History – Page 22 – Go Lean…Caribbean

Tag: History

Philadelphia Freedom – Some Restrictions Apply

Posted on August 8, 2014 in Ethos, Locations

Go Lean Commentary

“You have to know your place”

… this was a familiar edict in the US for minority populations. These were more than words; this was indicative of the repression, suppression and oppression of living in the US, and not being White, English-speaking, Protestant, Straight, Male and/or able-bodied.

Anyone with exception to this above list had to endure restrictions.

Philadelphia proved different!

This city became synonymous with a love for freedom and had an infectious impact on the country, and the rest of the world for that matter.

All in all, there is a certain community ethos associated with Philadelphia that aligns with the book Go Lean…Caribbean. It is a focus on the future, a deferred gratification as investment for future returns. These attributes have been promoted by the Go Lean movement as necessary traits to forge change in the Caribbean region. We need our own Caribbean flavor of Philadelphia Freedom.

“Philadelphia Freedom” is a song released by “The Elton John Band” as a single in 1975. The song was one of Elton John’s seven #1 US hits during the early and mid-1970s, which saw his recordings dominating the charts. In Canada, it was his eighth single to hit the top of the RPM (Records, Promotion, Music Magazine) national singles chart.

The song was written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin as a favour to John’s friend, tennis star Billie Jean King. King was part of the Philadelphia Freedoms professional tennis team. The song features an orchestral arrangement by Gene Page, including flutes, horns, and strings.

Background
Recorded in the summer of 1974, during breaks between sessions for Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (Elton John’s ninth studio album), the song was at the time the only song Elton John and Bernie Taupin ever consciously wrote as a single, as John told journalist Paul Gambaccini [in a subsequent interview]. John was looking to honour Billie Jean King, and so asked Taupin to write a song called “Philadelphia Freedom” as a homage to her tennis team.

In [the book] His Song: The Musical History of Elton John, [writer] Elizabeth Rosenthal recounts that Taupin said, “I can’t write a song about tennis,” and did not. Taupin maintains that the lyrics bear no relation to tennis, Philly Soul (a style of soul music characterized by funk influences), or even flag-waving patriotism. Nonetheless, the lyrics have been interpreted as patriotic and uplifting, and even though released in 1975, the song’s sentiment, intended or not, meshed perfectly with an American music audience gearing up for the country’s bicentennial celebration in July 1976. In the US, the song was certified Gold in 1975 and Platinum in 1995 by the Recording Industry Association of America.

The song was dedicated in part to the Philadelphia sound: the music of the Delfonics, producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff; and The Spinners, producer Thom Bell, with whom John would work two years later on The Thom Bell Sessions. This song plays in Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute IMAX Theater before every show as a tribute to the city’s love for freedom and its impact on the country. The lyrics are also printed on the walls of the Hard Rock Cafe in Philadelphia.

Song Lyrics
I used to be a rolling stone
You know if the cause was right
I’d leave to find the answer on the road
I used to be a heart beating for someone
But the times have changed
The less I say the more my work gets done

`Cause I live and breathe this Philadelphia freedom
From the day that I was born I’ve waved the flag
Philadelphia freedom took me knee-high to a man
Yeah gave me peace of mind my daddy never had

Oh Philadelphia freedom shine on me, I love you
Shine a light through the eyes of the ones left behind
Shine a light shine a light
Shine a light won’t you shine a light
Philadelphia freedom I love you, yes I do

If you choose to you can live your life alone
Some people choose the city
Some others choose the good old family home
I like living easy without family ties
Till the whippoorwill of freedom zapped me
Right between the eyes

Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia Reference Source (Retrieved 08-07-2014) – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Freedom_(song)

“Knowing your place” was never accepted by citizens of this Philadelphia. This revolutionary attitude or ethos dates back to before Colonial America, the Revolution War, 1776 and beyond ^[a]:

Religious Tolerance – King Charles II of England granted William Penn a charter for the Pennsylvania colony. As a member of the religious sect the Quakers, Penn had experienced religious persecution and wanted his colony to be a place where anyone could worship freely. This tolerance, far more than by most other colonies, led to better relations with the local Native American tribes and fostered Philadelphia’s rapid growth into colonial America’s most important city.
American Revolution – Philadelphia’s importance and central location in the colonies made it a natural center for America’s revolutionaries. The city hosted the First Continental Congress before the war; the Second Continental Congress, which signed the United States Declaration of Independence, during the war; and the Constitutional Convention (1787) after the war.
Abolition – Philadelphia was called the “Quaker City” and was recognized as an anti-slavery stronghold. This is where noted runaway-slave-turned-Abolitionist Frederick Douglas sought refuge on his way to New York and later gave one of his most famous speeches: “Speech at National Hall, Philadelphia July 6, 1863 for the Promotion of Colored Enlistments”. Another advocate was Thaddeus Stevens. He hailed from Adams County, a rural suburb of Philadelphia, as one of the leaders of the radical faction of the Republican Party during the 1860s. He was a fierce opponent of slavery and discrimination against African-Americans. As chairman of the House “Ways and Means” Committee during the Civil War, he played a major part in the war’s financing. He sought to secure emancipated slave’s rights during Reconstruction, even in opposition to the contrarian President, Andrew Johnson.
Civil Rights – Philadelphia emerged as a prime destination for African Americans during the Great Migration and the city surpassed two million occupants by 1950. This set the stage for the impending civil rights movement. One battle saw black activists in Philadelphia (and Harlem, New York) successfully integrating state construction projects in 1963. The city was also front-and-center to race riots in the summer of 1964.
Women’s Rights – Some of the early Abolitionists were interested in human rights not just for Blacks but for women as well. The Philadelphia-area Quakers, were known for their early leadership for women’s rights. One prominent example was Lucretia Coffin Mott (1793 – 1880), as a Quaker, she proved to be an effective leader, orator and advocate for women’s rights, abolition and social reform.
Gay Rights – The Elton John song Philadelphia Freedom was dedicated to tennis star Billie Jean King, noted gay rights activist, social reformer and advocate for sexual equality. The song, see VIDEO above, is recognized as a anthem for the gay (LGBT) community.
Animal Rights (Zoo) – Philadelphia is home to the United States’ first zoo, chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on March 21, 1859, though its opening was delayed by the Civil War until July 1, 1874. The environmental and animal rights movement all stemmed from these origins.
Repatriation – After 400 years of development and progress, ebb-and-flow, Philadelphia must constantly redefine itself. Faced with “white flight” and the abandonment of its tax base, the City had to strategize a repatriation plan – gentrification (a shift toward wealthier residents/businesses and increasing property values in the urban community). Gentrification of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods has emerged into the 21st century and the city has now reversed its decades-long trend of population loss.

The revolutionaries of Philadelphia (past and present) have strived for the same goal as this Caribbean empowerment movement:

Elevation of society.

The book Go Lean … Caribbean strives to accomplish this revolution with the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). In fact, the prime directives of the CU are pronounced in these declarative statements:

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

The Go Lean book, serving as a roadmap, initiates with a “Prologue” that identifies many community ethos that must be embraced for a chance of success and permanent change. It should be noted that until recently, Philadelphia was considered on the brink of failure, much like Detroit. But like many revolutionaries, it is only “at the precipice” that they show their true mettle, their revolutionary spirit.

The Go Lean book accepts this premise, that only at a crisis that people act forthrightly to correct institutional wrongs. For this reason the book declares that a ‘crisis is a terrible thing to waste’. Already, this commentary has assessed the Caribbean failing eco-systems and conveyed the merits of this Go Lean movement, with these posts:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1596	Book Review: ‘Prosper Where You Are Planted’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1014	All is not well in the sunny Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=623	Only at the precipice, do they change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=599	Ailing Caribbean island open to radical economic fixes
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273	10 Things We Want from the US and 10 Things We Don’t Want from the US

In the roadmap for the CU, in order to change the Caribbean, the relativity of freedom is prominent in planning and considerations. This point is detailed in the Declaration of Interdependence at the outset of the book, modeling the US movement in Philadelphia in 1776 and pronouncing this need for a sober view of freedom (Page 10):

Therefore we hereby accept a model democracy for our guide. To that end, we recognize and esteem the same initiation as did the United States of America with this declaration that we ourselves cherish, revere and concur:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness

The Go Lean roadmap accepts that change has come to the Caribbean. There is the need for a Philadelphia-style revolution. There is also the need for technocratic facilitations to deliver the functionalities of this federal administration. The book posits that this burden is too big for any one Caribbean member-state, and thus the collaboration efforts of the CU is necessary, as the strategy is to confederate all the 30 member-states of the Caribbean into an integrated “single market”, into a United States of the Caribbean.

The tactical approach for the Go Lean roadmap is a Separation-of-Powers mandate between the CU federal government versus the Caribbean member-states. This model is perfected by the City of Philadelphia with the only consolidated city-county charter ^[b] in the State of Pennsylvania, sharing and dividing a lot of municipal services in the social contract fulfillment.

Change happens! The old adage is that “there is only one constant, change”. Change comes about either evolutionary or revolutionary. Philadelphia is associated, from history and today, with revolutionary change. For the Caribbean we need some revolutionary change. The following list details the community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to foster the Philadelphia-style Caribbean revolution:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – “Crap” Happens	Page 23
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Negotiations	Page 32
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Caribbean Vision – Confederate 30 Member-States	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Repatriate Caribbean Diaspora	Page 46
Strategy – Agents of Change	Page 57
Tactical – Growing the Caribbean Economy to $800 Billion	Page 67
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Federal Departments versus Member-States	Page 71
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate	Page 118
Implementation – Ways to Promote Independence	Page 120
Anatomy of Advocacies – Role Model Frederick Douglas	Page 122
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Lessons Learned from a Thriving City – New York	Page 137
Planning – Lessons Learned from a Failed City – Detroit	Page 140
Planning – Lessons Learned from the US Constitution	Page 145
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living	Page 234

The Go Lean roadmap has a simple motive, to facilitate revolutionary change in the Caribbean, with the end result being a better place to live, work and play. We can glean a powerful lesson from the historicity of Philadelphia in that freedom is not free. The stakeholders of society may prefer that advocates “know their place”, accept restrictions. While freedom may be dependent on others’ cooperation, their acquiescence may take a struggle, a revolution.

Elton John’s song conveys a great inspiration for the Caribbean: Philadelphia freedom shine on me … shine a light through the eyes of the ones left behind!

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

————

Appendices – Cited References:

a. Wikipedia keywords: William Penn, Philadelphia, Frederick Douglass, Thaddeus Stevens, Civil Rights Movement, Lucretia Coffin Mott, Billie Jean King, and Philadelphia Zoo.

b. a City-County Charter is simultaneously a city, a municipal corporation, and a county, an administrative division of the State. It has the powers and responsibilities of both types of entities.

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Civil Rights, History, Model, Power

The Crisis in Black Homeownership

Posted on August 5, 2014 in Economics, Social

Go Lean Commentary:

The United States of America has been the best economic manifestation in the history of mankind, (as declared in the book Go Lean…Caribbean Page 67), yet the experience has not been the same for all of its citizens. This definitely applies to the “black and brown” populations. The Caribbean Diaspora fits this classification and their experience fits 100% to the events related in the below news article.

The US is the “land of the free and the home of the brave”, but some restrictions apply. This reality is not new, as racial disparities have long existed in the history of America. But after a major social revolution in the 1960’s, positive change came to American minorities, following by decades of progress.

Then 2008 happened …

That year saw the crisis of the Great Recession where American society lost $11 Trillion in net worth; then later regained $13.5 Trillion; (Go Lean book Page 69). According to the foregoing article, the Great Recession losses were not evenly distributed; nor was the subsequent recovery – those who lost the net worth (Middle Class) were not the ones who recovered (One Percent).

How the recession turned owners into renters and obliterated Black American wealth.

By: Jamelle Bouie

In 2005, three years before the Great Recession, the median black household had a net worth of $12,124. Yes, this was far behind the median white household—which had a net worth of $134,992—but it was a huge improvement from previous decades, in which housing discrimination made wealth accumulation difficult (if not impossible) for the large majority of African-American families.

By the official end of the recession in 2009, median household net worth for blacks had fallen to $5,677—a generation’s worth of hard work and progress wiped out. (The number for whites, by comparison, was $113,149.) Overall, from 2007 to 2010, wealth for blacks declined by an average of 31 percent, home equity by an average of 28 percent, and retirement savings by an average of 35 percent. By contrast, whites lost 11 percent in wealth, lost 24 percent in home equity, and gained 9 percent in retirement savings. According to a 2013 report^[a] by researchers at BrandeisUniversity, “half the collective wealth of African-American families was stripped away during the Great Recession.”

It was a startling retrenchment, creating the largest wealth, income, and employment gaps since the 1990s. And, if a new study^[b] from researchers at CornellUniversity and RiceUniversity is any indication, these gaps are deep, persistent, and difficult to eradicate.

In the study, called “Emerging Forms of Racial Inequality in Homeownership Exit, 1968–2009,” sociologist Gregory Sharp and demographer Matthew Hall examine the relationship between race and risk in homeownership. Simply put, African-Americans are much more likely than whites to switch from owning homes to renting them.

“The 1968 passage of the Fair Housing Act outlawed housing market discrimination based on race,” explained Sharp in a press release. “African-American homeowners who purchased their homes in the late 1960s or 1970s were no more or less likely to become renters than were white owners. However, emerging racial disparities over the next three decades resulted in black owners who bought their homes in the 2000s being 50 percent more likely to lose their homeowner status than similar white owners.”

This wasn’t a matter of personal irresponsibility. Even after adjusting for socio-economic characteristics, debt loads, education, and life-cycle traits like divorce or job loss, blacks were more likely to lose their homes than whites.

If you’re familiar with American history and housing policy, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. The explicit housing discrimination of the mid-20^th century has left a mark—arguably a scar—on the landscape of American homeownership. The combination of red-lining, block-busting, racial covenants, and other discriminatory measures means that, even now, a majority of blacks live in neighborhoods with relatively poor access to capital and mortgage loans. What’s more, this systematic discrimination has left many black households unable to afford down payments or other housing costs, even if loans are available.

And in the event that black households are able to save and afford a home, they aren’t as financially secure as their white counterparts. To wit, middle-class African-Americans are more likely to belong to the lower middle class of civil servants and government workers—professions that, in the last five years, have been slashed as a consequence of mass public-sector downsizing^[c]. All else being equal, a black schoolteacher who loses her job to budget cuts is less likely to have savings—and thus a safety net—than her white counterpart.

But this isn’t just a story of legacies and effects. In addition to showing the consequences of past discrimination, Sharp and Hall argue that African-Americans have been victimized by a new system of market exploitation. Banks like Wells Fargo steered^[d] blacks and other minorities into the worst subprime loans, giving them less favorable terms than whites and foreclosing on countless homes. In a 2012 lawsuit^[e], the ACLU and National Consumer Law Center alleged that the now-defunct New Century Financial, working with Morgan Stanley, pushed thousands of black borrowers into the riskiest loans, leaving many in financial ruin. As early as 2005, the Wall Street Journal reported^[f] that blacks were twice as likely to receive subprime loans. And in a New York University study published last year^[g], researchers found that black and Hispanic families making more than $200,000 a year were more likely to receive subprime loans than white families making less than $30,000.

Together, all of this means that—according to Sharp and Hall—African-Americans are 45 percent more likely than whites to lose their homes. That means they’re more likely to lose their accumulated wealth and to slide down the income ladder, and less likely to pass the advantages of status and mobility to their children.

Apropos of that observation, recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics^[h] shows an incredible level of youth unemployment for blacks and Latinos. More than 21 percent of African-Americans aged 16 to 24 are out of work, compared with a national average of 14.2 percent. For black teenagers in particular, joblessness soars to nearly 40 percent. It’s a catastrophe with serious economic consequences. The Center for American Progress estimates^[i] that the young adults who experienced long-term unemployment during the worst of the recession will lose more than $20 billion in earnings over the next 10 years. And given the slow recovery, odds are good they’ll never recover those lost earnings.

It’s tempting to treat these as subsets of broader problems: poor assistance to homeowners and too much austerity. But they’re not. Even during the boom economy of the 1990s, black employment lagged behind the national average. And the racial wealth gap is a persistent fact of American life.

Likewise, the challenges of black homeownership are a function of discriminatory housing policy^[j], as are a whole host of other problems, from mass incarceration and overly punitive policing to poor air quality^[k] and food access. These challenges are heavily location-dependent, which is another way to say they are heavily racialized and most prevalent in the segregated, working-class or low-income communities that characterize life for most African-Americans^[l], even those with middle-class incomes.

For reasons both political and ideological, it’s nearly verboten in mainstream conversation to argue that racialized problems require race-conscious solutions. Knowing what we know about the demographics of foreclosures, for example, we should ensure any program to help underwater homeowners includes a specific measure to assist black victims of predatory lending, who may need additional help to get on sure footing.

For more than anyone else, this is a message for liberals and progressives, who—for all of their racial sensitivity—are still reluctant to tackle the economic dimensions of racism, even as they represent the vast majority of nonwhite voters and draw critical support from African-American constituencies. It’s how Elizabeth Warren could give “11 Commandments for Progressives” ^[m] —and receive huge applause—without mentioning the deep problems of racial inequality. One of her commandments is “that no one should work full-time and still live in poverty, and that means raising the minimum wage.” But solving this problem for African-Americans and Latinos—who tend to live in areas that are segregated from job opportunities—is very different than solving it for whites.

While conservatives and Republicans can play a role here, it’s Democrats who are committed to reducing income inequality and bringing balance to our lopsided economic system. Success on those fronts requires a return to race-conscious policymaking, from programs to increase the geographic mobility of low-income workers—relocation grants for individuals or transportation grants for communities with a spatial mismatch between jobs and housing—to public works programs aimed at low-income minority communities, to race-based affirmative action as a way to boost a flagging black middle class.

There’s little in American life that escapes the still-powerful pull of past and present racism, and effective policymaking—to say nothing of effective problem-solving—requires a response to that racism. Otherwise, we entrench the same disparities for a new generation.

——–

Jamelle Bouie is a Slate staff writer covering politics, policy, and race.
The Slate – Daily Magazine for the Web – Posted 07-24-2014; retrieved 08-04-2014
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/07/black_homeownership_how_the_recession_turned_owners_into_renters_and_obliterated.html

The points of this foregoing article aligns with the Go Lean book and the collection of blogs/commentaries. The book posits that the crisis persists for the Caribbean and their Diaspora in North America and Europe. What’s more, this movement asserts that this crisis, any crisis, is a terrible thing to waste.

The Caribbean Diaspora have fled their Caribbean homelands over past decades in search of better economic opportunities. It is now the conclusion that many of these “lands of refuge” are rigged in favor of certain ethnic groups; those groups do not include the “black and brown” of the Caribbean. This commentary has relayed, repeatedly, that this Caribbean-bred demographic can do better at home … in the Caribbean. The following are related previous posts:

Unfortunately for the Caribbean, this societal abandonment has continued. Analysis by the Inter-American Development Bank asserts that the Caribbean continues to endure a brain drain of 70% among the college educated population; (https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1433).

This blog entry depicted how the Caribbean Diaspora that fled to Great Britain has not fared well; (https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1683)

In addition to economics, there is the concern for security and justice. This blog entry (https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=546) related the dual standards of justice in the US, where all men are treated as equals (wink-wink), just some are more equal than others.

Yes, as the old adage relates: “the grass is not greener on the other side”. See this VIDEO here (Part 1 of 2):

(Click on first continuation video for Part 2 of 2 or click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOS3BBmUxvs)

The assertion of the book Go Lean…Caribbean is that once the proposed empowerments are put in place, the Caribbean Diaspora should consider repatriating to their ancestral homelands.

Social Scientists maintain that when animals/mammals are confronted with threats, they have to choose between (stand and) fight or flight. For 50 years, the Caribbean citizens have defaulted to flight. Change has now come to the Caribbean. The book Go Lean…Caribbean serving as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), hereby presents “stand and fight” options. This roadmap will spearhead the elevation of Caribbean society. The prime directives of the CU are presented as the following 3 statements:

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

The book posits that the improved conditions projected over the 5 years of the roadmap will neutralize the impetus for Caribbean citizens to flee, identified as “push and pull” factors. This point is stressed early in the book (Page 13) in the following pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence:

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.

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

This foregoing article highlights the new realities ushered into the world as a result of the events of the Year 2008. The Go Lean book focuses heavy on this subject, even identifying this as a motivation in the same Declaration of Interdependence early in the book (Page 13):

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.

The Go Lean roadmap proposes a community ethos in which economic principles are recognized as playing a crucial role in the chain-of-events that led to fight-or-flight decisions for Caribbean Diaspora. (These principles were always the reality, just not professionally managed as such). These principles are identified and qualified (Page 21) as follows:

1. People Choose
2. All Choices Involve Costs
3. People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways
4. Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices and Incentives
5. Voluntary Trade Creates Wealth
6. The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future

These principles cannot be glossed over or handled lightly; this is why the Go Lean book contains 370 pages of finite details for managing economic change in the region. In addition to the assessments of the region’s standings, the book contains the following sample of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to impact the Caribbean homeland:

Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Strategy – Competition – Remain Home –vs- Emigrate	Page 49
Strategy – Agents of Change – Aging Diaspora	Page 57
Tactical – Growing the Caribbean Economy to $800 Billion	Page 67
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Versus Member-States Governments	Page 71
Implementation – Year 1 / Assemble Phase	Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Better Manage Debt	Page 114
Implementation – Trade Mission Objectives	Page 116
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate	Page 118
Anecdote – Experiences of a Repatriated Resident	Page 126
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region	Page 127
Planning – Lessons Learned from 2008	Page 136
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Credit Ratings	Page 155
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Housing	Page 161
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Wall Street	Page 200
Anecdote – Experiences of Diaspora Member Living Abroad	Page 216
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Diaspora	Page 217
Advocacy – Ways to Help the Middle Class	Page 223
Appendix – Caribbean Emigration Statistics	Page 269
Appendix – Credit Ratings Agencies Role in 2008	Page 276

The Go Lean roadmap has simple motives: fix the problems in the homeland to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. We want to keep Caribbean citizens in the Caribbean. There should be no need to go abroad and try to foster an existence in a foreign land. There is heavy-lifting wherever a person resides. Let’s do the “lifting” here, where at least we are at home and we are treated equitably.

Too many people left, yet have too little to show for it. Now is the time for all of the Diaspora (those in the US, and other countries) to lean-in for the empowerments described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. We understand your pain, we have been impacted too. (The publishers of the book were entrenched in the Wall Street culture in 2008). This Big Idea now is to use the same energy and innovation to create solutions for Main Street – but not Main Street USA, rather Main Street Caribbean.

This is a dramatic change for the Caribbean, one that is overdue, an invitation to build an elevated society in the Caribbean that many had fled to find elsewhere, yet failed. We can make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. We can succeed here.

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Appendices:

a. Retrieved from https://www.evernote.com/shard/s4/sh/2f378f98-d21b-4f5b-89d4-c3a47419b0ad/479f14e61917697b135246e01d20f85f

b. Retrieved from http://news.rice.edu/2014/07/22/african-american-homeownership-increasingly-less-stable-and-more-risky-2/

c. Retrieved from http://www.epi.org/publication/public-sector-job-losses-unprecedented-drag/

d. Retrieved from http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-07-12/news/bs-md-ci-wells-fargo-20120712_1_mike-heid-wells-fargo-home-mortgage-subprime-mortgages

e. Retrieved from http://www.citylab.com/housing/2012/10/did-big-banks-subprime-mortgage-crisis-violate-civil-rights-law/3598/

f. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB111318092881303093

g. Retrieved from http://www.citylab.com/housing/2013/08/blacks-really-were-targeted-bogus-loans-during-housing-boom/6559/

h. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/07/21/329864863/the-youth-unemployment-crisis-hits-african-americans-hardest

i. Retrieved from http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/labor/report/2013/04/05/59428/the-high-cost-of-youth-unemployment/

j. Retrieved from http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/13/how-we-built-the-ghettos.html

k. Retrieved from http://grist.org/climate-energy/before-repairing-the-climate-well-have-to-repair-the-impacts-of-racism/

l. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/04/desean_jackson_richard_sherman_and_ black_american_economic_mobility_why.html

m. Retrieved from http://www.vox.com/2014/7/21/5918063/elizabeth-warrens-11-commandments-for-progressives-show-democrats

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2008, Banks, Civil Rights, Crony-Capitalism, History, Housing, Power

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Status of Forces Agreement = Security Pact

Posted on June 30, 2014 in Government, Planning

Go Lean Commentary

The following is typical of the kind of news headlines in the last few weeks:

Crisis In Iraq Escalates As Militants Seize Major Cities

Iraq again! Didn’t we just go through this in the last decade? Did we not settle this a few years ago, and now we’re here again? Deja Vu all over again. Not a repeat of the Iraqi drama, but rather a repeat of modern history in total. In a recent blog submission, the commentary (https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1531) cited the lessons learned from World War I; or better stated, the lack of learned-lessons, as the result was World War II. An actual news article on Iraq that parallels this lesson, is excerpted as follows:

By: Olivia Marshall

Media [outlets] have claimed that the current violence in Iraq is the result of the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq and President Obama’s willful failure to secure a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. In reality, Iraq refused the terms of a SOFA with the U.S. despite Obama’s efforts to maintain a military presence there.

Time Magazine: Iraq’s Second Largest City Falls To Militants – Time reported on June 10 that Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, fell to the Sunni militant group Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS):

The fall of Iraq’s second largest city to Islamist extremists Tuesday sends an alarming message about the deterioration of a country where the U.S. spent eight years, 4,500 lives and $1.7 trillion. Mosul, a city of 1.8 million located in the far north of the country, long cultivated a reputation as a military town. But Iraqi soldiers threw down their guns and stripped off their uniforms as the insurgents approached on Tuesday, according to officials stunned by the collapse of its defenses.
Media Matters (Posted June 16, 2014; retrieved 06/29/2014) –
http://mediamatters.org/research/2014/06/16/right-wing-media-ignore-iraqi-resistance-to-sta/199742

The overriding theme of the foregoing news article is the Status of Forces Agreement^[a]. Under international law, in order for a military presence to not be viewed as an occupation or ‘act of war”, there must be a SOFA of mutual consent between both the host and occupying powers. This lack of a SOFA is why the US is drawn back into Iraq.

This American experience is relevant for the Caribbean to consider; not only for the fact that two Caribbean member-states, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, had committed human capital to that Iraq War effort, and have thusly sacrificed “blood, sweat and tears” there, but also because there is a parallel need for a SOFA in the Caribbean region.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean posits that the region must prepare its own security apparatus for its own security needs. So the request is that all Caribbean member-states welcome a visiting security force to execute a limited scope on their sovereign territories. That visiting force: themselves!

Yes, the goal is to confederate under a unified entity made up of the Caribbean to provide homeland security to the Caribbean. But Homeland Security for the Caribbean has a different meaning than for our American counterparts. Though we must be on defense against military intrusions like terrorism & piracy, we mostly have to contend with threats that may imperil the region’s economic engines, like tourism. This includes natural and man-made concerns like hurricanes, earthquakes, oil/chemical spills, pandemic, enterprise corruption and narco-terrorism. The CU security goal is for public safety! This goal is detailed in the book as it serves as a roadmap for the introduction of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). So while the CU is set to optimize Caribbean society through economic empowerment, the truth of the matter is that the security dynamics of the region are inextricably linked to this same endeavor. Therefore the Go Lean roadmap has 3 prime directives:

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

The book contends that bad actors will emerge just as a result of economic successes in the region. This point is pronounced early in the book with the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12) that claims:

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

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

The Caribbean appointing “new guards”, or a security pact to ensure public safety is not so new an endeavor. There are prior instances of this type of engagement in the region. There is currently a security pact; shared by 5 Eastern Caribbean member-states that was first consummated in 1982 – this was discussed in full depth in a previous commentary regarding the Regional Security System (https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1076). The Go Lean roadmap however calls for a permanent professional force with naval and ground (Marine) forces, plus an Intelligence agency. This security pact would be sanctioned by all 30 CU member-states, not just the current 5; (there is even a plan for the eventual inclusion of Cuba). The CU Trade Federation will lead, fund and facilitate the security force, encapsulating (full-time or part-time) all the existing armed forces in the region. This CU Homeland Security Force would get its legal authorization from a Status of Forces Agreement signed with the CU treaty enhancements.

This SOFA is “Step One, Day One” in the Go Lean roadmap, covering the approach for adequate funding, accountability and control. In step with the foregoing news article, there is the absolute need for the CU SOFA to be ratified as soon as possible.

The Go Lean book details a series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to provide increased public safety & security in the Caribbean region:

Economic Principle – Consequences of Choices Lie in Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Privacy –vs- Public Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – “Crap” Happens	Page 23
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Tactical – Confederating a non-sovereign union	Page 63
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Homeland Security	Page 75
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Start-up Foreign Policy Initiatives	Page 102
Implementation – Start-up Security Initiatives	Page 103
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices	Page 134
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Reduce Crime	Page 178
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Terrorism	Page 181
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering/Analysis	Page 182
Advocacy – Ways to Improve for Natural Disasters	Page 184
Advocacy – Ways to Protect Human Rights	Page 220
Advocacy – Ways to Re-boot Cuba	Page 236

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

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1531	A Lesson in History: 100 Years Ago – World War I
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1076	Trinidad Muslims travel to Venezuela for jihadist training
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=960	NSA records all phone calls in Bahamas, according to Snowden
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=789	America’s War on the Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=546	Book Review: ‘The Divide’ – … Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=535	Remembering and learning from Boston
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=392	Jamaica to receive World Bank funds to help in crime fight
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=341	US slams Caribbean human rights practices
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=87	6.5M Earthquake Shakes Eastern Caribbean

Underlying to the prime directive of elevating the economics, security and governing engines of the Caribbean, is the desire to make the Caribbean homeland, a better place to live, work and play. We do not want a few “bad actors” disrupting the peace of all Caribbean residents (42 million people), or the 10 million Diaspora as they frequent their tropical homeland or even the 80 million tourists that visit the region annually. The Go Lean roadmap states it most succinctly with the quotation: “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” (Page 37).

All of the Caribbean are hereby urged to lean-in to this roadmap.

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

——

Appendix: a – Status of Forces Agreement

A Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) is an agreement between a host country and a foreign nation stationing military forces in that country. SOFAs are often included, along with other types of military agreements, as part of a comprehensive security arrangement. A SOFA does not constitute a security arrangement; it establishes the rights and privileges of foreign personnel present in a host country in support of the larger security arrangement. ^[1] Under international law a status of forces agreement differs from military occupation.

Agreements

While the United States military has the largest foreign presence and therefore accounts for most SOFAs, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Germany, Italy, Russia, South Korea, and many other nations also station military forces abroad and negotiate SOFAs with their host countries. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is a SOFA. In the past, the Soviet Union had SOFAs with most of its satellite states (See Go Lean…Caribbean Page 139). While most of the United States’ SOFAs are public, some remain classified.^[2]

Terms of operation – The SOFA is intended to clarify the terms under which the foreign military is allowed to operate. Typically, purely military operational issues such as the locations of bases and access to facilities are covered by separate agreements. The SOFA is more concerned with the legal issues associated with military individuals and property. This may include issues like entry and exit into the country, tax liabilities, postal services, or employment terms for host-country nationals, but the most contentious issues are civil and criminal jurisdiction over bases and personnel. For civil matters, SOFAs provide for how civil damages caused by the forces will be determined and paid. Criminal issues vary, but the typical provision in U.S. SOFAs is that U.S. courts will have jurisdiction over crimes committed either by a service-member against another service-member or by a service-member as part of his or her military duty, but the host nation retains jurisdiction over other crimes.^[3]

Host nation concerns – In many host nations, especially those with a large foreign presence such as South Korea and Japan, the SOFA can become a major political issue following crimes allegedly committed by service-members. This is especially true when the incidents involve crimes such as robbery, murder, manslaughter or sex crimes, especially when the charge is defined differently in the two nations. For example, in 2002 in South Korea, a U.S. military AVLB bridge-laying vehicle on the way to the base camp after a training exercise accidentally killed two girls. Under the SOFA, A U.S. military court martial panel tried the soldiers involved, The panel found the act to be an accident and acquitted the service members of negligent homicide, citing no criminal intent or negligence. The U.S. military accepted responsibility for the incident and paid civil damages. This resulted in widespread outrage in South Korea, demands that the soldiers be retried in a South Korean court, the airing of a wide variety of conspiracy theories, and a backlash against the local expatriate community.^[4] As of 2011 American military authorities are allowing South Korea to charge and prosecute American soldiers in South Korean courts.^[5][6]

(Retrieved 06/29/2014 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_of_forces_agreement)

Sources References:

1. R. Chuck Mason (March 15, 2012). “Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA): What Is It, and How Might One Be Utilized In Iraq?” Congressional Research Service. Retrieved from: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL34531.pdf

2. Bruno, Greg (October 2, 2008), U.S. Security Agreements and Iraq, Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved from: http://www.cfr.org/publication/16448/us_security_agreements_and_iraq.html

3. Pike, John (2005). “Status of Forces Agreement”. GlobalSecurity.org, 2005. Retrieved from: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/sofa.htm

4. Ibiblio.org (2002). News articles on South Korean teenagers run over US military vehicle. Posted 22 August 2008; retrieved from http://www.ibiblio.org/ahkitj/wscfap/arms1974/HRS/2002/Stop%20US%20Military%20dossier/4.htm

5. Stars and Stripes Newspaper (2011). “US soldier confesses during trial to rape of South Korean girl”. Retrieved http://www.stripes.com/u-s-soldier-confesses-during-trial-to-rape-of-south-korean-girl-1.161419

6. Stars and Stripes Newspaper (2012). “Korea-based US soldier get 3 years in prison for rape conviction”. Posted 12 February 2012; retrieved from: http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/korea/korea-based-u-s-soldier-gets-3-years-in-prison-for-rape-conviction-1.168182

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Civil Rights, History, Power, Security, Terrorism, Transform

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A Lesson in History – 100 Years Ago Today – World War I

Posted on June 28, 2014 in Ethos, Planning

Go Lean Commentary

The dominoes began to fall 100 years ago today.

Going backwards: The Caribbean is at the precipice of dysfunction due to a global financial crisis; the crisis is a by-product of an inter-connected world; the global unified economic systems (Bretton-Woods Accords ^[b]) and disbanding of the colonies of the Great Powers emerged for the rebuilding after World War II. Consequently, Word War II was a direct response to the unsatisfactory settlements from World War I and economic dysfunctions during the period between the World Wars. The first domino was therefore June 28, 1914.

On this date 100 years ago, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot dead in Sarajevo by Serbian assassins. The political objective of the assassination was to break off Austria-Hungary’s south-Slav provinces so they could be combined into a Yugoslavia. The assassination led directly to the First World War when Austria-Hungary subsequently issued an ultimatum against Serbia, which was partially rejected. Austria-Hungary then declared war, marking the outbreak of the war.^[a]

Multilateral military alliances abounded in that day among the Great Powers: Austria-Hungary with Germany (Triple Alliance of 1882) and Serbia with Russia and France (Triple Entente of 1907) and Britain. When war ensued later in August 1914, these were the sides. Many other military treaties were triggered thereby engaging empires/countries like Ottoman-Turks, Portugal, Japan and Italy, (The United States joined in 1917 allied with Britain). The resulting conflict was dubbed the Great War until subsequently rebranded World War I.

The review of the historic events of this day 100 years ago is more than just an academic discussion, the book Go Lean…Caribbean aspires to economic principles that dictate that “consequences of choices lie in the future”. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This confederation effort aligns many former colonies of the same Great Powers that waged WW I; like Great Britain or the United Kingdom (UK) for example. The British Dominion experienced dire consequences and suffered greatly as a result of this war. In 1914 The British Dominion controlled over 25% of the world’s population; today the UK wields little political, military or economic power, including that of the Caribbean.

The people of the Caribbean understand societal decline and dysfunction all too well.

What have we learned in the 100 years since the events of June 28, 1914? How will these lessons help us today?

Minority Equalization – Bullying and terrorism must be mitigated at the earliest possible opportunity – the foregoing photo depicts the oppression the minority Balkan communities perceived in the Austria-Hungarian Empire. As a minority group they felt bullied in their own country; their Slavic culture and language set them apart, and their religious adherence led to even more dissension (Austria-Hungary: Catholic/Lutheran; Serbia: Eastern Orthodox and Bosnia- Herzegovina: Muslim) There were terrorist activities for decades before in the quest for independence. In the past 100 years, this same modus operandi has been repeated in countless locales around the world. The CU security pact must defend against regional threats, including domestic terrorism. This includes gangs and their junior counterparts, bullies. The CU plans for community messaging in the campaign to mitigate bullying.

Reconciliation of issues are not optional, more conflict will emerge otherwise – The issues that wedged the people of the Balkans were not resolved in World War I. More dissensions continued leading to World War II, and continued during the Cold War while most of the Balkans were under Soviets control. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, civil war and ethnic cleansings proceeded in the Balkans. Their issues/differences had not been reconciled. A common practice after WW I & WW II was the prosecution of war crimes. But in South Africa an alternative justice approach was adopted, that of Truth & Reconciliation Commissions (TRC). These have become more successful as the emphasis is less on revenge and more on justice normalization. Many other countries have instituted similar TRC models. The CU plans for the TRC model for dealing with a lot of latent issues in the last Caribbean century (i.e. Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, etc).
Self-determination of local currencies – in planning for postwar reconstruction, U.S. representatives with their British counterparts studied what had been lacking between the two world wars: a system of international payments that would allow trade to be conducted without fear of sudden currency depreciation or wild fluctuations in exchange rates—ailments that had nearly paralyzed world capitalism during the Great Depression. There is a multiplier associated with the currency in the money supply. Therefore the communities of the Caribbean must embrace its own currency, the Caribbean Dollar (managed by a technocratic Caribbean Central Bank), thereby bringing local benefits from local multipliers.
Security assurances must be enabled to complement economics objectives – A lot of dissension has resulted when economic engines become imperiled due to security conflicts. The instability then causes more economic dysfunction, which results in even more security threats – a downward spiral. The CU/Go Lean posits that security apparatus must be aligned with all economic empowerments. This is weaved throughout the roadmap.
Negotiate as partners not competitors – The end of World War I immediately set-up ripe conditions for WW II, because of the harsh terms in the Peace Treaties. The CU maintains that, negotiation is an art and a science. More can be accomplished by treating a negotiating counterpart as a partner, rather than not an adversary. (See VIDEO below).
Cooperatives and sharing schemes lighten burdens among neighbors – The Balkan conflict of 1914 resulted in a World War because of cooperative treaties with aligning nations. Despite this bad outcome, the practice of cooperatives and sharing still has more upside than downside. The CU will employ cooperatives and sharing schemes for limited scopes within the prime directives of optimizing the economic, security and governing engines.
Promote opportunities for the Pursuit of Happiness – A lot of terrorist activities are executed by “suicide” agents (i.e. suicide bombers). The Go Lean roadmap posits the when the following three fundamentals are in place, the risks of suicide is minimal: 1. something to do, 2. someone to love, 3. something to hope for. These are the things a man (or woman) needs to be happy.
Consider the Greater Good – Complying with this principle would have prevented a lot of conflict in the past century. The philosophy is directly quoted as: “It is the greatest good to the greatest number of people which is the measure of right and wrong”. The CU/Go Lean roadmap calls for a number of measures that strike directly at the Greater Good mandate: accountable justice institutions, economic empowerment for rich and poor, strategic education initiatives, proactive health/wellness, etc.

The related subjects of economic, security and governing dysfunction have been a frequent topic for blogging by the Go Lean promoters, as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1433	Caribbean loses over 70% of tertiary educated citizens to the brain drain
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1309	5 Steps of a Bubble
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1014	All is not well in the sunny Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=816	The Future of Caribbean Integration and CariCom
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=789	America’s War on the Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=782	Open the Time Capsule: The Great Recession of 2008
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=623	Only at the precipice, do they change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=599	Ailing Puerto Rico open to radical economic fixes
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=467	Barbados Central Bank records $3.7m loss in 2013
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=451	CariCom Chairman to deliver address on slavery/colonization reparations
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=353	Book Review: ‘Wrong – Nine Economic Policy Disasters and What We Can Learn…’

The purpose of the Go Lean roadmap is to turn-around the downward trends in the Caribbean today, to reverse course and elevate Caribbean society. The CU, applying lessons from the last 100 years, has prime directives proclaimed as follows:

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

The Go Lean book details a series of assessments, community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to empower all the factions in the Caribbean region:

Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Choices & Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Money Multiplier – Control of Local/Regional Currency	Page 22
Community Ethos – Anti-Bullying and Mitigation	Page 23
Community Ethos – Intelligence Gathering	Page 23
Community Ethos – “Crap” Happens	Page 23
Community Ethos – Minority Equalization	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Negotiations	Page 32
Community Ethos – Ways to Manage Reconciliations	Page 34
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Integrate Region into a Single Market Economy	Page 45
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization	Page 57
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Department of Homeland Security	Page 75
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Department of Justice	Page 77
Implementation – Assemble Existing Super-national Institutions	Page 96
Implementation – Caribbean Central Bank (CCB) Cooperative	Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Foreign Policy Initiatives at Start-up	Page 102
Implementation – Security Initiatives at Start-up	Page 103
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Promote Independence	Page 120
Planning – Ways to Ways to Model the EU	Page 130
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices	Page 134
Planning – Lessons from East Germany	Page 139
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Terrorism	Page 181
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Intelligence	Page 182
Advocacy – Banking Reforms – Caribbean Dollar	Page 199
Advocacy – Ways to Protect Human Rights	Page 220
Advocacy – Battles in the War on Poverty	Page 222
Advocacy – Ways to Impact British Territories	Page 245

The year 1914 is identified as a watershed year in the history of mankind. (There are even religious teachings that identify this year as the beginning of the Bible’s prophesied Last Days). No doubt there was a crisis, and it was wasted, even after losing 19 million people in the ensuing military conflict. The result was a 2^nd World War that slaughtered 60 million more. Still all the divisions and animosities created during those conflicts forged even more conflicts (think: Middle East, Korea and Vietnam). In total, about 100 million people died in wars of the 20^th Century.

See Comedian Bill Maher Commentary in the following VIDEO:

VIDEO – Real Time With Bill Maher: Sunni and Share (HBO) –
https://youtu.be/Jz0YWIfBLa4

Real Time with Bill Maher
Published on Jul 1, 2014 – Bill Maher delivers his “New Rules” editorial on June 27, 2014.

Category: Entertainment

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean to learn the lessons from the last 100 years, and not waste our current crises. The book Go Lean … Caribbean posits that the Caribbean is in a serious crisis, but asserts that this crisis would be a terrible thing to waste. The people and governing institutions of the region are hereby urged to lean-in for the empowerments described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean.

This is a big deal for the region, the same way 1914 was a big year for our planet. While the planet is out-of-scope for this roadmap, a Caribbean neighborhood optimization is realistic and plausible. We can all work to make our homeland a better place to live, work, and play.

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

—————–

Referenced Sources:
a. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Archduke_Franz_Ferdinand_of_Austria; retrieved June 28, 2014

b. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton_Woods_system; retrieved June 28, 2014

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History, Power, Security

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Is a Traditional 4-year Degree a Terrible Investment?

Posted on June 6, 2014 in Economics, Planning

Go Lean Commentary

This respected resource, Howard Tullman^[a], asserts that 4-year Liberal Arts college degrees are bad investments for students. (Play VIDEO here).

VIDEO – Why a Traditional 4-Year Degree is a Terrible Investment | Inc. Magazine – https://youtu.be/ch4D5-9jdbk

Published on Jun 6, 2014 – Howard Tullman, CEO of 1871, explains exactly how over valued, and ripe for disruption, traditional higher education has become.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean stakes the claim even deeper, that traditional college education abroad have been an even more disastrous policy for the Caribbean in whole, and each specific country in particular.

This assertion requires a differentiation of the macro, versus the micro.

From a strictly micro perspective, college education is great for the individual; research by Economists have established the dogma that each additional year of schooling increase an individual’s earnings by about 10%. (Go Lean quotes these economic studies at Page 270). This should be viewed as a very impressive rate of return on an education investment (ROI). But from the macro perspective, (for the community), the ROI is different for the Caribbean; its not a gain, but rather a loss due to the incontrovertible brain drain.

Previous blog-commentaries on this same subject matter have quoted the Jamaican proverb of “fattening frogs for snake” – (see https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=459). This is because more and more of the Caribbean college educated citizens abandon their tropical homes for foreign shores in the US, Canada and Europe. What’s worst, they take their Caribbean-funded education and skill-sets with them – sometimes taking any hope for collectability for student loans as well, thereby imperiling future generation of scholars from the benefits of a college education.

This broken system has many challenges and must be addressed.

Change has now come. The driver of this change is technology and globalization. Under the tenants of globalization, the Caribbean labor pool is a commodity; their talents are subject to the economic realities of supply-and-demand. So if there is greater reward for these Caribbean citizens to “take their talents to South Beach … or South Toronto, or South London”, it is hard to argue a contrarian stance. The Go Lean book posits therefore that the governmental administrations of the region should invest in higher education options with as much technological advances (e-Learning) as possible, for its citizens. The bottom-line motive should be the Greater Good.

The Go Lean roadmap provides turn-by-turn directions on how to reform the Caribbean tertiary education systems, economy, governance and Caribbean society as a whole. This roadmap asserts that the Caribbean is in crisis, and that this “crisis would be a terrible thing to waste”. As a planning tool, the roadmap commences with a Declaration of Interdependence, pronouncing the approach of regional integration (Page 12 & 14) as a viable solution to elevate the region’s educational opportunities.

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 …

xxi. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. The Federation must recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

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

This book Go Lean… Caribbean, serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This represents change for the region. The CU/Go Lean roadmap has 3 prime directives:

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

The Go Lean book posits that education is a vital consideration for Caribbean economic empowerment, but there have been a lot of flawed decision-making in the past, both individually and community-wise. The vision of the CU is a confederation of the 30 member-states of the Caribbean to do the heavy-lifting of championing better educational policies. The book details those policies; and other ethos to adopt, plus the executions of the following strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to impact the tertiary education in the region:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Return on Investments (ROI)	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Education Department	Page 85
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Labor Department	Page 89
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Education	Page 159
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 169
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Libraries	Page 187
Appendix – Education and Economic Growth	Page 258
Appendix – Measuring Education	Page 266

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to lean-in for the changes described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. We welcome the efforts of entrepreneur Howard Tullman, and his desire to empower other entrepreneurs. This is due to another fact certified by Economists, that the majority of new jobs come from small-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). So when there is the need for specific job training or business development skills, prudence dictates some facilitation for these skills. Education reform for the Caribbean should therefore be in vogue. This need for reform synchronizes with the CU/Go Lean effort.

The Go Lean roadmap is a complete solution for Caribbean elevation, thus helping the region to be a better place to live, work, learn and play.

🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

***********
a. Appendix – Howard A. Tullman:

An American serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, educator, writer, lecturer, and art collector. He currently serves as Chairman of Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy and of HYDR>BOX, LLC., CEO of 1871^[e] (Chicago’s entrepreneurial hub for digital startups), and the Managing Partner of Chicago High Tech Investment Partners, LLC.

Entrepreneurial career
Tullman’s entrepreneurial career spans four decades and a broad swath of industries. As of May 2011, Tullman has started 12 companies, including Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy, CCC Information Services, Tunes.com, the Rolling Stone Network, Imagination Pilots, Experiencia, and others.^[b]Tullman has also been tapped for senior executive positions at established companies such as Kendall College, where his expertise in turn-arounds saved the school from going into bankruptcy in 2003.^[b]

Disruptive Innovation in education
Throughout his career in higher education, Tullman has been a proponent of revolutionizing the industry through disruptive innovation which is Clayton M. Christensen’s term to describe new, rapidly-iterated innovations that start from the bottom of traditional industries by providing small-scale and relatively inexpensive solutions (which quickly expand and improve) and which disrupt those existing marketplaces by displacing earlier, out-of-date programs with less expensive, faster and more effective solutions typically based on emerging new technologies.

As an early adopter of this philosophy, Tullman was among the first to bring disruptive innovation to for-profit education as evidenced in his work at Kendall College, Experiencia, and Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy.^[c] In each of these education ventures, Tullman sought to create educational environments that fed creativity while providing skill sets for future successful employment in the new digital world:

At Kendall College, Tullman transformed a 75 year old failing college into a new entity and moved the campus from its home in Evanston to Chicago in a brand-new, purpose-built facility in order to put students closer to the real-world opportunities available in their fields (especially culinary and hospitality) and to provide them with the newest tools, technologies and equipment available.

At Experiencia (the parent of ExchangeCity and Earth Works), Tullman developed hands-on, learning experiences for children that reinforced the lessons learned in the classroom in a simulated city environment. Innovative partnerships with dozens of major businesses provided resources and access for the students to experience the real world of work.

At Tribeca Flashpoint Academy, Tullman and his partners designed and developed a hands-on, team-based, cross-disciplinary, fast-track approach to digital media arts training, allowing students to learn digital technologies faster and more economically than at traditional four-year competitors.

Tullman is also an outspoken opponent of tenure in education and the turf wars and lack of interdepartmental collaboration among faculty.^[d]

Tullman’s innovations in education have been consistent with the high-end vocational education visions shared by Sir Ken Robinson, David Brooks, and Thomas Friedman, but have the additional benefit of being actually implemented and in use today.

Citations:
b.   Black, Johnathan (May 2011). “Howard Tullman’s Flashpoint Academy: A Digital-Arts Alternative to the Four-Year College Degree”. Chicago Magazine. Retrieved November 27, 2012
c.    Meyer, Ann (January 14, 2008). “Howard Tullman provides business lesson in running for-profit schools”. Chicago Tribune
d.   Tullman, Howard. “Why the Chicago Teachers’ Strike Will Help Education Entrepreneurs”. Inc.com. Inc. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
e. 1871 = Year of the Great Chicago Fire

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College, Diaspora, History, Transform

[Top]

EU willing to fund study on cost of not having CARICOM

Posted on June 4, 2014 in Implementation, Planning, Tactical

Go Lean Commentary

What would be the opportunity cost of not having CariCom?

Opportunity cost is defined as …

“the value of the best alternative forgone, in a situation in which a choice needs to be made between several mutually exclusive alternatives given limited resources. Assuming the best choice is made, it is the ‘cost’ incurred by not enjoying the benefit that would be had by taking the second best choice available”.^[a]

See linked VIDEO below for sample/example.

VIDEO – Opportunity Cost explained^[b]:

Real Estate Investment Click Photo to Play

The CariCom is viewed as a failure in many circles in the Caribbean and internationally!

Just what is the opportunity cost for all the time, talent and treasuries exerted into CariCom thus far?
Could those investments have generated a better return in other endeavors?
Has CariCom even measured … the opportunity cost?

This CariCom “wasted opportunity” stance is also declared in the book Go Lean…Caribbean, and all of its aligned blog submissions. This issue – CariCom mis-firings – had previously been addressed in many Go Lean blog-commentaries (to date):

a. https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=816 – The Future of CariCom
b. https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=476 – Grenada PM Urges CARICOM on ICT
c. https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=451 – CARICOM Chairman to deliver address on reparations
d. https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=346 – Caribbean leaders convene for CARICOM summit in St Vincent

All in all, the book and accompanying blogs assert that the Caribbean Community construct is a failed manifestation of regional integration. CariCom has failed because it has only achieved so little of what it attempted, and only attempted so little of what’s possible – they have just stood by as “Rome burned”. Even CariCom themselves have acknowledged that their branded endeavor, CSME or Caribbean Single Market & Economy has sputtered, despite investing millions of Euros, according to this article:

ST GEORGE’S, Grenada — The European Union (EU) is willing to fund a study that would explore the opportunity costs of not having a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in place.
Ewout Sandker, head of Cooperation, Delegation of the EU to Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago and the Dutch Overseas Countries and Territories, made the announcement on Monday during the high level advocacy forum on statistics in Grenada.

As he underlined the importance of a solid data foundation for development in general, and regional integration in particular, Sandker posed some questions to the forum and made reference to the path the European Union took towards integration.

He told the gathering of senior government officials, statisticians, and representatives of international organisations that, in the 1980s, the EU conducted a study that calculated the opportunity cost of not having a fully integrated market in Europe. The results, he related, were “quite amazing”. They were an “enormous push” to regional integration and provided a good opportunity for mobilizing the private sector in Europe, which saw the benefits they were not getting by not having a fully integrated market, he said.

“Something like that could be done in the Caribbean as well, and we would be happy to provide funding for such a study (of) the cost of not having CARICOM,” Sandker said.
Over the past decade, the European Union has been providing support to the Community to strengthen regional statistics and to improve its use in policy-making. About €4M of the €57M Ninth European Development Fund (EDF) cycle to the Community was allotted to produce and disseminate economic statistics, to harmonise statistical structures across the region and to train staff to use the economic statistics to monitor the regional integration process.

The EU and the Caribbean Forum of African Caribbean and Pacific States (CARIFORUM) deepened support to the field of statistics under the 10th EDF to build on earlier achievements and to fill the gaps that remained.

From the €18M allocated to the CSME under the 10th EDF, about €2M was allocated to strengthen the intra-regional systems to produce and disseminate timely, high quality, harmonized statistics to monitor the CSME. The funding, Sandker said, was used to monitor regional integration, further develop merchandise trade statistics and to boost social and environmental statistics, among other areas.

Statistical monitoring of the integration movement, he said, was particularly close to his heart. “I’ve been working on it the first time I was in Guyana with the CARICOM Secretariat and I believe that monitoring of both compliance of regional integration commitments at the national level, and secondly, the impact of regional integration activities and processes are absolutely key to the success of the regional integration enterprise.

“If you can’t measure it; if you don’t know the compliance at national levels with different areas of integration, how can you allocate resources in a sensible way? If you don’t know, you cannot prioritise. If you don’t know what is the impact of the regional integration process, how can you argue that it is a good thing? How can you argue that you should go further and deeper,” he queried.

Source: Caribbean News Now – Regional News Source (Retrieved 05/31/2014) –
http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/headline-EU-willing-to-fund-study-on-cost-of-not-having-CARICOM-21361.html

The people of the region deserve better!

This book Go Lean… Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), a graduated iteration of regional integration for the democracies and territories in and around the Caribbean Sea. The following 3 prime directives are explored in full details in the roadmap:

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

This re-boot roadmap commences with the recognition that all the Caribbean is in crisis, and in the “same boat” despite their colonial heritage or language. All the geographical member-states, 30 in all, therefore need to confederate, collaborate, and convene for solutions. This pronouncement is made in the Declaration of Interdependence, (Page 10). This Preamble statement includes this verbiage:

While our rights to exercise good governance and promote a more perfect society are the natural assumptions among the powers of the earth, no one other than ourselves can be held accountable for our failure to succeed if we do not try to promote the opportunities that a democratic society fosters. …

The vision of the CU is a confederation of the 30 member-states of the Caribbean into an integrated Single Market with a different brand name other than CSME, rather the Caribbean Union Trade Federation – and this time … we vest the entity with real roles/responsibilities and also include the Spanish, French and Dutch homelands from the outset. Tactically, the CU allows for a separation-of-powers between the member-state governments and the new federal agencies. The Go Lean book details these series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies designed to re-boot the delivery of the regional solutions, so badly needed and hoped for:

Anecdote – Caribbean Single Market & Economy	Page 15
Community Ethos – Money Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – “Crap” Happens	Page 23
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategic – Vision – Integrated Region in a Single Market	Page 45
Strategic – Vision – Agents of Change	Page 57
Tactical – Confederating a Non-sovereign Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Growing to $800 Billion Regional Economy	Page 67
Tactical – Separation of Powers	Page 71
Tactical – Interstate Commerce Admin – Econometrics Data Analysis	Page 79
Anecdote – Turning Around CariCom	Page 92
Anecdote – “Lean” in Government	Page 93
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Foreign Policy Initiatives at Start-up	Page 102
Implementation – Security Initiatives at Start-up	Page 103
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Planning – Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Model the EU	Page 130
Planning – Ways to Measure Progress	Page 147
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Anecdote – Governmental Integration: CariCom Parliament	Page 167
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Appendix – Trade SHIELD – “Harvest“ Comprehensive Data Analysis	Page 264

Econometrics … measuring progress

The Go Lean roadmap for the CU stresses the importance of a solid data foundation to analyze and measure progress. This models the effort of the European Economic Community (EEC – predecessor to the EU) in the 1980s; they commissioned a study to calculate the opportunity cost of not having a fully integrated European market. The results of that study were compelling and propelled the completion of the regional integration effort. The foregoing article recommends a similar exercise for the Caribbean, so as to provide a good opportunity to mobilize the private and public sectors in the region to dive deeper in the integrated Single Market. The Go Lean…Caribbean roadmap (370 pages) is a Caribbean study in compliance with this recommendation.

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to reject the CariCom status quo … then lean-in for this new integration re-boot … for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation. Now is the time to make this region a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———–

Referenced Citations:

a. Investopedia online resource. Retrieved 2010-09-18 from: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/opportunitycost.asp.
b. Video link: http://www.investopedia.com/video/play/opportunity-cost/

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CariCom, History, Model

[Top]

Humanities Advocate – Maya Angelou – R.I.P.

Posted on May 28, 2014 in Ethos, Planning

Go Lean Commentary

“That a powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse” – poet Walt Whitman: “O Me! O Life!”

The world mourns the passing of Maya Angelou (1928 – 2014; age 86). She contributed more than a verse to the powerful play of modern life. She is known for her contribution to all of the humanities.

Humanities? That’s a different word; extraordinary in its use as a wide-angle view in the study of humankind. Extraordinary, “wide-angle view”, all fitting descriptors for the contributions of Maya Angelou – see the bibliography/filmography below. Here’s the text book definition of the word “humanities” (www.Dictionary.com):

noun, plural hu·man·i·ties.

1. all human beings collectively; the human race; humankind.

2. the quality or condition of being human; human nature.

3. the quality of being humane; kindness; benevolence.

4. the humanities.

a. the study of classical languages and classical literature.
b. the Latin and Greek classics as a field of study.
c. literature, [poetry], philosophy, art, etc., as distinguished from the natural sciences.
d. the study of literature, poetry, philosophy, art, etc.

Maya Angelou impacted the world of the humanities with her contributions. She was awarded over 30 honorary Doctor of Humanities degrees from diverse colleges and universities around the world. In addition to Dr. Angelou’s contribution to the humanities, she was also a strong proponent for empowerment. She spoke and wrote profound words/works on the need for people to empower themselves, to seek more out of life, to live more vibrant, fulfilled lives, to be critical thinkers and proactive doers in their journey for a more impactful life.

The publishers of the book Go Lean…Caribbean recognize the life contributions of Maya Angelou as an advocate, as many of her causes align with our quest for empowerment and elevation of Caribbean life and culture. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU).

The Go Lean/CU movement shares a linkage with this focus of Dr. Angelou. (She was due to appear at the Orpheum Theater in Omaha, Nebraska on June 9 – see photo – this writer was ticketed for attendance). The CU seeks to also empower the people of the Caribbean to lead more impactful lives in which they are better able to meet their needs and plan for a productive future. The Go Lean roadmap seeks to put Caribbean people in a place of better Command-and-Control of their circumstances, to develop the community ethos of assisting each other to advance in our own lives, in our individual communities and in the Caribbean as a whole. Like Dr. Angelou, we say with a collective voice “and still I rise” – (Published Random House 1978):

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise

I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

While the CU’s prime directive is the economics of the Caribbean region, there are peripheral areas of concern. While economics, security and governance are all important for the sustenance of Caribbean life, pursuits like poetry, art, and beauty are the reasons we want to live. Maya Angelou stood as a vanguard for many of these causes:

Minority rights, civil rights, women rights, quest for justice, art, music, film, and image.

The Go Lean book posits that one person can make a difference in the Caribbean, and its impact on the world; that there are many opportunities where one champion, one advocate, can elevate society. In fact the book is a collection of 144 different advocacies, so there is inspiration for the Maya Angelou’s of the region to make their mark in many different fields of endeavor.

The roadmap specifically encourages the region, to lean-in and foster the next generation of Maya Angelou’s with these specific community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies:

Community Ethos – Minority Equalization	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Intellectual Property	Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Anatomy of Advocacies	Page 122
Planning – Ways to Better Manage Image	Page 129
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Education	Page 159
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Hollywood	Page 203
Advocacy – Ways to Help Women	Page 226
Advocacy – Ways to Improve the Arts	Page 230
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Music	Page 231

The Go Lean roadmap pronounces that with the participation of many advocates on many different paths for progress, the Caribbean can truly become a better place to live, work and play. We owe a debt to Dr. Angelou for leading us along this path.

The Bible book of Psalms Chapter 90 quotes:

¹⁰ In themselves the days of our years are 70 years.
And if because of special mightiness they are 80 years.
Yet their insistence is on trouble and hurtful things;
For it must quickly pass by, and away we fly.

¹² Show us just how to count our days in such a way
That we may bring a heart of wisdom in.

Rest in Peace Maya Angelou. Thank you for showing us how to make our days count.

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

—————————————————————————-

Appendix – Bibliography
Contributions Retrieved May 28, 2014 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Maya_Angelou_works

Autobiographies

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969). New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-375-50789-2
Gather Together in My Name (1974). New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-394-48692-5
Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas (1976). New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-679-45777-0
The Heart of a Woman (1981). New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-8129-8032-5
All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986). New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-679-73404-8
A Song Flung Up to Heaven (2002). New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-375-50747-2
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou (2004). New York: Modern Library. ISBN 978-0-679-64325-8
Mom & Me & Mom (2013). New York: Random House. ISBN 978-1-4000-6611-7

Poetry

Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘fore I Diiie (1971). New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-394-47142-6[14]
Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well (1975). New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679-45707-0
And Still I Rise (1978). New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-394-50252-6[9]
Shaker, Why Don’t You Sing? (1983). New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-52144-7[15][16]
Poems (1986). New York: Random House. ISBN 0-553-25576-2
Now Sheba Sings the Song (1987). New York: Plume Books. ISBN 0-452-27143-6
I Shall Not Be Moved (1990). New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 0-553-35458-2
“On the Pulse of Morning” (1993). New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679-74838-5[17]
The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (1994). New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679-42895-X
Phenomenal Woman: Four Poems Celebrating Women (1995). New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679-43924-2
A Brave and Startling Truth (1995). New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679-44904-3[18]
“From a Black Woman to a Black Man”, 1995
“Amazing Peace” (2005). New York: Random House. ISBN 1-4000-6558-5[16]
“Mother: A Cradle to Hold Me” (2006). New York: Random House. ISBN 1-4000-6601-8
“Celebrations, Rituals of Peace and Prayer” (2006). New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-307-77792-8
Poetry for Young People (2007). Berkshire, U.K.: Sterling Books. ISBN 1-4027-2023-8
“We Had Him”, 2009
“His Day is Done”, 2012
Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now (1993). New York: Random House. ISBN 0-553-56907-4
Even the Stars Look Lonesome (1997). New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-50031-6
Letter to My Daughter (2008). New York: Random House. ISBN 1-4000-6612-3
Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes (2004). New York: Random House. ISBN 1-4000-6289-6
Great Food, All Day Long: Cook Splendidly, Eat Smart (2010). New York: Random House. ISBN 1-4000-6844-4
Life Doesn’t Frighten Me (1993). New York: Stewart, Tabori, and Chang. ISBN 1-55670-288-4
My Painted House, My Friendly Chicken and Me (1994). New York: Knopf Books. ISBN 0-517-59667-9
Kofi and His Magic (1996). New York: Knopf Books. ISBN 0-517-59667-9
Maya’s World series (2004). New York: Random House:
- Itak of Lapland, ISBN 0-375-92833-2
- Angelina of Italy, ISBN 0-375-82832-X
- Renée Marie of France ISBN 0-375-82834-6
- Mikale of Hawaii ISBN 0-375-92835-9
Cabaret for Freedom (musical revue), with Godfrey Cambridge, 1960
The Least of These, 1966
The Best of These (drama), 1966
Gettin’ up Stayed on My Mind, 1967
Sophocles, Ajax (adaptation), 1974
And Still I Rise (writer/director), 1976

Personal essays

Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now (1993). New York: Random House. ISBN 0-553-56907-4
Even the Stars Look Lonesome (1997). New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-50031-6
Letter to My Daughter (2008). New York: Random House. ISBN 1-4000-6612-3

Cookbooks

Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes (2004). New York: Random House. ISBN 1-4000-6289-6
Great Food, All Day Long: Cook Splendidly, Eat Smart (2010). New York: Random House. ISBN 1-4000-6844-4

Children’s books

Life Doesn’t Frighten Me (1993). New York: Stewart, Tabori, and Chang. ISBN 1-55670-288-4
My Painted House, My Friendly Chicken and Me (1994). New York: Knopf Books. ISBN 0-517-59667-9
Kofi and His Magic (1996). New York: Knopf Books. ISBN 0-517-59667-9
Maya’s World series (2004). New York: Random House:
- Itak of Lapland, ISBN 0-375-92833-2
- Angelina of Italy, ISBN 0-375-82832-X
- Renée Marie of France ISBN 0-375-82834-6
- Mikale of Hawaii ISBN 0-375-92835-9

Plays

Cabaret for Freedom (musical revue), with Godfrey Cambridge, 1960
The Least of These, 1966
The Best of These (drama), 1966
Gettin’ up Stayed on My Mind, 1967
Sophocles, Ajax (adaptation), 1974
And Still I Rise (writer/director), 1976

Filmography
Contributions – Retrieved May 28, 2014 from: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0029723/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Actress (15 credits)

Year	Movie/Show	Character/Role
2006	Madea’s Family Reunion	May
2001	Phenomenal Woman (Short)	Phenomenal Woman
2000	The Runaway (TV Movie)	Conjure Woman
2000	Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child (TV Series)	Fairy Godmother
2000	Rip Van Winkle (TV Series)	Fairy Godmother (voice)
1997	Talking with David Frost (TV Series)
	Colin Powell and Maya Angelou	Narrator
1996	Elmo Saves Christmas (Video)
1995	Touched by an Angel (TV Series)	Clarice Mitchell
	Reunion (1995)	Clarice Mitchell
1995	How to Make an American Quilt	Anna
1995	The Journey of August King	Narrator (voice)
1993	There Are No Children Here (TV Movie)	Lelia Mae
1993	Poetic Justice	Aunt June
1977	The Richard Pryor Special? (TV Movie)	Willie’s Wife
1977	Roots (TV Mini-Series)	Nyo Boto / Yaisa
	Part II	Nyo Boto
	Part I	Yaisa
1959	Porgy and Bess	Dancer (uncredited)

Writer (7 credits)

Year	Movie/Show
2008	The Black Candle (Documentary) (poetry written by)
1996	How Do You Spell God? (TV Movie)
1996	America‘s Dream (TV Movie) (story “The Reunion”)
1982	Sister, Sister (TV Movie)
1979	I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (TV Movie) (book)
1977	The Richard Pryor Special? (TV Movie) (soliloquy)
1972	Georgia, Georgia

Soundtrack (4 credits)

Year	Movie/Show
2010	Michael Feinstein’s American Songbook (TV Mini-Series documentary) (lyrics – 1 episode)
	Best Band in the Land (lyrics: “We Dreamed These Days”)
2001	The Mystic Masseur (performer: “Scandal in the Family”)
1968	For Love of Ivy (lyrics: “You Put It on Me”)
1957	Calypso Heat Wave (writer: “All That Happens in the Market Place”)

Director (2 credits)

Year	Movie/Show
1998	Down in the Delta
1976	Visions (TV Series) (1 episode)
	The Tapestry/Circles ()

Music department (1 credit)

Year	Movie/Show
1972	Georgia, Georgia (composer: score)

Producer (1 credit)

Year	Movie/Show
1982	Sister, Sister (TV Movie) (producer)

Miscellaneous Crew (1 credit)

Year	Movie/Show
1993	Poetic Justice (poetry)

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Civil Rights, Gender, History, Image, Model, Obituary

[Top]

Inflation Matters

Posted on May 21, 2014 in Economics

Go Lean Commentary

Money matters in modern life.

So if money matters, then inflation is a consistent consideration for money matters. Think of a Union collective bargaining negotiations; it may be important to peg wage increases to the rate of inflation. The same consideration would apply to pensions and other national safety nets.

The book Go Lean… Caribbean, serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU is to take oversight of much of the region’s inflation monitoring/metering. In fact, Go Lean roadmap has 3 prime directives:

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

This book is written with the approach that “we manage what we measure”. The CU will measure all aspects of Caribbean inflation and manage the consequential implications. According to the foregoing encyclopedia reference, the measurement method of a Consumer Price Index (CPI) needs a regional administrator, as there can be regional deviations from city-to-city, island-to-island. The CU oversight is a professional, technocratic administration of this important economic metric. This point is detailed in the Go Lean book (Page 153), identifying “Ways to Control Inflation”.

Encyclopedia Definition

In economics, inflation is a sustained increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation reflects a reduction in the purchasing power per unit of money – a loss of real value in the medium of exchange and unit of account within the economy. A chief measure of price inflation is the inflation rate, the annualized percentage change in a general price index (normally the consumer price index) over time.^[a]

Consumer Price Index

The consumer price index (CPI) measures changes in the price level of a market basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households. The CPI in the United States is defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (a unit of the Labor Department) as “a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services.”^[b]

The CPI is a statistical estimate constructed using the prices of a sample of representative items whose prices are collected periodically. Sub-indexes and sub-sub-indexes are computed for different categories and sub-categories of goods and services, being combined to produce the overall index with weights reflecting their shares in the total of the consumer expenditures covered by the index. It is one of several price indices calculated by most national statistical agencies. The annual percentage change in a CPI is used as a measure of inflation. A CPI can be used to index (i.e., adjust for the effect of inflation) the real value of wages, salaries, pensions, for regulating prices and for deflating monetary magnitudes to show changes in real values. In most countries, the CPI is, along with the population census and the USA National Income and Product Accounts, one of the most closely watched national economic statistics.

Is the CPI a cost-of-living index?

The CPI frequently is called a cost-of-living index, but it differs in important ways from a complete cost-of-living measure. BLS has for some time used a cost-of-living framework in making practical decisions about questions that arise in constructing the CPI. A cost-of-living index is a conceptual measurement goal, however, and not a straightforward alternative to the CPI. A cost-of-living index would measure changes over time in the amount that consumers need to spend to reach a certain utility level or standard of living. Both the CPI and a cost-of-living index would reflect changes in the prices of goods and services, such as food and clothing that are directly purchased in the marketplace; but a complete cost-of-living index would go beyond this role to also take into account changes in other governmental or environmental factors that affect consumers’ well-being. It is very difficult to determine the proper treatment of public goods, such as safety and education, and other broad concerns, such as health, water quality, and crime, that would constitute a complete cost-of-living framework.

What goods and services does the CPI cover?

The CPI represents all goods and services purchased for consumption by the reference population (U or W) BLS has classified all expenditure items into more than 200 categories, arranged into eight major groups. Major groups and examples of categories in each are as follows:

FOOD AND BEVERAGES (breakfast cereal, milk, coffee, chicken, wine, full service meals, snacks)

HOUSING (rent of primary residence, owners’ equivalent rent, fuel oil, bedroom furniture)

APPAREL (men’s shirts and sweaters, women’s dresses, jewelry)

TRANSPORTATION (new vehicles, airline fares, gasoline, motor vehicle insurance)

MEDICAL CARE (prescription drugs and medical supplies, physicians’ services, eyeglasses and eye care, hospital services)

RECREATION (televisions, toys, pets and pet products, sports equipment, admissions);

EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION (college tuition, postage, telephone services, computer software and accessories);

OTHER GOODS AND SERVICES (tobacco and smoking products, haircuts and other personal services, funeral expenses).

Also included within these major groups are various government-charged user fees, such as water and sewerage charges, auto registration fees, and vehicle tolls. In addition, the CPI includes taxes (such as sales and excise taxes) that are directly associated with the prices of specific goods and services. However, the CPI excludes taxes (such as income and Social Security taxes) not directly associated with the purchase of consumer goods and services.

Chained CPI in the United States

In the United States, several different consumer price indices are routinely computed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). These include the CPI-U (for all urban consumers), CPI-W (for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers), CPI-E (for the elderly), and C-CPI-U (chained CPI for all urban consumers). These are all built in two stages. First, the BLS collects data to estimate 8,018 separate item-area indices reflecting the prices of 211 categories of consumption items in 38 geographical areas. In the second stage, weighted averages are computed of these 8,018 item-area indices. The different indices differ only in the weights applied to the different 8,018 item-area indices. The weights for CPI-U and CPI-W are held constant for 24 months, changing in January of even-numbered years.

The weights for C-CPI-U are updated each month to reflect changes in consumption patterns in the last month.

In January of each year, Social Security (America’s Old Age Pension) recipients receive a cost of living adjustment (COLA) “to ensure that the purchasing power of Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits is not eroded by inflation. It is based on the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W)”[f]. The use of CPI-W conflicts with this purpose, because the elderly consume substantially more health care goods and services than younger people. [d] In recent years, inflation in health care has substantially exceeded inflation in the rest of the economy. Since the weight on health care in CPI-W is much less than the consumption patterns of the elderly, this COLA does not adequately compensate them for the real increases in the costs of the items they buy. [g]

The BLS does track a consumer price index for the elderly (CPI-E). But it is not used, in part because the social security trust fund is forecasted to run out of money in roughly 40 years, and using the CPI-E instead of CPI-W would shorten that by roughly 5 years.[h]

Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia – Retrieved 05-20-2014 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation

Citation References:

a. Mankiw, N. Gregory (2002). Macroeconomics (5th Ed.). Worth Publications. ISBN 978-0716752370. Retrieved May 2014.

b. Consumer Price Index. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved September 10, 2010 from: http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpifaq.htm.

c. Losey, Stephen (31 December 2012). “Chained CPI proposal off table for now, lawmakers say”. Federal Times. Retrieved 3 January 2013 from: http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20121231/BENEFITS02/312310001/Chained-CPI-proposal-off-table-now-lawmakers-say?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CCongress.

d. Robert, Reich (April 4, 2013). “What’s the ‘Chained CPI,’ Why It’s Bad for Social Security and Why the White House Shouldn’t Be Touting It (VIDEO)”. Huffington Post. Retrieved April 11, 2013: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/chained-cpi_b_3016471.html

e. Gibson, Ginger (April 9, 2013). “Republicans applaud chained CPI in Obama budget”. Politico. Retrieved April 11, 2013 from: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/republicans-applaud-chained-cpi-in-obama-budget-89831.html.

f. “Cost-Of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Information For 2013”. Cost-Of-Living Adjustment (Social Security Administration). Retrieved April 11, 2013 from: http://www.ssa.gov/cola/

g. Wikipedia treatment for the Consumer Price Index. Retrieved May 20, 2014 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_price_index

h. Hobijn, Bart; Lagakos, David (May 2003). “Social Security and the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly”. Current Issues in Economics and Finance (Federal Reserve Bank of New York) 9 (5): 1–6. Retrieved April 11, 2013 from: http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/current_issues/ci9-5/ci9-5.html.

The approach of a CPI (or a Retail Price Index) is not exclusively American; other societies use the same methodology. But the American model is one from which the Caribbean should apply learned lessons; we would NOT want to fall into the American pitfalls of purposefully eliminating significant items from measurement because of political leanings. For example, the US does not include health care in the measurement of the official CPI, even though it may amount to 40% of some families’ spending. This point is highlighted in this article:

Former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and former U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson suggested a transition to using a “chained CPI” in 2010, when they headed the White House’s deficit-reduction commission.^[c] They stated that it was a more accurate measure of inflation than the current system and switching from the current system could save the government more than $290 billion over the decade following their report.^[c] “The chained CPI is usually 0.25 to 0.30 percentage points lower each year, on average, than the standard CPI measurements.”^[c]

However, the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Associations said that the chained CPI does not account for seniors citizens’ health care costs.^[c] Robert Reich, former United States Secretary of Labor under President Clinton, noted that typical seniors spend between 20 and 40 percent of their income on health care, far more than most Americans. “Besides, Social Security isn’t in serious trouble. The Social Security trust fund is flush for at least two decades. If we want to ensure it’s there beyond that, there’s an easy fix – just lift the ceiling on income subject to Social Security taxes, which is now $113,700.”^[d]

Replacing the current cost-of-living adjustment calculation with the chained CPI was considered, but not adopted, as part of a deficit-reduction proposal to avert the sequestration cuts, or fiscal cliff, in January 2013,^[c] but President Obama included it in his April 2013 budget proposal.^[e]

Go Lean … Caribbean introduces the CU to take oversight of much of the Caribbean economic, security and governing functionality, covering the realities of healthcare and inflation issues. In summary, this roadmap promotes the Caribbean as a better place to live, work and play for residents and retirees alike. In fact the Go Lean roadmap advocates inviting the aging Diaspora to return to the Caribbean for their “golden years”, this means proactively anticipating pension/medical needs of senior citizens.

Change has come to the Caribbean. The people, institutions and governance of the region are all urged to “lean-in” to this roadmap for change. We need to accurately measure inflation and the stressors that impact it. Rather than “hiding” the facts, as the Americans do, the CU will “manage what we measure”. There are effective tools available to mitigate the risks of inflation, and the integrity of social safety nets (like increasing retirement age or the income ceiling for pension taxes).

The benefits of this roadmap, emergence of an $800 Billion regional economy and 2.2 million new jobs, become imperiled if we ignore important economic indicators, and hide-away from effective solutions. Ignorance and avoidance are not traits of a solution-oriented ethos; they are not technocratic. On the other hand, the CU purports to be a true technocracy!

The following list details the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to impact the CU technocracy:

Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Customers/Stakeholders – Diaspora	Page 47
Strategy – Agents of Change – Aging Diaspora	Page 57
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Separation of Powers – Commerce Department	Page 78
Separation of Powers – MediCare Administration	Page 86
Advocacy – Ways to Measure Progress	Page 133
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Control Inflation	Page 153
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Healthcare	Page 156
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Entitlements	Page 158
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Diaspora	Page 217
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Retirement	Page 221
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Elder-Care	Page 225
Appendix – Controlling Inflation – Technical Details	Page 318

The foregoing encyclopedic source conveys that much depends on accurate measurement of inflation indices. Inflation is what it is! Measurement and management of inflation (and its effects) is an art and a science for the CU to master. The Go Lean roadmap “leaves no stone un-turned” for the optimization of the economic elevation of the Caribbean.

Inflation does matter! A prudent, lean, economic stewardship matters more!

Download the Book- Go lean…Caribbean Now!!!

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Bob Marley: The legend lives on!

Posted on May 11, 2014 in Ethos, Implementation, Social

Go Lean Commentary

“Let’s get together and feel alright” – Bob Marley’s Song: One Love

This song is identified in the below article as being designated Song of the Millennium by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation). Today, 11 May 2014, is the 33rd anniversary of Bob Marley’s death. (The number 33 is the “rev” speed for music-album playback).

The book Go Lean … Caribbean identifies 169 different musical/national combinations of genres throughout the Caribbean. Of them all, Reggae is by far the most impactful of a Caribbean sound; even more so than Calypso, Soca, Merengue or any of the many Afro-Cuban varieties (Conga, Mambo, Salsa, etc). One cannot speak of Reggae music though without recognizing the iconic role of Bob Marley. The Go Lean book speaks directly of Bob Marley in recognizing him, along with other advocates, in the way in which his contributions resonated in the world. As follows, an excerpt from that rendering (Page 133):

The majority of the Caribbean population descends from an African ancestry – a legacy of slavery from previous centuries. Despite the differences in nationality, culture and language, the image of the African Diaspora is all linked hand-in-hand. And thus, when Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali and Bob Marley impacted the world with their contributions, the reverberations were felt globally, not just in their homelands. It is hard for one segment of the black world to advance when other segments have a negative global image. This is exemplified with the election of Barack Obama as US President; his election was viewed as an ascent for the entire Black race.*

The following article, from the Daily Independent Newspaper of Nigeria, posits that the legend and legacy of Bob Marley lives on, to this day and beyond.

“My music will go on forever. Maybe it’s a fool say that, but when me know facts me can say facts. My music will go on forever.” – Bob Marley

The above statement made by Bob Marley of his music, is a living testimony of his continued legacy and legend. Since his demise on May 11, 1981, the influence of his music on global culture has become unparalleled as evidenced by ever increasing list of accomplishments, honours and awards.

In June 1978, he was awarded the ‘Peace Medal of the Third World ’ from the United Nations. He was voted as one of the greatest lyricists of all time by a BBC poll. In 2006, a blue plaque was unveiled at his first UK residence in Ridgmount Gardens, London, dedicated to him by Nubian Jak community trust and supported by Her Majesty’s Foreign Office.

Bob Marley was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994; in December 1999, his 1977 album “Exodus” was named Album of the Century by Time Magazine and his song “One Love” was designated Song of the Millennium by the BBC.

Since its release in 1984, Marley’s “Legend” compilation has annually sold over 250,000 copies, according to Nielsen Sound Scan, and it is only the 17th album to exceed sales of 10 million copies since SoundScan began its tabulations in 1991.

Bob Marley’s music was never recognised with a Grammy nomination, but in 2001 he was bestowed The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. That same year, a feature length documentary about Bob Marley’s life, ‘Rebel Music’, directed by Jeremy Marre, was nominated for a Grammy for ‘Best Long Form Music Video’ documentary. In 2001 Bob Marley was accorded the 2171st star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame by the Hollywood Historic Trust and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, in Hollywood, California. As a recipient of this distinction, Bob Marley joined musical legends, including Carlos Santana, Stevie Wonder and The Temptations.

In 2006, the State of New York renamed a portion of Church Avenue in the section of Brooklyn, “Bob Marley Boulevard “.

Recently, the popular TV show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, commemorated the 30th anniversary of Bob Marley’s passing with an entire week (May 9-13) devoted to his music, as performed by Bob’s eldest son, Ziggy, Jennifer Hudson, Lauryn Hill, Lenny Kravitz and the show’s house band, The Roots. These triumphs are all the more remarkable considering Bob Marley’s humble beginnings and numerous challenges he overcame attempting to gain a foothold in Jamaica ‘s chaotic music industry while skillfully navigating the politically partisan violence that abounded in Kingston throughout the 1970s.

In celebration of what would have been his 68th birthday, the 2013 Grammys featured an all-star Bob Marley tribute including some of music’s hottest stars.

One of the 20th century’s most charismatic and challenging performers, Bob Marley’s renown now transcends the role of reggae luminary: he is regarded as a cultural icon who implored his people to know their history “coming from the root of King David, through the line of Solomon,” as he sang on “Blackman Redemption”; Bob urged his listeners to check out the “Real Situation” and to rebel against the vampiric “Babylon System”. “Bob had a rebel type of approach, but his rebelliousness had a clearly defined purpose to it,” acknowledges Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records, who played a pivotal role in the Bob Marley biography by introducing Marley and the Wailers to an international audience.

Two influences of Marley’s music are his Rastafarian belief and his love for marijuana. The pan-African consciousness, progressive political ideologies and deep spiritual convictions heard in Bob Marley’s music were derived from his firmly rooted commitment to Rastafarian beliefs and its attendant lifestyle. Marley did not just enjoy weed as a recreational habit. He was instead a staunch supporter of the plant’s meditational, spiritual and healing abilities, and a fierce opponent to those who tried using marijuana as a vehicle for oppression, and to keep certain groups of people out of the societal mainstream.

In his early years, February 1962, Marley recorded four songs, Judge Not, One Cup of Coffee, Do You Still Love Me? And Terror. One Cup of Coffee was released under the pseudonym, Bobby Martell.

The following year, Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh,Junior Braithwaite, Beverly Kelso and Cherry Smith called The Teenagers, later changed the name to The Wailing Rudeboys, then to The Wailing Wailers and finally to The Wailers. In 1966, Smith, Kelso and Braithwaite left the Wailers leaving Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. Marley, that same year married, Rita Anderson.

In an attempt to commercialise The Wailers sound, between 1968 and 1972, Bob and Rita Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer re-cut some old tracks with JAD Records in Kingston and London.

After signing with CBS Records in London, Marley in 1972 embarked on a UK tour with American musician, Johnny Nash. The Wailers returned to Jamaica to release its first album, Catch a Fire. The eight track album was followed the same year by the album, Burnin, which included the song, I Shot the Sheriff. Eric Clapton was given the album by his guitarist, George Terry, for his enjoyment, but Clapton was so impressed that he recorded a cover version of, I Shot the Sheriff, which became his first US hit after [the song] Layla.

It is pertinent to note that during this period, Blackwell, Marley’s record company, gifted his Kingston residence and company headquarters to Marley. The property housing Tuff Gong studios, became not only his office, but also his home. Finally, The Wailers broke up in 1974 with each of the three members pursuing solo careers.

Though born a Catholic, Marley converted to Rastafari and began to grow dreadlocks. With new members in his solo career, Marley continued recording as ‘Bob Marley and The Wailers’ as the ‘I Threes’ comprising Marcia Griffiths, Judy Mowatt and Marley’s wife, Rita provided backing vocals.

Marley rose to fame internationally in 1975 with his first hit track, No Woman No Cry from the Natty Dread album. This was followed by Rastaman Vibration, his breakthrough album in the US.

Of significance was an assassination attempt by unknown gunmen on December 3, 1976, two days before, a free concert, tagged, ‘Smile Jamaica’, organised by the Jamaican Prime Minister, Michael Manley in an attempt to ease tension between two warring political factions. Marley, his wife and manager, Don Taylor were wounded in the assault. However, injured Marley performed after the attack. At the end of 1976, Marley left Jamaica and after a month of recovery and writing, he arrived [in] England, where he spent two years in self imposed exile. While in Queen Elizabeth’s country, he recorded the albums, Kaya and Exodus. For 56 consecutive weeks, Exodus stayed on the British album charts. It also included four UK hit singles – Exodus, Waiting in Vain, Jamming and One Love (a rendition of Curtis Mayfield’s hit, People get Ready).

In an effort to calm warring parties, when Marley returned to Jamaica in 1978, he performed at another political concert, the One Love Peace Concert which saw the two heads of the factions shook hands on stage.

A defiant and politically charged album, Survival, was released in 1979 with such tracks as, Zimbabwe, Africa Unite, Wake Up and Live and Survival reflected his struggle for Africans. Bob Marley’s final studio album, Uprising in 1980 is regarded as one of his most religious productions. It includes, Redemption Song and Forever Loving Jah.

Confrontation was released posthumously in 1983, contained unreleased songs recorded during Marley’s lifetime. It includes the hit song, Buffalo Soldier and new mixes of singles previously available only in Jamaica. 11 albums, four live albums and seven studio albums were achieved under the name Bob Marley and the Wailers.

In July 1977, Marley was found to have a type of malignant melanoma under the nail of a toe. Citing his religious beliefs, he turned down his doctors’ advice to have his toe amputated. Despite his illness, he continued touring.

His Redemption Song track is in particular considered to be about Marley’s coming to terms with his mortality. He appeared at the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania on September 23 1980, unfortunately, it would be his last concert.

Shortly afterwards, his health deteriorated, the cancer had [spread] to his lungs and brains. Marley sought treatment at the Bavarian clinic of Josef Issels where he received an unusual therapy. After fighting the disease unsuccessfully for eight months, he boarded a plane for his home in Jamaica but he never made it. He landed in Miami, Florida, USA and was taken to Cedars of Lebanon, hospital for immediate medical attention.

On May 11, 1981, Robert Nesta Marley, born on February 6, 1945 on the farm of his maternal grandfather in Nine Mile, Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica to Norval Sinclair Marley and Cedella Booker gave up the ghost. He was aged 36.

After his death, he seems to loom larger than life as his legacy continues to grow. Marley received a state funeral in Jamaica on May 21, 1981 which combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy and Rastafari tradition. On his religious life, Marley was a vegetarian who was affiliated with the Twelve Tribes Mansion. He was in the denomination of the Tribe of Joseph. Shortly before his death, Marley was baptised into Christianity by Archbishop Abuna Yesehaq of the Ethiopian Orthodox church in Kingston, Jamaica on November 4, 1980.

In April 1981 Bob Marley was awarded Jamaica’s third highest honor, the Order of Merit, for his outstanding contribution to his country’s culture.

Marley had a number of children: three with his wife Rita, two adopted from Rita’s previous relationships and several other others with different women.

Irrespective of race, colour, creed, the Bob Marley’s revolutionary yet unifying music, challenging colonialism, racism, and the rest has had profound effects even in country’s where English is not widely spoken.

In August 2008, two artists from Serbia and Croatia , unveiled a statue of Bob Marley during a rock music festival in Serbia; the monument’s inscription read “Bob Marley Fighter for Freedom Armed with A Guitar”.

A statue was inaugurated, next to the national stadium on Arthur Wint Drive in Kingston to commemorate him.

Internationally, Marley’s message also continues to reverberate among various indigenous communities.

The Daily Independent – Nigerian Daily Newspaper – Retrieved May 11, 2014 from: http://dailyindependentnig.com/2014/05/bob-marley-legend-lives/

The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This CU strives to advance the Caribbean culture with these 3 prime directives:

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

This roadmap recognizes that a prerequisite for advancing society is a change in the Caribbean community ethos. Early in the book, the contributions that music can make is pronounced as an ethos for the entire region to embrace, (Declaration of Interdependence – DOI – Pages 14) with these statements:

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

Bob Marley was the embodiment of all of these above values. He impacted the music, culture and economics of the region. He set a pathway for success for other generations of talented, inspirational and influential artists – musical geniuses – to follow. Other artists of Caribbean heritage are sure to emerge and “rock the world”; we are hereby “banking” on it, with these CU preparations (DOI – Page 13):

xxi. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. The Federation must recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

The CU represents the change that has come to the Caribbean. The people, institutions and governance of the region are all urged to “lean-in” to this roadmap for change. We know there is a “new” Bob Marley somewhere in the Caribbean member-states, waiting to be fostered. We salute this one with the words of this Bob Marley composition Redemption Song, (from this writer’s favorite album “Uprising”):

But my hand was made strong
By the hand of the Almighty.
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly.

Won’t you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
‘Cause all I ever had,
Redemption songs,
Redemption songs.

Emancipate yourself from mental slavery,
None but our self can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
‘Cause none of them can stop the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look?
Some say it’s just a part of it,
We’ve got to fulfill de book.

The following list details the community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to foster the next Bob Marley:

Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos –Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Caribbean Vision	Page 45
Separation of Powers – Patents & Copyrights	Page 78
Separation of Powers – Culture Administration	Page 81
Implementation – Ways to Impact Social Media	Page 111
Advocacy – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Hollywood	Page 203
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Music	Page 231
Advocacy – Ways to Re-boot Jamaica	Page 239

For this occasion, the reader is hereby admonished to put on your favorite Bob Marley album, sit back, and feel the love, the “One Love”.

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

————–

Appendix Reference:

* Rampersad, Dr. Arnold (2008). “Race, History, and the Emergence of Obama”. Florida International University Dr. Eric E. Williams Memorial Lecture Series. BBC-Caribbean.com. Retrieved November 2013 from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/caribbean/news/story/2008/11/printable/081111_obama_rampersad.shtml

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Having Less Babies is Bad for the Economy

Posted on May 9, 2014 in Economics, Implementation, Planning, Social, Strategy, Tactical

Go Lean Commentary

More fallout from the year 2008…

This is a consistent theme in the book Go Lean…Caribbean. The book posits that the events of that year were a crisis for the Caribbean, North America and the world economy as a whole. What’s worst is the Caribbean is still reeling from those events.

“A crisis is a terrible thing to waste”

… so states the book quoting noted Economist Paul Romer. The opportunity therefore exists to forge change in the economic, security and governing engines of the Caribbean, in response to this crisis.

The below news-story (or click on VIDEO icon below) shows that the rest of the world, those with astute eyes/ears to look, listen and learn, will be using this crisis to prepare for change. This is the advocacy of the Go Lean book, to position the region at the corner of preparation and opportunity, so as to benefit from change. The issue from the article is more pressing for the Caribbean than the rest of North America; this is because the region has a very high emigration rate (brain drain). This point is crystalized with this quotation:

We tend to think economic growth comes from working harder and smarter. But economists attribute up to a third of it to more people joining the workforce each year than leaving it. The result is more producing, earning and spending.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), a super-national institution with federal powers to forge change in the Caribbean community. One mission is incentivizing the return of the far-flung Caribbean Diaspora. Another mission is to dissuade further human flight/brain drain. The numbers don’t lie: we need population growth not population contraction.

NEW YORK (AP) — Nancy Strumwasser, a high school teacher from Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, always thought she’d have two children. But the layoffs that swept over the U.S. economy around the time her son was born six years ago helped change her mind. Though she and her husband, a market researcher, managed to keep their jobs, she fears they won’t be so fortunate next time.

“After we had a kid in 2009, I thought, ‘This is not happening again,'” says Strumwasser, 41, adding, “I never really felt comfortable about jobs, how solid they can be.”

The 2008 financial crisis did more than wipe out billions in wealth and millions of jobs. It also sent birth rates tumbling around the world as couples found themselves too short of money or too fearful about their finances to have children. Six years later, birth rates haven’t bounced back.

For those who fear an overcrowded planet, this is good news. For the economy, not so good.

We tend to think economic growth comes from working harder and smarter. But economists attribute up to a third of it to more people joining the workforce each year than leaving it. The result is more producing, earning and spending.

Now this secret fuel of the economy, rarely missing and little noticed, is running out.

“For the first time since World War II, we’re no longer getting a tailwind,” says Russ Koesterich, chief investment strategist at BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager. “You’re going to create fewer jobs. … All else equal, wage growth will be slower.”

Births are falling in China, Japan, the United States, Germany, Italy and nearly all other European countries. Studies have shown that births drop when unemployment rises, such as during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Birth rates have fallen the most in some regions that were hardest hit by the financial crisis.

In the United States, three-quarters of people surveyed by Gallup last year said the main reason couples weren’t having more children was a lack of money or fear of the economy.

The trend emerges as a gauge of future economic health — the growth in the pool of potential workers, ages 20-64 — is signaling trouble ahead. This labor pool had expanded for decades, thanks to the vast generation of baby boomers. Now the boomers are retiring, and there are barely enough new workers to replace them, let alone add to their numbers.

Growth in the working-age population has halted in developed countries overall. Even in France and the United Kingdom, with relatively healthy birth rates, growth in the labor pool has slowed dramatically. In Japan, Germany and Italy, the labor pool is shrinking.

“It’s like health — you only realize it exists until you don’t have it,” says Alejandro Macarron Larumbe of Demographic Renaissance, a think tank in Madrid.

The drop in birth rates is rooted in the 1960s, when many women entered the workforce for the first time and couples decided to have smaller families. Births did begin rising in many countries in the new millennium. But then the financial crisis struck. Stocks and home values plummeted, blowing a hole in household finances, and tens of millions of people lost jobs. Many couples delayed having children or decided to have none at all.

Couples in the world’s five biggest developed economies — the United States, Japan, Germany, France and the United Kingdom — had 350,000 fewer babies in 2012 than in 2008, a drop of nearly 5 percent. The United Nations forecasts that women in those countries will have an average 1.7 children in their lifetimes. Demographers say the fertility rate needs to reach 2.1 just to replace people dying and keep populations constant.

The effects on economies, personal wealth and living standards are far reaching:

— A return to “normal” growth is unlikely: Economic growth of 3 percent a year in developed countries, the average over four decades, had been considered a natural rate of expansion, sure to return once damage from the global downturn faded. But many economists argue that that pace can’t be sustained without a surge of new workers. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the U.S. economy will grow 3 percent or so in each of the next three years, then slow to an average 2.3 percent for next eight years. The main reason: Not enough new workers.

— Reduced pay and lifestyles: Slower economic growth will limit wage gains and make it difficult for middle-class families to raise their living standards, and for those in poverty to escape it. One measure of living standards is already signaling trouble: Gross domestic product per capita — the value of goods and services a country produces per person — fell 1 percent in the five biggest developed countries from the start of 2008 through 2012, according to the World Bank.

— A drag on household wealth: Slower economic growth means companies will generate lower profits, thereby weighing down stock prices. And the share of people in the population at the age when they tend to invest in stocks and homes is set to fall, too. All else equal, that implies stagnant or lower values. Homes are the biggest source of wealth for most middle-class families.

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AP researcher Fu Ting in Shanghai and AP writers Frank Jordans in Berlin, Colleen Barry in Milan and Youkyung Lee in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.

Huffington Post – Online News – May 8, 2014 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/07/birth-rate-economy_n_5281597.html

The CU recognizes that the numbers must work in favor of societal progress. The next steps after Look-Listen-Learn is to Lend-a-hand and then Lead. (This is referred to as the 5 L Progression). So to lend-a-hand, the Go Lean roadmap advocates that population leveling can be accomplished with a regional integration. There are many social safety nets that depend of this actuarial exercise. Consider unemployment and pensions: for unemployment, workers pay into a fund and the temporarily unemployed file claims against that fund. Likewise with pensions: young workers pay into a fund, and the older-retired workers draw claims against that fund.

The CU is structured to lead … for the economic elevation of the region of 42 million people in the 30 member-states. The Go Lean roadmap provides the details for the creation of 2.2 million new jobs and GDP growth to accumulate to $800 Billion. This commission to lead is at the root of the Go Lean effort, embedded in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 13):

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.

According to the foregoing article, America needs to have more babies. While this disposition varies from country to country, the Caribbean needs to furnish the environment for families to make their own family-planning decisions based on their own personal motivations, not economic realities. Broken economies can (and will) be fixed! Love for the Caribbean homeland should therefore be the primary motivation for the CU effort. From the cradle-to-the-grave, we need love to be the principal motivation, not fear or economic metrics, for making the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play.

Taking the lead for this goal takes real work, heavy-lifting on the part of the stewards of the Caribbean economy. This is the charter for the CU, as started in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 13), a direct quotation from the US Declaration of Independence, as follows:

… that to secure these rights (life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness), governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. … [It] is the right of the people to … institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

The following details from the book Go Lean … Caribbean are the community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies prescribed to manifest the elevation of Caribbean economy, society and life:

Who We Are – SFE Foundation	Page 8
Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – new Economic Principles	Page 21
Community Ethos – new Security Principles	Page 22
Community Ethos – new Governing Principles	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Repatriating Caribbean Diaspora	Page 47
Strategy – Non-Government Organizations	Page 48
Strategy – Agents of Change – Aging Diaspora	Page 57
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Implementation – Assemble all Member-States	Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate	Page 118
Planning – Lessons Learned from 2008	Page 136
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Empowering Immigration	Page 174
Advocacy – Impact the Diaspora	Page 217
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Retirement	Page 221
Advocacy – Ways to Help the Middle Class	Page 223
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Elder-Care	Page 225

The Go Lean roadmap is a product of 2008. From this fallout, this plan was composed, by individuals intimate with the details of the crisis … and its causes.

The goal is to learn from the Year 2008 and spread new benefits across the Caribbean region. This roadmap identifies where we are as a region currently, where we want to go, and most importantly, how we plan to get there (turn-by-turn directions). It is time for us to move now to that place, that corner of opportunity and preparation.

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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*************** a. Appendix – Howard A. Tullman:

Appendix – Bibliography Contributions Retrieved May 28, 2014 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Maya_Angelou_works

Autobiographies

Personal essays

Cookbooks

Children’s books

Plays

Filmography Contributions – Retrieved May 28, 2014 from: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0029723/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

***********
a. Appendix – Howard A. Tullman:

Appendix – Bibliography
Contributions Retrieved May 28, 2014 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Maya_Angelou_works

Filmography
Contributions – Retrieved May 28, 2014 from: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0029723/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1