33 is an important number for music. This is the speed that a record-album spins on a record-player.
33 years ago, today – January 28th, 1985 – the record industry spun a new thread. The industry spun its biggest world charity endeavor, to date, to mitigate famine in Africa, in response to a drought in Ethiopia. This was the collaborative effort – by more than 40 artists – to record the song: We Are The World.
See the story in the Almanac entry here:
Almanac: “We Are the World”
… From our “Sunday Morning” Almanac: January 28th, 1985, 33 years ago today … the day more than 40 of the music world’s greatest stars gathered in a Los Angeles studio to record the song “We Are the World.”
Written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson, and produced by Quincy Jones, the song was a fundraiser for the relief group USA for Africa.
The artists were told, “Check your egos at the door.” And did they ever.
Twenty-one of them each got a turn singing a solo line, while more than 20 others made up the chorus.
More than nine million copies of the song have been sold or downloaded. It won four Grammys, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year.
And most important: USA for Africa says the song has generated more than $65 million for humanitarian relief.
This moment, movement, momentum and music changed the world!
This super-group United Support of Artists (USA) for Africa played on the brand “USA”, but truthfully, they could have called themselves United States of America, as all the participants – see Appendix below – were Americans … except for the Irish vocalist-producer Bob Geldof in the chorus, plus percussionist Phil Collins (England) and percussionist Paulinho da Costa (Brazil).
Yet still, this collaborative effort made a difference!
They raised money and ensured the distribution of food stuffs to the ravaged areas of Africa. They used music to change the world!
Can we use music to change the world again? How about changing the Caribbean? How about shaping the culture?
Yes, we can! Why? ‘We Are The World‘.
Its ironic that despite all the available talent, there was no Caribbean representation in that assembly of artists that day, none except for Harry Belafonte. He boasts a legacy of a Caribbean parentage from a Jamaican mother and Martiniquan father; (though he himself was born in Harlem, New York). For ‘We Are The World‘, he sang in the chorus.
This consideration is in line with the 2013 book Go Lean … Caribbean. The book relates that music and a movement can change the world again. It serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This CU strives to advance Caribbean culture using the application of societal best-practices – and music – to engage these 3 prime directives:
Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.
The Go Lean book – available for download now – prescribes a plan for each Caribbean country to grow their musical influence. The book further identifies 169 different musical/national combinations of genres throughout the region. So the complex music landscape in the region does not stand still; it evolves. So too their musical artists.
Music can indeed wield a great influence and impact on the world. (Previously, this blog-commentary detailed the influence of music icon Bob Marley). Natural disasters continue to happen, as ‘We Are The World‘ was in response to a natural disaster – a drought – in Africa 33 years ago. We continue to have natural disasters … today. Just recently, late September 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated several Caribbean member-states; Puerto Rico was gravely impacted. In the mode of ‘We Are The World‘, many artists – led by Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton fame – assembled and recorded a song to aid Puerto Rico, entitled ‘Almost Like Praying‘ by Artists for Puerto Rico.
Lesson learned! The same as ‘We Are The World‘ was mostly an American art form, Puerto Rico was able to convey its brand.
See the VIDEO of the song ‘Almost Like Praying‘ by Artists for Puerto Rico here:
Published on Oct 6, 2017 – Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Almost Like Praying” was written and recorded to benefit hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico with proceeds benefiting The Hispanic Federation’s Unidos Disaster Relief Fund
The movement behind the Go Lean book asserts that “one person can make a difference“, and that music can shape culture. So just like Bob Marley, Lin-Manuel Miranda should be recognized for his contributions to music, culture and Puerto Rican (Caribbean) identity. This one character has made a difference, he has shaped American culture and forged an example and a sample of how other Caribbean stakeholders can do more in the arts to impact the world – ‘We Are The World‘.
Early in the Go Lean book (Page 15) in the Declaration of Interdependence, the contributions that music can make is pronounced as an community ethos for the entire region to embrace, with these statements:
Whereas the cultural arts and music of the region are germane to the quality of Caribbean life, and the international appreciation of Caribbean life, the Federation must implement the support systems to teach, encourage, incentivize, monetize and promote the related industries for arts and music in domestic and foreign markets. These endeavors will make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play.
The Go Lean book, within its 370 pages, details the community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to foster the next generation of artists. This roadmap recognizes that a prerequisite for advancing society is a change in the community ethos, defined as “the fundamental spirit of a culture that drives the beliefs, customs and practices” in society. Music should be appreciated for its ability to shape the culture of a community, country or even the whole world.
Thank you Quincy Jones and all the 40-plus United Support of Artists for the model for ‘We Are The World‘ 33 years ago; you set the pathway for success for new collaborations of talented, inspirational and influential artists who are sure to follow, even here in the Caribbean. We used that pattern for Puerto Rico; hopefully more Caribbean communities to follow.
We want “a change to come” to the Caribbean. So we need to accept the premise that was echoed musically 33 years ago, that ‘We Are The World‘. We hereby urge the people, institutions and governance of Caribbean region to “lean-in” to this Go Lean roadmap for change and empowerment. ‘We Are The World‘ and we want to make our part of the world – the Caribbean – a better place to live, work and play. 🙂
The United States of America is the richest, most powerful nation on the planet and yet …
… [for] the US Territories of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, … American economic prosperity does not always extend to the islands. The emigration (brain & capital drain) for these islands has been acute for over 100 years and continues, unchecked today. The pattern of the US Territories is what the rest of the [Caribbean] region does not want: half abandoned; where the emigrated population exceeds the on-island population. These islands are paradise – there should be no reason to leave. – Book Go Lean…CaribbeanPage 244
Of the 30 member-states that constitute the Caribbean, only these two – Puerto Rico (PR) and the US Virgin Islands (USVI) – gets American culture, commerce and systems of governance. So any plan to elevate the Caribbean region must also consider the legal and constitutional mandates of the US. The First Steps for these US Territories would be an Interstate Compact.
AM JOY Posted 10/14/17 – Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands: Part of U.S.
As Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands struggle to recover, Joy Reid speaks with residents and political leaders about why hurricane relief has been slower in these American territories.
What is really sad is that these territories have no vote and therefore no voice in the process to find solutions. (Territories have no vote in Congress, only formal States).
This commentary is Part 3 of a 6-part series from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean in consideration of the First Steps for instituting a new regime in governance for the Caribbean homeland. The other commentaries in the series are cataloged as follows:
All of these commentaries relate to “how” the Caribbean can finally get started with adapting the organizational structures to optimize the region’s societal engines. The Caribbean is in North America and the US is the Big Dog of the region. So any consideration for leading from the Top must partner with American stakeholders. Though these considerations only apply to the 2 US territories, there are lessons for all the Caribbean, as we can glean wisdom and insight on how a roadmap can reform and transform the Caribbean member-states so that they can be better places to live, work and play.
The book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free – serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all 30 member-states, including the US Territories. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:
Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy and create new jobs; (how about 2.2 million).
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies. (CU federal is not to be confused with US federal; these are different entities).
The book stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):
xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.
xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.
xxiii. Whereas many countries in our region are dependent Overseas Territory of imperial powers, the systems of governance can be instituted on a regional and local basis, rather than requiring oversight or accountability from distant masters far removed from their subjects of administration. The Federation must facilitate success in autonomous rule by sharing tools, systems and teamwork within the geographical region.
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.
The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions for a Way Forward, a guide on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society. One advocacy in the book (Page 244) is entitled “10 Ways to Impact US Territories“; this allows for the delivery of best practices to introduce the new CU regime. Washington would be considered an “overseas master” for Caribbean stewardship. Though they do not need the CU to impact the US – notwithstanding the Diaspora living there – there is the need for this CU treaty to impact the efficiency of these American territories.
St Johns, US Virgin Islands
Forging change in the American Caribbean territories means starting at the Top (leaders) and starting at the Bottom (citizens). But the leaders in Puerto Rico and the USVI cannot engage any cross-border initiatives without the US Congress; this is the premise of Interstate Compacts; these are necessary to partner with American stakeholders across borders and State-lines. See the full details on these Compacts in the Appendix Reference below.
Imagine the irony …
The people of the American Caribbean cannot even vote on the empowerments necessary to assuage their own crises; they have no self-determination. Yes, each territories have a non-voting member in House of Representatives of the US Congress, but because the representative is non-voting makes him/her inconsequential to other voting representatives; their voice is muted. In addition, there is no representation at all in the US Senate; truly no voice.
The Action Plan in this new Caribbean regime, this Way Forward, wants to put the Caribbean destiny in the hands of Caribbean stakeholders. This is only fair … and just. This is not our opinion alone; none other than the United Nations have made this declaration. In a previous Go Lean blog-commentary, this fact was revealed, as follows:
The US Territories of PR and the USVI should lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap – in fact all Caribbean stakeholders should lean-in – in order to be better, here in the Caribbean, to make our homeland better places to live, work and play. 🙂
Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.
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Appendix: Congressional Consent and the Permission for States to Enter into Interstate Compacts By: Steven Blevins
When our Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution, they included language that grants states the authority to enter into interstate agreements to achieve a common purpose. This directive, found in Article I, Section 10, Clause 3 of the Constitution, is known as the Compacts Clause. In it, the founders asserted, in part, that “no state shall, without the consent of Congress enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power.”1 This often-overlooked clause of the Constitution also grants Congress the power to approve or deny the validity of a compact—a concept called congressional consent.
The founders included the compact clause in the Constitution to protect the dual-sovereign nature of the democratic government structure, while also promoting the ability of the states to cooperatively solve problems. While the Founding Fathers believed interstate cooperation was an important and necessary feature of American democracy, they feared states would use this authority to enter into agreements that would alter the federal balance of power. To avoid such an event, the compact clause instructs states entering into interstate compacts to obtain congressional consent for the agreement to be valid.
Types of Compacts Requiring Congressional Approval A literal interpretation of the compact clause would conclude all interstate agreements must obtain the approval of Congress before they take effect and carry the weight of law. The Supreme Court, however, has ruled that “any” does not mean “all” in the context of interstate compacts and congressional consent. To clear up the ambiguity of the compact clause, the U.S. Supreme Court in Virginia v. Tennessee held that Congress must approve only two types of compacts:
Those compacts that alter the balance of political power between the state and federal government; or
Those compacts that intrude on a power reserved to Congress.
Thus, when a compact does not touch on either of those two items, the courts have ruled the federal government does not have a direct interest in the compact and congressional consent is not technically required.2 Essentially, if federal supremacy is threatened, then congressional consent is required for the compact to be valid. On the other hand, if federal supremacy is not threatened, then an absence of congressional consent will not render the compact invalid.
Categories of Congressional Consent Noticeably absent from the compact clause are specific procedures the states must follow to obtain consent and Congress must follow when granting it. Although the text of the Constitution is void of any specific direction, it is generally understood that Congress specifies consent in one of three ways:
Explicitly Most frequently seen in compacts that resolve boundary disputes, this type of consent is granted after the compact has been adopted by the requisite number of state legislatures and is submitted by the member states to Congress for approval. In these instances, Congress is able to review, amend and/or revise the agreement and, as a result, is able to provide a clear determination of approval or disapproval. Therefore, explicit congressional consent is sometimes considered desirable, even if it is not strictly required at the time the compact is created.
Implicitly Most notably seen in the form of border compacts, which establish or alter the boundaries of a state as result of conflicting territorial claims, congressional consent may be implied when actions by the states and federal government demonstrate approval of the compact.3Such actions usually include federal legislation supporting the terms of a compact or legislation that strengthens the objective of a specific compact. Given its uncertain nature, implied consent should not be assumed by compacting states.
Pre-emptively Congress may give its approval in advance by adopting legislation encouraging states to enter into an interstate compact for a specific purpose.4In these instances, Congress grants consent before the compact reaches critical mass, meaning that once the required number of states adopts the compact, it becomes enforceable. While pre-emptive consent deprives Congress the opportunity to review the compact and its objectives once it is drafted, it often encourages states to cooperatively resolve a policy challenge they otherwise might not have addressed.
There are also several recent examples of Congress pre-emptively granting states consent to explore the use of interstate compacts. Notable examples include the Environmental Protection Act of 2005, which granted three or more contiguous states the right to enter into an electric transmission line siting compact, and the Nonadmitted Insurance and Reinsurance Act contained in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which encouraged states to explore the use of interstate compacts to create uniformity in the surplus lines insurance industry. The Council of State Governments, through its National Center for Interstate Compacts, has assisted states in exploring the appropriateness of an interstate compact to address each of the challenges highlighted above.
The process of congressional approval mirrors that of the legislative approval process of any other federal statute. The House or Senate introduces compact bills, but both congressional bodies must approve it, and the president must sign the compact into law.
Withholding Consent Congressional consent is a political judgment rather than a legal judgment —essentially a gratuitous action by Congress.5 With this notion in mind, Congress may withhold consent when it feels approval may lead to “imprudent combinations, dangerous joint action or intrusion on traditional federal matters” or “has the potential to alter the balance of power between the states and federal government.”6 Congress faces essentially no limitations in its authority to grant or withhold consent.
When presented with a compact seeking adoption, Congress has the authority to either deny approval or alter the compact as presented by the states by imposing various limitations and conditions on the compact or the member states. If Congress does amend the compact, however, member states are not required to adopt the revised compact. If the member states choose to adopt the amended legislation, they concede to Congress’ changes to the compact.7
Congress’ Ability to Amend, Withdraw or Repeal Congressional Consent If Congress so chooses, it may amend or “change the landscape” of a compact via legislation.8 In fact, “the granting of congressional consent in no way limits Congress’s right to exercise its legislative prerogatives, even to the extent that such an exercise significantly impacts or impairs the workings of an interstate compact.”9 Additionally, the binding authority of interstate compacts approved by Congress is important. Once Congress grants consent, all compacting states are bound to the terms of the agreement. “While congressional consent may transform an interstate compact into federal law, consent does not transform a compact into a binding agreement between the states and Congress.”10
Two federal court decisions provide guidance about whether Congress may withdraw consent. In Tobin v. United States11 and Mineo v. Port Authority of New York-New Jersey,12 the court held that once congressional consent was given, Congress could not withdraw consent nor place additional stipulations on the compact. Congress can, however, work around this legal requirement by amending the proposed compact in a way that specifically enables it to withdraw consent at a future date. The judiciary has not made any declaration on whether such a maneuver is legal.13 The courts have, however, noted that withdrawing consent after the fact “would be damaging to the very concept of interstate compacts.”14
Federalization of Interstate Compacts Once Congress grants consent, a compact then becomes federal law. In the case of Cuyler v. Adams,15 the court articulated congressional consent “transforms the States’ agreement into federal law under the Compact Clause.”16 Thus, “once Congress gives consent, the compact is presumptively transformed into the law of the United States absent compelling evidence that consent was not required.”17
This transformation from state-created agreement into federal law is unique. In no other context does a state law become “federalized” with such miniscule influence by the federal government than in the congressional approval of interstate compacts. This “transformation” effect also places the compact within the scope of federal jurisdiction while insulating the compact from constitutional attack.18
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For more information about congressional consent of interstate compacts, when it is appropriate and how to go about seeking it, please visit NCIC’s website at www.csg.org/compacts.
3 See , e.g., Georgia v. South Carolina, 4 97 U.S. 376 (1990), wherein Georgia brought suit against South Carolina over the location of their boundary along the Savannah River; Michigan v. Wisconsin, 270 U.S. 295, 308 (1926), wherein suit was brought to determine the boundary between Michigan and Wisconsin from the mouth of the Montreal river at Lake Superior to this ship channel entrance from Lake Michigan into Green Bay; Vermont v. New Hampshire, 289 U.S. 593 (1933), wherein Vermont brought suit against New Hampshire over the determination of the boundary line with involving the Connecticut River.
6 Broun, Caroline N., Buenger, Michael L., McCabe, Michael H., & Masters, Richard L. (2006) p. 41. “The Evolving Use and the Changing Role of Interstate Compacts: A Practitioner’s Guide.” Chicago: American Bar Association.
8 Broun, et al. p. 43. Also see Arizona v. California, 373 U.S. 546 (1963). Also see Merrion v. Jicarilla Apache Tribe, 455 U.S. 130, 148 (1982) “Contractual arrangements remain subject to subsequent legislation by the presiding sovereign.”
9 Broun, et al. p. 43. Also see, Arizona v. California, 373 U.S. 546 (1963) wherein the Supreme Court held Congress acted within its realm of authority when it created a plan to manage and operate the Colorado River even though it had previously granted consent to the Colorado River Compact whose purpose was to assist in the management and operation of the body of water.
These are the choices for Puerto Rico today. There is no doubt that the Status Quo is unbecoming! It is time for a change! But change to what?
Statehood; becoming the 51st American State is an option. But, this commentary asserts that maybe the problem is the American affiliation in the first place; it may be more of the same.
Remember this advice from a loving parent:
Never beg someone to love you!
If you’re successful, it is not love that you will get; its pity.
Where is your pride Puerto Rico? “Have you no sense of decency?” You are not being loved right now; you are being pitied. No wait, even the pity is gone – compassion exhaustion after the prior hurricanes of Harvey and Irma; plus forest fires in California. This is what the American affinity has gotten you:
You “cannot win; cannot break-even and cannot get out of the game”.
See Photos here of destruction from Hurricane Maria:
This is a familiar cry from the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean. Just last month (September) we published a series of blog-commentaries assailing the inadequate response to Hurricane Irma. Those submissions were entitled:
It would be so easy to just publish Encore‘s at this time and change the name from Irma to Maria. But no, as so much more has transpired in these past weeks. Puerto Rico is now at the cross roads; things will get worse before it gets worse! That previous blogs warned that the outcome for Puerto Rico, and other Caribbean islands, would be defection – “forced uprooting-displacement of large communities”. Truly, this is what has happened.
See this sad manifestation here, reported by a local news broadcast in Tampa, Florida from Tuesday October 24:
Posted October 24, 2017 – WTSP TV, Tampa, Fla. – Anxious relatives stand around switching between staring at their phones and the shuttle drop off at Tampa International Airport.
Some have watery eyes out of nervousness and anticipation.
The tears streamed once they embraced their loved ones arriving from Puerto Rico.
This scene plays out at least once a day after a flight from San Juan lands in Tampa. …
ALERT! We estimate now that Puerto Rico (PR) will lose over 500,000 people directly and indirectly because of Hurricane Maria. So it is time now for a reboot! It is time for PR to change its status, away from US Territory; perhaps to consider an American Divorce, or Independence, yet stilled aligned as an American Protectorate.
In a previous Go Lean blog-commentary, we warned that there is no guarantee that Caribbean communities – like PR – will survive their current crises, that Failed-State status is imminent. See this excerpt here:
What happens after a community is devastated by a catastrophic hurricane? Many things; mostly all bad:
This is not just theoretical; this is the current disposition in the Caribbean after the recent Category 5 Hurricane Irma; [make that Hurricane Maria]. These descriptors are all indicative of a Failed State status. This is a familiar theme for this movement behind the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean (and the subsequent blog-commentaries). The book opens (Page 3) with this introduction to the subject of failure in the Caribbean:
Failure is just too familiar. Already we have member-states … on the verge of a ‘Failed-State’ status… . These states are not contending with the challenges of modern life: changing weather patterns, ever-pervasive technology, and the “flat world” of globalization. To reverse the fortunes of these failing states, and guide others in the opposite direction to a destination of prosperity, the Caribbean must re-boot the regional economy and systems of commerce.
Hurricanes are tied to failure and Failed-State Indicators. The consequences of hurricanes are more than just natural, there is also the preponderance for people to leave their homelands afterwards – to defect. …
In Failed-State formal-speak, the Go Lean book (Page 271) details 2 indicators or indices: Mounting Demographic Pressures (DP) and Massive Movement of Refugees (REF). These downward movements are indicators of Failed-State status – a bad report on the Fail-State index is simply a reflection of a miserable existence in society:
Mounting Demographic Pressures Pressures on the population such as disease and natural disasters make it difficult for the government to protect its citizens or demonstrate a lack of capacity or will. This indicator include pressures and measures related to: Natural Disaster, Disease, Environment, Pollution, Food Scarcity, Malnutrition, Water Scarcity, Population Growth, Youth or Age Bulge, and Mortality
Massive Movement of Refugees or IDPs Forced uprooting of large communities as a result of random or targeted violence and/or repression, causing food shortages, disease, lack of clean water, land competition, and turmoil that can spiral into larger humanitarian and security problems, both within and between countries. This indicator refers to refugees leaving or entering a country. This indicator include pressures and measures related to: Displacement, Refugee Camps, IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) Camps, Disease Related to Displacement, Refugees per capita, and IDPs per capita.
So rather than an American affinity, this commentary asserts that maybe the subject of “Puerto Rico Independence” should be re-visited. How about this twist: an independent Puerto Rico with a Caribbean interdependence.
The book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free – serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all 30 member-states, Puerto Rico included. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives for regional integration:
Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs. Puerto Ricans have been defecting for decades looking for jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines. This security pact encompasses an emergency planning/response apparatus to deal with the reality of natural disasters. The CU mandate is to protect against any Failed-State encroachments.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.
The Go Lean book stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):
xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.
xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation of the human and civil rights of the people for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. As such, any threats of a “failed state” status for any member state must enact emergency measures on behalf of the Federation to protect the human, civil and property rights of the citizens, residents, allies, trading partners, and visitors of the affected member state and the Federation as a whole.
xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.
The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to assuage the miserable existence; to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society, to reverse the trending towards Failed-State status (Page 134).
The Caribbean must foster a better disaster preparation and response apparatus than the Puerto Rico Status Quo. That island seems to be counting on the kindness of strangers – the American Super Power. They are looking to Washington as the cure.
The Way Forward for Puerto Rico must be more and better than their previous stance. Perhaps, the American colonial status is the problem … and not the cure.
Published on Oct 25, 2017 – The Trump administration awards a $300 million contract intended to get power back on in Puerto Rico to Whitefish Energy, a small Montana company located in Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s hometown that had only two full-time employees the day Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico.
Subscribe to The David Pakman Show for more: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_c… Timely news is important! We upload new clips every day, 6-8 stories! Make sure to subscribe! Broadcast on October 25, 2017.
Puerto Rico can do “bad” all by itself; it does not need to be America’s Failed-State!
They do not need the American Hegemony to create an unbearable situation for them. This is NOT an assessment based on the fact that Donald Trump is in the White House now, no rather, this is an summary-analysis based on 120 years of US-PR history. Like many abusive marriages, the US has reserved its most abusive behavior for its own family member, the island territory of PR. This, despite the President or the administration. (See “American Colony” VIDEO in the Appendix below).
No one should be expected to tolerate 2nd Class Citizenship status … for 120 years!
So what’s next? This recommendation:
PR should wipe-out the previous debt and start anew as an independent country / American Protectorate. The island should apply this strategy … based on lessons learned from Detroit. They should expect the defection of 500,000 people and downsize accordingly. Who ever wants to leave, let them leave; build a new society with the remainders.
PR should do this, in order to be better, here in the Caribbean, to make this homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂
Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.
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Appendix – WTSP-TV Transcript Excerpt … and Beyond
Sub-title: Influx of evacuees
Nearly 70,000 people have arrived in Florida from Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria, according to state officials.
Hillsborough county schools have enrolled at least 50 students from Puerto Rico. And local agencies are getting calls every day with questions about affordable housing and jobs.
“I’m hoping I will find a job quickly,” García said with a sigh.
Her husband will also need a job when he arrives, but they don’t know when he will reunite with them.
“We’re a team and after this we’re more united than before so it’s going to be hard,” she said. “It’s going to be really hard but we’re going to make it. After everything we still feel blessed.”
Those seeking information on assistance for Puerto Ricans following Hurricane María can call the State of Florida information line at 1-800-342-3557 or visit the Disaster Recovery Center at The Regent, 6437 Watson Rd., Riverview. The center is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Appointments are not necessary.
More than a dozen agencies are providing resources at the center, including:
There is the need for relief, recovery and rebuilding!
This title, “After Irma, America Should Scrap the Jones Act” – in the news article in the below Appendix referring to the temporary waiver of the law – is also a familiar advocacy from this commentary, from the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free. A previous blog-commentary declared:
Stupidity of the Jones Act
The 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. Also, for foreign ships to trade in US Territories, they must first journey to a foreign port before they could journey to another American port to transport goods. This seems “stupid”; but the adherence to this law keeps American maritime commerce options afloat; this means someone is getting paid; … a distortion in the reality of Puerto Rico-[Virgin Islands]-to-US Mainland trade.
The Go Lean movement asserts that the US Territories in the Caribbean deserve better; they deserve the full exercise of the free market, not just now for the hurricane relief-recovery-rebuilding but all the time. This is why we call the ‘Jones Act’ stupid and strongly urge for its repeal. These US Territories – make that colonies – are pressed between a rock and a hard place, their best hope for survival and prosperity is to grow-up from their American neo-colonial status.
What? How? When? Where? All these questions and more are answered in the Go Lean book. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:
Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.
The Go Lean book posits that devastating hurricanes – like Irma – will now be the norm. This problem is too big for any one Caribbean member-state alone to contend with. The book therefore stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):
i. Whereas the earth’s climate has undeniably changed resulting in more severe tropical weather storms, it is necessary to prepare to insure the safety and security of life, property and systems of commerce in our geographical region. As nature recognizes no borders in the target of its destruction, we also must set aside border considerations in the preparation and response to these weather challenges.
xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.
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.
xxiii. Whereas many countries in our region are dependent OverseasTerritory of imperial powers, the systems of governance can be instituted on a regional and local basis, rather than requiring oversight or accountability from distant masters far removed from their subjects of administration. The Federation must facilitate success in autonomous rule by sharing tools, systems and teamwork within the geographical region.
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.
The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of the American Caribbean Territories and all of Caribbean society. Puerto Rico and the USVI had problems before Irma; their daily life is filled with troubles and strife. While they need the ‘Jones Act’ to be waived for this hurricane relief-recovery-rebuilding effort, even more they need the ‘Jones Act’ repealed for everyday life.
This is not just our opinion alone, as attested by the Editorial – in the Appendix below – from Bloomberg News. This media organization is not just criticizing from afar; they truly care about the Greater Good of the US Territories; see Appendix VIDEO below.
This commentary commences a 4-part series on the Aftermath of Hurricane Irma. This storm was devastating to the Atlantic tropical region, the Caribbean and US State of Florida. There are a lot of mitigation and remediation efforts that can be done to lessen the impact of storms. There are lessons that we must consider; there are changes we must make; there are problems we must solve. The full list of the 4 entries in this series are detailed as follows:
Aftermath of Hurricane Irma – America Should Scrap the ‘Jones Act’
Yes, we can do better in the future, even after devastating hurricanes; we can make all of the Caribbean homeland better places to live, work and play. 🙂
Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.
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Appendix – Title: After Irma, America Should Scrap the Jones Act Sub-Title: The century-old law restricting trade between U.S. ports is a costly failure.
Another big hurricane, another temporary waiver of the Jones Act — the 1920 law mandating that goods and passengers shipped between U.S. ports be carried in U.S.-flagged ships, constructed primarily in the U.S., owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by them or by U.S. legal permanent residents.
Circumstances did indeed demand a new stay on this dumb law — but it would be better to get rid of it altogether, as Senator John McCain and others have argued.
The Jones Act was meant to ensure that the U.S. has a reliable merchant marine during times of national emergency. It has devolved into a classic protectionist racket that benefits a handful of shipbuilders and a dwindling number of U.S. mariners. It causes higher shipping costs that percolate throughout the economy, especially penalizing the people of Alaska, Guam, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
Despite the law, the U.S. merchant fleet has continued to shrink. Today there are only about 100 large ships that meet its requirements — and many of them are past their best. In part because of the high cost of using Jones Act vessels, coastal shipping has steadily declined, even though it would otherwise be more efficient in many cases than trucks and railroads. The act distorts trade flows, giving imports carried by foreign ships an edge over goods shipped from within the U.S. Proposed extensions of the law could threaten the development of offshore energy resources as well as exports of U.S. oil and natural gas.
Defenders of the law say its effects are uncertain because there’s too little data. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York suggests a way to put that right: Give a five-year Jones Act waiver to Puerto Rico. That would provide data for a more rigorous analysis while giving the island’s battered economy a lift. Short of outright repeal, Congress could also revisit the law’s ancient, burdensome rules on crew sizes and much else. If the law remains, its focus should be on restoring the vibrancy of coastal maritime commerce, not on counting ships and sailors.
Economics aside, one might ask, isn’t the Jones Act vital for national security? Hardly. Much of the U.S. Ready Reserve Fleet is foreign-built. Very few Jones Act ships are the roll-on, roll-off kind that the military wants. To be sure, the U.S. has sound strategic reasons for maintaining some shipbuilding capability — but smarter support narrowly directed to that purpose would be cheaper and fairer than a trade law that does so much pointless collateral harm.
The latest waiver is slated to expire this week. Modernizing the law would be a step forward. But the best thing to do with the Jones Act is scrap it.
To contact the senior editor responsible for Bloomberg View’s editorials: David Shipley at davidshipley@bloomberg.net .
Posted September 15, 2017 – Chuck Todd traveled to the U.S. Virgin Islands to interview Fmr. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and NBA All-Star Tim Duncan, who are both helping with the recovery effort after Hurricane Irma.
There was a time when all of the Spanish Caribbean – Cuba, Dominican Republic (DR), and Puerto Rico – was ruled under the same flag; that goes way back to the year 1865. There has been no Spanish Caribbean territorial unity ever since.
Too sad! They badly need to confederate, collaborate and convene to tackle so many societal challenges: economics, security and governance.
These 3 member-states constitute 59 percent of the Caribbean’s total population of 42+ million people, according to 2010 census numbers (Cuba – 11.24 million, DR – 9.52 million, PR – 3.99 million). They share the same Spanish language, the same colonial heritage, the same legacy of African Slavery, the same color flags (Red, White and Blue) and the same American tutelage; (some say tutelage while some say abandonment) see here:
Cuba – This country was ceded from the Spanish Empire in the 1898 Spanish-American War and allowed to pursue their Independence dreams. Their autonomous rule history was dysfunctional; punctuated with a Communist Revolution in 1959 led by Fidel Castro. See more here: America’s War on the Caribbean. After 55 years of economic and political alienation from the US, the Barack Obama administration worked to normalize relations with Cuba. But there is a new American federal governmental administration; they claim to adhere to a different foreign policy than Obama; but so far, the policies that have been introduced or modified have only tweaked trade rules a little – see Appendix A.
DR – This country benefited from the same movement that granted independence to Haiti; the Haitian Revolutionary forces overran the entire island of Hispaniola and self-extracted from the European powers of France and Spain. Later (1844) the DR sought independence from Haiti and had to contend with many other threats from foreign aggressors. A treaty was drafted and presented to the US Senate to annex the DR as a US Territory with the prospect and pathway to eventually become a US State; it was defeated in 1870 and never ratified. See more here: American Annexation of Santo Domingo. The country has had one troublesome political history since – 3 Presidential assassinations.
Puerto Rico – This island territory was ceded from the Spanish Empire to the US as a result of the same 1898 Spanish-American War. It never obtained independence, but instead experienced one dependent status after another until today. There have been many attempts to assuage the colonial status, in fact a fifth referendum was held just recently on June 11, 2017. 97% percent of those participating voted for statehood, though there was only 23% voter turnout[10]. See more here: Statehood movement in Puerto Rico.
The US is the richest and most powerful Single Market country that has ever reigned in earth’s history, but this fact has not borne fruit for these Spanish Caribbean neighbors. They have never shared this disposition.
One thing more these former Spanish territories have shared: Failed-State status.
This has been a familiar theme for the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean. We have consistently conveyed how the economic, security and governing eco-systems of these 3 countries are dysfunctional and defective – along with the other 27 Caribbean member-states. The solution for these countries is not a closer annexation with the United States – America is not the panacea of Caribbean ills – but rather the solutions lie in the adoption of a regional brotherhood among these geographic neighbors – the 3 Spanish Caribbean member-states integrated with the other 27 in the region.
This is the quest of the Go Lean movement!
The book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free – serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:
Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.
The book stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):
xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.
xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.
xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.
The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society.
This commentary is 2 of 5 in a non-sequential series on the State of the Caribbean Union. This series depicts the dysfunctional and defective state of affairs (economics, security and governance) throughout the entire region; there are some common traits. These have been assessed by the Go Lean movement. The full entries of all the blog-commentaries in this series are as follows:
State of the Caribbean Union – Self-Interest of Americana
The State of the Caribbean Union prominently includes these Spanish-speaking islands. These islands need all the remediation and mitigation they can get. Notice the dire state of affairs as portrayed in the Appendices below.
These references align with previous Go Lean commentaries related to …
Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.
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Appendix A – News Article: In Miami, Trump toughens Obama’s Cuba policy ‘like I promised’
…
Trump, spurring a standing ovation, billed his appearance as a campaign promise kept to Cuban-Americans to take a harder stance on Cuba. He told the crowd he was canceling Obama’s Cuba policies, though in actuality he’s not. Rather, he’s taking a different approach to pressure Cuba to open its economy and eventually its political system.
…
Trump signed a national security presidential memo — not a presidential policy directive, as originally envisioned by the White House — ordering federal agencies to start writing regulations within 30 days to promulgate his new policy. The State Department will have to compile a list of entities tied to Cuba’s sprawling military conglomerate, Grupo de Administración Empresarial, S.A., or GAESA. Americans will be prohibited from transacting with those corporations, except for enumerated exemptions to, among other things, allow for commercial air and cruise travel and payments to private businesses, such as Airbnb rentals.
Travel to Cuba will also become more difficult. Cubans will still be able to visit family and send money. But Americans will have to travel as part of formal groups with set itineraries if they want to qualify under categories that allow educational and people-to-people cultural exchange trips. Another category, for support for the Cuban people, is more stringent but will still allow for individual travel. U.S. travelers will be prohibited from spending money at hotels and restaurants tied to the Cuban military. That includes many brand-name hotel chains. <<< Insert Photo 4 >>>
————– Appendix B – “Dominican Watchdog” – Relating the DR’s Dire Status
June 12 – MonkeyBiz.dr, Audit Detects Corruption in 68 Dominican City Halls – MONKEY BUSINESS AS USUAL IN THE DOM REP – CORRUPTION AND FRAUD FROM A-Z. Forty percent of the monetary resources that should have been destined to infrastructure works, were NOT. Years of real estate fraud prompts purge of officials, foreign investors and buyers of holiday homes have lost hundreds of millions of dollars…….
June 12 –STAY HOME, Dominican Republic Chikungunya Cases Skyrocket to 53000 – TRAVEL WARNING – Taiwan recently raised its ALERT about Dom Rep to YELLOW !! Doctors in the DR is fighting 24/7, but he number of chikungunya cases in the Dominican Republic continues to rise at an alarming rate as the Ministry of Health’s Department of Epidemiology reports 52,976 cases, time to stay home, there is NO PROVEN CURE against this virus…..
June 12 – Another Agent Killed as Chilling Attacks Grip Dominican Republic – Dominican Republic Becoming Most Dangerous Country in the Caribbean – Metropolitan Transit Authority (AMET) agent Carmen Torres Báez, 41, on Monday became the latest victim in a chilling wave of attacks on law enforcement officers gripping the entire Dominican Republic. Torres, mother of four, was gunned down on the Maximo Gomez bridge to Villa Mella around 7:15am as she was walking to work…..
Published June 16, 2017 – Puerto Rico voted for statehood in a referendum last Sunday. At first glance the results seem pretty clear: 97% of voters said yes to statehood. But less than 25% of Puerto Ricans actually cast a vote in the referendum.
Meanwhile, there’s support from lawmakers here in Central Florida for statehood, where there’s a growing Puerto Rican population, but what kind of impetus is there in Washington to add another star to the US flag?
Florida International University’s Cuban Research Institute director Jorge Duany joins the program, along with orlandolatino.org founder Maria Padilla, tecnetico.com founder Wilton Vargas & Ronald Morales who moved to Florida from Puerto Rico in 2015.
In the Caribbean, we are surrounded by water (straits, banks, Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, etc); if you stare upon the waters in the middle of a sunny day, you start to see a mirage – a distortion in reality. In the Caribbean, we are also surrounded by a lot of stupidity. Make no mistake, this is not a mirage; it is mercantilism*.
In a previous blog, this commentary asserted that the historicity of a lot of stupidity in society is due to Crony-Capitalism:
Someone is getting paid!
This applies in so many areas of American life that Caribbean people can learn lessons from this history and distortion in reality. This commentary is 1 of 4 in a series considering the Lessons in Economic History related to “Commerce of the Seas”, the Crony-Capitalism in laws and practices around the maritime eco-system in the United States … and other countries. The full series is as follows:
The reference to “Commerce” refers to the economic interests of the 30 member-states in the Caribbean region. There are so many Lessons in Economic History for us to glean:
Around the world, countries that had access to the “Sea” have a distinct advantage economically versus countries that were land-locked; i.e. England versus Austria.
Mercantilism dictated that empires force rules and laws to preserve commerce for their home countries. This was also the case for the United States. One prominent law that was instituted was the Jones Act; see more in Appendix B below.
The 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. Also, for foreign ships to trade in US Territories, they must first journey to a foreign port before they could journey to another American port to transport goods. This seems “stupid”; but the adherence to this law keeps American maritime commerce options afloat; this means someone is getting paid; see VIDEO in Appendix A below, highlighting a distortion in the reality of Puerto Rico-to US Mainland trade.
How about the Caribbean, do we have or need maritime “protectionism” in the laws of the member-states of our region? The answer is affirmative for the dysfunctional US Territories; there is a need for economic regionalism, not protectionism.
In March 2013, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a study of the effect of the Jones Act on Puerto Rico that noted “freight rates are set based on a host of supply and demand factors in the market, some of which are affected directly or indirectly by Jones Act requirements.” The report further concludes … [that] freight rates between the United States and Puerto Rico are affected by the Jones Act.” The report also addresses what would happen “under a full exemption from the Act, the rules and requirements that would apply to all carriers would need to be determined.” The report continues that “while proponents of this change expect increased competition and greater availability of vessels to suit shippers’ needs” …
The American territories in the Caribbean are in the middle of the Caribbean geography, rimming the Caribbean Sea. The “Laws of the Sea” need to reflect this reality and not just political alignments. This is the purpose of the book Go Lean … Caribbean, to help reform and transform the societal engines for the 30 member-states of the Caribbean region. The book specifically addresses customization to the “Laws of the Sea” to benefit the Caribbean region. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This would be the governmental entity for a regional Single Market that covers the land territories of the 30 member-states, and their aligning seas; (including the 1,063,000 square miles of the Caribbean Sea in an Exclusive Economic Zone). The Go Lean/CU roadmap features this prime directive, as defined by these 3 statements:
Optimization of the economic engines to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines in local governments and in the Exclusive Economic Zone, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.
The Go Lean roadmap allows for the regional stewardship and administration of the commerce on the Caribbean Seas in collaboration, conjunction and cooperation with US legal jurisdiction and foreign entities. The legal premise for this strategy is an Interstate Compact & Treaty – see details in the Go Lean book (Page 278) or the photo-excerpt in Appendix IA below – legislated by the US Congress, independent Caribbean governments (17) and the colonial masters for the existing overseas territories:
France (Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Martin, St. Barthélemy)
The Netherlands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten)
United Kingdom (Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks & Caicos and the British Virgin Islands)
Such a wide-ranging, fully-encompassing Compact-Treaty was an original intent of the Go Lean book – economic regionalism. The publication (published in November 2013) commenced with a Declaration of Interdependence, pronouncing the need for regional coordination and integration so as to reform and transform Caribbean society. See a sample of relevant stanzas here (Page 11 – 13):
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.
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.
xxiii. Whereas many countries in our region are dependent Overseas Territory of imperial powers, the systems of governance can be instituted on a regional and local basis, rather than requiring oversight or accountability from distant masters far removed from their subjects of administration. The Federation must facilitate success in autonomous rule by sharing tools, systems and teamwork within the geographical region.
The foregoing Jones Act is an American legislation that probably needs to be repealed or revised to reflect the actuality of a globalized economy; (there are some good provisions related to injury of seamen). Consider this recent experience recorded by a commentator on a news site, below an article regarding the efforts to repeal the Jones Act:
The Act does not Protect the Ports and Waterways, that task is left to the US Navy and US Coast Guard. We have Significant Ports on the US Mainland. None of them have had any security issues with Foreign Flagged Vessels. Trade is restrictive to and from places like Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Guam Etc.
Therefore business that could be entertained and cultivated providing a boost in their respective economies, those areas economically are suppressed. The United States has a significant Naval and Coast Guard presence in each of these areas. An example of how this stifles the economy would be to take a guitar manufacturer located on the Big Island of Hawaii. The Big Island has an abundance of Koa wood, a highly sought after wood for the manufacture of wooden guitars. However if they wanted to ship their guitars to a distributor in Australia, they have to first ship it to the USA mainland. They then Offload it and re-ship it to Australia, The interesting part of this story is that many times the costs for shipping it to Australia are less than it was to ship it to the US Mainland on the initial leg. So as you can see this stifles any possible USA productivity. And maybe that is why no one in Hawaii is Mfg guitars, or hardly anything else for that matter.
Reforming America is out-of-scope for the Go Lean movement, notwithstanding Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Our quest is to reform and transform the Caribbean … only. The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos for economic regionalism, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the maritime commerce to benefit Caribbean society.
The issue of rebooting maritime commerce has been a frequent subject for previous blog-commentaries; consider this list of sample entries:
Ghost ships – Autonomous cargo vessels without a crew
All Caribbean members are islands or coastal territories. There is a need to reform maritime commerce for the Caribbean region; we can get more economic activity from this sector; the Go Lean book projects 15,000 new direct jobs in the shipbuilding industry, 4000 in fisheries and 800 jobs by reforming payment systems for cruise passengers. The possibility of new jobs are positive economic fruitage from considering a reboot of maritime eco-system; it would be stupid not to try.
Previous generations in the Caribbean lived off the sea; we can again; it would be stupid not to try. This plan is conceivable, believable and achievable. We urge all Caribbean stakeholders – seafarers and land-lovers – to lean-in to this roadmap for economic empowerment. We can make the Caribbean homeland and seas better places to live, work and play. 🙂
Appendix B: Merchant Marine Act of 1920 aka Jones Act
The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (P.L. 66-261), also known as the Jones Act, is a United States federal statute that provides for the promotion and maintenance of the American merchant marine.[1] Among other purposes, the law regulates maritime commerce in U.S. waters and between U.S. ports. Section 27 of the Jones Act deals with cabotage and requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried on U.S.-flag ships, constructed in the United States, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents.[2] The act was introduced by Senator Wesley Jones.
Laws similar to the Jones Act date to the early days of the nation. In the First Congress, on September 1, 1789, Congress enacted Chapter XI, “An Act for Registering and Clearing Vessels, Regulating the Coasting Trade, and for other purposes”, which limited domestic trades to American ships meeting certain requirements.[3]
The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 has been revised a number of times; the most recent revision in 2006 included recodification in the U.S. Code.[2] In early 2015 Senator John McCain filed for an amendment that would essentially annul the Act.[4] [The amendment failed].
The Jones Act is not to be confused with the Death on the High Seas Act, another United States maritime law that does not apply to coastal and in-land navigable waters.
Objectives and purpose
The intention of Congress to ensure a vibrant United States maritime industry is stated in the preamble to the Merchant Marine Act of 1920.[5]
Cabotage
Cabotage is the transport of goods or passengers between two points in the same country, alongside coastal waters, by a vessel or an aircraft registered in another country. Originally a shipping term, cabotage now also covers aviation, railways, and road transport. Cabotage is “trade or navigation in coastal waters, or the exclusive right of a country to operate the air traffic within its territory”.[6] In the context of “cabotage rights”, cabotage refers to the right of a company from one country to trade in another country. In aviation terms, for example, it is the right to operate within the domestic borders of another country. Most countries enact cabotage laws for reasons of economic protectionism or national security.[citation needed]
The cabotage provisions relating to the Jones Act restrict the carriage of goods or passengers between United States ports to U.S.-built and flagged vessels. It has been codified as portions of 46 U.S.C.[7] Generally, the Jones Act prohibits any foreign-built, foreign-owned or foreign-flagged vessel from engaging in coastwise trade within the United States. A number of other statutes affect coastwise trade and should be consulted along with the Jones Act. These include the Passenger Vessel Services Act, 46 USC section 289 which restricts coastwise transportation of passengers and 46 USC section 12108 restricts the use of foreign vessel to commercially catch or transport fish in U.S. waters.[8] These provisions also require at least three-fourths of the crewmembers to be U.S. citizens. Moreover, the steel of foreign repair work on the hull and superstructure of a U.S.-flagged vessel is limited to ten percent by weight.
…
Effects
The Jones Act prevents foreign-flagged ships from carrying cargo between the US mainland and noncontiguous parts of the US, such as Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Alaska, and Guam.[11] Foreign ships inbound with goods cannot stop any of these four locations, offload goods, load mainland-bound goods, and continue to US mainland ports. Instead, they must proceed directly to US mainland ports, where distributors break bulk and then send goods to US places off the mainland by US-flagged ships.[11] Jones Act restrictions can be circumvented by making a stop in a foreign country between two US ports, e.g., Anchorage–Vancouver–Seattle.
In March 2013, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a study of the effect of the Jones Act on Puerto Rico that noted “[f]reight rates are set based on a host of supply and demand factors in the market, some of which are affected directly or indirectly by Jones Act requirements.” The report further concludes, however, that “because so many other factors besides the Jones Act affect rates, it is difficult to isolate the exact extent to which freight rates between the United States and Puerto Rico are affected by the Jones Act.” The report also addresses what would happen “under a full exemption from the Act, the rules and requirements that would apply to all carriers would need to be determined.” The report continues that “[w]hile proponents of this change expect increased competition and greater availability of vessels to suit shippers’ needs, it is also possible that the reliability and other beneficial aspects of the current service could be affected.” The report concludes that “GAO’s report confirmed that previous estimates of the so-called ‘cost’ of the Jones Act are not verifiable and cannot be proven.”[13]
In the Washington Times, Rep. Duncan Hunter spoke to the need for the Jones Act and why it is not to blame for the island’s debt crisis. “With or without such an effort, it’s imperative not to conflate the unrelated issues of Puerto Rico’s debt and the Jones Act, and to fully grasp the importance of ensuring the safe transport of goods between American ports. There must also be acknowledgment of the dire consequences of exposing ports and waterways to foreign seafarers.”[14]
[See VIDEO in Appendix A above].
US shipbuilding
Because the Jones Act requires all transport between US ports be carried on US-built ships, the Jones Act supports the domestic US shipbuilding industry.[15][16]Critics of the act describe it as protectionist, harming the overall economy for the sake of benefiting narrow interests.[17][18] Other criticism argues that the Jones Act is an ineffective way to achieve this goal, claiming it drives up shipping costs, increases energy costs, stifles competition, and hampers innovation in the U.S. shipping industry[19] – however, multiple GAO reports have disputed these claims.[20]
Since Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are US Territories, their implementation of the provisions of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation must legally be construed as an Interstate Compact.
An Interstate Compact is an agreement between two or more states of the US. Article I, Section 10 of the US Constitution provides that “no state shall enter into an agreement or compact with another state” without the consent of Congress. Frequently, these agreements create a new governmental agency which is responsible for administering or improving some shared resource such as a seaport or public transportation infrastructure. In some cases, a compact serves simply as a coordination mechanism between independent authorities in the member states.
Click on photo to enlarge
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Footnote Reference – * Mercantilism
A system of political and economic policy, evolving with the modern national state and seeking to secure a nation’s political and economic supremacy in its rivalry with other states. According to this system, money was regarded as a store of wealth, and the goal of a state was the accumulation of precious metals, by exporting the largest possible quantity of its products and importing as little as possible, thus establishing a favorable balance of trade. Source: Retrieved June 8, 2017 from: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/mercantile-system
Here’s a not-so-fun fact about the First President of a pluralistic democratic Republic of South Africa, Nelson Mandela:
He spent 27 years in prison for terrorism.
Yet, he was hailed a hero upon his release in 1990, and eventually elected as President and a transcendent leader of that country.
Is history about to repeat itself, with Puerto Rican Nationalist Oscar López Rivera?
Hardly!
While the object of animosity – villain – in the Mandela drama was the racist-bigoted government of South Africa, the object of animosity for López Rivera is … the United States of America, albeit a racist-bigoted iteration from the annals of recent history.
Same crime – same disposition? Hardly!
South Africa was never amongst the “Great Powers” of the Earth. (For much of its history – until 1961 – it was a member of the British Dominion and Commonwealth). It is also located at the Southern tip of the African continent – out of sight, out of mind. Mandela (18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) had righteous indignation and accepted sabotage (a form of terrorism) as a tactic to force change in his country. But … Mandela enjoyed wide international support and concurrence, even from the US … in the end; see his altruism in his motivation here:
I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to see realised. But if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die. — Mandela’s Rivonia Trial Speech, 1964[138][139]
Mr. López Rivera also had a quest of righteous indignation against his enemy – advocating for Puerto Rican independence[6].
Oscar López Rivera (born 6 January 1943) is a Puerto Rican independence activist[1] who was one of the leaders of the FALN – Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña, a Marxist-Leninist [organization] with a quest to make Puerto Rico an independent communist nation.[9][10][6] Mr. López Rivera was a fugitive since 1976 and indicted in 1977 and 1979; he was arrested on May 29, 1980 and tried by the United States government for seditious conspiracy, use of force to commit robbery, interstate transportation of firearms, and conspiracy to transport explosives with intent to destroy government property. López Rivera maintained that according to international law he was an anti-colonial combatant and could not be prosecuted by the United States government. On August 11, 1981, López Rivera was convicted and sentenced to 55 years in federal prison. On February 26, 1988 he was sentenced to an additional 15 years in prison for conspiring to allegedly escape from the Leavenworth federal prison. – Source: Wikipedia.
In truth, López Rivera had the wrong enemy if he wanted international support and concurrence. The US – since World War II – is the Super Power of the day, the #1 Single Market economy and #1 Military establishment. The US President is even considered the Leader of the Free World. But alas, In 2006, the United Nations (UN) called for the release of all convicted for actions related to Puerto Rican independence who had served more than 25 years in US prisons; these ones the UN deemed “political prisoners”.[28]
On August 11, 1999, U.S. President Bill Clintonoffered clemency to López Rivera and 15 other convicted FALN members, subject to the condition of “renouncing the use or threatened use of violence for any purpose” in writing. … López Rivera rejected the offer because one of its conditions was that he [had to] renounce the use of terrorism.[1][44] On January 17, 2017, President Obama commuted López Rivera’s sentence. His release was scheduled for May 17[77] … one week ago. See VIDEO in the Appendix below.
The movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free – tracks and monitors the developments of the US Territory of Puerto Rico – it is a Failed-State. Would Puerto Rico have fared better had López Rivera and his cohorts won their revolution?
López Rivera is no Nelson Mandela! To some, he is not even a hero; see a story about the related protests and boycotts in the Appendix below.
The Go Lean book presents a better plan to finally reform and transform Puerto Rico and the Caribbean; it serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:
Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.
The book stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit, that the problems are too big for any one Caribbean member-state alone – Puerto Rico has been trying this whole time and continue to fail … miserably. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):
xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.
xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.
xxiii. Whereas many countries in our region are dependent Overseas Territory of imperial powers, the systems of governance can be instituted on a regional and local basis, rather than requiring oversight or accountability from distant masters far removed from their subjects of administration. The Federation must facilitate success in autonomous rule by sharing tools, systems and teamwork within the geographical region.
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.
The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society.
Puerto Rico does need a savior, a hero, but López Rivera is not it!
The Go Lean movement calls on Puerto Rico and its neighbors to save itself; this is a call for all 30 Caribbean member-states to convene, collaborate and confederate to provide a better, more effective, technocratic stewardship for the societal engines of the region. Consider this sample of prior blog/commentaries where these points had been elaborated upon:
Overall, to Oscar López Rivera, we say (Go Lean book conclusion Page 252):
Thank you for your service, love and commitment to [Puerto Rico, Puerto Ricans and] all Caribbean people. We will take it from here.
The movement behind Go Lean book, the planners of a new Caribbean stresses that a ‘change is going to come’, one way or another. We have endured failure for far too long; we have seen what works and what does not. We do not need to buy what López Rivera was selling in the 1970’s. We have looked, listened, learned and lend-a-hand since then. We are now ready to lead this country – Puerto Rico – and this region to a better destination, to being a homeland that is better to live, work and play. 🙂
Published on May 18, 2017 The freed Puerto Rican nationalist was mostly hailed as a hero as he returned to Chicago’s HumboldtPark. New York’s CBS 2’s Vince Gerasole reports.
Appendix Title: Yankees among groups to boycott New York City’s Puerto Rican Day Parade
The New York Yankees joined the Fire Department of New York City and other high-profile organizations in dropping out of the Puerto Rican Day Parade in response to parade organizers’ plans to honor freed militant Oscar Lopez Rivera.
The Yankees organization didn’t elaborate on its decision, but a spokesperson said in a statement that the team still plans to financially support the parade’s scholarship program:
“The New York Yankees are not participating in this year’s Puerto Rican Day parade. However, for many years, the Yankees have supported a scholarship program that recognizes students selected by the parade organizers. To best protect the interests of those students, and avoid any undue harm to them, the Yankees will continue to provide financial support for the scholarships, and will give to the students directly.”
The June 11 parade, which draws 1 million people each year, also lost key sponsors because of the decision to honor a man considered to be the leader of the ultranationalist Puerto Rican group responsible for more than 100 bombings. Rivera, who was sentenced to 55 years in prison in 1981 after he was found guilty of seditious conspiracy, served 35 years until his sentence was commuted by President Barack Obama.
Among the other organizations skipping the parade are the NYPD’s Hispanic Society and Rafael Ramos foundation.
“We understand that others may not be able to be with us,” a statement by the board of directors of the National Puerto Rican Day Parade said in reference to naming Rivera a national freedom hero. “However, we will continue to represent all voices, with an aim to spark dialogue and find common ground, so that we can help advance our community and build cultural legacy.” Source: USA Today Daily Newspaper – Posted May 23, 2017; retrieved May 24, 2017 from https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/yankees/2017/05/23/yankees-to-boycott-new-york-citys-puerto-rican-parade/102058948/
In school, there is a simple measurement: there is the perfect “A”; everything else – B, C and D – was less desirable. But the actual grade “F” means you fail.
How can we measure success and failure for our community’s societal engines: economics, security and governance? There are so many approaches, but just like in school, there is a definitive “F” grade, a Failed-State status. In the case of a municipal entity, there is no doubt that a Bankruptcy filing is an “F”, a failure!
This is Puerto Rico today.
Their Governor, Ricky Rosselló, just announced (May 3, 2017) that the US territory will invoke the bankruptcy-like powers that were extended to them by Congress last year. This was designed to bring an end to their intractable crisis, despite the assurances that they had given to investors that bankruptcy-style “haircuts” could not be considered. There are so many issues afoot with this move:
Can other American states/territories push lawmakers (Congress) for this same legal recourse – Chapter III of the Bankruptcy Code, the Promesa Provision – that has been ceded to Puerto Rico if they are ever at the end of their financial ropes?
(Chapter 9 Bankruptcies are allowed for municipalities, but not state governments).
This is a slippery slope!
“If Puerto Rico can achieve this level of debt relief through Promesa as the initial plan suggested, it will only make sense for Virgin Islands to attempt the same” – Wall Street Analyst
This commentary is 2 of 4 in a series considering how to “Right a Wrong”. Surely, reneging on a pledge to repay debts is a “Wrong”. This type of move could affect every other community seeking to raise funds on the capital markets (bonds). So there are lessons that we need to glean from the “Righting of these Wrongs”. The full series is as follows:
As related in the first submission in this series, these “Wrongs” relate to bad actions and inaction by different actors. The image and reputations of stakeholders “take a hit” while these issues are fresh. This is definitely the case for Puerto Rico right now. “Righting the Wrong” can override the bad image and the “comeback” or recovery could be the lasting legacy.
The book Go Lean…Caribbean addressed Puerto Rico from the beginning; starting with the opening assessment of the State of the Caribbean region. The book identified Puerto Rico on Page 18 as:
The Greece of the Caribbean
Puerto Rico’s population is declining. Faced with a deteriorating economy, increased poverty and a swelling crime rate, many citizens are fleeing the island for the U.S. mainland. …
Puerto Rico has been through austerity and made tough decisions: It has cut government jobs, privatized a couple of highways, and is in the process of privatizing the international airport. But unlike the case of Greece, the economic mess is on America’s hands. For U.S. citizens on the mainland who have a 401(k) account or pension for retirement, it’s possible that they have money invested in Puerto Rican bonds, which are now no longer worth much. So citizens in the states could feel the pain if Puerto Rico’s economy collapses.
This book was published in November 2013, projecting verbiage like “if Puerto Rico’s economy collapses”. According to the latest developments and this news article here (and VIDEO), that collapse is now a reality:
Title: Puerto Rico Declares a Form of Bankruptcy By: Mary Williams Walsh
With its creditors at its heels and its coffers depleted, Puerto Rico sought what is essentially bankruptcy relief in federal court on Wednesday, the first time in history that an American state or territory had taken the extraordinary measure.
The action sent Puerto Rico, whose approximately $123 billion in debt and pension obligations far exceeds the $18 billion bankruptcy filed by Detroit in 2013, to uncharted ground.
While the court proceedings could eventually make the island solvent for the first time in decades, the more immediate repercussions will likely be grim: Government workers will forgo pension money, public health and infrastructure projects will go wanting, and the “brain drain” the island has been suffering as professionals move to the mainland could intensify.
Puerto Rico is “unable to provide its citizens effective services” because of the crushing weight of its debt, according to a filing on Wednesday by the federal board that has supervised the island’s financial affairs since last year.
The total includes about $74 billion in bond debt and $49 million in unfunded pension obligations.
While many of Puerto Rico’s circumstances are unique, its case is also a warning sign for many American states and municipalities — such as Illinois and Philadelphia — that are facing some of the same strains, including rising pension costs, crumbling infrastructure, departing taxpayers and credit downgrades that make it more expensive to raise money. Historically, Puerto Rico was barred from declaring bankruptcy. In the end, however, financial reality trumped the statutes, and Congress enacted a law last year allowing bankruptcy-like proceedings.
Puerto Rico has been in a painful recession since 2006, and previous governments dug it deeper into debt by borrowing to pay operating expenses, year after year. For the last two years, officials have been seeking assistance from Washington, testifying before stern congressional committees and even making fast-track oral arguments before the United States Supreme Court.
At the same time, Puerto Rico’s efforts to coax its creditors to agree to concessions have gone nowhere. Now the coming court proceedings will give Puerto Rico extraordinary powers to impose losses on holdout creditors unilaterally.
The island’s many creditors — whose lawsuits filed against Puerto Rico on Tuesday prompted the island’s request for court relief on Wednesday — are likely to receive far less of their money back than they want. Their predicament may turn out to be a cautionary tale for bond holders of other troubled states and cities. Puerto Rico’s case could show public workers and retirees that seemingly inviolate pension systems can be changed, too.
The next step is for the Supreme Court — specifically, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. — to designate a bankruptcy judge to handle the case.
The island’s lawyers may view some bankruptcy courts as more likely to be favorable to them than others. Some creditors fear Puerto Rico will seek to have the case handled in the Southern District of New York.
Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rosselló, issued a statement Wednesday aiming to offer some reassurance, even as he sought the federal court’s protection. “We remain committed to holding good-faith negotiations to reach agreements with our creditors,” he said, adding that he hoped the court proceedings would “accelerate the process.” He appeared to be referring to the extraordinary power Puerto Rico will now have in court to unilaterally impose big losses on creditors.
Some of those creditors are furious.
“The Commonwealth’s proposal is not a credible starting point for negotiations,” Andrew Rosenberg of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison, an adviser to the Ad Hoc Group of Puerto Rico General Obligation Bondholders, said in a statement. He said that moving the proceedings to bankruptcy court would put the situation in “free-fall.”
The creditors got a shock this year when Mr. Rosselló issued a five-year fiscal plan that allowed only about $800 million a year to pay principal and interest on Puerto Rico’s bond debt, far less than the roughly $3.5 billion a year it would cost to make those payments on time. The prospect of losses on that scale prompted some creditors to argue that most of the $800 million was rightfully theirs.
“That things are starting out in such a highly adversarial way strongly suggests this will be a long and contentious journey for Puerto Rico,” said Matt Fabian, a partner at Municipal Market Analytics who closely tracks activity in the municipal bond market.
Puerto Rico’s case will be the first ever heard under a federal law for insolvent territories, called Promesa, which was enacted last summer; the Obama administration had warned that a “humanitarian crisis” would ensue if Puerto Rico were not given extraordinary powers to abrogate debt. There is no existing body of court precedent for Promesa, but the island’s creditors — who range from hedge fund managers to mom-and-pop investors — are bracing for a titanic battle.
Despite the depth of the island’s troubles, many Republicans in Congress have opposed debt relief, saying that the island has long received big federal subsidies for its health system, public housing and other works. They said Puerto Rico should explain what it had done with that money before it got any more help.
Last week President Trump suddenly added fuel to those fires, saying on Twitter that there should be no “bailout” for Puerto Rico.
On the island, Washington is not seen as a helper but as an unsympathetic colonial overlord. The step toward bankruptcy-like proceedings, under a federal judge, intensified complaints that Puerto Rico has lost all control of its own future.
But at the same time, some Puerto Ricans say quietly that if the court proceedings really do allow their government to cancel debt, their island may finally get the fresh start it needs.
The coming court proceedings will not be formally called a bankruptcy, since Puerto Rico remains legally barred from using Chapter 9, the bankruptcy route normally taken by insolvent local governments. Instead, Mr. Rosselló petitioned for relief under Title III of the Promesa law, which contains certain Chapter 9 bankruptcy provisions but also recognizes that, unlike the cities and counties that use Chapter 9, Puerto Rico is not part of any state and must in some ways be treated as a sovereign.
Bankruptcy lawyers and public finance experts are watching Puerto Rico’s case closely, to see if it shows a path that financially distressed states like Illinois might also one day take. States, like United States territories, currently cannot declare bankruptcy.
The only creditors who reached an agreement with Puerto Rico were the holders of a class of bonds, about $9 billion worth, that were sold to raise money for the island’s public power utility. Those creditors gave concessions that the governor pointed to Wednesday as a good example for other creditors to follow.
The governor’s fiscal plan also calls for shifting all current government workers from pensions into 401(k)-style retirement plans. Current retirees will continue to receive their traditional monthly pensions, but the amounts are to be reduced by about 10 percent on average.
The governor’s hand was forced by the expiration on Monday, at midnight, of a court stay that had been keeping Puerto Rico’s creditors from suing. On Tuesday, as soon as the stay expired, bondholder groups and at least one bond insurer sued. Wednesday’s actions by the governor and the federal supervisory board effectively blocked the lawsuits from proceeding. Source: Posted May 3, 2017; retrieved May 4, 2017 from: https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/05/03/business/dealbook/puerto-rico-debt.html
Published on May 3, 2017 – Puerto Rico made the decision to use a U.S. court to escape from its debts. This casts a few ripples in the state and local bond market. But this action — once inconceivable for a territory that didn’t have authority to file for bankruptcy — sets a precedent that could resonate with struggling states in the decades ahead. See the full article here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-04/puerto-rico-collapse-shows-debts-seen-as-iron-clad-may-not-be-so
What will Puerto Rico do now?
The recommendation of the movement behind the Go Lean book is to pay the debt … eventually. (Though bankruptcy filings usually involve “haircuts” where creditors will get “pennies on the dollar”).
This is the purpose of the book Go Lean…Caribbean, to help reform and transform the societal engines in the 30 member-states of the Caribbean region. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) and the Caribbean Central Bank (CCB). The Go Lean/CU/CCB roadmap applies best-practices for community empowerment and features these 3 prime directives, proclaimed as follows:
Optimization of the economic engines to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect public safety and ensure the economic engines of the region.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.
Had the CU/CCB been in force now, we would not look to Washington for answers!
The Go Lean movement asserts that Caribbean communities need to resolve their challenges together. One Go Lean mission describes the process of consolidating legacy debt and refinancing them to ease the burden on local governmental finances. Imagine a personal household that just incurred a BIG BILL for repair – think a new roof. The best strategy is to refinance and add it to the 30-year mortgage, therefore only enduring “bite-size” payments for now. The book relates this:
10 Ways to Better Manage Debt – Page 114
1
Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market, Caribbean Dollar & Caribbean Central Bank. This treaty allows for the unification of the region into one market, thereby creating a single economy of 30 member-states, 42 million people and a GDP of over $800 Billion, according to 2010 figures. The CU will reboot the economic engines of the region with investments in infra-structure and business inducements.Many times these projects require up-front capital but the returns will be garnered slowly over time. These projects therefore require debt, from the capital or lending markets. The issue of debt not only concerns governments, but individuals as well. The CU will impact this dynamic by mastering credit ratings and offering to buy back foreign debt for local C$ financing and CCB controls. This tactic lets the CCB function as a local IMF, fostering a new regime for the economy.
2
M1 & The Interest Economy The CU seeks to consolidate the currency of each member-state around the Caribbean Dollar (C$); then by inducing more electronic transactions as opposed to paper currency, there will be more lendable funds in the money supply (M1). Plus having viable capital markets will allow governments, institutions and businesses to get the capital they need, and investors/lenders can garner interest income for the use of their funds. Most Pension funds depend on this model.
3
Public Financing Every independent country in the Caribbean is a member of the IMF, only the OverseasTerritories are not engaged in this arrangement. Why not? Their host countries (US, UK, France and the Netherlands) provide the capital access that the island territories need. The CU quest is to shift this dependency to a Caribbean source, not European or American.
4
Bonds & Add-on’s (Warrants) Rather than international loans, the CU strategizes bond issues in C$ capital markets for government financing. There are a number of ways to make bonds more attractive to investors, like adding warrants as “sweeteners” (premiums on sale price, leverage, expirations and exercise restrictions). Warrants are often detachable and tradable in markets.
5
CU Federal Bankruptcies
6
Credit Reporting – Sharpening the Tool
7
Retail Credit Reboot and New Engines
8
Student Loans Sensible Dynamics
9
Mortgage Loan Sensible Dynamics
10
Crowd Sourcing – Community Capital Sharing Mitigates Debt
The points of effective, technocratic stewardship of Public Debt have been elaborated upon in previous blog/commentaries. Consider this sample:
Overall, the Go Lean book stresses the community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to reform and transform the economic, security and governing engines of Caribbean society. This effort will be technocratic! It will make “sure all ends meet”. We must properly administer the finances of our communities. This vision was anticipated from the beginning of the Go Lean book, opening with these pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12):
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.
xiv. Whereas government services cannot be delivered without the appropriate funding mechanisms, “new guards” must be incorporated to assess, accrue, calculate and collect revenues, fees and other income sources for the Federation and member-states. The Federation can spur government revenues directly through cross-border services and indirectly by fostering industries and economic activities not possible without this Union.
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. This repatriation should be effected with the appropriate guards so as not to imperil the lives and securities of the repatriated citizens or the communities they inhabit. The right of repatriation is to be extended to any natural born citizens despite any previous naturalization to foreign sovereignties.
xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.
xxv. Whereas the legacy of international democracies had been imperiled due to a global financial crisis, the structure of the Federation must allow for financial stability and assurance of the Federation’s institutions. To mandate the economic vibrancy of the region, monetary and fiscal controls and policies must be incorporated as proactive and reactive measures. These measures must address threats against the financial integrity of the Federation and of the member-states.
Yes, the purpose of this commentary is to project the better plan for reforming and transforming Caribbean municipal financing. But it is also about reforming and transforming Puerto Rico. An agenda for Puerto Rico has always been a priority for the Go Lean roadmap. This island is just sitting there in the middle of the Caribbean region. No effort to reboot the Caribbean neighborhood could reasonably ignore this island.
“But they are an American Territory, a subset of the richest, most powerful nation on the planet”.
And yet … they are a Failed-State!
In a previous blog-commentary from the Go Lean movement, it was declared that “Puerto Rico needs the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies of the CU. [And] the CU needs Puerto Rico!” This is true now more than ever!
Now is the time for all stakeholders – state and municipal governments and their citizens – in the Caribbean to lean-in for the empowerments described here-in and in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. We must do better with public finance than our predecessors. They tried to “go for it alone” – this is why Puerto Rico always failed – let try this different approach of “going for it together”. This is guaranteed to make Puerto Rico and all of the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. 🙂
Dateline: Miami, Florida – Voting is a hallmark of democracy!
Every Caribbean member-state is a democracy; (Even Cuba, but with only the one Communist Party).
So any quest to elevate the Caribbean’s societal engines – economics, security and governance – must consider the strategies of voting, and courting votes.
Right now, it is election season in the United States. There are many members of the Caribbean Diaspora living in the US – some figures project up to 22 million; many of them are eligible to vote on November 8, 2016.
Who will they vote for? Who should they vote for?
What if the criterion for the vote is benevolence to Caribbean causes?
This commentary is 1 of 3 of a series from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean, in consideration of Courting the Caribbean Votes for the American federal elections – President (Donald Trump -vs- Hillary Clinton), Vice-President and Congress (Senate & US House of Representatives). This and the other commentaries detail different ethnic communities within the Caribbean Diaspora and their voting trends; the series is as follows:
All of these commentaries relate to governance, the election of the leaders of the American federal government. The Go Lean movement (book and blog-commentaries) asserts that Caribbean stakeholders need to take their own lead for their Caribbean destiny, but it does acknowledge that we have a dependency to the economic, security and governing eco-systems of the American SuperPower. This dependency is derisively called a parasite status, with the US as the host.
This accurately describes Puerto Rico.
Not only is the island of Puerto Rico a parasite of the US, but a near-Failed-State as well. While this has been a consistent theme of the Go Lean movement, it is no secret. Washington and Puerto Rico readily admit to this disposition. In fact this failing condition has driven many Puerto Ricans out of Puerto Rico. This has been within that consistent Go Lean theme, that “push-and-pull” factors drive Caribbean citizens away from their beloved homeland. Greater Orlando has become a new destination.
They are gone from Puerto Rico, but have not forgotten home. This year they are looking to impact their homeland with their vote. They seek to support candidates for federal offices that can help to reform and transform the island. See the AUDIO Podcast here and related news article:
News Article Title: Puerto Ricans, in Florida, could be a political catch By: Andy Uhler
There’s a new, growing population of American citizens in Florida who might be able to vote for president for the first time – Puerto Ricans. And a lot of those leaving the island’s broken economy end up in Central Florida. Thousands of Puerto Ricans have settled over the past couple of decades in a town south of Orlando, near Disney World, called Kissimmee.
One of the main Puerto Rican hubs in the town is Melao Bakery. Wilfredo Ramirez stood outside most of the day asking people in Spanish if they’re registered to vote. It’s not normally the first thing a new acquaintance asks, but Wilfredo’s on a mission. He moved here from Puerto Rico a few months ago and has a job registering people. He said the electoral system on the mainland is tough for some new arrivals to figure out.
“It’s a bit confusing. Puerto Ricans are considered U.S. citizens, but it’s not the same as being born in the U.S.” mainland, he said. “And that is the ultimate motive, for Puerto Ricans to register and give their vote.”
Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, but because of its territory status, those on the island can’t vote for president. Puerto Rico holds a presidential primary, but that’s where it ends. If they come to Florida and establish residency, though, Puerto Ricans can vote in November.
Wilfredo had been at the bakery for a couple of hours and had talked to more than 150 people. His contract will have him in Central Florida through November. The group he’s with, Hispanic Federation, isn’t affiliated with any party but has been vocal about Donald Trump’s immigration statements – calling them “misleading, demeaning and unfounded.”
But unlike in Florida, the island’s dominant parties aren’t Democrats and Republicans, and the main issue is whether Puerto Rico should stay a territory, become a state, or assert independence.
Carlos Vargas-Ramos is a researcher at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at HunterCollege. He said the Puerto Rican migration to Florida wouldn’t affect the election if groups weren’t out there explaining what’s happening.
“In general, were it anywhere else, where there’s not a mobilization effort, those Puerto Ricans would be less likely to turn out to vote,” he said. “But because, precisely, they’re going to be targets, they will be in play.”
The presidential campaigns know that. Florida is a battleground state, and apart from spending on TV, the Clinton campaign has been focused on trying to get people registered to vote. What they’re finding is that recent migrants aren’t necessarily as Democratic as once assumed.
Mark Oxner, Republican chairman in OsceolaCounty, where 60 percent of the Hispanic population identify as Puerto Rican, said he’s pleasantly surprised that they’re seeing the same thing
“The big thing is, they’re not coming all Democrats, most of them come over and sign as no party affiliation,” he said. “So they’re not, specifically tied to the Democratic party.”
That could make it a little more difficult for Democrats and Republicans to directly identify supporters. Which means it’ll probably be more expensive to get those independent voters to pick a side.
But in this part of Central Florida the community’s biggest concerns are extremely local. Newly arrived Puerto Ricans need teachers in the schools who can help their children transition to living on the mainland. That means, teachers who are bilingual.
Pablo Caceres, director of the Puerto Rican Federal Affairs Administration, a Puerto Rican governmental arm with an office in Kissimmee, said that’s what he hears all the time.
“The issues that are most important for us, the Puerto Rican community, that we need to obviously start talking about is having good quality education for our kids,” he said. “And there are also other big issues like immigration.”
At the same time, a lot of Puerto Ricans left the island and came to Florida because things were so bad. Unemployment is twice that of the mainland, almost half the population is living under the poverty line, hospitals have to limit hours because they can’t pay for electricity and schools are closing because teachers aren’t getting paid.
Now some migrants feel like they might have an impact on what Washington does about their home’s crippling debt crisis.
Jose Rivera moved here from the island in 1994. He’s an engineer in favor of independence.
“It’s about time we own our own destiny,” he said. “We are the 32-year-old guy that still lives with mom and dad and we’re expecting mom and dad to fix all our broken plates.”
The experience in the US is that the politicians do not always represent the majority of the people, but rather the majority of the passionate ones in their constituency – those who turn out to vote. According to the foregoing story, it is obvious that passion for the Caribbean homeland is resulting in passion for the voting booth. Therefore, there is a jockeying to win these votes for the different parties this election year. The Puerto Rican numbers are so impactful that they can swing the vote in this swing state of Florida. (Legally, Puerto Ricans need only establish legal residence for 6 months in a US state – Florida in this case – and then they can vote).
The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). It advocates optimizing the societal engines of economics, security and governance in the Caribbean, not in Florida or any other jurisdiction in the US. But it is what it is. The Diaspora is here-now. We must succeed in this Caribbean reboot to dissuade further migration and hopefully to facilitate a subsequent repatriation.
We must do better than our past. We must be an American protégé, rather than just an American parasite. This is the quest of the Go Lean/CU roadmap, to elevate the Caribbean’s economic-security-governing engines. The roadmap recognizes that the changes the region needs must start first with convening, collaborating, confederating the regional neighborhood into a Single Market, no matter the ethnicity, language or colonial legacy of the member-states. This need was pronounced early in the book, in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 & 13) 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.
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 … 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.
xxiii. Whereas many countries in our region are dependent OverseasTerritory of imperial powers, the systems of governance can be instituted on a regional and local basis, rather than requiring oversight or accountability from distant masters far removed from their subjects of administration. The Federation must facilitate success in autonomous rule by sharing tools, systems and teamwork within the geographical region.
The Go Lean book, and previous blog/commentaries, stressed the key community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementation and advocacies necessary to effect change in the region, to improve the oversight of the governing process. They are detailed as follows:
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices
Page 21
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Minority Equalization
Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations
Page 24
Community Ethos – Security Principles – Cooperatives
Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future – Give the Youth a Voice & Vote
Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-around
Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing
Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good
Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate all 30 Member-states into a Single Market
Page 45
Strategy – CU Stakeholders to Protect – Diaspora
Page 47
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – CU Federal -vs- Member-state governments
Page 71
Anecdote – Turning Around CARICOM – Regional oversight
Page 92
Implementation – Assemble Caribbean Election Oversight as Cooperative
Page 96
Implementation – Assemble Constitutional Convention – Start of federal elections
Page 97
Implementation – Ways to Impact Elections
Page 116
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate to the Caribbean
Page 118
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – Confederate a Single Market of 4 language groups
Page 127
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices – Election Outsourcing
Page 134
Planning – Lessons Learned from US Constitution – Progress over generations
Page 145
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy
Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage
Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Impact US Territories
Page 244
Appendix – Interstate Compacts for Puerto Rico & US Virgin Islands
Page 278
Appendix – Nuyorican Movement
Page 303
Appendix – Puerto Rican Population in the US (2010 Census)
Page 304
The points of effective, technocratic oversight and stewardship for Puerto Rico were further elaborated upon in these previous blog/commentaries:
We want to make Puerto Rico and other places in our Caribbean homeland, better places to live, work and play. So we must engage the political process in Washington, DC as they are a major stakeholder for Puerto Rico. The island is bankrupt, it depends on federal bailouts just to execute even the basic functions in the Social Contract. Personally, many residents on the island depend on federal subsidies to survive: benefits like veterans, social security (disability & pension) and welfare. Many Puerto Ricans have understandably abandoned the island – this is both “push” and “pull”.
The Go Lean movement advocates being a protégé of America, not just a parasite. This is a turn-around from the status quo. We must now seek out solutions that encourage participation of Puerto Ricans in the nation-building process, as a territory, a new US State or an independent nation; (as alluded to in the foregoing story). If we want to stop the abandonment – a quest of the Go Lean roadmap – then we have no other choice; we must present the opportunities for citizens to prosper where planted in the Caribbean.
The choice for president should consider these needs.
We need Washington’s help. But the only way to impact Washington is through voting. This is why the Puerto Rican vote – for those in the Diaspora – is being courted. Which presidential candidate best extols the vision and values for a new Caribbean?
This is the question being considered. These two camps are the ones courting Puerto Ricans in the Diaspora.
The purpose of the Go Lean roadmap is to provide the turn-by-turn directions to accomplish the needed turn-round. The Go Lean roadmap does not seek to change America; our only focus is to change the Caribbean, to make it better to live, work and play. 🙂
If you go to a casino and win in their games of chance, what do you win?
If you go to a casino and lose in their games of chance, what do you lose?
In both cases the answer is money.
This is still true even though the gamer may cash-in the common currency of a country at the start of the session for tokens, chips or e-Cards. The tokens or chips become a nominal or fiat currency themselves; their value is set by the issuer to be any denomination they want – they may choose to make $100 chips Blue, $1000 chips Green and $10,000 chips Red or any combination. The only thing that matters is the cash-out process: when the gamers wants to receive real world currency value for any chips in hand.
Yes, this is the business model of casinos, but it is based on the principles of economics. The quest to reform and transform Caribbean economy could be based on this model; this is the case with the book Go Lean … Caribbean. The book details the mission to elevate the Caribbean societal engines starting with economics, or more simply: money. This brings so many questions to the fore:
What is money and how do we define it? Why must we define it? Aren’t we all familiar with the dynamics of the money or currency in our wallets and purses? How does the common currency fit into this discussion?
First the definition is important so as to dispel the concern about currency as opposed to money; money is not just currency and currency is not just money. Currency relates to a national designation (US dollar, British pounds, Chinese Yuan) or a regional designation like the Euro or the Eastern Caribbean/EC dollar. Money, on the other hand is a matter of four (4) functions[22]:
A Medium – When money is used to intermediate the exchange of goods and services, it is performing a function as a medium of exchange. Money’s most important usage is as a method for comparing the values of dissimilar objects.
A Measure – A unit of account is a standard numerical monetary unit of measurement of the market value of goods, services, and other transactions. Also known as a “measure” or “standard” of relative worth and deferred payment, a unit of account is a necessary prerequisite for the formulation of commercial agreements that involve debt. Money acts as a standard measure and common denomination of trade. It is thus a basis for quoting and bargaining of prices.
A Standard – A “standard of deferred payment” is an accepted way to settle a debt – a unit in which debts are denominated, and the status of money as legal tender, that may function for the discharge of debts. When debts are denominated in money, the real value of debts may change due to inflation and deflation.
A Store – Money acts as a store of value; it must be able to be reliably saved, stored, and retrieved – and be predictably usable as a medium of exchange when it is retrieved. The value of the money must also remain stable over time. Some have argued that inflation, by reducing the value of money, diminishes the ability of money to function as a store of value. Source: Retrieved July 10 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money#Functions
Casino currencies (tokens, chips and e-Cards) perform all these 4 functions; and more – see the Appendix VIDEO below. The common currency for casino operations can be any currency the operators designate; so why do Caribbean operators always designate US dollars?
This question exposes an Economic Fallacy in the Caribbean region, that significant financial transactions must be in US dollars ($), even in Caribbean casinos. While this must be addressed and remediated, obviously the issues at hand are bigger than just Casino gaming. No, the issues in this commentary address technocratic management for currencies in general.
This commentary is the 6 of 6 from the Go Lean movement on the subject of Economic Fallacies. As related in the previous submissions in this series, the situation in the Caribbean region is likened to the imagery of an animal foraging for food, but then gets distracted and “chases a squirrel up a tree”. The squirrel in the tree will never be a meal; it is just a waste of time and energy for the animal. This analogy conveys the waste of time associated with a frivolous and fallacious pursuit. The other commentaries detailed in this series are as follows:
All of these commentaries are economic in nature. They refer to rules for managing the valuable resources of time, talents and treasuries. There are rules for winning and common mistakes that results in losing. Normally these fallacies are easily discernible after the fact, more so than before hand. So history and good-bad lessons on currency management can be extremely helpful to our Caribbean quest. This is a mission of the Go Lean book, to fortify a strong monetary foundation to ensure forward progress in currency matters in the region.
This book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap to introduce and implement the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) and the Caribbean Central Bank or CCB (a cooperative of central banks), to serve as a regional/super-national entity to shepherd the economic, security and governing engines of the 30 Caribbean member-states. Being technocratic includes studying and applying best-practices, while avoiding fallacies in government oversight. This mission was pronounced in the Go Lean book with this quotation (Page 45):
Fortify the stability of our mediums of exchange, by facilitating our monetary needs through a Currency Union, the Caribbean Dollar (C$), and establishing a Caribbean Central Bank.
There are economic challenges facing the Caribbean, including within the banking community. There is the need for some comprehensive solutions for all of the 30 member-states in the Caribbean. Many of the countries are independent states (16); the remainder are overseas territories of major powers: 6 British, 3 Dutch/Netherlands, 3 French and the 2 American: US Virgin Islands (USVI) and Puerto Rico (PR).
According to the Go Lean book (Page 150), many non-American Caribbean territories – British overseas Territory of the Turks & Caicos Islands, plus the Dutch territories of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, Saba – use the US dollar as their primary currency.
The historicity of central banking in Puerto Rico helps us to understand how the concepts of fiat currencies can be structured to elevate the regional economy. See the encyclopedic reference here regarding this subject:
Title: Puerto Rico and Central Banking Central Banking was established in Puerto Rico during its Spanish colonial days. The island began producing banknotes in 1766, becoming the first colony in the Spanish Empire to print 8-real banknotes with the Spanish government’s approval. After the dissolution of Spain’s New World Empire with the independence of the mainland countries (Mexico, Central and South America, etc), the colonial government in Puerto Rico ordered the issue of provincial banknotes, creating the Puerto Rican peso. However, printing of these banknotes ceased after 1815. During the following decades, foreign coins became the widespread currency. In the 1860s and 1870s, banknotes re-emerged. On February 1, 1890, the Spanish Bank of Puerto Rico (Banco Español de Puerto Rico) was inaugurated and began issuing banknotes, followed 5 year later with peso coins.
On August 13, 1898, the Spanish–American War ended with Spain ceding Puerto Rico to the United States. The Banco Español de Puerto Rico was renamed Bank of Porto Rico and issued bills equivalent to the United States dollar, creating the Puerto Rican dollar. In 1902, the First National Bank of Porto Rico issued banknotes in a parallel manner. Two more series were issued until 1913. After Puerto Rico’s economy and monetary system was fully integrated into the United States’ economic and monetary system, the Puerto Rican dollars were redeemed for those issued by the United States Treasury.
Today, Central Banking in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is expressed through 2 governmental entities, one local and one at the US Federal level. The local entity is the Government Development Bank (GDB) of Puerto Rico. The GDB, established in 1942, is the government bond issuer, intragovernmental bank, fiscal agent, and financial advisor of the government of Puerto Rico.[1][2] The bank, along with its subsidiaries and affiliates, serves as the principal entity through which Puerto Rico channels its issuance of bonds. As an overview from Wikipedia.com, the different executive agencies of the government of Puerto Rico and its government-owned corporations either issue bonds with the bank as a proxy, or owe debt to the bank itself (as the bank is a government-owned corporation as well).
On the US federal basis, Puerto Rico is part of the Second District, Federal Reserve Bank of New York (popularly known as the New York Fed), in its representation before the US Federal Reserve System.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. It is located at 33 Liberty Street, New York, NY. It is responsible for the Second District of the Federal Reserve System, which encompasses New York State, the 12 northern counties of New Jersey, Fairfield County in Connecticut, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Working within the Federal Reserve System, the New York Federal Reserve Bank implements monetary policy, supervises and regulates financial institutions[1] and helps maintain the nation’s payment systems.[2] See Appendix below for more details on the “New York Fed”. Source: Retrieved July 10, 2016 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currencies_of_Puerto_Rico
Puerto Rico is indicative of the dysfunction in the Caribbean region – this Commonwealth is in crisis – despite almost 4 million people on the island, monetary decisions are made in New York City. The Go Lean movement (book and blogs) has consistently maintained that Caribbean problems need Caribbean solutions. The monetary policies for Puerto Rico are being made by the same stakeholders making monetary decisions for the United States. The New York Fed handles 65% of the total Federal Reserve Fedwire transactions; neither PR nor USVI register high on their priorities.
As previously related, the US Territories may have a voice in Washington, but they have no vote. Considering the downward spiral of PR’s economy in recent years, they should not look to others for their long-term solutions. It is a fallacy to think that Caribbean people will be prioritized by foreign masters, thousands of miles away.
Caribbean people – all 30 member-states – need to come to our own aid. The Go Lean book quotes the lyrics from this song:
If there is a load you have to bear
That you can’t carry
I’m right up the road
I’ll share your load
If you just call me
—- Song: Lean On Me; Songwriters: Bill Withers
With the Go Lean roadmap, change will come to the island of Puerto Rico and all the Caribbean. The changes will include a single currency for a Caribbean Single Market, the Caribbean Dollar (C$). There are economic benefits galore. One such benefit is the money multiplier; the Go Lean book (Page 22) defines it as:
In monetary macroeconomics and banking, the money multiplier measures how much the money supply increases in response to a change in the monetary base…. there is a multiplier associated with the currency in the money supply. Therefore it goes without saying that if the Caribbean member-states trade in US dollars, then the multiplier effect is extended to the United States of America. By contrast, if the Caribbean member-states trade in Euros, then the multiplier effect goes to the stakeholders of the European Central Bank – no Caribbean state. Therefore the communities of the Caribbean must embrace, as an ethos, its own currency, the Caribbean Dollar (managed by a technocratic Caribbean Central Bank), thereby bringing local benefits from local multipliers.
Desisting from economic fallacies, there is a dose of reality in the Go Lean roadmap: the US will not allow its territories to wean off the US dollar as the currency base. But there is no controversy if the Caribbean dollar is an electronic currency for PR and USVI.
This is the plan!
The CCB, a cooperative of the existing central banks, will consolidate all reserves for the member central banks. The reserves will be a basket of currencies from the world’s most impactful currencies. Yes, that includes the US, but other currencies too. The roadmap calls for the following basket currencies to constitute Caribbean reserves:
US dollar
British pounds
Euros
Japanese Yen or Chinese Yuans
There is the opportunity for the C$ deployed by the CCB to be an all electronic card/payment system; see photo here. Just like in the foregoing casino scenario, there is only the need to deliver the reserve currency, at cash-out time when an individual or company has to remit the funds in any basket currency outside the Caribbean region.
An all-electronic card would mean local transactions conducted electronically. With the onset of credit cards, debit cards and payment cards in the region as the preferred payment method, this scheme becomes more viable. Electronic settlements also allow for the easy calculation and collection of State Sale Taxes and VAT. Other benefits include:
Free Foreign Exchange to convert back to basket currencies – then cardholders will be more inclined to leave stored value balance on the card.
Free Foreign North-South Remittances: Free for these basket currencies transactions, so as to accumulate balances in the CCB “our” account.
Since casino operations can transact in any fiat currency, the Go Lean roadmap calls for modeling casinos and launching the C$ as a fiat, accounting-value-only currency at first and then eventually to graduate to banknotes and coins. This is the exact model of the Euro currency during its launch. The EU/Euro case study provide lessons – foreign currency, inflation, sovereign defaults – that must be applied in the technocratic administration of the CU/CCB/C$. Since the Go Lean roadmap calls for the CCB to be a cooperative entity of the existing central banks in the region, this will foster interdependence among the Caribbean neighboring member-states. This need for regional stewardship of Caribbean currencies was pronounced early in the book, in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 13) with these statements:
xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.
xxv. Whereas the legacy of international democracies had been imperiled due to a global financial crisis, the structure of the Federation must allow for financial stability and assurance of the Federation’s institutions. To mandate the economic vibrancy of the region, monetary and fiscal controls and policies must be incorporated as proactive and reactive measures. These measures must address threats against the financial integrity of the Federation and member-states.
The planners of this new Caribbean monetary regime has documented hard-learned lessons on the issue of currency in the Caribbean region and elsewhere; (many CU member-states endured painful currency fluctuations over the past decades – on more than one occasion). So we accept that any attempt to reboot the Caribbean economic landscape must first start with a strenuous oversight of the proposed regional C$ currency.
The Go Lean book, and previous blog/commentaries, stressed the key community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies necessary to establish a strong Caribbean financial eco-systems and a strong currency. These points are detailed in the book; see this sample from the book as follows:
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices
Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Voluntary Trade Creates Wealth
Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future
Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Money Multiplier
Page 22
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations
Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Return on Investments
Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future – Count on the Greedy to be Greedy
Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good
Page 37
Strategy – Mission – Fortify the Stability of the Securities Markets
Page 45
Strategy – Provide Proper Oversight and Support for the Depository Institutions
Page 46
Strategy – e-Payments and Card-based Transactions
Page 49
Tactical – Growing the Economy – Minimizing Bubbles
The quest of the Go Lean roadmap is to elevate Caribbean society and economic engines from the dysfunctional past. Reliance on the US dollar is a fallacy if we want to grow our economy; transacting in their currency will only expand their economy. We want to be a protégé of the technocratic New York Fed (see the Appendix) – for efficient monetary management – not a parasite! We want to master the process of currency management … and maximize our money supply and available credit. This is heavy-lifting, but “Yes, we can!” We can conceive, believe and achieve workable solutions.
This is the end of the series on Economic Fallacies; this case study of casino currencies is only the latest submission. There have been so many lessons to glean wisdom from in the previous submissions: independence hype, austerity, student loans, minimum wage, centers of economic activities. Let’s pay more than the usual attention to debunking these fallacies in this study of “Advanced Economics”.
All the stakeholders in the Caribbean – people, governments and institutions – are urged to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap for the CU, CCB and the C$. The roadmap serves as turn-by-turn directions to move the region to its new destination: a better homeland to live, work and play. 🙂
Since the founding of the Federal Reserve banking system [in 1913], the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in Manhattan’s Financial District has been the place where monetary policy in the United States is implemented, although policy is decided in Washington, D.C. by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. The New York Fed is the largest in terms of assets of the twelve regional banks. Operating in the financial capital of the U.S., the New York Fed is responsible for conducting open market operations, the buying and selling of outstanding U.S. Treasury securities.
The Trading Desk is the office at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York that manages the FOMC Directive to sell or buy bonds.[6] Note that the responsibility for issuing new U.S. Treasury securities lies with the Bureau of the Public Debt. In 2003, Fedwire, the Federal Reserve’s system for transferring balances between it and other banks, transferred $1.8 trillion a day in funds, of which about $1.1 trillion originated in the Second District. It transferred an additional $1.3 trillion a day in securities, of which $1.2 trillion originated in the Second District. The New York Fed is also responsible for carrying out exchange rate policy by buying and selling dollars at the discretion of the United States Treasury Department. The New York Federal Reserve is the only regional bank with a permanent vote on the Federal Open Market Committee and its president is traditionally selected as the Committee’s vice chairman.
Written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson, and produced by Quincy Jones, the song was a fundraiser for the relief group USA for Africa.
This super-group United Support of Artists (USA) for Africa played on the brand “USA”, but truthfully, they could have called themselves United States of America, as all the participants – see Appendix below – were Americans … except for the Irish vocalist-producer Bob Geldof in the chorus, plus percussionist Phil Collins (England) and percussionist Paulinho da Costa (Brazil).
All of these commentaries relate to “how” the Caribbean can finally get started with adapting the organizational structures to optimize the region’s societal engines. The Caribbean is in North America and the US is the Big Dog of the region. So any consideration for leading from the Top must partner with American stakeholders. Though these considerations only apply to the 2 US territories, there are lessons for all the Caribbean, as we can glean wisdom and insight on how a roadmap can reform and transform the Caribbean member-states so that they can be better places to live, work and play.
