard at embarkation. The only exception is a single bottle of fine wine or champagne.

Otherwise, beverages must [be] packaged in unopened cans or cartons, including water, sodas and juices, with a maximum number of 12 packed in carry-on luggage.

The change means passengers can no longer tag beverages for embarkation as checked luggage. In addition, Carnival will restrict the size of coolers brought aboard to those measuring 12x12x12 or less.

In a letter being sent to passengers, Carnival said bottled beverages have become a prime means of bringing unauthorized alcohol on cruises. The line claims inspecting a growing number of bottles was bogging down embarkation, and that episodes of bad behavior on ships often trace back to smuggled alcohol. The letter also explained that cruise personnel cannot effectively monitor consumption of alcohol that isn’t sold on the ships, it said.

“We sincerely apologize for any disappointment these changes may cause,” said the letter, signed by Arlene Marichal, senior director, solutions and special services. “However, we firmly believe this will result in a safer environment while also improving the embarkation process and the overall guest experience.”

Concurrent with the policy change, Carnival has lowered the price of bottled water to $2.99 for a 12-pack of 500 ML bottles, if purchased in advance of the cruise, or $4.99 onboard. Carnival said the move is not intended to raise beverage revenues.
Source: KSDK NewsChannel 5 – St. Louis, Missouri Local NBC Affiliate – Posted June 9, 2015; retrieved July 22, 2015 from: http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/06/09/carnival-to-ban-carry-on-bottled-beverages/28744127/

The goal of the Go Lean roadmap is the Greater Good. This includes applying strategies and tactics to incite more spending at Caribbean ports-of-call.

Singlehandedly, these port cities-member states cannot effect change on this cruise line industry. But together, as one unified front, the chances for success improve exponentially.

The cruise lines “ply their trade” in the Caribbean region (waters and ports-of-call); this is our marketplace so it would be expected that we would have some jurisdiction. After all, the Caribbean is the attraction for Caribbean cruises.

The confederacy goal of the CU entails accepting that there is interdependence among the Caribbean member-states. The Go Lean book initiates with this quest for regional integration with an opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 11 – 13); consider these pronouncements:

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

vi. Whereas the finite nature of the landmass of our lands limits the populations and markets of commerce, by extending the bonds of brotherhood to our geographic neighbors allows for extended opportunities and better execution of the kinetics of our economies through trade. This regional focus must foster and promote diverse economic stimuli.

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

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 … to assuage continuous threats …

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 …

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.

This Go Lean roadmap represents change for the Caribbean and all of our stakeholders, including sailing/cruising and flying visitors. But our quest in the CU to elevate Caribbean society is not designed to antagonize cruise line operators. Just the opposite; we set out to be their able-bodied trading partners, not adversarial opponents. We seek the Greater Good for their interest as well, a win-win.

The CU/Go Lean prime directive is identified with the following 3 statements:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines, including maritime activities on the Caribbean Sea.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

Collective bargaining is the key.

The Go Lean book promotes collective bargaining as a community ethos, so as to mitigate the perils of “going at it alone”. The book details the applicable community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementation and advocacies to elevate the benefits of regional cruise line industry in the region:

Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices & Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Return on Investments (ROI)	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Negotiations	Page 32
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Confederate 30 Caribbean Member-States	Page 45
Strategy – Customers / Stakeholders – Governments, Businesses, and Citizens	Page 47
Strategy – Customers / Stakeholders – Cruise Passengers	Page 48
Strategy – Competitors – Choices for Cruise Passengers: Pacific Coast, Mediterranean, etc.	Page 55
Strategy – Agents of Change – Technology	Page 57
Strategy – Agents of Change – Climate Change – More Intense Tropical Storms Disrupting Cruises	Page 57
Anecdote – Carnival Cruise Lines Strategy Report	Page 61
Tactical – Foster a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Shared Portal: www.myCaribbean.gov for Cruise Marketing	Page 74
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Regional Tourism Coordination	Page 7?
Implementation – Year 1 / Assemble Phase – Consolidate Organs into CU	Page 96
Implementation – Foreign Policy Mandates at Start-up – Collective Bargain with other Cruise Destinations	Page 105
Implementation – Security Provisions at Start-up	Page 106
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – Shared/Single Currency – Cooperative Central Bank & Cruise Line Pay cards	Page 127
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract – Ensure level playing field	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Improve Homeland Security – Emergency Management Readiness	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Tourism – Cruise Passenger Pay Card/Currency	Page 190
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Cruise Tourism – Fostering more Port-side Commerce	Page 194
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Emergency Management – Cruise Ship Incidence Readiness	Page 198
Advocacy – Reforms for Bank Regulations – Cruise Passenger Pay cards	Page 199
Advocacy – Ways to Develop Ship-Building – Cruise Ship Dry-Dock Maintenance – Deal-making	Page 209

The issues raised in the foregoing article weigh heavy on a lot of Caribbean commerce. For example, we have a thriving rum industry in the region, with products deemed the best in the world. An objective of rum producers is to market their wares to the 10-million-plus cruise visitors. An unchallenged cruise line policy, dissuading onshore beverage purchases, would undermine this rum industry goal.

The cruise lines have invested heavily in new amenities and duty-free shopping options on board their newer ships. See photos and VIDEO here:

VIDEO – Disney Fantasy Shopping Areas on the Disney Cruise Line – https://youtu.be/OvjxlzoetrY

Published on Apr 22, 2012 – A look at shopping on the Disney Fantasy including Sea Treasures, Mickey’s Mainsail, Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, and White Caps. Visit http://www.wdwinfo.com for more information on Disney Cruise Line.

While these onboard retailers may be in direct competition with port-cities, it is the Go Lean assertion that there is market enough for all these stakeholders; onboard and onshore. There is no need for anti-trust practices.

Consider these previous blog/commentaries that drilled deep on the Go Lean vision and opportunities for the cruise industry:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5210	Cruise Ship Commerce – Getting Ready for Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4639	Tobago: A Model for Cruise Tourism
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3956	Art and Science of Collaboration
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5307	8th Violent Crime Warning to Bahamas Tourists (including Cruises)
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3889	RBC EZPay – Ready for Change and Cruise Industry Pay Cards
Issues Creating New Cruise Industry Opportunities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3225	Caribbean less competitive due to increasing aviation taxes
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2207	Hotels are making billions from added fees
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=242	The Erosion of the Middle Class

The Caribbean region and the cruise line industry must do better … and work together to grow this industry.

In the end, these changes will be for the better; for the Greater Good and to promote a better partnership for all cruise industry stakeholders.

We welcome the 10 million cruise visitors and the many cruise ship operators. Let’s work together … to make the Caribbean destination a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Buggery in Jamaica – ‘Say It Ain’t So’!

Posted on July 2, 2015 in Economics, Ethos, Government, Social

Go Lean Commentary

This commentary has asserted that the Caribbean region can be a better society than the United States of America. Yes, we can!

But to even start the discussion, we must first:

Live and let live!

The topic of intolerance has been acute in the news as of late. We have the extreme example of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) beheading non-Muslims because… well, just because. And the example of the US legalizing Gay Marriage may be considered too tolerant for some people’s good taste.

Where does the Caribbean fit in this discussion?

If ISIS is one end of a scale and Gay Marriage in America is another end, then one Caribbean member-state, Jamaica, would be closer to …

ISIS!

Yes, it is that bad. Say it ain’t so.

See Appendix-VIDEO’s below …

While this commentary directly targets Jamaica, the majority of the countries and overseas territories of the former British Empire, still criminalize sexual acts between consenting adults of the same sex and other forms of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression. This has been described as being the result of “the major historical influence” or legacy of the British Empire. In most cases, it was former colonial administrators that established anti-gay legislation or sodomy acts during the 19^th century; see Appendix below. The majority of countries then retained these laws following independence.^[1][2].

There is an effort now to transform society in Jamaica (and other countries) in this regards. There are Gay Pride Activities being planned for this Summer of 2015. See the relevant news article here:

Title: J-FLAG Is Planning Gay Pride Activities, But No Parade For August – Exec
Source: Jamaica Gleaner Daily Newspaper Online Site; posted June 30, 2015; retrieved from: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20150630/j-flag-planning-gay-pride-activities-no-parade-august-exec

Local gay lobby, J-FLAG, is refuting reports that it will host a road parade in August when the group plans to have a series of gay pride activities.

Social media has been abuzz since yesterday following a report that the group would host a parade, similar to what is done in the United States and other countries.

However, executive director of J-FLAG, Dane Lewis, says the report is wrong, adding that Jamaica is not ready for such an event.

Meanwhile, he says the group is planning a week-long series of activities starting on Emancipation Day, August 1, to mark growing tolerance for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.

Some years ago, an attempt to host a gay parade was thwarted after anti-gay supporters reportedly planned attacks against marchers.

Jamaica is accused of being one of the most homophobic places on earth.

Last week, the US government released a report noting that anti-gay laws and the dancehall culture are responsible for perpetuating homophobia in Jamaica.
Additional reference sources: http://jflag.org/

———–

VIDEO: Executive Director of JFLAG, Dane Lewis: “We Are Jamaicans” – https://youtu.be/sJ-17R5DCoI

Published on Jan 17, 2013 – “We Are Jamaicans” is funded with the kind support of the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC) through its Global Fund Vulnerablised Project.

Building a diverse society is not easy. The book Go Lean … Caribbean describes the challenge as heavy-lifting. Though the US had failed at this challenge, it proudly boasts that it got better with every generation. The Caribbean on the other hand, leaves much to be desired in terms of the willingness to change and keep pace with progressive societies. (Now the US, Canada, Ireland and other countries have legalized Gay Marriage).

In a previous blog-commentaries, this defect – Homosexual Intolerance – was listed among the blatant human rights abuses in the region.

This is an important consideration for the planners of Caribbean empowerment. The Caribbean, a region where unfortunately, we have NOT … tried to be as tolerant as may be required, expected and just plain moral.

We must do better!

The book Go Lean … Caribbean asserts that Caribbean society’s prosperity has been hindered with a high abandonment rate – reported at 70% for educated classes region-wide, but an even higher 85% in Jamaica. The primary mission of the Go Lean book is to “battle” against the “push-and-pull” factors that draw so many of our Caribbean citizens away from their homelands to go to more progressive countries.

The Go Lean book campaigns to lower the “push” factors!

The purpose of the Go Lean book is to fix the Caribbean; to be better. The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) to pursue the quest to elevate the Caribbean region through empowerments in economics, security and governance. It is the assertion that Caribbean citizens can stay home and effect change in their homelands more effectively than going to some foreign countries to find opportunities for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The book therefore asserts that the region can turn-around from failing assessments by applying best-practices, and forging new societal institutions to impact the Greater Good for all the Caribbean. This point was pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 10 – 14) with these acknowledgements and statements:

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

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

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

The CU/Go Lean vision to elevate Caribbean society must also consider the issue of image. There is the need for a sentinel role for Caribbean image, as there are a lot of times that Caribbean life and people are denigrated in the media: news, film, TV, books, magazines. It’s unfortunate when we are guilty of scathing allegations. The Go Lean roadmap calls for the CU to assume a role of protecting and projecting positive Caribbean images. The plan is to use cutting edge delivery of best practices; the applicable CU agencies will employ strategies, tactics and implementations to impact the Go Lean prime directives; identified with the following 3 statements:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines and mitigate challenges/threats to public safety for all citizens… LGBT or straight.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

Jamaica has a failing economy.

Jamaica’s primary economic driver is tourism. So …

Is the Caribbean ready for this economic activity? A bridge too far, too soon?

Jamaica has a long way to go; the country has been described by some Human Rights groups as the most homophobic place on Earth because of the high level of violent crime directed at LGBT people; (Padgett, Tim: “The Most Homophobic Place on Earth?”. Time Magazine posted 12 April 2006). The United States Department of State said that in 2012, “homophobia was [unacceptably] widespread in the country” (2012 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Jamaica, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State, pages 20-22). As depicted in the VIDEO below, even President Obama indicted the island on a recent official State Visit.

Why is this country’s homophobia so acute compared to other countries? For one, they have held on emphatically to the British Laws on Buggery – see Appendix below – from their colonial days; even though the host country of England has already abandoned the laws (in 1967).

Jamaica is partying like it’s 1899!

This is therefore a matter of community ethos. The Go Lean book defines community ethos as the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; the dominant assumptions of a people or period. This tropical paradise of Jamaica, as defined in the foregoing news article and VIDEO continues to spur bad attitudes, bad ideas, bad speech and bad actions towards the LGBT community. This is unbecoming of a progressive society in 2015.

Alas, this is a crisis…for victims and their loved ones. The Go Lean book posits that this crisis can be averted, that the crisis is a “terrible thing to waste”. The Go Lean roadmap seeks to optimize the eco-systems for Jamaica and the entire Caribbean. The book stresses new community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies necessary to transform and turn-around the eco-systems of the regional society. These points are detailed in the book as follows:

Who We Are – SFE Foundation – Comprised of Caribbean Diaspora	Page 8
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate all 30 member-states into a Single Market	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Build and foster local economic engines	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Repatriate the Diaspora, even Minorities like those of the LGBT community	Page 46
Tactical – Ways to Foster a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Growing the Economy to $800 Billion GDP	Page 68
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – CU Federal Government versus Member-State Governance	Page 71
Anatomy of Advocacies – Examples of Individuals Who Made Impact	Page 122
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – Homeland Security Pact	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices – Minority and Human Rights	Page 134
Planning – Lessons Learned from US Constitution – Equal Protection for all Minorities	Page 145
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance – For All Citizens	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract – Security against “Bad Actors”	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice – Internal Affairs Reporting Line	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Remediate and Mitigate Crime – Hate Crime Qualifiers	Page 178
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Terrorism – Consider Bullying as Junior Terrorism	Page 181
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Youth – Collaborating with Foundations	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Re-boot Jamaica	Page 239
Advocacy – Ways to Impact British Territories	Page 245

Looking at the disposition of the island nation of Jamaica’s, we see that its societal engines are failing.

Could the investment in the diversity of its people be at the root of the problem?

The failing indices and metrics of Jamaica have been considered in previous blog/commentaries; see sample here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4840	Jamaican Poll: ‘Bring back the British!’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3694	Looking for a job in Jamaica, go to Canada
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2830	Jamaica’s Public Pension Under-funded
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=392	Jamaica to receive World Bank funds to help in crime fight
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=313	What’s Holding Back Jamaica’s Reforms

The Go Lean roadmap seeks to empower and elevate Caribbean societal engines to make Jamaica, and the rest of the Caribbean, better places to live, work and play … for all citizens, including the LGBT communities.

Most of the Jamaican Diaspora that has abandoned the island now lives in the US, Canada or the UK. Their new home-communities are more tolerant societies of their LGBT neighbors.

Perhaps, there is some correlation.

This commentary is not urging the abandonment of the Judeo-Christian moral code; Jesus Christ instructed to “let them be” at Luke 22:51 (The Message Translation). Rather this commentary urges tolerance and moderation: Live and let live!

Fight the hate!

Yes, we can … do this. Yes, we must do this. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!
———–

Appendix VIDEO: US President Obama’s LGBT comments at Youth Leaders Town Hall – https://youtu.be/636mgw1THpc?t=5m1s

Published on Apr 9, 2015 – President Obama delivers remarks and answers questions at a town hall with Young Leaders of the Americas at University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. April 9, 2015.
———–

Appendix VIDEO: Gay rights in Jamaica – https://youtu.be/_nSgMGoBAmU

———–

Appendix – Encyclopedic Reference: Buggery in English Common Law

The British English term buggery is very close in meaning to the term sodomy, often used interchangeably in law and popular speech. It may also be a specific common law offenceencompassing both sodomy and bestiality.

In English law “buggery” was first used in the Buggery Act 1533, while Section 61 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861, entitled “Sodomy and Bestiality”, defined punishments for “the abominable Crime of Buggery, committed either with Mankind or with any Animal”. The definition of “buggery” was not specified in these or any statute, but rather established by judicial precedent.^[1] Over the years the courts have defined buggery as including either [of these]:

anal intercourse or oral intercourse by a man with a man or woman^[2] or
vaginal intercourse by either a man or a woman with an animal,^[3]

But [no other] form of “unnatural intercourse”^[4] [was defined], the implication being that anal sex with an animal would not constitute buggery. Such a case has not, to date, come before the courts of a common law jurisdiction in any reported decision. However, it seems highly improbable that a person would be exculpated of a crime associated with sex with animals only by reason of the fact that penetration involved the anus rather than the vagina. In the 1817 case of Rex v. Jacobs, the Crown Court ruled that oral intercourse, even with an underage and/or non-consenting person, did not constitute buggery or sodomy.^[4]

At common law consent was not a defence^[5] nor was the fact that the parties were married.^[6] In the UK, the punishment for buggery was reduced from hanging to life imprisonment by the Offences against the Person Act 1861. As with the crime of rape, buggery required that penetration must have occurred, but ejaculation is not necessary.^[7]

Most common law jurisdictions have now modified the law to permit anal sex between consenting adults.^[8] Hong Kong did so retroactively in 1990, barring prosecution for “crimes against nature” committed before the Crimes (Amendment) Ordinance 1990 entered into force except those that would still have constituted a crime if they had been done thereafter. In England and Wales, homosexual buggery was decriminalised in 1967 with an age of consent at 21 years, whereas all heterosexual intercourse had an age of consent at 16 years. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 did not fully remove buggery as a concept in United Kingdom law, as the previous law is retained for complainants (consensual or “pseudo-consensual”) under the age of 16, or 18 with regards to an adult perceived to be in a “position of trust”. As the law stands, buggery is still charged, exclusively regarding “pseudo-consensual” anal intercourse with those under 16/18, because children cannot legally consent to buggery although they may appear to do so. Rape is charged when the penetration is clearly not consensual. Buggery with an animal is still unlawful under Section 69 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

In the Republic of Ireland, the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 abolished the offence of “buggery between persons”.^[9] For some years prior to 1993, criminal prosecution had not been made for buggery between consenting adults. The 1993 Act created an offence of “buggery with a person under the age of 17 years”,^[10] penalised similar to statutory rape, which also had 17 years as the age of consent. The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2006 replaced this offence with “defilement of a child”, encompassing both “sexual intercourse” and “buggery”.^[11] Buggery with an animal is still unlawful under Section 69 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. In 2012 a man was convicted of this offence for supplying a dog in 2008 to a woman who had intercourse with it and died.^[12]

Etymology – The word bugger and buggery are still commonly used in modern English as a mild exclamation. “Buggery” is also synonymous with anal sex.

The word “bugger” was derived, via the French bougre, from Bulgar, that is, “Bulgarian”, meaning the medieval Bulgarian heretical sect of the Bogomils, which spread into Western Europe and was claimed by the established church to be devoted to the practice of sodomy.^[13] “Buggery” first appears in English in 1330, though “bugger” in a sexual sense is not recorded until 1555.^[14]

(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buggery)

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Better than America? Yes, We Can!

Posted on June 30, 2015 in Ethos, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

Is America the “Greatest Country in the World”?

Perhaps this was arguable in the past? Today? Hardly … see VIDEO here; (excuse the profanity):

VIDEO: America, the Greatest? –

Published on Oct 21, 2012 – Jeff Daniels, who portrays news anchor Will McAvoy in the HBO Series “The Newsroom”, delivered a stunning, hard-hitting, accurate, and intelligent monologue/response when asked why America is the greatest country in the world. A sobering outlook on the state of the USA. (CAUTION ON THE ADULT LANGUAGE).

Even in the past when the “Greatest” label was arguable, it didn’t apply to everyone! America was the Greatest Country, maybe, if you were:

White, Anglo-Saxon, Rich, Male and Straight

But if you were any of the following, then God help you:

Black
Brown – Hispanic
Native American
Jewish
Catholic
Woman
Gay
Persons with Disabilities (Physical or Mental)
Slavic – Eastern European
Muslim
Communists
Atheist
Poor

Yes, building a multi-cultural society is not easy. The book Go Lean … Caribbean describes the challenge as heavy-lifting. America has failed at this challenge, hands-down. In previous blog- commentaries, many defects of American life were detailed, (including the propensity for Crony-Capitalism). See the list of defects here: Housing, education, job hunting, prisons, drug crime prosecutions, and racial profiling.

But despite this list and the reality of this subject, America tries …

This is an important consideration for the planners of Caribbean empowerment. The Caribbean, a region where unfortunately, we have NOT … tried.

The social science of Anthropology teaches that communities have two choices when confronted with endangering crises: fight or flight. The unfortunate reality is that we have chosen the option of flight; (we have no ethos for fighting for our homeland).

The book Go Lean … Caribbean asserts that no society can prosper with a high abandonment rate – reported at 70% for educated classes. The primary mission of the Go Lean book is to “battle” against the “push-and-pull” factors that draw so many of our Caribbean citizens away from their homelands to go to the US. While we cannot change/fix America, we can…

Lower the “push” factors!

The purpose of the Go Lean book is to fix the Caribbean, to be better than America. The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) to pursue the quest to elevate the Caribbean region through empowerments in economics, security and governance. It is the assertion that Caribbean citizens can stay home and effect change in their homelands more effectively than going to America to find the “Greatest Country in the World”. The book therefore asserts that the region can turn-around from failing assessments by applying best-practices, and forging new societal institutions to impact the Greater Good for all the Caribbean. This point was pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 10 – 14) with these acknowledgements and statements:

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

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

xxxiii. Whereas lessons can be learned and applied from the study of the recent history of other societies, the Federation must formalize statutes and organizational dimensions to avoid the pitfalls of communities like … Detroit, Indian (Native American) Reservations… On the other hand, the Federation must also implement the good examples learned from developments/ communities like New York City, … Canada, the old American West and tenants of the US Constitution.

This is the quest of Go Lean…Caribbean roadmap, to reboot the region’s societal engines; employing best-practices and better strategies, tactics and implementations to impact its prime directives; identified with the following 3 statements:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines and mitigate challenges/threats to the region’s public safety.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The Go Lean book stresses key community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies necessary to transform and turn-around the eco-systems of Caribbean society. These points are detailed in the book as follows:

Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate all 30 member-states/ 4 languages into a Single Market	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Build and foster local economic engines	Page 45
Tactical – Ways to Foster a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Growing the Economy to $800 Billion GDP	Page 68
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – CU Federal Government versus Member-State Governance	Page 71
Implementation – Assemble All Regionally-focus Organizations of All Caribbean Communities	Page 96
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – American Model: Kennedy’s Quest for the Moon	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Lessons Learned New York City – Managing as a “Frienemy”	Page 137
Planning – Lessons Learned from Detroit – Turn-around from Failure	Page 140
Planning – Lessons Learned from Indian Reservations – Pattern of Ethnic Oppression	Page 141
Planning – Lessons Learned from the American West – How to Win the Peace	Page 142
Planning – Lessons Learned from the US Constitution – America Tries – Each Generation Improves	Page 145
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218

The threats of the repressive American past have not always been domestic; there have been times when American dysfunction have reached across borders, including Caribbean countries, and disrupted the peace and progress. This is an important lessons for the Caribbean to learn from considering the history of “American Greatness”; the following previous blog/commentaries apply:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5506	Edward Snowden Case Study: One Person Making a Difference
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4166	A Lesson in History: Panamanian Balboa
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=789	A Lesson in History: America’s War on the Caribbean

The Go Lean roadmap seeks to empower and elevate Caribbean societal engines to make us better than the American eco-system. Tall order?

Yes, we can!

According to the foregoing VIDEO (and the Appendix below), other communities have done it. Consider Europe, all grown up now.

We can apply these models and lessons from these societies to obtain success. This vision is conceivable, believable and achievable!

Yes we can … make the Caribbean region a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

———

Appendix VIDEO – Comedic Commentary – Bill Maher: America Isn’t #1 – https://youtu.be/T8UqdPKbpWM

Uploaded on Jul 11, 2009 – Bill Maher rants on America letting people know we need to reclaim that title and to quit replying on old adages.

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Repenting, Forgiving and Reconciling the Past

Posted on June 27, 2015 in Ethos, Locations, Social

Go Lean Commentary

Christendom has a sullied past!

This is well represented in the historicity of the Spanish Inquisition (see Appendix * below), the campaign by the Roman Catholic Church to weed out the Jews and Muslims in Spain! This bad history of ethnic cleansing was at its worst in the 15th Century. See the tongue-in-cheek comedy VIDEO in the Appendix.

How does a community repent, forgive and reconcile from such a bad legacy?

Easier said than done!

For starters, do not proceed as if the events never happened. This is the lesson now being learned in modern day Spain. See the news article here:

Title: Ancient Spanish Village Is No Longer Named ‘Kill Jews’
(Source: Huffington Post – Online News Site; posted: 06/22/2015; retrieved 06/27/2015 from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/22/castrillo-matajudios-name-change_n_7636368.html)

MADRID (AP) — The tiny Spanish village of Castrillo Matajudios — which means “Camp Kill Jews” — on Monday officially changed its name back to Castrillo Mota de Judios (“Jews’ Hill Camp”) following a referendum and regional government approval.

The village, with about 50 inhabitants, voted to change the name in 2014 after the mayor argued that the term was offensive and that the village should honor its Jewish origins.

Documents show the villages’ original name was “Jews’ Hill Camp” and that the “Kill Jews” name dates from 1627, after a 1492 Spanish edict ordering Jews to become Catholics or flee the country. Those who remained faced the Spanish inquisition, with many burned at the stake.

The name change was approved by the regional government of Castilla y Leon and published in the region’s official gazette.

Although Jews were killed in the area, researchers believe the village got its recent name from Jewish residents who converted to Catholicism and wanted to reinforce their repudiation of Judaism to convince Spanish authorities of their loyalty.

Others suspect the change may have come from a slip of the pen.

Although no Jews live in the village today, many residents have ancient Jewish roots and the town’s official shield includes the Star of David.

Spain’s lower house of parliament this month approved a law setting a citizenship path for the descendants of Jews who were forced to flee the country centuries ago.

Spain also has an ancient southeastern town called Valle de Matamoros, which translate as “Kill Muslims Valley.” The town has said it has no plans to change its name. Matamoros is also a surname in Spain.

There is a need to reconcile a lot of bad episodes in Caribbean history. Think:

Haiti
Cuba
Guyana’s border with Venezuela
Belize’s border with Guatemala

The book Go Lean…Caribbean posits that any attempt at unification of the Caribbean 30 member-states region must consider the ancient and modern conflicts some member-states have with others. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). A mission of the roadmap is to reverse the societal abandonment and invite the repatriation of the Diaspora by flashing the “Welcome Home” signs. But “old parties” returning can also open “old wounds”. Therefore an additional mission is to facilitate formal reconciliations, much like the model in South Africa with their Truth & Reconciliation Commissions (TRC). This mission will assuage these Failed-State indicators and threats (Page 272):

“Revenge seeking” groups
Group Grievances

The foregoing article depicts a bad episode in history and the best-practices to repent, forgive and reconcile.

The approach is simple, correct the bad “community ethos” from the past. The Go Lean book defines “Community Ethos” as the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; the dominant assumptions of a people or period. The Spanish town in the foregoing article continued to laud the bad actions of “killing Jews” by the continued use of that name. Though none of the villains or victims are alive today, it is just a bad spirit to imbrue from one generation to another. This town name “Camp Kill Jews” is such a bad image to uphold.

The CU/Go Lean vision to elevate Caribbean society must consider the issue of image. There is the need for a sentinel role for Caribbean image, as there are a lot of times that Caribbean life and people are denigrated in works of media arts: film, TV, books, magazines. The Go Lean roadmap calls for the CU to assume that role. Using cutting edge delivery of best practices, the CU will employ strategies, tactics and implementations to impact its prime directives; identified with the following 3 statements:

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

The Go Lean book speaks of the Caribbean as in crisis and posits that this crisis can be averted, that it is a “terrible thing to waste”. The Go Lean roadmap seeks to optimize the entire Caribbean economic/security/governance eco-system. This vision is defined early in the book (Page 12) in the following pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence:

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.

xiii. Whereas the legacy of dissensions in many member-states (for example: Haiti and Cuba) will require a concerted effort to integrate the exile community’s repatriation, the Federation must arrange for Reconciliation Commissions to satiate a demand for justice.

The Go Lean book details a lot more, a series of assessments, community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to optimize the image of the Caribbean region:

Community Assessment – Dutch Caribbean – Integration & Secessions	Page 16
Community Assessment – French Caribbean – Organization & Discord	Page 17
Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Choices & Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Manage Reconciliations	Page 34
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederating a Non-Sovereign Union of 30 Member-states	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Keep the next generation at home; Repatriate Diaspora	Page 46
Tactical – Separation of Powers – State Department – Economic & Diplomatic Relations	Page 80
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Judiciary – Truth & Reconciliation Courts	Page 90
Implementation – Foreign Policy Initiatives at Start-up – Relationships with South & Central American Neighbors	Page 102
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate	Page 118
Anatomy of Advocacies	Page 122
Planning – Ways to Improve Image	Page 133
Planning – Improve Failed-State Indices	Page 134
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice – Truth & Reconciliation Commissions	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Hollywood – Controlling Image	Page 203
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Protect Human Rights – Reconciliations	Page 220
Advocacy – Ways to Re-boot Cuba – Reconciliations	Page 236
Advocacy – Ways to Re-boot Haiti – Reconciliations	Page 238
Advocacy – Ways to Impact The Guianas – Venezuelan Foreign Policy Synchronizations	Page 241
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Belize – Guatemala Grand Bargain	Page 242
Appendix – Failed State Indicators & Definitions	Page 271
Appendix – Dominican Republic’s Trujillo Regime – Ethnic Cleansing	Page 306

The foregoing news article conveys that many Spanish/European communities had not come to grips with their discriminatory past. So there is the need for outreach. This relates to anti-Semitism and the historic abuses cast on the Jewish people. For the African Diaspora, the majority population of 29 of the Caribbean member-states, the experience is even more egregious. (French territory St. Barthélemy is the sole demographic exception).

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to lean-in for the empowerments described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. There is reason to believe that these empowerment efforts can be successful. The Go Lean roadmap conveys how single causes/advocacies have successfully been forged throughout the world (Page 122 – Anatomy of Advocacies). We can succeed here as well.

(This movement does not campaign for reparations from slavery nor colonization).

The CU will address past, present and future challenges of human rights abuses and defamation to the Caribbean image.

The Caribbean can succeed in the advocacy to improve the Caribbean image in the region and around the world. There are previous blog commentaries that delve into aspects of Caribbean image:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4971	A Lesson in History – Royal Charter: Truth & Consequence
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4058	Bad Image: New York Times Maledictions on The Bahamas
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2547	Image: Miami’s Success versus Caribbean Failure
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2025	Caribbean Jobs – Attitudes & Images of the Diaspora
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1847	Good Image – Declared “Among the best in the world”
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1568	Bad Image/Bad Tweet: Dutch airline angers Mexico soccer fans
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=857	Caribbean Image: Dreadlocks

The foregoing consideration helps us to appreciate that reconciliation is possible only when the persons doing the wrong accept the forgiveness being offered and repents for what they have done. We applaud the tiny Spanish village of Castrillo Matajudios for showing the world their “Mea Culpa”; this is the best-practice for reconciliation.

This is now a new ethos for the Caribbean, to reconcile conflicts from the past; to repent, forgive and hopefully forget the long history of human rights abuses from the past. All of this effort, heavy-lifting, will make the region a better place to live, work and play. We urge all to lean-in to this roadmap.

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Appendix * – Spanish Inquisition

The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition (Spanish: Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición), commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition (Inquisición española), was established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms and to replace the Medieval Inquisition, which was under Papal control. It became the most substantive of the three different manifestations of the wider Christian Inquisition along with the Roman Inquisition and Portuguese Inquisition.

The Inquisition was originally intended in large part to ensure the orthodoxy of those who converted from Judaism and Islam. This regulation of the faith of the newly converted was intensified after the royal decrees issued in 1492 and 1501 ordering Jews and Muslims to convert or leave Spain.

Various motives have been proposed for the monarchs’ decision to found the Inquisition such as increasing political authority, weakening opposition, suppressing conversos, profiting from confiscation of the property of convicted heretics, reducing social tensions, and protecting the kingdom from the danger of a fifth column (clandestine activities involving acts of sabotage, disinformation, or espionage executed within defense lines by secret sympathizers of an external force).

The body was under the direct control of the Spanish monarchy. It was not definitively abolished until 1834, during the reign of Isabella II, after a period of declining influence in the previous century.

The Spanish Inquisition is often cited in literature and history as an example of Catholic intolerance and repression. Modern historians have tended to question earlier and possibly exaggerated accounts concerning the severity of the Inquisition. Although records are incomplete, estimates of the number of persons charged with crimes by the Inquisition range up to 150,000, with 2,000 to 5,000 people executed.

(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Inquisition)

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Appendix VIDEO – Movie: History of the World Part 1 Inquisition Scene – https://youtu.be/5ZegQYgygdw

Published on Dec 8, 2012 – From Mel Brooks’ “History of the World Part 1”. This is a comedic parody, with song-and-dance!
Category: Entertainment; License: Standard YouTube License

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Economic Principle: Bad Ethos of Rent-Seeking

Posted on June 11, 2015 in Economics, Ethos

Go Lean Commentary

Imagine a person making a resolution to improve their health…
… but they smoke cigarettes.

The expectation first would be:

Quit smoking!

One does not have to be a medical doctor, a PhD or a genius to glean this logic. It is now just common sense. Alas, common sense is not so common!

This commentary is not about smoking. It is about economics and public choice theory; see VIDEO’s below. In particular this commentary is about the bad Economic Principle referred to as “rent-seeking”. (This aligns with alternate Economic Principles regarding sources of income; other commentaries detailed the concepts of profit-seeking and wage-seeking). This is a big deal! Imagine a government public health department gifting cigarettes to people as a public health policy. Yes, it is that bad! This is the formal definition of “rent-seeking”:

Rent-seeking is an attempt to obtain economic rent (i.e., the portion of income paid to a factor of production in excess of that which is needed to keep it employed in its current use) by manipulating the social or political environment in which economic activities occur, rather than by creating new wealth. Rent-seeking implies extraction of uncompensated value from others without making any contribution to productivity. The classic example of rent-seeking, according to Nobel Laureate Economist Robert Shiller, is that of a feudal lord who installs a chain across a river that flows through his land and then hires a collector to charge passing boats a fee (or rent of the section of the river for a few minutes) to lower the chain. There is nothing productive about the chain or the collector. The lord has made no improvements to the river and is helping nobody in any way, directly or indirectly, except himself. All he is doing is finding a way to make money from something that used to be free.^[5]

“Finding a way to make money from something that used to be free”! How evasive is this practice? How can we identify it and how can we stop it?

The Caribbean is in crisis! Surveying the economic landscape of the region, we see a preponderance of rent-seeking as public policy in one member-state after another; see international Examples below. Alas, the book Go Lean…Caribbean, quoting famed economist Paul Romer (Page 8), declares that a crisis is a terrible thing to waste. Currently the region features unsustainable societal abandonment rates, exhaustive unemployment rates and near-Failed-State statuses.

The premise in this commentary is not an easy one. Just like it is common sense for a smoker to quit in order to preserve health/wellness, it is hereby acknowledged that this is “easier said than done”. Common sense is not so common! This heady discussion of advanced concepts in economics is an example of the heavy-lifting required to elevate Caribbean society.

The Go Lean book seeks to reboot and reform the economic engines of the Caribbean by being technocratic in applying best practices from the field of Economics. This intent is declared at the outset of the book with this Declaration of Interdependence (Page 10) for the region to work in unison to remediate the broken systems of commerce:

Preamble: As the colonial history of our region was initiated to create economic expansion opportunities for our previous imperial masters, the structures of government instituted in their wake have not fostered the best systems for prosperity of the indigenous people. Despite this past, we thrust our energies only to the future, in adapting the best practices and successes of the societies of these previous imperial masters and recognizing the positive spirit of their intent and vow to learn from their past accomplishments and mistakes so as to optimize the opportunities for our own citizenry to create a more perfect bond of union.

One of the basis of understanding this complex economic subject of “rent-seeking” is the review of the book The Rise and Decline of Nations by Economist Mancur Olson; in this publication, the writer traced the historic consequences of rent-seeking. He argued that the extremes of laissez-faire (the traditional economic philosophy in North American economies) and a command socialist economy (popular in Europe) would avoid rent-seeking, while a mixed economy would be subject to it. Dr. Olson claimed two distinct groups (actors) with separate agendas: an encompassing organization with the broader social collective interest, versus the narrower distributional coalition – the special interest – who would naturally be a rent-seeking group that would slow down economic growth. See this detailed encyclopedic definition of the width-and-breadth of rent-seeking, here:

Encyclopedia Reference: Rent-Seeking
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking

In the field of Economics and public choice theory – the application of economic thinking to political issues – “rent-seeking” is seeking to increase one’s share of existing wealth without creating new wealth. The effects of these efforts are reduced economic efficiency [in the community] through poor allocation of resources, reduced actual wealth creation, lost government revenue, and increased income inequality,^[1] and, potentially, national decline.

Attempts at capture of regulatory agencies to gain a coercive monopoly can result in advantages for the rent-seeker in the market while imposing disadvantages on competitors. (The term regulatory capture directly refers to a form of political corruption that occurs when a regulatory agency, created to act in the public interest, instead advances the commercial or special concerns of interest groups that dominate the industry or sector it is charged with regulating). The term “rent-seeking” itself is attributed to Economist Gordon Tullock in its modern sense with political connotation but with antecedents and common sense back to Ricardo.^[2]

The idea of rent-seeking was developed by Gordon Tullock in 1967.^[2] The expression rent-seeking was coined in 1974 by former World Bank Chief Economist Anne Krueger.^[3] The word “rent” does not refer here to payment on a lease but stems instead from Adam Smith‘s division of incomes into profit, wage, and rent.^[4] The origin of the term refers to gaining control of land or other natural resources.

Georgist economic theory – economic value derived from natural resources should belong equally to all residents of a community – describes rent-seeking in terms of land rent, where the value of land largely comes from government infrastructure and services (e.g. roads, public schools, maintenance of peace and order, etc.) and the community in general, rather than from the actions of any given landowner, in their role as mere titleholder. This role must be separated from the role of a property developer, which need not be the same person, and often is not.

In many market-driven economies, much of the competition for rents is legal, regardless of the harm it may do to an economy. However, some rent-seeking competition is illegal – such as bribery, corruption, smuggling, and even black market deals.

Rent-seeking is distinguished in economic theory from profit-seeking, in which entities seek to extract value by engaging in mutually beneficial transactions.^[6] Profit-seeking in this sense is the creation of wealth, while rent-seeking is the use of social institutions such as the power of government to redistribute wealth among different groups without creating new wealth.^[7] In a practical context, income obtained through rent-seeking may contribute to profits in the standard, accounting sense of the word.

Examples
An example of rent-seeking in a modern economy is spending money on political lobbying for government benefits or subsidies in order to be given a share of wealth that has already been created, or to impose regulations on competitors, in order to increase market share.

A famous example of rent-seeking is the limiting of access to lucrative occupations, as by medieval guilds or modern state certifications and licensures. Taxi licensing is a commonly-referenced example of rent-seeking. To the extent that the issuing of licenses constrains overall supply of taxi services (rather than ensuring competence or quality), forbidding competition by livery vehicles, unregulated taxis and/or illegal taxis renders the (otherwise consensual) transaction of taxi service a forced transfer of part of the fee, from customers to taxi business proprietors. [Labor unions also fit the definition of rent-seeking].

The concept of rent-seeking would also apply to corruption of bureaucrats who solicit and extract ‘bribe’ or ‘rent’ for applying their legal but discretionary authority for awarding legitimate or illegitimate benefits to clients.^[8] For example, tax officials may take bribes for lessening the tax burden of the tax payers; [and politicians take campaign contributions].

Regulatory capture is a related concept which refers to collusion between firms and the government agencies assigned to regulate them, which is seen as enabling extensive rent-seeking behavior, especially when the government agency must rely on the firms for knowledge about the market. Studies of rent-seeking focus on efforts to capture special monopoly privileges such as manipulating government regulation of free enterprise competition.^[9] The term monopoly privilege rent-seeking is an often-used label for this particular type of rent-seeking. Often-cited examples include a lobby that seeks economic regulations such as tariff protection, quotas, subsidies,^[10] or extension of copyright law.^[11] Anne Krueger concludes that, “empirical evidence suggests that the value of rents associated with import licenses can be relatively large, and it has been shown that the welfare cost of quantitative restrictions equals that of their tariff equivalents plus the value of the rents” ^[12]

Economists have argued that innovation in the financial industry is often a form of rent-seeking.^[13][14] [A common everyday examples in American life would be: Wall Street on the ‘right’ and labor unions on the ‘left’].

[A local example stems from the Bahamas 2^nd city of Freeport. That city provides a monopoly to the local petroleum retailing company, Freeport Oil Company, Limited (FOCOL). On one occasion that retailer limited gasoline purchases to the more expensive premium option only, as opposed to the standard choices; see story here: http://www.tribune242.com/news/2013/aug/02/focol-comes-under-fire-grand-bahama-residents/]

Possible consequences
From a theoretical standpoint, the moral hazard of rent-seeking can be considerable. If “buying” a favorable regulatory environment seems cheaper than building more efficient production, a firm may choose the former option, reaping incomes entirely unrelated to any contribution to total wealth or well-being. This results in a sub-optimal allocation of resources – money spent on lobbyists and counter-lobbyists rather than on research and development, on improved business practices, on employee training, or on additional capital goods – which retards economic growth. Claims that a firm is rent-seeking therefore often accompany allegations of government corruption, or the undue influence of special interests.^[18]

Rent-seeking can prove costly to economic growth; high rent-seeking activity makes more rent-seeking attractive because of the natural and growing returns that one sees as a result of rent-seeking. Thus organizations value rent-seeking over productivity. In this case there are very high levels of rent-seeking with very low levels of output. Rent-seeking may grow at the cost of economic growth because rent-seeking by the state can easily hurt innovation. Ultimately, public rent-seeking hurts the economy the most because innovation drives economic growth.^[19]

Government agents may initiate rent-seeking – such agents soliciting bribes or other favors from the individuals or firms that stand to gain from having special economic privileges, which opens up the possibility of exploitation of the consumer.^[20] It has been shown that rent-seeking by bureaucracy can push up the cost of production of public goods.^[21] It has also been shown that rent-seeking by tax officials may cause loss in revenue to the public exchequer.^[8]

Mancur Olson traced the historic consequences of rent seeking in The Rise and Decline of Nations. As a country becomes increasingly dominated by organized interest groups, it loses economic vitality and falls into decline. Olson argued that countries that have a collapse of the political regime and the interest groups that have coalesced around it can radically improve productivity and increase national income because they start with a clean slate in the aftermath of the collapse. An example of this is Japan after World War Two. But new coalitions form over time, once again shackling society in order to redistribute wealth and income to themselves. However, social and technological changes have allowed new enterprises and groups to emerge in the past.^[22]

A study by economists David Laband and John Sophocleus in 1988^[23] estimated that rent-seeking had decreased total income in the US by 45 percent. Both economists William Dougan and Tullock affirmed (1991) the difficulty of finding the cost of rent-seeking. Rent-seekers of government-provided benefits will in turn spend up to that amount of benefit in order to gain those benefits, in the absence of, for example, the collective-action constraints highlighted by Olson.

Nobel Prize-winning Economist Joseph Stiglitz has argued that rent-seeking contributes significantly to income inequality in the United States through lobbying for government policies that let the wealthy and powerful get income, not as a reward for creating wealth, but by grabbing a larger share of the wealth that would otherwise have been produced without their effort.^[26][27] (See related VIDEO here). Economists Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, and Stefanie Stantcheva (2011) had analyzed international economies and their changes in tax rates to conclude that much of income inequality is a result of rent-seeking among wealthy tax payers.^[28]

This historic information is being considered in conjunction with the book Go Lean…Caribbean; a publication designed to elevate the region’s economy (create 2.2 million new jobs), security and governing engines. The book features a roster call for some All-stars of the field of Economics; (1700s, 1800s, 1900s & today). Consider this list of those quoted directly:

Paul Romer	1955 –	Page 8
Adam Smith	1723 – 1790	Page 67
Arthur Okun	1928 – 1980	Page 153
James M. Buchanan	1919 – 2013	Page 169
Elinor Ostrom	1933 – 2012	Page 183
Norman Girvan	1941 – 2014	Page 255
Alfred Marshall	1842 – 1924	Page 258
Jacob Mincer	1922 – 2006	Page 258
Gary Becker	1930 – 2014	Page 258
John Geanakoplos	1955 –	Page 276
David Hume	1711 – 1776	Page 318
John Maynard Keynes	1883 – 1946	Page 318

A review of the work of these great men and woman constitute “Lessons in Economic Principles”. Why would these lessons matter in assessing today’s Caribbean status and fate?

The Go Lean book explains the significance of Economic Principles with this excerpt (Page 21):

While money is not the most important factor in society, the lack of money and the struggle to acquire money creates challenges that cannot be ignored. The primary reason why the Caribbean has suffered so much human flight in the recent decades is the performance of the Caribbean economy. Though this book is not a study in economics, it recommends, applies and embraces these 6 core economic principles as sound and relevant to this roadmap:

People Choose: We always want more than we can get and productive resources (human, natural, capital) are always limited. Therefore, because of this major economic problem of scarcity, we usually choose the alternative that provides the most benefits with the least cost.

All Choices Involve Costs: The opportunity cost is the next best alternative you give up when you make a choice. When we choose one thing, we refuse something else at the same time.

People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways: Incentives are actions, awards, or rewards that determine the choices people make. Incentives can be positive or negative. When incentives change, people change their behaviors in predictable ways.

Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices and Incentives: People cooperate and govern their actions through both written and unwritten rules that determine methods of allocating scarce resources. These rules determine what is produced, how it is produced, and for whom it is produced. As the rules change, so do individual choices, incentives, and behavior.

Voluntary Trade Creates Wealth: People specialize in the production of certain goods and services because they expect to gain from it. People trade what they produce with other people when they think they can gain something from the exchange. Some benefits of voluntary trade include higher standards of living and broader choices of goods and services.

The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future: Economists believe that the cost and benefits of decision making appear in the future, since it is only the future that we can influence. Sometimes our choices can lead to unintended consequences.
Source: Handy Dandy Guide (HDC) by the National Council on Economic Education (2000)

In psycho-therapy the approach to forge change for an individual is defined as “starting in the head (thoughts, visions), penetrating the heart (feelings, motivations) and then finally manifesting in the hands (actions). The people of the Caribbean must change their feelings about elements of their society – elements that are in place and elements missing. This is referred to as “Community Ethos”, defined as: “the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; dominant assumptions of a people or period; practices of a group or society; dominant assumptions of a people or period.

Rent-seeking is not one of the community ethos that is being urged for the Caribbean; just the opposite, it is a bad ethos to avoid!

VIDEO – The Rent Seeking of Both Left and Right – https://youtu.be/OqrDkegqyDo

Published on Jun 22, 2012 – For an alternative to our anti-democratic system check out Jim Rogers latest project to create a system that will hold politicians feet to the fire, and to put shackles on lobbyists so that they can no longer control the system. One day we might have a system that’s controlled by the people and is for the people.
This is an idea put forth for Americans but it can easily work in any other part of the world.

This bad ethos stems from an attitude of entitlement; to get something … for almost nothing. The Caribbean was colonized originally under this community ethos; a previous blog/commentary related how Papal Bulls and Royal Charters enabled entities to exploit Caribbean markets and trade with very little investment of their own. A direct quote from that commentary relates:

Most of the property and indigenous wealth of the Caribbean region is concentrated amongst the rich, powerful and yet small elite; an oligarchy. Many times these families received their property, corporate rights and/or monopolies by Royal Charter from the European monarchs of ancient times. These charters thus lingered in legacy from one generation to another … until …

The Go Lean book presents a roadmap on how to benefit from the above economic principles – and how to empower communities anew – without continuing rent-seeking practices. (For this reason this commentary opposes reparations for slavery and colonialism).

The consideration of the Go Lean book, as related to this subject is one of governance, (national, municipal and corporate governance), the need for technocratic stewardship of the regional Caribbean society. This point was also pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12) with these acknowledgements and statements:

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

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

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

This Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) to provide better stewardship for the 30 member-states of the Caribbean region. The CU is motivated by the positive community ethos of the Greater Good!

In general the Go Lean roadmap stresses key community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies necessary to transform and turn-around the eco-systems of Caribbean society. These points are detailed in the book as follows:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate all 30 member-states/ 4 languages into a Single Market	Page 45
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy – Economists are Technocrats	Page 64
Tactical – Growing to $800 Billion GDP – Adam Smith Case Study: Father of Modern Economics	Page 67
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – CU Federal Government versus Member-State Governance	Page 71
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change – Award exploratory rights in exclusive territories	Page 101
Implementation – Start-up Benefits from the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)	Page 104
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – #3: Proactive Anti-crime / Corporate Governance Measures	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Improve Trade	Page 128
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Lessons Learned from 2008 – Glass-Steagall Case Study	Page 136
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy – Government’s Role: Protect Property Rights	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs – 2.2 Million New Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage Natural Resources	Page 183

In considering this economic history, the CU/Go Lean roadmap is motivated to create value for Caribbean communities, not skim off the top with rent-seeking practices. The mandate is simple:

Foster good economic habits; abandon bad habits.

(At one point, smoking was encouraged, but now it is universally assailed; this demonstrates that communities can mature).

This is not common ground; this is a higher ground!

With the proper stewardship, we can create jobs, value, wealth, trade networks, an educated society, plus develop new products and services that the world demands. Adherence to these best-practices – and aversion to bad community ethos like rent-seeking – would help us make our Caribbean community better to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

————–

Appendix VIDEO: Public Choice – Rent Seeking – https://youtu.be/4H2TicrHC8I

Uploaded on Mar 1, 2007 – based on the textbook “Microeconomics for MBAs”

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Crony-Capitalism, Freeport, History, Model, Power, Transform

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American Defects: Inventory of Crony-Capitalism

Posted on June 9, 2015 in Ethos, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

The American Dream: You have to be asleep to believe it!

Thus the conclusion of famed comedian and society commentator, the late George Carlin*; see VIDEO in the Appendix below; (excuse the graphic profanity).

This conclusion also aligns with the familiar consideration of the planners for a new Caribbean society, the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean and accompanying blogs.

The American Dream tends to be a nightmare for Caribbean citizens of Black and Brown ethnic persuasions that emigrate there. And yet, the Go Lean book relates that these people of the Caribbean have “beat down their doors” to get out of their beautiful homelands to live, work and play in America.

The book relates the reason for this societal abandonment as “push-and-pull”:

“pull factors” – alluring economic opportunities awaiting a life in America
“push factors” – lack of economic prospects in the Caribbean homeland.

The mission of the Go Lean movement is to minimize these “push and “pull” factors. This commentary today is one of two considerations on the folly of leaving the Caribbean for American shores.

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This roadmap seeks to reboot the region’s economic, security and governing engines; employing better strategies, tactics and implementations to impact its prime directives; identified with the following 3 statements:

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

Previous blog/commentaries have asserted that the American Dream is a nightmare for Americans as well. That this “Land of the Free and Home of the Brave” is often a sandbox for the rich and the powerful. This is qualified in the manifested threat of Crony-Capitalism.

This commentary therefore is a running inventory list of all the Crony-Capitalism models that proliferate in the Unites States of America:

Models of American Crony-Capitalism detailed in Go Lean…Caribbean blog/commentaries:

Big Defense Many theorists indicate that the “follow the money” approach reveals the Military Industrial Complex work to undermine peace, so as to increase defense spending for military equipment, systems and weapons.

Big Media Cable companies conspire to keep rates high; kill net neutrality; textbook publishers practice price gouging; Hollywood insists on big tax breaks/ subsidies for on-location shooting.

Big Doubters There are professionals who work to undermine the Greater Good by spewing doubt on scientifically-established causes; consider Climate Change, Tobacco and Concussions.

Big Oil While lobbying for continuous tax subsidies, the industry have colluded to artificially keep prices high and garner record profits ($38+ Billion every quarter).

Big Box Retail chains impoverish small merchants on Main Street with Antitrust-like tactics, thusly impacting community jobs. e-Commerce, an area of many future prospects, is the best hope of countering these bad business tactics.

Big Pharma Chemo-therapy cost $20,000+/month; and the War against Cancer is imperiled due to industry profit insistence.

Big Tobacco Cigarettes are not natural tobacco but rather latent with chemicals to spruce addiction.

Big Agra Agribusiness concerns exacerbate greenhouse gases, bully family farmers and crowd out the market. Plus they fight common sense food labeling efforts and engage in abusive labor practices with migrant workers.

Big Data Brokers for internet and demographic data clearly have no regards to privacy concerns.

Big Banks Wall Street’s damage to housing and student loans are incontrovertible.

Big Weather Overblown hype of “Weather Forecasts” to dictate commercial transactions, while ignoring the responsibilities and realities of Climate Change.

Big Real Estate Preserving MLS for Real Estate brokers only, forcing 6% commission rates, when the buyers and sellers can meet without them.

Big Salt Despite the corrosiveness of salt on roads and the environment, it is the only tactic used to de-ice roads. Immediately after the weather warms, the roads must be re-constructed, thus ensuring a continuous economic cycle.

Big Energy The For-Profit utility companies always lobby against regulations to “clean-up” fossil-fuel (coal) power plants or block small “Green” start-ups from sending excess power to the National Grid. Their motive is to preserve their century-long monopoly and their profits.

Big Legal Even though it is evident that the promotion of Intellectual Property can help grow economies, the emergence of Patent Trolling parties (mostly lawyers) is squashing innovation. These ones are not focused on future innovations, rather just litigation. They go out and buy patents, then look for anyone that may consume any concepts close to those patents, then sue for settlements, quick gains.

Big Cruise Cruise ships are the last bastion of segregation with descriptors like “modern-day-slavery” and “sweat-ships”. Working conditions are poor and wages are far below anyone’s standards of minimum. Many ship-domestic staff are “tip earners”, paid only about US$50 a month and expected to survive on the generosity of the passengers’ gratuity. The industry staff with personnel from Third World countries, exploiting those with desperate demands. Nowhere else in the modern world is this kind of job discrimination encouraged, accepted or tolerated.

Big Jails The private prison industry seem motivated more by profit than by public safety. They attempt to sue state governments when their occupancy levels go too low; a reduction in crime is bad for business.

Big Auto Automakers, like General Motors (GM), conspired with oil and tire companies to eliminate streetcars in cities all across America. The conspiracy was to create an inferior urban transportation (bus) system that would drive the demand for automobiles. The end result was a guarantee of sales of tires, gasoline for these industry stakeholders

Big Housing The American legacy is one of the institutional segregation in American cities. The practice was administered by real estate agents and housing officials executing policies to elevate property values and generational wealth for White families at the expense of a life of squalor for Non-Whites.

Big Charities Big Not-For-Profit organizations that fleece the public under the guise of charities but retain vast majorities of the funding as administrative costs, thusly benefiting mostly the charities’ executives and staff rather than the intended benefactors.

Big Education For-Profit schools make a lot of profit while providing very little education to its customers: students. They charge tuition amounts higher than public colleges, while providing educational programs of little value and repute. The issue underpinning this dilemma is the easy availability of guaranteed student loans from the US federal government. The Crony in this case is a direct consequence of a rich pool of federal monies.

Big Music The music business is a bad business. Many in the industry exploit artists for their genius but fail to pay for their talent via legal loopholes. The latest case is that of Apple Music launching a new streaming service, where they choose to not bill the end-customer during the 3-month trial period so they also choose not to pay the artists. This is a clear disrespect of intellectual property, as if the music creation has no value.

Big Interchange The Mastercard/Visa interchange is a monopolistic collusion that ensures transaction fees remain high with no competitive downward pressure. They get a slice of every Mastercard/Visa debit and credit transaction.

Big Sports Public financing of sports stadiums to benefit private owners of sport teams many times abuses the finances of communities, who may then struggle or shortchange vital services in order to service the debt/bond obligations for the stadiums.

Big Hair The media has dictated what is beautiful in America and is making women comply…at all cost. Systematic messaging that Black Hair is less than preferred has resulted in a US$9 Billion industry for Black Women and their fake hair, weaves and chemical products.

Big Lobby Big Business lobby with their money to dictate their priorities, despite conflicts-of-interest for elected officials, at the expense of the Greater Good.

Big Labor The H-1B program allows for foreign workers to be imported only if no local resources are available. This process is so corrupted! American corporations bring in STEM resources from countries like India and pay them less, after having American workers train them. Both the American and foreign workers are abused in the process.

Big Shipping Jones Act mandates that for a ship to go from one US port to another US port it must be American-made and American flagged. This protectionism guarantees excessive shipbuilding profits and a small number of shipping options for US Territories, so high consumer prices.

Follow the money …

The Caribbean must do better! And we must dissuade our citizens from emigrating to this broken American eco-system.

The Go Lean roadmap provides turn-by-turn directions on rebooting Caribbean society, the economic, security, and governing engines for each member-state and the region as a whole. (America is out-of-scope for our efforts). The roadmap features mitigations and remediation to lower the “push” factors so that Caribbean citizens do not feel the need to flee their homelands.

This is easier said than done. As a planning tool, the roadmap commences with a Declaration of Interdependence, pronouncing the dread of threats of the Caribbean Brain Drain (Page 13):

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 book also acknowledges that all the reasons for societal flight may not be economic; sometimes there are security concerns as well. So this consideration, plus an aversion to local Crony-Capitalistic practices, is front-and-center in the same Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12):

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.

Even a benign reason like education is factored in the Go Lean roadmap, recognizing that educational engagements may send good students/citizens to a “land of no return”. The opening Declaration of Interdependence therefore pronounces this requirement on Page 13:

xxi. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group… This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

The Caribbean is urged to do better. We can reboot and reform our society. We can succeed in elevating our communities and dissuading our most precious resources – our people – from abandoning our beautiful homeland.

The “grass is not greener on the other side”; America should not be the destination of our hopes and dreams. We can work on our Caribbean Dreams right here at home.

The people and governing institutions in the region are all urged to lean-in for the empowerments described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. Let us all work to make our homeland better places to live, work, and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

————

Appendix * – George Denis Patrick Carlin^[1] (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008)

He was an American comedian, social critic, actor, and author. Carlin was noted for his “black comedy” and his thoughts on politics, the English language, psychology, religion, and various taboo subjects. Carlin and his “Seven dirty words” comedy routine were central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a 5–4 decision affirmed the government’s power to regulate indecent material on the public airwaves.

He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians: One newspaper called Carlin “the dean of counterculture comedians.”^[2] In 2004, Carlin was placed second on the Comedy Central [Cable Network] list of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians, ahead of Lenny Bruce and behind Richard Pryor.^[3] The first of his 14 stand-up comedy specials for [cable channel] HBO was filmed in 1977. From the late 1980s, Carlin’s routines focused on sociocultural criticism of modern American society. He often commented on contemporary political issues in the United States and satirized the excesses of American culture. He was a frequent performer and guest host on [TV show] The Tonight Show during the three-decade Johnny Carson era, and hosted the first episode of [sketch-comedy show] Saturday Night Live for broadcast network NBC]. His final HBO special, “It’s Bad for Ya”, was filmed less than four months before his death. In 2008, he was posthumously awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Carlin

————

Appendix VIDEO – George Carlin ~ The American Dream- https://youtu.be/acLW1vFO-2Q

Excuse the profanity!

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Crony-Capitalism, Diaspora, Model, Power

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American Defects: Racism – Is It Over?

Posted on June 9, 2015 in Ethos, Social

Go Lean Commentary

In November 2008, a Black Man – Barack Obama – was elected to the Presidency of the United States of America.

Yes, we can! – Campaign slogan for Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign.

Surely that is an indication that “racism is over” in America?

Far from it!

While the blatant racist attitudes and actions may now be considered politically incorrect, the foundations of institutional racism have become even more entrenched. Welcome to America 2015! This commentary today is one of two considerations on the folly of local citizens – the Black and Brown populations – leaving the Caribbean for American shores.

Consider this VIDEO here of a frank and earnest confession of a White American acknowledging the racial divide:

Appendix VIDEO: Is Racism Over Yet – https://youtu.be/h_hx30zOi9I

These issues: housing, education, job hunting, prisons, drug crime prosecutions, racial profiling and others are addressed here in this foregoing VIDEO. They are also important considerations for the planners of Caribbean empowerment. America is a “frienemy” for us! We are trading partners; we are aligned; we are allies; many of us live in America; studied in America; but we have to compete to dissuade our young people from setting their sights on American shores as a refuge and destination of their hopes and dreams. Yet the book Go Lean … Caribbean asserts that no society can prosper with a high abandonment rate – reported at 70% for educated classes. Therefore we must “battle” against the “push-and-pull” factors that draw many Caribbean citizens away to the US.

The Go Lean book pursues the quest to elevate the Caribbean region through empowerments in economics, security and governance. Since 29 of the 30 Caribbean member-states (“St. Barths” is the only exception) have majority Black population, the book pushes further on this subject of racism, positing that it is easier for Caribbean citizens to stay home and effect change in their homelands than to go to America and try to remediate that society. The book therefore asserts that the region can turn-around from failing assessments by applying best-practices, and forging new societal institutions to impact the Greater Good for all the Caribbean.

This consideration of the Go Lean book is one of technocratic stewardship of the regional Caribbean societal engines: economy, security and governance. This point of the current disposition of racism and this quest to improve was pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 10 – 14) with these acknowledgements and statements:

Preamble: As the history of our region and the oppression, suppression and repression of its indigenous people is duly documented, there is no one alive who can be held accountable for the prior actions, and so we must put aside the shackles of systems of repression to instead formulate efficient and effective systems to steer our own destiny.

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.

xxxiii. Whereas lessons can be learned and applied from the study of the recent history of other societies, the Federation must formalize statutes and organizational dimensions to avoid the pitfalls of [other] communities.

This is the quest of Go Lean…Caribbean. The book and accompanying blog/commentaries advocate learning lessons from many events and concepts from history and the present; from as far back as the patriarchal Bible times, to best-practices today employed by communities around the world that have successfully turned-around their societies. (Think: post-World War II in Germany and Japan; plus post-Apartheid in South Africa). The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This roadmap seeks to reboot the region’s economic, security and governing engines; employing better strategies, tactics and implementations to impact its prime directives; identified with the following 3 statements:

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

Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Manage Reconciliations – South Africa’s Model	Page 34
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate all 30 member-states/ 4 languages into a Single Market	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Build and foster local economic engines	Page 45
Tactical – Ways to Foster a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Growing the Economy – Post WW II European Marshall Plan Model	Page 68
Tactical – Growing the Economy – Post WW II Japan’s Turn-around Model	Page 68
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – CU Federal Government versus Member-State Governance	Page 71
Implementation – Assemble All Regionally-focus Organizations of All Caribbean Communities	Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Better Manage Debt	Page 114
Anatomy of Advocacies – One Person can make a difference!	Page 122
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – Single Market / Currency Union	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Model the new European Union	Page 130
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices – Minority and Human Rights	Page 134
Planning – Lessons Learned from the previous West Indies Federation	Page 135
Planning – Lessons Learned from 2008 – Optimizing Economic-Financial-Monetary Engines	Page 136
Planning – Lessons Learned New York City – Managing as a “Frienemy”	Page 137
Planning – Lessons Learned from Omaha – Human Flight Mitigations	Page 138
Planning – Lessons Learned from East Germany – Bad Examples for Trade & Security	Page 139
Planning – Lessons Learned from Detroit – Turn-around from Failure	Page 140
Planning – Lessons Learned from Indian Reservations – Pattern of Ethnic Oppression	Page 141
Planning – Lessons Learned from the American West – How to Win the Peace	Page 142
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Appendix – Failed-State Index for Uneven Economic Development	Page 272

There are other lessons for the Caribbean to learn from considering the history of race/ethnic relations; the following previous blog/commentaries apply:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5333	A Lesson in History: Legacies – Cause and Effect
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4935	A Lesson in History: the ‘Grand Old Party’ of American Politics
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4166	A Lesson in History: Panamanian Balboa
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2809	A Lesson in History: Economics of East Berlin
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2480	A Lesson in History: Community Ethos of WW II
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2297	A Lesson in History: Booker T versus Du Bois
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1531	A Lesson in History: 100 Years Ago Today – World War I
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=789	A Lesson in History: America’s War on the Caribbean

The Go Lean roadmap seeks to empower and elevate Caribbean societal engines. It is out-of-scope to impact America; our focus is only here in our homeland.

Other communities have done this … to success. Consider Europe; they have come a long way with race/ethnic relations. Even now they are desperately battling to weed-out the last vestiges of racism and ethnic supremacy in their society.

We can apply these lessons … from history and from the present day, for great impact in our Caribbean homelands.

Yes we can … make the Caribbean region a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Civil Rights, Diaspora, Model, Power

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Role Model: Edward Snowden – One Person Making a Difference

Posted on June 8, 2015 in Ethos, Government, Social

Go Lean Commentary

Edward Snowden: Friend or Foe?

This will be a subject of debate for the weeks, months, years and decades to come.

What is not debatable is the fact that he has been impactful. Yes, one man has made a difference.

The publishers of the book Go Lean…Caribbean recognize the contributions that Edward Snowden has made to the discussions of democratic principles: privacy versus security. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU seeks to empower a security apparatus for the Caribbean region. The issues of data monitoring and eavesdropping will be a big consideration here as well. We thank Mr. Snowden for bringing many of these issues to the fore; as the Go Lean roadmap also seeks to employ leading edge technologies to interdict domestic and foreign threats that may imperil Caribbean societal engines – without an “abuse of power”. We therefore want to study the dramatic events of this episode so as to apply best-practices in the formation of our own administration.

See the following news article (and VIDEO in the Appendix below) that summarizes the Snowden drama into 8 lessons:

Title: The Snowden Effect: 8 Things That Happened Only Because Of The NSA Leaks
One year ago Thursday, one of the most consequential leaks of classified U.S. government documents in history exploded onto the world scene: The first story based on documents from former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden was published. Americans finally knew the spy agency was sucking up virtually all of the data about who they called and when.

What followed was a torrent of articles based on the Snowden documents, as well as political and diplomatic reaction. Public debate was transformed by a new level of knowledge about the NSA — which Snowden himself said was mission accomplished. And in some modest ways Congress, companies and other countries also took concrete action. Here are the most consequential reactions to Snowden’s leaks.

1. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper had to admit he lied to Congress.
Three months before the Snowden leaks began, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked the nation’s top intelligence official if the NSA collected data on millions, or hundreds of millions, of Americans.

“No, sir,” Clapper replied. “Not wittingly.”

By that point, of course, the NSA had quite wittingly been running a massive bulk telephone metadata collection program for years. The government had repeatedly asked a secret surveillance court for permission to do so, and it deemed every American’s phone record “relevant” to terrorism in the process.

Wyden fumed in secret about Clapper’s lie — but felt he could not reveal it because the metadata collection program was classified. That all changed after the publication of the first story on June 5, 2013, based off a Snowden leak.

Days later, Clapper gave the most halfhearted, or perhaps least forthcoming, admission that he had lied: “I responded in what I thought was the most truthful, or least untruthful manner by saying no.”

2. The House passed a bill (ostensibly) meant to stop bulk collection of phone metadata.
Americans were furious about the NSA’s sweeping phone metadata collection program. Even the man who wrote the original Patriot Act, Wisconsin Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner, said the program went too far.

So last month the House passed a bill that its sponsors said would end bulk collection. Whether it actually does is a matter of dispute, since the White House and the spy agencies appear to have stripped out many of its toughest provisions. But its passage is nonetheless a clear signal that nobody in Congress wants to look like they’re doing nothing about the NSA.

3. A federal judge said the NSA phone surveillance program is unconstitutional.
In December, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon issued a ruling in a lawsuit against the NSA program that said its technology was “almost-Orwellian” and that James Madison “would be aghast.”

Because other judges in other districts have found differently — one in Manhattan dismissed an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit citing the threat of terrorists’ “bold jujitsu” — the program still stands. And it had previously been approved, though behind closed doors, by the special Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. But with Leon’s ruling on the books, the program could eventually wind up before the Supreme Court.

4. Tech companies finally got serious about privacy.
Big tech players had been paying lip service for years to the idea that they protect their customers’ privacy. But after the Snowden revelation that the NSA was accessing company servers via its PRISM program, privacy suddenly became a very tangible good. Cloud providers stand to lose $35 billion over the next three years in business with foreign customers afraid of storing their data with U.S. companies.

So the companies are responding by adding encryption measures such as Transport Layer Security. Google even announced on Tuesday that it is testing a new extension for the Chrome browser that could make encrypting email easier.

5. Britain held its first-ever open intelligence hearing.
If you thought intelligence oversight was weak in the United States, you won’t believe how it works with our closest ally. The powerful British spy agencies MI5 and GCHQ had never faced a public hearing in front of Parliament until Snowden’s stories dropped.

The November hearing was hardly confrontational. But it was a step forward for a country that has generally reacted to the Snowden leaks with little more than a shrug. And that step matters for Americans as well: In April, The Intercept revealed that the GCHQ had secretly asked for “unsupervised access” to the NSA’s data pools.

6. Germany opened an investigation into the tapping of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cell phone.
The revelation that the NSA was monitoring the German chancellor’s cell phone came as a surprise to her — and to Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). Merkel was so outraged that she reportedly compared the surveillance to that of the Stasi, the former East German spy agency. (And she would know, having grown up in East Germany.)

On Wednesday, GermanFederalProsecutorHaraldRangeannounced that he is opening an investigation into the monitoring of Merkel’s phone calls. The investigation is proof positive that the Snowden leaks have frayed some U.S. diplomatic relations, but also that people the world over are starting to take surveillance seriously.

7. Brazil scotched a $4 billion defense contract with Boeing.
In another example of soured relations abroad, Brazil gave a massive fighter jet contract to Saab instead of the American company Boeing. Opinions varied as to how much that had to do with Snowden’s leaks, with one government source telling Reuters that he “ruined it for the Americans.” One analyst believed, however, that the Boeing jet simply cost too much.

The jet aside, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was clearly steamed, taking to the podium at the U.N. General Assembly to denounce the surveillance on her. Snowden’s leaks also helped propel the passage of an Internet bill of rights meant to protect privacy in the South American nation.

8. President Barack Obama admitted there would be no surveillance debate without Snowden.
In a major speech in January, Obama said he was “not going to dwell on Mr. Snowden’s actions or his motivations.” But he essentially acknowledged that the roiling, yearlong debate over surveillance would not have happened without him.

“We have to make some important decisions about how to protect ourselves and sustain our leadership in the world, while upholding the civil liberties and privacy protections that our ideals — and our Constitution — require,” Obama said.

The secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court also nodded toward the “considerable public interest and debate” that Snowden’s leaks created. And even Clapper acknowledged, “It’s clear that some of the conversations this has generated, some of the debate, actually needed to happen.”

The surveillance court finally started publicly posting some filings from its major cases. And in further acknowledgement of the need for a debate, the NSA and other agencies have posted declassified files to a new intelligence Tumblr — revealing for the first time aside from Snowden’s leaks documentary evidence of the inner workings of mass surveillance.
Source: Huffington Post Online News Source; posted June 5, 2015; retrieved June 7, 2015 from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/05/edward-snowden-nsa-effect_n_5447431.html

An important consideration related to Mr. Snowden is the priority on human/civil rights. The motive for mass surveillance from the US Patriot Act was national security, but in its execution, it became abusive to human and civil rights. That is the formula for tyranny! Yet the authorities refused to “stop, drop and roll”; there was no remediation.

The Patriot Act went into effect in 2001 (effective for 4 years), then re-authorized in 2005 and 2011 (for 4 years only) with little debate. But thanks to one man, Edward Snowden, the 2015 renewal was stalled, debated, re-visited, re-considered and eventually defeated. People asked questions, challenged disclosures, protested and resolved … to do better.

One man … made a difference!

This one man impacted his country … and the whole world.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” – Edmund Burke; 1729 – 1797; an Irish statesman, member of the British Parliament and supporter of the American Revolution.

Edmund Burke! Edward Snowden! These two men – one from history and another of contemporary times – have more in common than what may have been obvious. Another expression Edmund Burke is credited for, is perhaps more apropos:

“People crushed by laws, have no hope but to evade power. If the laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to the law; and those who have most to hope and nothing to lose will always be dangerous”.

There is now a new security monitoring legislative provision! Credit or not, this is a direct impact of the actions of Edward Snowden! This law allows for security monitoring, without the privacy violations. (The USA Freedom Act was passed on June 2, 2015 with a new expiration of 2019;^[5] however, Section 215 of the law was amended to stop the NSA from continuing its mass phone data collection program.^[6]). This end-product is better all around. In fact, “a White House investigation found that the prior NSA program may have never stopped a single terrorist attack”. This new provision is an elevation for society.

Like Edward Snowden’s advocacy, the prime directive of the book Go Lean…Caribbean is to elevate society, but instead of impacting America, the roadmap focus is the Caribbean. In fact, the declarative statements are as follows:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant societal engines again foreign and domestic threats.
Improvement Caribbean governance – with appropriate checks-and-balances – to support these engines.

Edward Snowden is hereby recognized as a role model that the Caribbean can emulate. (He disclosed that telephone data for one Caribbean member-state, the Bahamas, was also being collected and analyzed by the NSA). He has provided a successful track record of forging change, resisting the “abuse of power”, managing crises to successful conclusions and paying forward the benefits for a tyranny-free society to all peoples; see his letter in the Appendix. The Go Lean book relates that Caribbean member-states do have a tyrannical past, considering examples of Cuba (236), Haiti (238), and the Dominican Republic (306).

The book posits that one person, despite their field of endeavor, can make a difference in the Caribbean, and its impact on the world; that there are many opportunities where one champion, one advocate, can elevate society. In this light, the book features 144 different advocacies, so there is inspiration for the “next” Edward Snowden or Edmund Burke to emerge and excel right here at home in the Caribbean. We need vanguards and sentinels against the dreaded “abuse of power”.

The roadmap specifically encourages the region, to lean-in to open advocacy with these specific community ethos, strategies, tactics, and implementations:

Community Ethos – Security Principles – Privacy vs Public Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – Security Principles – Whistleblower Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – Security Principles – Anti-Bullying and Mitigation	Page 23
Community Ethos – Security Principles – Intelligence Gathering	Page 23
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Minority Equalization	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Intellectual Property	Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate all 30 Member-states	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Enact a Security Apparatus Against Threats	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Protect Homeland with Anti-crime Measures	Page 45
Anatomy of Advocacies – Examples of Individuals Who Made Impact	Page 122
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – Defense / Homeland Security Pact	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices	Page 134
Planning – Lessons from East Germany – Bad Checks-and-Balances	Page 139
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Leadership	Page 171
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Remediate and Mitigate Crime	Page 178
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Terrorism	Page 181
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering & Analysis	Page 182
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Protect Human Rights	Page 220

The Caribbean region wants a more optimized security apparatus.

The region wants to mitigate human rights and civil rights abuses; in general all “abuse of power”.

This book posits that “bad actors” – even tyrants – will emerge to exploit inefficient economic, security and governing models. Early in the book, the pressing need to streamline protections – for citizens and institutions – was pronounced in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12), with these opening statements:

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

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

The Go Lean book explicitly acknowledges that optimizing the needs for security, justice and privacy are not easy; they require strenuous effort; heavy-lifting. There needs to be a better balance of public protection versus privacy concerns. Balance? That is the quest of the CU/Go Lean roadmap: an optimized society with better checks-and-balances.

Other subjects related to civil/human rights checks-and-balances for the region have been blogged in other Go Lean…Caribbean commentary, as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5304	Mitigating the Eventual ‘Abuse of Power’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4809	Using Surveillance to Interdict Americans Who Aided ISIS
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4447	Abuse of Power Example: Ferguson-Missouri biased cops & courts
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4360	Dreading the American ‘Caribbean Basin Security Initiative’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3881	Intelligence Agencies to Up Cyber Security Cooperation
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1554	Status of Forces Agreement = Security Pact
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=960	NSA records all phone calls in Bahamas, according to Snowden
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=535	Remembering and learning from Boston
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=341	American Human Rights Leaders Slams Caribbean Poor Record

With a heightened focus on balanced justice institutions and the participation of many advocates on many different paths for progress, the Caribbean can truly become a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———-

Appendix – Edward Snowden Letter – June 5, 2015 – “This is the power of an informed public”

Dear XXXXXXX,

Simple truths can change the world.

Two years ago today, in a Hong Kong hotel room, three journalists and I waited nervously to see how the world would react to the revelation that the National Security Agency had been collecting records of nearly every phone call in the United States.

Though we have come a long way, the right to privacy remains under attack. Join me in standing up for our rights: Tell President Obama to log off.

Last month, the NSA’s invasive call-tracking program was declared unlawful by the courts, and it was disowned by Congress. And, after a White House investigation found that the program never stopped a single terrorist attack, even President Obama ordered it terminated.

This is because of you. This is the power of an informed public.

Ending mass surveillance of private phone calls under the Patriot Act is a historic victory for the rights of every citizen. Yet while we have reformed this one program, many others remain.

We need to push back and challenge the lawmakers who defend these programs. We need to make it clear that a vote in favor of mass surveillance is a vote in favor of illegal and ineffective violations of the right to privacy for all Americans. Take action to ban mass surveillance today.

As I said at an Amnesty event in London this week, arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.

We can’t take the right to privacy for granted, just like we can’t take the right to free speech for granted. We can’t let these invasions of our rights stand.

While we worked away in that hotel room in Hong Kong, there were moments when we worried we might have put our lives at risk for nothing — that the public would react with apathy to the publication of evidence that revealed that democratic governments had been collecting and storing billions of intimate records of innocent people.

Never have I been so grateful to have been so wrong.

In solidarity,

Edward Snowden, for Amnesty International

———-

APPENDIX VIDEO – HuffingtonPost Analysis Video – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/05/edward-snowden-nsa-effect_n_5447431.html

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Big Defense	Many theorists indicate that the “follow the money” approach reveals the Military Industrial Complex work to undermine peace, so as to increase defense spending for military equipment, systems and weapons.
Big Media	Cable companies conspire to keep rates high; kill net neutrality; textbook publishers practice price gouging; Hollywood insists on big tax breaks/ subsidies for on-location shooting.
Big Doubters	There are professionals who work to undermine the Greater Good by spewing doubt on scientifically-established causes; consider Climate Change, Tobacco and Concussions.
Big Oil	While lobbying for continuous tax subsidies, the industry have colluded to artificially keep prices high and garner record profits ($38+ Billion every quarter).
Big Box	Retail chains impoverish small merchants on Main Street with Antitrust-like tactics, thusly impacting community jobs. e-Commerce, an area of many future prospects, is the best hope of countering these bad business tactics.
Big Pharma	Chemo-therapy cost $20,000+/month; and the War against Cancer is imperiled due to industry profit insistence.
Big Tobacco	Cigarettes are not natural tobacco but rather latent with chemicals to spruce addiction.
Big Agra	Agribusiness concerns exacerbate greenhouse gases, bully family farmers and crowd out the market. Plus they fight common sense food labeling efforts and engage in abusive labor practices with migrant workers.
Big Data	Brokers for internet and demographic data clearly have no regards to privacy concerns.
Big Banks	Wall Street’s damage to housing and student loans are incontrovertible.
Big Weather	Overblown hype of “Weather Forecasts” to dictate commercial transactions, while ignoring the responsibilities and realities of Climate Change.
Big Real Estate	Preserving MLS for Real Estate brokers only, forcing 6% commission rates, when the buyers and sellers can meet without them.
Big Salt	Despite the corrosiveness of salt on roads and the environment, it is the only tactic used to de-ice roads. Immediately after the weather warms, the roads must be re-constructed, thus ensuring a continuous economic cycle.
Big Energy	The For-Profit utility companies always lobby against regulations to “clean-up” fossil-fuel (coal) power plants or block small “Green” start-ups from sending excess power to the National Grid. Their motive is to preserve their century-long monopoly and their profits.
Big Legal	Even though it is evident that the promotion of Intellectual Property can help grow economies, the emergence of Patent Trolling parties (mostly lawyers) is squashing innovation. These ones are not focused on future innovations, rather just litigation. They go out and buy patents, then look for anyone that may consume any concepts close to those patents, then sue for settlements, quick gains.
Big Cruise	Cruise ships are the last bastion of segregation with descriptors like “modern-day-slavery” and “sweat-ships”. Working conditions are poor and wages are far below anyone’s standards of minimum. Many ship-domestic staff are “tip earners”, paid only about US$50 a month and expected to survive on the generosity of the passengers’ gratuity. The industry staff with personnel from Third World countries, exploiting those with desperate demands. Nowhere else in the modern world is this kind of job discrimination encouraged, accepted or tolerated.
Big Jails	The private prison industry seem motivated more by profit than by public safety. They attempt to sue state governments when their occupancy levels go too low; a reduction in crime is bad for business.
Big Auto	Automakers, like General Motors (GM), conspired with oil and tire companies to eliminate streetcars in cities all across America. The conspiracy was to create an inferior urban transportation (bus) system that would drive the demand for automobiles. The end result was a guarantee of sales of tires, gasoline for these industry stakeholders
Big Housing	The American legacy is one of the institutional segregation in American cities. The practice was administered by real estate agents and housing officials executing policies to elevate property values and generational wealth for White families at the expense of a life of squalor for Non-Whites.
Big Charities	Big Not-For-Profit organizations that fleece the public under the guise of charities but retain vast majorities of the funding as administrative costs, thusly benefiting mostly the charities’ executives and staff rather than the intended benefactors.
Big Education	For-Profit schools make a lot of profit while providing very little education to its customers: students. They charge tuition amounts higher than public colleges, while providing educational programs of little value and repute. The issue underpinning this dilemma is the easy availability of guaranteed student loans from the US federal government. The Crony in this case is a direct consequence of a rich pool of federal monies.
Big Music	The music business is a bad business. Many in the industry exploit artists for their genius but fail to pay for their talent via legal loopholes. The latest case is that of Apple Music launching a new streaming service, where they choose to not bill the end-customer during the 3-month trial period so they also choose not to pay the artists. This is a clear disrespect of intellectual property, as if the music creation has no value.
Big Interchange	The Mastercard/Visa interchange is a monopolistic collusion that ensures transaction fees remain high with no competitive downward pressure. They get a slice of every Mastercard/Visa debit and credit transaction.
Big Sports	Public financing of sports stadiums to benefit private owners of sport teams many times abuses the finances of communities, who may then struggle or shortchange vital services in order to service the debt/bond obligations for the stadiums.
Big Hair	The media has dictated what is beautiful in America and is making women comply…at all cost. Systematic messaging that Black Hair is less than preferred has resulted in a US$9 Billion industry for Black Women and their fake hair, weaves and chemical products.
Big Lobby	Big Business lobby with their money to dictate their priorities, despite conflicts-of-interest for elected officials, at the expense of the Greater Good.
Big Labor	The H-1B program allows for foreign workers to be imported only if no local resources are available. This process is so corrupted! American corporations bring in STEM resources from countries like India and pay them less, after having American workers train them. Both the American and foreign workers are abused in the process.
Big Shipping	Jones Act mandates that for a ship to go from one US port to another US port it must be American-made and American flagged. This protectionism guarantees excessive shipbuilding profits and a small number of shipping options for US Territories, so high consumer prices.