Model – Page 34 – Go Lean…Caribbean

Tag: Model

State of the Union: Self-Interest of ‘Americana’

Posted on July 20, 2017 in Government, Implementation, Locations

Go Lean Commentary

Question: “Where does an 800-pound gorilla sleep? Answer: Anywhere he wants!”

The United States of America is the “800-pound gorilla” or the BIG DOG of the Western Hemisphere; (in fact, the US is the last Super Power in the world).

There are two US Territories in our Caribbean: Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
The US is the Number 1 Single Market economy in the world
The US is the Number 1 military (in terms of troop size, armament and defense spending).
The US is also the Number 1 destination for the Caribbean Diaspora.

We cannot avoid the influence of the American system – Americana – on our Caribbean region…

“Resistance is futile!”

As the 800-pound gorilla, the US can “sleep wherever it wants” and take whatever it wants. They can … and do. Despite the appearance of benevolence and the “rule of law”, the US does at times emerge as a “Bad Actor”. They may at times use their influence and domination of the hemisphere to effectuate policies not always in the Caribbean’s best interest. The influence of Americana affects different aspects of Caribbean society; it affects our …

Economics – with the domination of US dollar
Security dynamics – with the reality of Pax Americana
Governance – the President of the US is considered the Leader of the Free World.

This theme aligns with the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean, where the assertion is that while America is dominant in the hemisphere, we must fight-resist to not be parasites of this BIG DOG American host; rather we must strive to be protégés. The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). As a protégé, our quest is not to be America; our goal is to be better!

How?

First we start by recognizing our status quo-disposition and then to recognize American motivation and influences. This – completing our assessment – is an important first step in reforming and transforming our regional society. This is commentary 5 of 5 from the movement behind the Go Lean book on the subject of the State of the Caribbean Union. Our dire disposition has been assessed in the Go Lean book and many technocratic solutions provided there-in. The full entries of all the blog-commentaries in this series is as follows:

State of the Caribbean Union – Lacking Hope and Change
State of the Caribbean Union – Dysfunctional Spanish Caribbean
State of the Caribbean Union – Deficient Westminster States
State of the Caribbean Union – Unstable Volcano States
State of the Caribbean Union – Self-Interest of Americana

The Caribbean has a universal problem with every member-state throughout the region; there is a propensity for our people – especially the youth – to leave the Caribbean homeland; they abandon their ancestral countries and flee to foreign shores; the Number 1 destination is the US. As related in the first submission in this blog-commentary series, the young people in the region need the vision of “something better” or Hope and Change in order to be inspired to participate in the future of their homeland. We cannot have a future without these young people, so these solutions – strategies, tactics and implementations – are not optional.

These commentaries draw reference to the Go Lean book, as it details the quest to transform the Caribbean; it features a how-to guide and roadmap for elevating the region to be an American protégé rather than a parasite; so as to optimize our societal engines for economics, security and governance. But there are stakeholders in the Caribbean that would like to be more independent and agnostic of the American influence – consider the current Venezuela crisis and the response of the St. Vincent Prime Minister wanting full autonomy separate from the US. This is wishful … and ignorant of history – “those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. This was the case of …

France’s intrusion into Mexico in 1862
Soviet Union intrusion into Cuba in 1961

Despite the passage of time, the US will not compromise on being the only BIG DOG-Alpha Male in this hemisphere. This is referred to as the Monroe Doctrine. See more here:

Reference Title – Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine was a United States policy of opposing European colonialism in The Americas beginning in 1823. It stated that further efforts by European nations to take control of any independent state in North or South America would be viewed as “the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States.”^[1] At the same time, the doctrine noted that the U.S. would recognize and not interfere with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal concerns of European countries. The Doctrine was issued in 1823 at a time when nearly all Latin American colonies of Spain and Portugal had achieved or were at the point of gaining independence from the Portuguese and Spanish Empires.

President James Monroe first stated the doctrine during his seventh annual State of the Union Address to Congress. The term “Monroe Doctrine” itself was coined in 1850.^[2] By the end of the 19th century, Monroe’s declaration was seen as a defining moment in the foreign policy of the United States and one of its longest-standing tenets. It would be invoked by many U.S. statesmen and several U.S. presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan. The intent and impact of the Monroe Doctrine persisted with only minor variations for more than a century. Its stated objective was to free the newly independent colonies of Latin America from European intervention and avoid situations which could make the New World a battleground for the Old World powers, so that the U.S. could exert its own influence undisturbed. The doctrine asserted that the New World and the Old World were to remain distinctly separate spheres of influence, for they were composed of entirely separate and independent nations.^[3]

After 1898, Latin American lawyers and intellectuals reinterpreted the Monroe doctrine in terms of multilateralism and non-intervention. In 1933, under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the U.S. went along with the new reinterpretation, especially in terms of the Organization of American States.^[4]

Source: Retrieved July 19, 2017 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroe_Doctrine

——

Reference Title – Organization of American States
The Organization of American States (Spanish: Organización de los Estados Americanos, Portuguese: Organização dos Estados Americanos, French: Organisation des États américains), or the OAS or OEA, is a continental organization founded on 30 April 1948, for the purposes of regional solidarity and cooperation among its member states. Headquartered in the US Capital of] Washington, D.C.,^[1] the OAS’s members are the 35 independent states of the Americas.

As of 26 May 2015, the Secretary General of OAS is Luis Almagro.^[2]

The member-states are as follows:

Antigua Argentina Bahamas Barbados Belize

Bolivia Brazil Canada Chile Colombia

Costa Rica Cuba (Suspended) Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador

El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Guyana Haiti

Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama

Paraguay Peru St. Kitts St. Lucia St. Vincent

Suriname Trinidad United States Uruguay Venezuela (Withdrew)

Source: Retrieved July 19, 2017 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_of_American_States

As depicted in the foregoing, the Monroe Doctrine is alive and well. Today, it is expressed through the American tutelage for the modern expression of multilateralism with the “Organization of the American States” (OAS). Since the purpose of the OAS is regional solidarity and cooperation, it automatically assumes a defensive posture. There is no active cross-border war in the Americas at this time; (there was only a Civil War / Domestic Terrorism campaign in Colombia). The US is using its BIG DOG status to force international peace in this hemisphere. This exercise of the American security mandates is casually referred to as “Pax Americana”.

But, the reality of living in the shadows of America means that we have to be aware of American self-interest and what it means to our hemispheric community – Resistance is Futile. Scanning the landscape of the region’s economic, security and governing engines, we see these obvious expressions of American self-interest … conveyed in previous blog-commentaries:

Economics

According to the Go Lean book, the CU is designed to be a technocratic intergovernmental entity that shepherds the Caribbean region’s economic interest. As the “800-pound gorilla” in the hemisphere, the evidence of American self-interest cannot be ignored. Notice the samples-examples in these scenarios:

Jones Act – Law designed to ensure profits for American shipping interests
Concussions in Sports – Ignored because of the BIG money interest
Abusing the Poor trying to get an education – Lower Ed!
Abusing Sick people in need of medical care – Book Review: An American Sickness
Caribbean currency standard based on US dollar – so we get punished for Americas mistakes
Crony-Capitalism with Drug Patents
Unrealistic High Cost of Cancer Drugs – Despite Cuba’s cheaper deliveries.
A Lesson in History – Panama tried to move away from US Dollars to their own Balboa Currency – FAIL!
For-profit Educational Institutions: Plenty of Profit; Little Education
Education Textbook Pricing-gouging
Companies move Operations Overseas to Lower Payroll

Security

Depending on Pax Americana means ignoring many security best practices in the region. The US works to ensure security on their homeland, while ignoring the Caribbean. See how this thesis is presented in these sample blog-commentaries here:

Managing the Strong Versus the Weak – A Series
American Meteorologists Ignoring Climate Change
Sum of All Fears – America’s Enemies targeting the Caribbean
Military Industrial Complex – Big Defense: Peace is bad for business
Corrupting a Good Idea for Red Light Traffic cameras
Prison Industrial Complex – Prisoners for Profit
Depending on the US for Caribbean Security – FAIL!

Governance

There are a lot of expressions of American governance that is evident that American self-interest overrides common sense and the Greater Good. Consider these samples-examples:

The US President ignoring the Climate Change Abatement needs of the Caribbean – Leader of the Free World? FAIL!
American Charities fleecing Caribbean causes – Waiting for the American Red Cross’s $500 million collected. FAIL!
Corrupted governance at the State/Municipal level
Corporate Welfare that Builds Private Stadiums at Public Expense
‘Merchants of Doubt’ Undermining Climate Change Reform
Big Salt: Short-term Benefit; Long-term Damage
Health-care fraud in America; criminals take $272 billion a year
Conservative heavyweights have solar industry in their sights to undermine
US Territory Puerto Rico had to file bankruptcy for relief.
The Divide – ‘American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap’

———-

The movement behind the Go Lean book wants to help reform and transform the Caribbean. But we recognize that there will be no chance for success in the Caribbean region if our efforts go against American economic/security/foreign-policy interest.

The Go Lean/CU roadmap employs a tactic of a “Separation-of-Powers between CU federal agencies and Caribbean member-state governments”; so the limitations of national laws in a member-state does not have to override the CU. The CU constitution would apply to the installation of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) and Self-Governing Entities (SGE) that operate in controlled bordered territories like campuses, industrial parks, research labs and industrial plants. Lastly, there is the power of “peer pressure” where progress by one Caribbean state would incline others to follow suit. In total, the Go Lean/CU roadmap will employ strategies, tactics and implementations to impact its prime directives; identified with the following 3 statements:

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

The Go Lean roadmap seeks to prepare the Caribbean region to be a protégé of Americana, not a parasite. While this is easier said than done, it is conceivable, believable and achievable. This quest, optimizing the entire Caribbean economic/security/governance eco-system, was the motivation of the Go Lean movement. This vision is defined early in the book (Page 12) in the following pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence:

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

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

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

The Go Lean book posits that dysfunctional Caribbean communities can be reformed and transformed if they adopt the community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies as depicted in the Go Lean roadmap. The book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” so as to turnaround the societal engines of Caribbean society. For one, the recommendation is to reform and transform Caribbean foreign-policy – i.e. 10 Foreign Policy Initiatives at Start-up on Page 102 of the book. – from parasite to protégé.

The Caribbean can succeed in our efforts to improve our dependence of Americana. Consider this sample of previous blog-commentaries that delve into aspects of transforming the Caribbean region to a protégé status, away from a parasite status:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11759	Understand the Market, Plan the … Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10216	Waging A Successful War Against Societal Defects – A Series
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10043	Integration Plan for Greater Caribbean Prosperity
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9595	Vision and Values for a ‘New’ Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7646	Going from ‘Good to Great’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7628	‘A Change Is Gonna Come’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6993	Forging Change: ‘Something to Lose’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1596	Transforming to where we can ‘Prosper where Planted’

This commentary completes the 5-part series on the subject of the State of the Caribbean Union, (notwithstanding future sequels). Our region is really hurting! We are near-Failed-State status now. Our societal defects abound, whether we are among the big islands (Cuba, D.R. and/or P.R.) with the big populations, or whether we are among the small volcano islands, waiting for the next eruption. All in all, the Caribbean status quo is not successful and what little societal cohesion we have cannot be sustained, alone … for long. We must act now and seek refuge, but that refuge is not Americana, as our Caribbean interest is not American interest. 🙁

The reality of Americana is that “there will always be winners and losers” … in their society.

This sounds so familiar! This was the lyrics of the Rock-n-Roll song – Pink Houses – by John Cougar Mellancamp, where he scorched the hypocrisy of the American eco-system – see VIDEO and Song Lyrics in the Appendices below; with this sample here:

And there’s winners and there’s losers
But they ain’t no big deal
‘Cause the simple man, baby
Pays for thrills
The bills the pills that kill

American self-interest dictates making the winners from some American special interest groups, at the expense of the Greater Good. It is hard for the winners to be foreigners, or the Black-and-Brown of the Caribbean. No, the American “game is rigged”; the winners represent the Crony-Capitalists in American society. In the Caribbean, we can … and must do better. We urge all Caribbean stakeholders – governments, citizens, residents and Diaspora – and all those who love the Caribbean region to lean-in to this vision described within this Go Lean roadmap.

The vision for a new Caribbean is one that is not a parasite of the US; but rather a protégé!

Yes, we can … stand tall and make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

————-

Appendix VIDEO – John Mellencamp – Pink Houses – https://youtu.be/qOfkpu6749w

Category: Music
License: Standard YouTube License

————-

Appendix – John Mellencamp – “Pink Houses” Lyrics

There’s a black man with a black cat
Livin’ in a black neighborhood
He’s got an interstate
Runnin’ through his front yard
You know he thinks that he’s got it so good
And there’s a woman in the kitchen
Cleanin’ up the evenin’ slop
And he looks at her and says, hey darlin’
I can remember when you could stop a clock

CHORUS:
Oh, but ain’t that America
For you and me
Ain’t that America
Something to see, baby
Ain’t that America
Home of the free, yeah
Little pink houses
For you and me
Oooh, yeah
For you and me

Well, there’s a young man in a t-shirt
Listenin’ to a rockin’ rollin’ station
He’s got greasy hair, greasy smile
He says, Lord this must be my destination
‘Cause they told me when I was younger
Said boy, you’re gonna be president
But just like everything else
Those old crazy dreams
Just kinda came and went

[CHORUS]

[Instrumental Interlude]

Well, there’s people and more people
What do they know, know, know
Go to work in some high rise
And vacation down at the Gulf of Mexico
Ooh, yeah
And there’s winners and there’s losers
But they ain’t no big deal
‘Cause the simple man, baby
Pays for thrills
The bills the pills that kill

[CHORUS]
Ooooh, yeah…

Source: Retrieved July 19, 2019 from: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/johnmellencamp/pinkhouses.html

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Foreign Policy, Model, Security, Transform

State of the Union: Deficient ‘Westminster System’

Posted on July 15, 2017 in Government, Locations, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

The issue of governance is very important to understanding the State of the Caribbean Union. In many countries, governance is just one of the factors that dictate success or failure for homeland’s societal engines. But in the Caribbean, it is “#1 … with a Bullet”. The government is normally the largest employer, largest educator, largest infrastructure builder and the only security option.

Good governance = Good societal progress
Poor governance = Failed-State

The most common form of governance in all of the Caribbean is the Westminster System. This is due to the many British legacies among the member-states (18 of 30 feature a British constitutional heritage, only Guyana has reformed). See details of Westminster here:

Title: Westminster System

The Westminster system is a parliamentary system of government modelled after that which developed in the United Kingdom. This term comes from the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the British parliament. The system is a series of procedures for operating a legislature. It is used, or was once used, in the national legislatures and subnational legislatures of most former British Empire colonies upon gaining responsible government,^[1][2] beginning with the first of the Canadian provinces in 1848 and the six Australian colonies between 1855 and 1890.^[3][4][5] However, some former colonies have since adopted either the presidential system (Nigeria for example) or a hybrid system (like South Africa) as their form of government.

Characteristics
A Westminster system of government may include some of the following features:

A sovereign or head of state who functions as the nominal or legal and constitutional holder of executive power, and holds numerous reserve powers, but whose daily duties mainly consist of performing ceremonial functions. Examples include Queen Elizabeth II, the governors-general in Commonwealth realms, or the presidents of many countries, and state or provincial governors in federal systems. Exceptions to this are Ireland and Israel, whose presidents are de jure and de facto ceremonial, and the latter possesses no reserve powers whatsoever.

A head of government (or head of the executive), known as the prime minister (PM), premier, or first minister. While the head of state appoints the head of government, constitutional convention suggests that a majority of elected Members of Parliament must support the person appointed.^[6] If more than half of elected parliamentarians belong to the same political party, then the parliamentary leader of that party typically is appointed.^[6] An exception to this was Israel, in which direct prime-ministerial elections were made in 1996, 1999 and 2001.

An executive branch led by the head of government usually made up of members of the legislature with the senior members of the executive in a cabinet adhering to the principle of cabinet collective responsibility; such members execute executive authority on behalf of the nominal or theoretical executive authority.

An independent, non-partisan civil service which advises on, and implements, decisions of those ministers. Civil servants hold permanent appointments and can expect merit-based selection processes and continuity of employment when governments change.^[7]

A parliamentary opposition (in a multi-party system) with an official Leader of the Opposition.

A legislature, often bicameral, with at least one elected house – although unicameral systems also exist; legislative members are usually elected by district in first-past-the-post elections (as opposed to country-wide proportional representation). Exceptions to this include New Zealand, which changed in 1993 to use mixed-member proportional representation; Israel, which has always used country wide proportional representation; and Australia, which uses preferential voting.

A lower house of parliament with an ability to dismiss a government by “withholding (or blocking) Supply” (rejecting a budget), passing a motion of no confidence, or defeating a confidence motion. The Westminster system enables a government to be defeated or forced into a general election independently.

A parliament which can be dissolved and snap elections called at any time.

Parliamentary privilege, which allows the legislature to discuss any issue it deems relevant, without fear of consequences stemming from defamatory statements or records thereof

Minutes of meetings, often known as Hansard, including an ability for the legislature to strike discussion from these minutes

The ability of courts to address silence or ambiguity in the parliament’s statutory law through the development of common law. Another parallel system of legal principles also exists known as equity. Exceptions to this include India, Quebec in Canada, and Scotland in the UK amongst others which mix common law with other legal systems.

Most of the procedures of the Westminster system originated with the conventions, practices, and precedents of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which form a part of what is known as the Constitution of the United Kingdom. Unlike the uncodified British constitution, most countries that use the Westminster system have codified the system, at least in part, in a written constitution.

However, uncodified conventions, practices, and precedents continue to play a significant role in most countries, as many constitutions do not specify important elements of procedure: for example, some older constitutions using the Westminster system do not mention the existence of the cabinet or the prime minister, because these offices were taken for granted by the authors of these constitutions. Sometimes these conventions, reserve powers, and other influences collide in times of crisis and in such times the weaknesses of the unwritten aspects of the Westminster system, as well as the strengths of the Westminster system’s flexibility, are put to the test. As an illustrative example, in the Australian constitutional crises of 1975 the Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, dismissed Prime Minister Gough Whitlam on his own reserve-power authority and replaced him with opposition leader Malcolm Fraser.

Operation
The pattern of executive functions within a Westminster System is quite complex. In essence, the head of state, usually a monarch or president, is a ceremonial figurehead who is the theoretical, nominal or de jure source of executive power within the system. In practice, such a figure does not actively exercise executive powers, even though executive authority may be exercised in their name.

The head of government, usually called the Prime minister or Premier, will ideally have the support of a majority in the responsible house, and must in any case be able to ensure the existence of no absolute majority against the government. If the parliament passes a resolution of no confidence, or refuses to pass an important bill such as the budget, then the government must either resign so that a different government can be appointed or seek a parliamentary dissolution so that new general elections may be held in order to re-confirm or deny the government’s mandate.

Executive authority within a Westminster System is essentially exercised by the Cabinet, along with more junior ministers, although the head of government usually has the dominant role within the ministry. In the United Kingdom, the sovereign theoretically holds executive authority, even though the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Cabinet effectively implement executive powers. In a parliamentary republic like India, the President is the de jure executive, even though executive powers are essentially instituted by the Prime Minister of India and the Council of Ministers. In Israel, however, executive power is vested de jure and de facto in the cabinet, and the President of Israel is de jure and de facto a ceremonial figurehead.

As an example, the Prime Minister and Cabinet (as the de facto executive body in the system) generally must seek the permission of the head of state when carrying out executive functions. If, for instance the British Prime Minister wished to dissolve parliament in order for a general election to take place, the Prime Minister is constitutionally bound to request permission from the sovereign in order to attain such a wish. This power (along with others such as appointing ministers in the government, appointing diplomats, declaring war, and signing treaties, for example) is known as the Royal Prerogative, which in modern times is exercised by the sovereign solely on the advice of the Prime Minister. Since the British sovereign is a constitutional monarch, he or she abides by the advice of his or her ministers, except when executing reserve powers in times of crisis.

This custom also occurs in other Westminster Systems in the world, in consequence from the influence of British colonial rule. In Commonwealth realms such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the Prime Minister is obligated to seek permission from the Governor-General when implementing executive decisions, in a manner similar to the British practice. An analogous scenario also exists in Commonwealth republics, such as India or Trinidad and Tobago, where there is a President, though not in Israel or Japan, where the respective pri me ministers have the full legal power to implement executive decisions, and presidential (in Israel) or imperial (in Japan) approval is not required.

The head of state will often hold meetings with the head of government and cabinet, as a means of keeping abreast of governmental policy and as a means of advising, consulting and warning ministers in their actions. Such a practice takes place in the United Kingdom and India. In the UK, the sovereign holds confidential weekly meetings with the Prime Minister to discuss governmental policy and to offer her opinions and advice on issues of the day. In India, the Prime Minister is constitutionally bound to hold regular sessions with the President, in a similar manner to the aforementioned British practice. In essence, the head of state, as the theoretical executive authority, “reigns but does not rule”. This phrase means that the head of state’s role in government is generally ceremonial and as a result does not directly institute executive powers. The reserve powers of the head of state are sufficient to ensure compliance with some of their wishes. However, the extent of such powers varies from one country to another and is often a matter of controversy.

Such an executive arrangement first emerged in the United Kingdom. Historically, the British sovereign held and directly exercised all executive authority. George I of Great Britain (reigned 1714 to 1727) was the first British monarch to delegate some executive powers to a Prime Minister and a cabinet of the ministers, largely because he was also the monarch of Hanover in Germany and did not speak English fluently. Over time, arrangement continued to exercise executive authority on the sovereign’s behalf. Such a concept was reinforced in The English Constitution (1876) by Walter Bagehot, who emphasised the “dignified” and “efficient” aspects of government. In this sense Bagehot was stating that the sovereign should be a focal point for the nation, while the PM and cabinet actually undertook executive decisions.

There are important rules and responsibilities associated with the “Role of the head of state”

Role of the head of state

Cabinet government

Bicameral and unicameral parliaments

…

Source: Retrieved July 14, 2017 from Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster_system

Westminster is good … sometimes, but Westminster is mostly bad!

Westminster does not allow for the needed responsiveness; it does not feature a direct election of the Head of Government by the general population; but rather, it includes electing Members of Parliament (MP) from individual districts, and then the MP’s elect their leader. The party leader with the majority in Parliament is appointed Prime Minister, Premier, First or Chief Minister – First Among Equals; see Appendix A. This means less accountability and responsiveness to the citizens not in the constituency of the MP that is selected as Prime Minister.

Under this Westminster scheme, since this Head of Government is NOT elected by the majority of population, this one can be susceptible to a minority group – his/her constituents – over the Greater Good. Plus, this Head of Government can also reign in more than one branch of government. This one is the leader of the party with the majority of seats in Parliament, so this means that he/she leads the legislature; he/she forms the Cabinet, so he leads the Executive Branch. This leader holds sway on the candidates for the party and the selections of the elected ministers to the Cabinet. Lastly, this one appoints the Judges, so he/she wields power over the judiciary as well. The ideal separation-of-powers between government branches is deficient, defective and thus embeds failure on the countries societal engines.

Absolute power …

It is the assessment for the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean that Westminster is dysfunctional … for the accountability and responsiveness for administering the Caribbean homeland. As a result of the deficiencies of Westminster, many countries have evolved and reformed their governance; they have abandoned Westminster; see list in Appendix B.

On the other hand, it is the assessment of this movement that since the Westminster System allows the concentration of power to only one person, the Prime Minister, it is easier to reform and transform a country. There is only the need to reach (influence, lobby and persuade) that one person. It is therefore easier for change and empowerment to take place, but still we recommend the member-states of the Caribbean region reform, transform and conform … to a new standard of governance.

This subject of governing systems is analyzed in the book Go Lean…Caribbean. This book provides an assessment of the Caribbean today, drawing reference to its historic past. From the origins of colonialism, the region traversed the historic curves of social revolution and evolution. The Go Lean book – available to download for free – serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap endorses a system of better governance, 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 ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a true separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

The book stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):

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

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

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

This commentary is 3 of 5 in an occasional series on the State of the Caribbean Union. Surely, a malfunctioning state of governance throughout the entire region must have some common traits. These have been assessed in the Go Lean book and the technocratic solutions provided there-in. The full entries of all the blog-commentaries in this series are as follows:

State of the Caribbean Union – Lacking Hope and Change
State of the Caribbean Union – Dysfunctional Spanish Caribbean
State of the Caribbean Union – Deficient Westminster System
State of the Caribbean Union – Unstable Volcano States
State of the Caribbean Union – Self-Interest of Americana

As related in the first submission in this series, the young people in the region need the vision of “something better” or Hope and Change in order to be inspired to participate in the future of this homeland. We cannot have a future without these young people, so these solutions – strategies, tactics and implementations – are not optional.

Hope for the future! This is a consistent theme from the Go Lean movement. Consider these previous blog-commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11759	Understand the Market, Plan the …
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10629	Stay Home! A Series on Why and How to Keep Our Youth Home
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10554	State of French Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7198	State of the Caribbean Union
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4263	State of Aruba and Dutch Caribbean’s Economy
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1634	Chasing Youth Culture and Getting It Right

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society. For one, the recommendation is to reform and transform Caribbean governance, to evolve from the dysfunctions of Westminster and adapt a more enlightened Strong Executive (Presidential) structure (Page 72).

See the contrast portrayed here in this related VIDEO:

VIDEO – Parliamentary vs. Presidential Democracy Explained – https://youtu.be/4quK60FUvkY

Published on May 7, 2015 – The two main systems of democratic government, Presidential vs. Parliamentary, explained.
Free audiobook: http://www.audibletrial.com/TheDailyC…
Subscribe to The Daily Conversation: https://www.youtube.com/TheDailyConve…

At one point, the US used a version of Westminster – during the bad old days of the United States of America under the Articles of Confederation (1781–1789) – but this country evolved … and now feature one of the most responsive and accountable forms on government on the planet. In addition to the US, there are many other countries – consider Appendix B – that have evolved; some have rebooted and some have adapted a hybrid system of Westminster and the Presidential system.

In the Caribbean, we can do better! We do not have to be America; we can be better!

There is an aspect of the Westminster System that is embedded in the Go Lean roadmap, where the separation-of-powers provision parallels to the “Reserve Powers” of Westminster. These “Reserve Powers” ensure compliance with the tenants of state constitutions and treaties. These powers allow the CU to serve as a deputized entity for member-state governance; consider the justice scenarios requiring Commissions of Inquiries.

Yes, it is possible to reform and transform the Caribbean member-states that employ the deficient Westminster System. We can do better; we can make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

———–

Appendix A – First Among Equals

The status of the Prime Minister has been described as primus inter pares: Latin for “first among equals.” This concept defines not only the prime minister’s relationship with Cabinet, but also, in a sense, his or her relationship with the public in our modern democratic society. Drawing on a wide variety of documents and artifacts, this site explores five main themes (see the menu at left) relating to Canada’s prime ministers. The site examines our leaders’ political careers as well as their private lives. It also sheds light on Canadians’ perceptions of our prime ministers.

From Macdonald to Harper, our political leaders are twenty-two individuals who have made a difference, shaping Canada’s identity, sometimes in profound ways.

Source: Retrieved July 15, 2017 from: https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/primeministers/index-e.html

———–

Appendix B – Countries That Abandoned Westminster

The Westminster system was adopted by a number of countries which subsequently evolved or reformed their system of government departing from the original model. In some cases, certain aspects of the Westminster system were retained or codified in their constitutions. For instance South Africa and Botswana, unlike Commonwealth realms or parliamentary republics such as India, have a combined head of state and head of government but the President remains responsible to the lower house of parliament; it elects the President at the beginning of a new Parliament, or when there is a vacancy in the office, or when the sitting President is defeated on a vote of confidence. If the Parliament cannot elect a new President within a short period of time (a week to a month) the lower house is dissolved and new elections are called.

The Union of South Africa between 1910 and 1961, and the Republic of South Africa between 1961 and 1984. The 1983 constitution abolished the Westminster system in South Africa.
Newfoundland gave up self-government in 1934 and reverted to direct rule from London. Use of the Westminster system resumed in 1949 when Newfoundlandbecame a province of Canada.
Rhodesia between 1965 and 1979, and Zimbabwe between 1980 and 1987. The 1987 constitution abolished the Westminster system.
Nigeria following the end of British colonial rule in 1960, which resulted in the appointment of a Governor-General and then a President, Nnamdi Azikiwe. The system ended with the military coup of 1966.
Ceylon between 1948 and 1972, and Sri Lanka from 1972 until 1978 when the constitution was remodelled into an Executive presidential system.
Burma following independence in 1948 until the 1962 military coup d’état.
Ghana between 1957 and 1960.
Tanganyika between 1961 and 1962.
Sierra Leone between 1961 and 1971.
Uganda between 1962 and 1963.
Kenya between 1963 and 1964.
Malawi between 1964 and 1966.
The Gambia between 1965 and 1970.
Guyana between 1966 and 1980.
Fiji between 1970 and 1987.
Japan between 1890 and 1947, under the Meiji Constitution the Diet of Japan was a bicameral legislature modelled after both the German Reichstag and the Westminster system.^[11] Influence from the Westminster system remained in Japan’s Postwar Constitution.^[12][13][14]

Source: Retrieved July 14, 2017 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster_system#Former_countries

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Canada @ 150 – Happy Canada Day – Encore

Posted on July 1, 2017 in Social, Strategy

It’s July 1, Happy Canada Day.

150 years ago today, Canada – as a confederated country – got its start!

Canada Day (French: Fête du Canada) is the national day of Canada. A federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of the July 1, 1867, enactment of the Constitution Act, 1867 (then called the British North America Act, 1867), which united the three separate colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick into a single Dominion within the British Empire called Canada.^[1]^[2]^[3] Originally called Dominion Day (French: Le Jour de la Confédération), the holiday was renamed in 1982, the year the Canada Act was passed. Canada Day celebrations take place throughout the country, as well as in various locations around the world, attended by Canadians living abroad. – Source: Wikipedia.

VIDEO – Happy Canada Day 150 Years 1867- 2017 – https://youtu.be/PPF9WQ7xRXw

Published on Jun 30, 2017 – Retrieved July 1, 2017 – Happy Canada Day 150

There are many Caribbean people in Canada; it is the Number 3 destination for our Diaspora (behind the US and the UK). So a celebration of Canada is relevant for this movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean; these ones are observing-reporting on the affairs of Canada, and its relevance to the Caribbean homeland. There are so many things we want from Canada, and so many things we do not want.

In fact, this was the actual title of a previous blog-commentary from October 14, 2016, encored here below.

=========

Go Lean Commentary – 10 Things We Want from Canada and 10 Things We Do Not Want

“The Caribbean is the greatest address in the world”…

… so argues the book Go Lean…Caribbean in it’s opening (Page 3). Yet, a large number of Caribbean people live abroad. They live in places like the US, Canada, the UK and Europe. This commentary is Part 2 of 4 in a series examining the destinations of the Caribbean Diaspora. The full series is as follows:

10 Things We Want from the US and 10 Things We Do Not Want
10 Things We Want from Canada and 10 Things We Do Not Want
10 Things We Want from the UK and 10 Things We Do Not Want
10 Things We Want from Europe and 10 Things We Do Not Want

So for Canada, we must ask the questions of our Diaspora there:

Why do they live in Canada and what can we learn from that experience?
What can we gather for the Pros and Cons of Canadian life?

There are “push and pull” reasons why Caribbean citizens have emigrated in the past – and continue to do so now – to places like Canada.

“In the 2006 census, 578,695 Canadians reported that they originated from the Caribbean, and the overwhelming majority of these people have immigrated to Canada since the 1970s. … the largest populations of Canadians of Caribbean origin were from Jamaica (231,110), followed by those from Haiti (102,430), Guyana (61,085) and Trinidad and Tobago (58,415).” – Historica Canada

To our chagrin, the extent of that societal abandonment is so acute that it is now at an atrocious 70% rate among the region’s college-educated classes. Yes, this is bad! The frank admission, in the Go Lean book, is that the Caribbean has societal defects … in the economic, security and governing engines of society.

In the course of these Go Lean blog-commentaries, we have looked inward and identified the defects of our society. Now we need to look at these refuge countries and glean the Good and Bad of those destinations. This can be considered a “competitive analysis” as the Caribbean region is competing with these foreign locales for the hopes and dreams of our young people. (See the full immersion of Caribbean culture in Toronto in the Appendix-VIDEO below).

Here is a laundry list of the Good and the Bad of Canada; and how the roadmap to elevate Caribbean society, the Go Lean book, describes how the lessons should be applied in the implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU):

Canadian Imports

*10 GOOD* Things We Want from Canada**		*10 BAD* Things We Don’t Want from Canada**
1	Free Market Economy Canada has always embraced Free Market capitalism; today, their brand is more Liberal Socialism than Conservative Republicanism. Many social programs are offered to Canadian residents as a result, so the government plays a BIG role in the lives of most citizens. The Go Lean roadmap promotes Free Market principles for the region’s industrial development. The structure of Self-Governing Entities allows for further Free Market expressions without local government constraints.	Massive Tax Burdens Many Canadians complain of high taxes. The governments defend the policy as necessary to support the many social programs (healthcare, subsidized college education, advanced infrastructure, etc). The Go Lean roadmap advocates deploying balanced tax schemes that mostly “skim off the top”. The CU will deploy systems to help member-state governments do better at collecting their tax revenues. Overall the Caribbean tax burden will increase, but only marginally.
2	Universal Healthcare Canada is a great example of successful healthcare for all of its citizens. They ensure that everyone has access and quality delivery. This minimizes the expensive repercussions of indigent care. The Go Lean* roadmap calls for schemes to mandate healthcare insurance for every adult. With the leverage across the 30 member-states and 42 million people, the wholesale cost could be reduced.*	Healthcare Egalitarianism The Canadian Health delivery is a Single Payer and not an insurance program. So everyone gets the same level of treatment. The realities of healthcare is that different people have different needs, so a “one size fits all” approach is not preferred. The Go Lean* roadmap advocates for a mandated insurance solution. The key is that every adult will be required to select some insurance plan, of their choosing.*
3	Weather – Cool Summers Climate Change is a reality. So the warm seasons in Canada now last longer, 8 months instead of 6 months. Summertime in Canadian cities is pleasant, without air-conditioning. The Go Lean* roadmap promotes better infrastructure for Caribbean cities, developing refrigeration utilities for urban areas. This will leverage energy costs for cooling.*	Weather – Cold Winters Canadian winters are not preferred, especially the months of January and February. The Caribbean Diaspora dread life there for those months. The Go Lean* roadmap details the invitation to Canadian senior citizens to be Snowbirds in the Caribbean for the whole season. The economic returns of this strategy are too appealing to ignore.*
4	Tourists There is a lot of competition for Canadian tourists; the Caribbean continues to make the case that its region is the best tourist destination in the world. The region wants to continue to appeal to Canadians of all demographic persuasions to come visit the islands for stay-overs (land-based hotels) and/or cruise ships. We want to forge vacation options and traffic for the upper, middle and lower classes of Canadian society.The CU forges plans, advocacies and re-boots to further enhance the Caribbean tourism product array.	Expatriate Workers During the early days of nation-building, many Canadians workers came to the English-speaking Caribbean to work jobs (teachers, nurses, bankers, etc.) that many locals could have done. This practice led to the ethos that “White” Canadians were “better” than local personnel. The Go Lean roadmap dictates a labor standard where local workers get priority for jobs, then regional citizens, then and only then foreign workers (like Canadians).The Single Market would have freedom of movement but with this labor-qualifying caveat.
5	Capital There is a long history of Canadian banks in the Caribbean region. (Think Scotiabank, Royal Bank of Canada, and the First Caribbean-CIBC (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce)). Despite recent losses for Canadian banks in the Caribbean region, there is still the need for these banks’ active participation in the region. The Go Lean* roadmap calls for strenuous oversight for the Caribbean Dollar (C$) and regional banks participating in transactions using this currency.*	Devalued Currency The Canadian dollar was 1-to-1 with the US dollar in the 1970’s. The currency has since been devalued, but only a little; between $.95 and $1.08. When a Caribbean financial transaction is executed in US dollars, a Canadian customer has to endure higher prices. The C$ is not designed to be pegged to the US dollar, rather a basket of foreign currencies including the Euro, British Pounds and Japanese Yen. So Canadians doing business in the Caribbean will not be as vulnerable to US$ fluctuations.

Canadian Imports (cont’d)

*10 GOOD* Things We Want from Canada**		*10 BAD* Things We Don’t Want from Canada**
6	Supportive Defense Canada is not a militarized state like their American neighbor, but they do feature a robust internationally respected Army, Navy, and Air Force in support of their homeland.The CU roadmap provide for a complete Homeland Security apparatus to defend the Caribbean region. In addition, there is a comprehensive Intelligence Gathering and Analysis functionality.	Deportees Canada repatriates Caribbean citizens guilty of criminality on Canadian soil. So these one become the concern for Caribbean authorities once deported.The Go Lean roadmap calls for proactive mitigations for “bad actors” that might bring a lawless ethos to the homeland. We seek a treaty with Canada for full intelligence sharing for those affiliated with organized crime (gangs) and low-level felons.
7	Foreign Aid Canada was one of the only foreign supporters for the defunct West Indies Federation; they have always shown our region “love”. Plus they always step up to aid the Caribbean in their “time of need” after natural disasters (earthquakes and hurricanes). But they prefer to help as a regional bloc rather than country by country.The CU/Go Lean roadmap is designed to process all foreign aid from Canada; from both the Canadian government and NGO’s.	Condition for Philanthropic Support Many Giving Organizations attach strings to their gifts. The burdens of compliance is so difficult that many times, public-private entities – think Red Cross – attach themselves to the gifts to ensure accountability. This adds an additional layer in administrative costs, and less funding goes to the beneficiaries.The CU envisions a federal agency for oversight of the NGO’s in the region. We must do the heavy-lifting ourselves, rather than submitting perils of “bad actors”.
8	‘First Nation’ Reconciliation Like other European settlers in the New World, Canada had a history of repression of the indigenous peoples, but this country has reconciled that bad history with many positive empowerments. The Go Lean* roadmap calls for formal reconciliation commissions to settle a lot of bad treatment in the past.*	Virtual Segregation Canada has the same history of racial divide as many other American Northern cities. While not a legal segregation, there is a de facto segregation with many ethnic migrants living in pockets. The CU proposes repatriation back to the Caribbean homeland. There is nothing like being home.
9	Bilingual Co-existence Canada is a bilingual society, with the majority French culture in Quebec Province. The English and French co-exist well and insist on bilingual media expressions. The Go Lean* roadmap calls for multilingual media and government communications. There is also the need for Minority Equalization for different language groups.*	Quebec Pull for French Caribbean Migrants Many French-speaking Caribbean people target Quebec as the destination for their emigration. In the 2006 Census, there were 102,430 people of Haitian descent living in Canada. The CU/Go Lean* roadmap calls for managing the country of Canada as a competitor for the hearts of our youth.*
10	Professional Sports Role Model Despite the regional domination of continental sports (baseball, football, basketball) by Americans, Canadians still dominate in their own rite – they are usually among the best hockey players in the world. They nurture the skills from youth participation up to the professional levels. The Go Lean roadmap calls for empowering the sports eco-system in the region, allowing for more opportunities for amateur, collegiate and professional participation. Other benefits of the regional focus will include better oversight of sports academies, agents and leagues.	Recruitment of Caribbean Athletes During the 2016 Rio Olympics, there were many Track and Field athletes representing Canada that were of Caribbean heritage. Canada extends a “welcome mat” to these ones, therefore encouraging more to naturalize and discouraging loyalty to the Caribbean homeland. The Go Lean roadmap seeks to reboot the Caribbean societal engines. This will lower the “push and pull” factors that cause citizens to flee to other countries and switch their allegiances. This will allow athletes to fully engage their professions without leaving home.

Canada has been a frequent topic for considerations from the Go Lean movement (book and blogs). The opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 14) recognized that there is value in considering the Good and Bad examples of Canada, with this statement:

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

The book specifically addresses Canada with these direct references of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocates:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification – Cold Weather Residents Must Wait Until Spring	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Minority Equalizations – Model of Canada’s Territories	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Strategy – Invite empowering immigrants – Like Canadians Snowbirds	Page 46
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Secretary of State – Trade Mission Offices	Page 80
Implementation – Reason to Repatriate – From Canada	Page 118
Planning – Lessons Learned from the previous West Indies Federation –Canada’s Support	Page 135
Planning – Lessons from Canada’s History	Page 146
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Diaspora – Toronto‘s Large Pocket	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Foundations – Many Canadians NGO’s	Page 219
Advocacy – Ways to Protect Human Rights	Page 220
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Elder-Care – Snowbirds Invitations	Page 225
Advocacy – Ways to Empower Women – Canada‘s great example	Page 226

In addition, previous Go Lean blog/commentaries addressed many issues in regards to Canada and the interactions of Caribbean people and Canada; see sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9179	First Day of Autumn – Time for Canadians to Head South
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6937	Canada’s Great Example of Women in Politics
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3694	Economic Help: Jamaica-Canada Employment Program
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3582	For Canadian Banks: Caribbean is a ‘Bad Bet’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1014	A Canadian’s View: ‘All is not well in the sunny Caribbean’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=732	Turks and Caicos Drama with Canadian Healthcare Contract
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=214	Canada: The Best Address/Destination … per this Bahamian

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the CU. Our scope is to impact the Caribbean’s economic, security and governing engines, not Canada’s. But we do hope to engage the Caribbean Diaspora living there.

There are Good lessons and Bad lessons that we can learned from Canada. So let’s pay more than the usual attention to these insights. Everyone is urged to lean-in to this Go Lean/CU roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation, to make our region a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———

Appendix VIDEO – Caribbean West Indian Street Food｜Toronto – https://youtu.be/8ECKojESpOs

Published on Jun 18, 2016 – If you never had West Indian/Trini/Caribbean food, you are seriously missing out. They might not be the healthiest foods out there but it is definitely hot and delicious. Their foods are pretty much like their people, warm and welcoming. I’ve had doubles once before and it made me realize what I have been missing out my entire life. The aloo pie with tamarind sauce gave me the exact same shiver. No fancy complexity, just simple west Indian food.

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Economy Doctor: ‘The Patient is Terminal’

Posted on June 29, 2017 in Economics, Government, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

If you need a new roof on your house – a traumatic event when it starts to rain – do you go to your doctor to do the work?

He might know something about roofing and he might be able to help; surely he can lift shingles up to the roof; spread hot tar; hammer in nails and tacks. As a homeowner, you may get some relief from the elements because of your new doctor-installed roof, but frankly, it is not best-practice. The service provided may not be the most efficient nor most effective.

A professional roofer may have better tools and techniques.

How about an economy?

Is there a professional for economic “roof jobs”? Yes, indeed! They are called Economists! Many times, they too are doctors; they may have a PhD in Economics.

A Doctor (Economist) in the Caribbean is looking at the regional economics as if a medical trauma and declaring:

The patient is “terminal” … dying, unless remediated in some way.

Welcome to the Caribbean 2017. This is the assessment: the Caribbean economy is moribund, due to defects in the region’s governing engines, with its mono-industrial service economy! See the full story of the Doctor’s assessment-diagnosis in the news article here:

Title: Saint Lucian Economist warns: “We are in trouble!”
Saint Lucian Economist, Doctor Adrian Augier, has sounded a grim warning that this country is in trouble economically.

Delivering a lecture on Tuesday to the 39th annual general meeting of the Elks Credit Union, Augier compared the national economy to an old farm that is under-fertilised, over exploited, ruined by bad farming and yielding smaller harvests every year.

He was speaking on the theme: “Time to Call a Spade – Why the Caribbean is digging its own economic grave.”

“ I want to frighten you; I want to shock you; I want to jolt you to the realization that we are in trouble – that you are in trouble along with your job, your family your savings your home and your sanity,” the Saint Lucian Economist told his audience at the National Cultural Centre.

He said he wanted to cause the kind of discomfort that prevents his listeners from sleeping at night and rise up, not only to demand that better be done to prevent development disaster, but to be part of a revolution in thought and action which causes this country to dramatically change its course.

“When I say the country I am not speaking about Mr. Chastanet or Doctor Antony, I am speaking of us – every one of us here who believes that the sun will rise tomorrow as it did today,” Augier said.

He disclosed that growth rates have been declining for the past three decades, with just a bit of growth in the past year or so.

“The world has changed and so must we,” Augier observed.

According to him, the return to normalcy will not be easy.

He said that many banks in the region have lent out money that was not theirs to people who cannot now pay.

Augier said they cannot pay not because they do not want to, but because jobs have disappeared, markets have shrunk and real property values have fallen.

He explained that in certain areas, crime and instability have diminished the value of properties.

Augier said the economic situation is not only true of Saint Lucia, but across the Caribbean as well.

“We have to look at these issues and not pretend that they are going to go away or suddenly improve because they are not,” the Economist said.

He noted that the social and economic structure of these Islands have changed.

“It is not only true of Saint Lucia but it is a problem across the Caribbean,” he told the Elks AGM.

Augier asserted that there are some things that can happen in the market such as a change of legislation so that banks and credit unions can dispose of assets.

By way of explanation, he spoke of a house with a mortgage that is not being serviced.

“You need to turn it over quickly, reduce the price, put it on the market and get it sold. That’s not nice when you have to put families out of their homes, but it’s your savings in the credit union underwriting the mortgage and if you don’t return the asset to the market you are going to hold an asset that is deteriorating,” Augier explained.

“We have to take some of the hard knocks and do what we have to do,” he declared, adding that banks have been unable to dump their bad loans which have stayed and corroded the balance sheets.

He explained that people save money in banks and credit unions in the hope of getting their investment back with some interest.

Augier, who is a Director of the First National Bank, said he is worried that the ability to bail out is dwindling.

“We wait and we hope and what is actually happening is that foreign interests are coming into the country and buying up things that we should be able to buy, investing in areas that we should be able to invest in,” he said.

According to him, it is a source of worry that Saint Lucia has a government apparatus designed to ‘help people to buy us out.’

“Foreign investment does not come here because they love us, foreign investment comes here because they see an opportunity which we cannot access or we have not begun to access or we are not positioned to access,” Augier observed.

He said the investors are looking for a return.

“If they are coming here to develop some brand new thing that we are not able to do for ourselves and they want to come in and help us do it or start it up with a possibility of Saint Lucians participating in that venture at some point in time, then that’s another matter,” Augier told his audience.

But the Saint Lucian Economist said when industries that are ‘exploitative’ are coming in to use unsustainable cheap labour and exploiting high unemployment by providing menial jobs, it is not good for this country.

Augier said there was need to contemplate what kind of investment is being encouraged here.
Source: Posted March 30, 2017; retrieved June 28, 2017 from: https://stluciatimes.com/2017/03/30/saint-lucian-economist-warns-trouble#comment-114747

The foregoing news article quotes an Economist – Dr. Adrian Augier – in St. Lucia; speaking of the sad state of affairs for that country and all of the Caribbean. This is not a unique assessment-diagnosis; other countries and states are also suffering economic trauma, dire consequences from dysfunctional economic and governing stewardship. Nor is this assessment only to be found in the Third World (developing countries). No, even the First World or advanced economies have this disposition. Take for example the US State of Kansas. We have a fitting example of economic trauma and dysfunction, brewing there …

Kansas, Sam Brownback, and the Trickle-Down Implosion

The Kansas governor’s attempt to create Supply-side nirvana in Middle America not only failed to grow the economy — it created a crippling crisis of government that led to a statewide rejection of his politics.

See the excerpt of the news article in the Appendix below or the full article here: http://prospect.org/article/kansas-sam-brownback-and-trickle-down-implosion-0. The summary of the article in the Appendix, is that the State of Kansas experimented with a Supply-side Economic Model and the end-result is traumatic. See these headlines here:

“Brownback’s Kansas has produced one of the worst-performing state economies in the country”.

“The severely imbalanced budget led Moody’s to downgrade Kansas’s bond rating; three months later, Standard & Poor’s followed suit.”

“The failure to restore pre-recession funding has disproportionately impacted urban school districts like Kansas City’s and Wichita’s.”

“Throughout all this, Brownback’s trickle-down obsessions have continued to play out.”

“Many moderate Republicans were fed up with Brownback’s intransigence and eager to get something done.”

Consider also the rendition of this Kansas trauma-drama in this AUDIO-PODCAST from NPR’s All Things Considered show:

AUDIO-Podcast – Kansas Lawmakers Reverse Governor’s Massive Tax Cuts – http://www.npr.org/2017/06/07/531945495/kansas-lawmakers-reverse-governors-massive-tax-cuts

Posted June 7, 2017 As Heard on All Things Considered – Kansas lawmakers charted a major change of course Tuesday night when it comes to tax policy. Both the House and Senate voted to override a veto from Gov. Sam Brownback and roll back many of the 2012 tax cuts that were a model for conservatives across the country.

So Economy Doctors have assessed-diagnosed these 2 dysfunctional communities – lessons abound. The Caribbean economy (‘patient’) is terminal … and the ‘patient’ that is the State of Kansas is terminal.

This Governor Sam Brownback is now a tarnished brand in American politics. At one time he was a “Star on the Rise” of the national stage, even running for President in 2008. But his now-failed experiment in Tickle-down economics has shifted his reputation from fiscal conservatism to fiscal irresponsibility. This trauma and drama in Kansas should be a cautionary tale for other government leaders in the US and in the Caribbean – economic engines must be optimized; continuation of failed economic policies should not be tolerated. When a patient is in trauma – dying – drastic measures must be taken or the patient dies. This is true for medical trauma and economic trauma. This is the lesson from Kansas and the caution from the Economist – Dr. Adrian Augier – in St. Lucia.

“The world has changed and so must we,” Augier observed.

There is the need for change! Drastic measures must be pursued to reform and transform Caribbean society. But these changes must be planned, implemented (based on best-practices), reviewed and measured against success metrics. This is the methodology of Plan, Do and Review urged in the book Go Lean…Caribbean (Page 147). The book – available to download for free – serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean economy – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

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

The mono-industrial service economy in the Caribbean and the failed Supply-side experiment in Kansas are 2 bad examples. But our scope for reforming communities is the Caribbean only!

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

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

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

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

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society. Our reform approach is not some Supply-side / Trickle-down experiment, whereby we exploit the working-classes to benefit the rich.

We can do better! We can deploy industrial solutions with no plutocratic abuses.

In response, the Go Lean roadmap presents a strategy of Self-Governing Entities (SGE’s). This scheme was fully detailed in the Go Lean book; see some headlines from this sample advocacy on Page 105:

10 Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities

1	Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market The CU treaty unifies the Caribbean region into one single market of 42 million people across 30 member-states, there-by empowering the economic engines in and on behalf of the region. Many times, these engines will be independent, self-governing entities (SGE) that are only physically located in a member state, but not administered by the states. SGE’s are necessary features of the CU roadmap, allowing for industrial parks, technology labs, medical campuses, agricultural ventures, airport cities (see Appendix IJ) and even the Capital District. All aspects of their administration are managed by the CU, including monetary issues managed by the Caribbean Central Bank-CCB.
2	CU Constitution; SGE’s Bylaws
3	Negotiate With Local Municipalities for Resources The need for local resources is what makes SGE’s such an economic engine. They may have to acquire their basic needs (food, clothing, shelter, energy) from trade with their neighbors. The spirit of negotiations should reflect a partnering relationship as opposed to adversarial, but SGE’s have rights to supply every need internally or from abroad. With free market conditions the norm, price and quality is the determination; the neighbors must compete.
4	Ease-ways When the SGE physical plant is land-locked, there is a need for an ease-way to convey utilities and supplies in and out. When member-states accede to the CU treaty, they in effect declare that they are ready, willing and able to accommodate the needs of SGE’s. The rights-duty duality is at play, but financial-jobs benefits will be worth the effort. Ease-ways must be inclusive to the municipal negotiations, and may include above-ground and subterranean (pipeline) options.
5	Technology & Infrastructure The nature of a SGE means monopolies outside the perimeter do not apply inside the perimeter. It is the choice of the SGE whether or not to avail some monopolistic utility or “go solo”. This applies to energy, telecoms, water-sewage, and logistical technologies (transportation, pipeline, pneumatic tubes, etc) as long as the good neighbor status remains.
6	Housing Options
7	Security and JusticeThe CU accedence grants authority for homeland security in the SGE’s to CU institutions. There are Rangers that have direct patrol duties; CariPol that has the investigation responsibility and District Attorneys for federal prosecutions.
8	EmergenciesThough the SGE tenant has near-sovereign rights, there are special provisions for CU intrusions, limited to declared emergencies. This declaration can come from responsible parties internal to the SGE (as simple as dialing 911, or exigent circumstances) or external declarations from federal court orders or CU constitutional officers.
9	Jurisdictional Liaisons with CU State Department
10	Measuring Results

The business models of SGE’s have been further elaborated upon in previous blog-commentaries. Consider this sample:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12148	Perfect SGE Application: Ship-breaking Model
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12146	Perfect SGE Application: Shipbuilding Model
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8379	Stewardship for Centers of Economic Activity
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5921	Socio-Economic Change: Impact Analysis of SGE’s
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2750	Disney World – Role Model for Self-Governing Entities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2338	Using SGE’s to Welcome the Dreaded ‘Plutocracy’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2003	Ship-breaking under SGE Structure
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1214	Fairgrounds as SGE and Landlords for Sports Leagues

SGE’s can bring new economic opportunities, and these opportunities must abound in the Caribbean … if we want to avert our terminal condition. The existing economic engines are not sustainable; the mono-industrial strategy – based on a service industry (i.e. tourism) – has led to a dying economy. Everyone is hereby urged to lean-in to this regional change.

The Go Lean roadmap advocates for a pluralistic democracy where all Caribbean stakeholders get a chance for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This is an American ideal, but we can learn lessons from their failure – as in Kansas – to execute on these principles. In a previous blog-commentary, the role model of Hammurabi was disclosed as a missing functionality in the New World. This is where the “weak is protected from abuse from the strong in society” – this is truly missing in Kansas.

The purpose of this roadmap is not to fix the defects in Kansas nor the America political system, but rather to reform and transform the Caribbean, without engaging any unjust schemes, like the Supply-side economics depicted in this commentary.

Yes, we can make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. Let’s do this! 🙂

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

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

————

Appendix – Article Except: Kansas , Sam Brownback, and the Trickle-Down Implosion

Sub-title: The Kansas governor’s attempt to create supply-side nirvana in Middle America not only failed to grow the economy — it created a crippling crisis of government that led to a statewide rejection of his politics.
By: Justin Miller

Near midnight on Tuesday, June 6, a number of Republicans in the Kansas legislature did something that few other elected Republicans had done in years: They acted responsibly. Joining with Democrats, they voted to roll back the huge tax cuts that Republican Governor Sam Brownback had inflicted on the state, which had devastated schools and other essential services while also depressing the state’s economy. But after five years of this exercise in trickle-down, the damage had been done.

THE ROBERT B. DOCKING State Office Building looms large amid the sparse downtown Topeka landscape. …

The decaying, hollowed-out building stands as a grim testament to the blunt-force trauma that Brownback’s 2012 tax cuts visited on his state, and to the ensuing budgetary crises that led lawmakers to cut government services to the bone.

For years, Brownback has called for Docking to be demolished rather than renovated. It’s an apt metaphor for his approach to government.

The state’s health-care system teeters on the verge of catastrophe, as Brownback’s privatization of state Medicaid services and further refusal to expand Medicaid has squeezed low-income Kansans and health-care providers alike. Dozens of struggling hospitals across the state are on the verge of closing. “We have to make decisions every day, on which bills to pay. I mean that literally,” one small-town hospital CEO says. Brownback’s decision to cut taxes rather than restore K–12 public education funding has strained both urban and rural school districts, compelling two districts to end the school year early. Meanwhile, he’s ushered in drastic cuts to social services and placed strict work requirements and other limits on welfare programs.

By last year, even Republicans in this heavily Republican state (which Donald Trump carried last November by 21.5 percentage points) had had it with their governor’s insistence on turning the SunflowerState into a Petri dish for radical conservative economics. A number of Republican candidates ousted Brownback supporters in legislative primaries, and this year they teamed up with the minority Democrats in the legislature (whose numbers increased after last year’s elections) to begin rolling back the Brownback catastrophe. Overturning the governor’s vetoes, which required a two-thirds majority in each house, legislators this June voted to repeal the tax cuts enacted by Brownback and a Tea Party–dominated legislature in 2012.

But the devastation has been profound.

IN 2010, SAM BROWNBACK rode the Tea Party wave into the Kansas governorship, pledging to turn the state into a bulwark against President Barack Obama’s big-government liberalism. By 2012, through aggressive backroom politicking, he pressured hesitant moderate Republicans in the legislature to join conservatives in passing a radical tax plan that eliminated the state’s top income tax bracket, drastically slashed rates, and instituted an outright income tax exemption for limited liability companies—a huge tax break for a tiny segment of the population. Conversely, in a nod to “fiscal responsibility,” the plan did away with a number of tax credits that benefited low- and middle-income Kansans. Moderate Republicans in the Senate had thought they’d be able to engineer a less-extreme version of the cuts while in a conference committee with the House. They didn’t, and days later, Brownback signed into law perhaps the most radical version of trickle-down economics any state had ever embraced.

…

Brownback’s promise that the cuts—particularly the LLC exemption—would be “a shot of adrenaline” for the Kansas economy will be written on his political headstone.

The LLC exemption, the crown jewel of the governor’s tax policy, has allowed some 330,000 independent business owners—almost double the original estimates—to avoid state tax on most, if not all, their income, costing the state roughly $500 million in revenue in 2015 alone. A recent report from a team of researchers who scoured Kansans’ income tax returns concludes that the exemption has fueled more tax evasion than job creation.

Though Brownback argued that exempting owner-operated businesses from taxes would increase investment and jobs in the state, the report found no such results. “We can’t, to the best of our ability, find support for real responses in terms of economic activity because of the tax cuts,” report co-author and University of South Carolina economics professor Jason DeBacker says. Instead, the policy drove more people to simply reclassify their income as a pass-through to avoid taxation.

The small-business owners who were the intended beneficiaries suddenly had no tax liabilities each year. But with average savings of about $1,000 a month, according to one estimate, it was hardly enough to hire more workers or expand operations. One lawyer in suburban JohnsonCounty told a Kansas City Star columnist in 2014 that he was saving as much as $10,000 a year—as were the 15 other partners in his practice—while the paralegals and other staffers with no ownership stake were still stuck paying income tax. He told the columnist that he planned to use his tax savings for a family vacation to Cancún. “I’m making out like a bandit, and it’s completely unfair,” he said.

Perhaps the most enlightening example of how the exemption worked came when a public radio station discovered in May 2016 that Bill Self, the head coach of the storied University of Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball team, was not paying taxes on about 90 percent of his annual $3 million compensation.

…

WHAT BROWNBACK’S TAX CUTS have accomplished is to have created a crisis of catastrophic proportions for state residents. The tax cuts blew an immediate hole in the $6 billion state budget, as revenue levels fell an astounding $713 million from fiscal years 2013 to 2014. Those revenue shortfalls have not abated in the years since. To help plug the hole, Brownback has run through all the state’s reserve funds and has increased borrowing, adding $1.3 billion to the state’s debt. “We are essentially the poorest state by now, with no rainy day fund—nothing in the bank,” says Duane Goossen, the former Kansas budget director for both Democratic and Republican governors.

The severely imbalanced budget led Moody’s to downgrade Kansas’s bond rating; three months later, Standard & Poor’s followed suit. The hit to the credit rating, though, was an inadequate measure of the damage to Kansans’ lives.

…

BY PRIORITIZING HIS trickle-down tax cuts over all else, Brownback has also allowed a long-standing public school funding shortage to metastasize into a full-blown constitutional crisis.

…

The failure to restore pre-recession funding has disproportionately impacted urban school districts like Kansas City’s and Wichita’s. The state funding formula includes an “equalization” provision that helps even out funding between wealthy school districts that can rely more on a large base of property tax revenue and poorer districts that can’t. When the school cuts took effect, however, the poorer districts couldn’t take up the slack with higher property taxes.

…

Throughout all this, Brownback’s trickle-down obsessions have continued to play out. He has called for regressive increases to the sales tax and higher taxes on alcohol and cigarettes. At the same time, he continued his war on progressivity, asking the legislature to institute a flat tax—a proposal that garnered just three votes in a clearly fed-up state Senate earlier this year.

That vote reflected a sea change in Kansas politics. Last August, Kansan Republican primary voters across the state supported a group of moderate challengers to more than a dozen ultra-conservative incumbents in legislative elections. Last November, even as Trump took the state with 57 percent of the vote, Democrats managed a pick-up of 12 seats in the state’s House and one in the Senate. Heading into the January session, there was a new legislature with a class of freshmen determined to undo Brownback’s damage.

The budgetary implications of that damage were very clear. When the new legislators took their seats at the start of this year, they confronted a proposed budget with close to a $1 billion shortfall over the next two years. Soon after the session began, the state Supreme Court announced its ruling that mandated adequate school funding, which required the appropriation of an additional $750 million over the next several years.

The legislatures of the preceding six years had been complicit in creating these shortfalls, but those legislatures were gone. “The [new] legislature looks a lot like it did before 2010,” when there was a stronger bloc of moderates, says Burdett Loomis, a political science professor at the University of Kansas. “People understand that in order to get things done, you have to run through this moderate [Republican]-Democratic coalition.”

…

Passing a budget that accomplished these goals was anything but easy, since overcoming a Brownback veto requires two-thirds support in each house, and the House speaker and Senate president were both staunchly opposed to tax hikes. The moderates’ and Democrats’ task was eased, however, by a collapse in Brownback’s popular support. In 2016, a Morning Consult poll found him to be the least-popular governor in the country, with only 26 percent of the surveyed Kansans approving of his job performance. This year, the only governor less popular with his constituents was New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, bogged down in Bridgegate and the anti-Trump backlash.

…

Legislators still needed to pass a budget, and they needed to pass a school-financing bill that would meet the state Supreme Court’s call for adequate funding. To fund both the budget shortfall and the public school system, they were faced with the necessity of passing a tax reform plan even more far-reaching than the one Brownback had already vetoed. Many wanted to undo Brownback’s rate cuts by reinstituting a third bracket, raising rates closer to pre-2012 levels, and most of all, eliminating the LLC loophole. The challenge they faced was how to align enough Democrats and Republicans to vote for a package that was substantial enough to satisfy the former and frugal enough not to dissuade the latter.

…

Still, the political gymnastics required to cobble a veto-proof majority were daunting. …

…

As the session spilled into June, the legislature was approaching the record for longest legislative session in the state’s history. In the very early hours of June 5, the legislature passed a tax plan that rolled back Brownback’s tax policy and would raise about $1.2 billion over the next two years by doing away with the LLC exemption, ending the March to Zero, and reinstituting a third tax bracket with higher rates across the board. One factor that brought Ward and the Democrats on board was that the bill reinstated a number of tax credits benefiting poor and middle-income Kansans (including a child tax credit), which Brownback had scrapped. The legislature also passed a school-financing plan that would direct nearly $300 million more to schools over the next two years while tethering future aid to the rate of inflation.

In a matter of hours, Brownback announced that he would veto the tax rollback.

Later that night, the Senate approved a veto override by a one-vote margin. …

The lessons of Sam Brownback’s disastrous experiment have become all the more important nationally as President Trump, whose economic doctrine is cut from the same cloth napkin on which Arthur Laffer first sketched his supply-side curve more than 40 years ago, tries to advance a similarly radical series of tax cuts in Washington. (Indeed, Brownback flew Laffer out to Kansas in 2012, where he was paid $75,000 to advise the legislature on the wisdom of slashing taxes, promising astounding dividends of economic growth in exchange.) Trump’s proposed budget echoes the Kansas experiment, slashing income tax rates for the wealthiest few and calling for a drastic rate cut for pass-through entities—a move that would inflict Brownback’s LLC debacle on the nation.

Brownback’s should be a cautionary tale, of course, for the Republicans in Congress and the White House. Should they slash the provision of affordable health coverage to cut taxes for the rich, should they decimate government services while eliminating taxes on the wealthiest Americans, all their invocations of trickle-down economics—that the rich will invest their tax savings in job-creating enterprises, a theory disproved again, again, and again—ultimately won’t win them popular support. The fate of Sam Brownback—scorned by his state, overridden by his legislature, rejected by his party—should make that crystal clear.

Tax Cuts for the rich. Deregulation for the powerful. Wage suppression for everyone else. These are the tenets of trickle-down economics, the conservatives’ age-old strategy for advantaging the interests of the rich and powerful over those of the middle class and poor. The articles in Trickle-Downers are devoted, first, to exposing and refuting these lies, but equally, to reminding Americans that these claims aren’t made because they are true. Rather, they are made because they are the most effective way elites have found to bully, confuse and intimidate middle- and working-class voters. Trickle-down claims are not real economics. They are negotiating strategies. Here at the Prospect, we hope to help you win that negotiation.

Source: Posted in “The American Prospect” on June 28, 2017; retrieved June 28, 2017 from: http://prospect.org/article/kansas-sam-brownback-and-trickle-down-implosion-0

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Ferries 101: Economics, Security and Governance

Posted on June 27, 2017 in Economics, Government, Industries, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

The absolute best way to get from Point A to Point B is a straight line. If those two points are separated by water then the best way is a causeway or a bridge.

That is the ideal. Then there is island life, where we have to accept the Less Than ideal. Many times the best way to get from Point A to Point B across a body of water is a boat, or more specifically a Ferry.

Welcome to a discussion of “Ferries 101”. Also, welcome to British Colombia, Canada. They provide the Caribbean such good role models and lessons of how to facilitate modern life with the realities of coastal and island living.

May we pay more than the usual attention to this Canadian model and these lessons.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free – proposed a plan to better unite the 30 Caribbean member-states – all islands and coastal territories – that incorporated a full deployment of a network of ferries. This would be so transformative for the Caribbean region that we had to study a successful deployment of such a scheme. The best role model was the Pacific North American coast – the Salish Sea; this is the intricate network of coastal waterways that includes the southwestern portion of the Canadian province of British Columbia (Vancouver) and the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Washington (Seattle). Its major bodies of water are the Strait of Georgia, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Puget Sound. This inland waterway features international borders, constant trade and travel to facilitate year-round tourism and commerce. (See VIDEO in the Appendix below).

Copying such a model is a Big Deal for the Caribbean – too big for any one member-state alone. The Go Lean book thusly serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), an inter-governmental entity for all 30 member-states. The purpose is to better facilitate the societal engines (economics, security & governance) of the region that would lead to the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. The book states this vision emphatically with this quotation:

The CU envisions a similar – [to North America’s Salish Sea] – water-based highway system of ferries and docks to facilitate passenger, cargo and vehicle travel connecting the islands of the Caribbean region to the mainland ports. This ferry system will be a component of the Union Atlantic Turnpike. – Page 280.

This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

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

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

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

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

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society. The deployment of ferries is integral to the Go Lean roadmap for a “Union Atlantic Turnpike” – this is defined in the book as …

“a big initiative of the CU to logistically connect all CU member-states for easier transport of goods and passengers. The Turnpike is virtual … made up of many physical transportation modes envisioned for the region: Pipeline, Ferries, Highways, and Railroad”. – Page 205

Here is a sample of references to the ferry eco-system through-out the Go Lean book:

Community Ethos – Group Purchase organizations (GPO) – Big Ferry purchases	Page 24
Strategy – Competitive Analysis – Buy foreign or buy local – Ferries could neutralize transportation challenges and high costs	Page 51
Strategy – Stakeholders – Visitors – Snowbirds can bring RV’s on ferries	Page 55
Strategy – Agents of Change – Technology – Industrial efficiencies for transportation options like “Fast Ferry”	Page 57
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Department of Transportation – Turnpike Operations: Integrated Ferries	Page 84
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Department of Transportation – Marine Administration to include Ferry Operations	Page 84
Implementation – Ways to Develop a Pipeline Industry – “Pneumatic Capsule Pipeline” as an advanced ferry system for cargo	Page 107
Implementation – Ways to Re-boot [Sample City] Freeport – Shipbuilding options to build/maintain ferries	Page 112
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean – Ferries create Virtual “Turnpike” Operations	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Improve Interstate Commerce – Ferries operate as transportation arteries	Page 129
Planning – Ways to Improve Interstate Commerce – State License Plates Online Registration Access as Ferries allows cars to “island hop”	Page 129
Planning – Lessons from New York City – Many transport options including ferries	Page 137
Planning – Lessons from the American West – Railroads and Highways opened the West for better commerce, the same as ferries will do for the CU.	Page 142
Planning – Lessons from Canada’s History – well-developed trade networks made for Advanced Economy.	Page 146
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs – New Jobs for Infrastructural Build-out (Ferry docks)	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Housing – Pre-fab Industry/Jobs depend on Ferry deployment for logistics	Page 161
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Public Works – Union Atlantic Turnpike requires Ferry Piers	Page 175
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security – Naval Authority: to ensure and protect the waterscapes and vessels of the region to mitigate against “bad actions and bad actors”.	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Enhance Tourism – New Winter Season Product: Snowbirds can transport RV’s with Ferries	Page 190
Advocacy – Ways to Enhance Tourism – Dynamic Sea-lifts: Consider Fast Ferries boats and Spring Break traffic	Page 190
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Events – Sea lifts for Passengers and Freight	Page 191
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Fairgrounds – Ferries can transport “real” fairs	Page 192
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Extractions – Ferries Schedule for Transport to Offshore Rigs	Page 195
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce – Logistics & Delivery options improve	Page 198
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Transportation – Islands and Coastal areas demand more seafaring options i.e. ferries	Page 205
Advocacy – Ways to Develop Ship-Building – Ferry Operations – Fleet Demand & Supply	Page 209
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Rural Living – Ferries can optimize rural transportation options	Page 235
Advocacy – Ways to Impact US Territories – Puerto Rico could be Transportation Hub	Page 244
Appendix – New Transportation Jobs: Building/maintaining/administering toll roads, electric lines, and ferries: 15,000	Page 257
Appendix – Model of Alaska Marine Highway – Facilitated by ferries	Page 280
Appendix – Model of Eurotunnel – The Ferry Link	Page 281

This Go Lean book projects the roll-out of this Union Atlantic Turnpike as Day One / Step One of the Go Lean/CU roadmap. Over the 5-year implementation more and more of the features of the Turnpike will be deployed and their effect on the region will be undeniable: they will help to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play.

This Go Lean roadmap seeks to foster best-practices in the administration of a “ferry eco-system”. We will have a lot of coordinate – “many balls in the air”: shipbuilding, border protection, customs, events facilitation, trade and tourism promotion. These topics are just a sample of subjects previously addressed in many Go Lean commentaries; see a relevant list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12304	Caribbean Festival of the Arts – Transport Options for Events
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12146	Commerce of the Seas – Shipbuilding Model of Ingalls
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12144	Commerce of the Seas – Book Review: ‘Sea Power’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12126	Commerce of the Seas – Stupidity of the Jones Act
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9179	Snowbirds Tourism – First Day of Autumn – Time to Head South
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9070	Securing the Homeland – From the Seas
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6867	How to address high consumer prices: Welcoming ferries
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3713	Lesson from Canada: NEXUS – Facilitating Detroit-Windsor Commerce
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=673	Future Tech – Autonomous cargo vessels without a crew

The subject of ferries could be strategic and tactical for the Caribbean. They can create new lines of business for our region and help to optimize existing economic activities. Traditionally, building roads and building bridges have always been good for society and good for a local economy. Building ferries should be even easier than building a road or building a bridge.

While national-building is heavy-lifting, the administration of ferries need not be. We have so many good examples and role models to consider. For example, this weekend (June 30 / July 1, 2007) is a Big Deal in North America; Canada is celebrating Canada Day on July 1 and the US is celebrating its 4^th of July Holiday. We see an example of the best-practices of governance in the news article in the Appendix below. The experience shows how good governance works; due to mechanical problems the ferry operations in this one British Colombian island had to be suspended and a recovery plan executed: free reservations. That is sure to go a long way in forging goodwill among Western Canadian “ferry” stakeholders. This provides a good example for our Caribbean planners, who are observing-and-reporting on Canadian efficiencies. See photos here and the VIDEO in the Appendix below:

Yes, Ferries 101 could exacerbate nation-building 101. These activities can have a positive impact on a nation’s economy, security and governance. The industry of ferries is just one of the basic functionalities that must be embraced for an Industrial Reboot; in fact, this can be catalogued as an Industrial Reboot 101. This commentary is 1 of 4 in an occasional series considering Industrial Reboots. The full series is as follows:

Industrial Reboot – Ferries 101
Industrial Reboot – Prisons 101
Industrial Reboot – Pipeline 101
Industrial Reboot – Frozen Foods 101

Yes, we can … reboot our industrial landscape, for our waterways. Past generations of Caribbean people lived off the sea; it is now past-time to do that again. This plan – the roadmap to deploy a regional network of ferries – is conceivable, believable and achievable. We urge all Caribbean stakeholders to lean-in to this roadmap for economic empowerment. We can make the Caribbean homeland – with better interconnectivity between the islands and the “mainlands” – better places to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

————

Appendix – News Article: Free B.C. Ferries reservations to help Mayne Island travellers
By: Louise Dickson

B.C. Ferries is offering free reservations on the Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay route for people travelling to Mayne Island in the next few days after hundreds of weekend travellers were caught in a massive traffic jam as they tried to leave the island on Sunday.

All sailings of Queen of Nanaimo between the Lower Mainland and the Gulf Islands were cancelled on Friday due to propeller problems. The Queen of Nanaimo, which has room for 160 cars and 900 passengers, is still out of service and won’t be operating until at least Thursday.

The smaller Salish Eagle, which holds 140 cars and 600 passengers, is running between Tsawwassen and Vancouver Island. B.C. Ferries is adding 12 sailing for the smaller ferry. The sailings will be on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

B.C. Ferries is working on getting Queen of Nanaimo back into service on Friday, in time for the long weekend, said corporation spokesman Darin Guenette.

If Queen of Nanaimo does not return to service, B.C. Ferries will put another ship on the route, if possible, he said.

The corporation is encouraging Lower Mainland customers to travel through Swartz Bay to the southern Gulf Islands. People interested in travelling through Swartz Bay to the southern Gulf Islands can contact the customer care centre at 1-888-223-3779.

Source: The Times-Colonist – Western Canada’s Oldest Daily Newspaper – Posted & Retrieved June 26, 2017 from: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/free-b-c-ferries-reservations-to-help-mayne-island-travellers-1.20780665

————

Appendix VIDEO – Passage ferry QUEEN OF NANAIMO, Tsawwassen – Sturdies Bay (BC Ferries) – https://youtu.be/4c0U6qq2238

Published on Jul 6, 2016 – BC Ferries (06/2016)

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Big Tech’s Amazon – The Retailers’ Enemy

Posted on June 22, 2017 in Economics, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

The retail industry now has a “name for its pain”; they know who-what is undermining their business model. It is not just the Internet; it is …

Amazon.

In a previous blog-commentary by the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean, it was asserted that the industry is being threatened by the Retail Apocalypse. That was just generalizing the threat as “all things internet”, but now we see that Amazon is attempting to emerge from cyber-space and dominate the retail space.

To the victor go the spoils.

A lot is being spoiled, as shopping malls have suffered a dire disposition. See the full story here:

Title: What venture will Amazon tackle next?

People were shocked by Amazon’s announcement to buy Whole Foods Market for $13.7 billion, prompting many to wonder what the future of grocery and clothes shopping might look like as the online retailer attempts to dominate. NBC’s Jo Ling Kent has the report for TODAY.

VIDEO – American Giant Shopping Shift – http://www.today.com/video/what-venture-will-amazon-tackle-next-972676675883

This is the reality of Big Tech. There are 4 anchor companies in the Internet & Communications Technologies (ICT) industry that continue to impact the modern world and disrupt the legacies of commercial enterprises:

Google (Market capitalization: $600 Billion)
Apple (Market capitalization: $776.6 Billion)
Facebook (Market capitalization: $446 Billion)
Amazon (Market capitalization: $479 Billion)

These companies have the treasuries, talent and temperament (culture, values and commitment) to change the world, for good and for bad. Amazon and its Founder-CEO Jeff Bezos are “talking the talk and walking the walk”; they put their “money where the mouth is”. They’ve just agreed to spend $13.7 Billion to acquire brick-and-mortar grocery store chain Whole Foods. This is a big deal!

It’s not just Amazon and Whole Foods: Here’s the enormous Jeff Bezos empire, in one chart – June 21, 2017

Amazon and Bezos are disruptive role-players. They have disrupted the business model of so many industries and companies. This is the Retail Apocalypse … personified.

Amazon and this Retail Apocalypse are germane issues for the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean. The book posits that there are “Agents of Change” that are impacting the economic, security and governing engines in Caribbean society; these “Agents of Change” include:

Technology
Globalization

Monitoring these “Agents of Change” is part-and-parcel of the roadmap this book presents for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The quest of this Go Lean/CU roadmap is to elevate the Caribbean’s societal engines starting first with economics (jobs, industrial development and entrepreneurial opportunities). In fact, the following 3 statements are identified as the prime directives of the CU:

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.
Improve Caribbean governance – as e-Commerce alters sales & border taxes – to support these engines.

According to the foregoing VIDEO, Amazon and Internet & Communications Technologies disrupting retail commerce is not all good and not all bad:

Good: Prices with internet commerce are cheaper than at retail stores.
Bad: Retail stores and jobs are endangered.
Good: Greater variety and product options.
Bad: Mall closures undermines local communities (tax base of neighboring properties).
Good: Technological innovations create economic opportunities in the ICT industry space.
Bad: State government revenue reductions based on prohibitions on internet taxes.
Good: Delivery options create logistical jobs.
Bad: Family businesses/Main Streets cannot compete.

The future matches forward.

Whether its Amazon or no Amazon, Jeff Bezos or someone else, change will come to the Retail Economy. This applies in the US or in the Caribbean. The point is to prepare for the change, to position regional institutions to explore all the opportunities that change brings. According to the Go Lean book …

‘Luck is the destination where opportunity meets preparation’ – Page 252.

What are Main Streets to do?

This question was fully analyzed in the Go Lean book in its 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, and the the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society. Consider this sample advocacy on Page 201:

10 Ways to Impact Main Street

1	Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market This treaty allows for the unification of the region into one market, thereby expanding to an economy of 30 countries, 42 million people and a GDP of over $800 Billion. The mission of the CU is to enhance the economic engines of the region, fostering institutions like capital markets and secondary mortgage funds to facilitate local governments and town-planning efforts for downtown developments and enhancements. The CU’s adoption of electronic funds transfer modes will allow for more card-based transactions in the region. This facilitates Mail-Order / Telephone Order (MOTO), internet and mobile commerce modes – this is the future of retailing, and allows Mom-and-Pops to compete with “Big-Box”.
2	Repatriated Diaspora – Shopping Habits
3	Big-Box Competition: Cooperatives
4	Big-Box Competition: e-Commerce Electronic commerce holds the promise of “leveling the playing field” so that small merchants can compete against larger merchants. To facilitate e-Commerce, purchased merchandise must get to their destinations as efficiently as possible. The CU’s implementation of the Caribbean Postal Union allows for better logistics for package delivery.
5	Downtown Wi-Fi – Time and Place The CU will foster the implementation of more technology solutions, including Wi-Fi for internet connectivity, especially in downtown areas. The emergence of mobile applications allows for the coordination of “time and place” to convert internet browsing to real-time purchasing. This communications service can be advertising based or subscription based.
6	Theater Districts
7	Downtown Development Authorities
8	Magnate and Charter Schools
9	The Arts in Public Places
10	Cruise Industry Port-side Merchants In this [Caribbean] region, many tourist destinations for cruise ships are centered on Main Streets and downtowns, i.e. Bay Street in Nassau-Bahamas. The CU will foster more cruise passenger spending at the port-side merchants by facilitating e-Payments and settlement for the proprietary cruise passenger smart cards in Caribbean Dollars (not US$ or Euros).

Though not directly mentioned in the book, Amazon and the Retail Apocalypse is planned for in the Go Lean roadmap. A comprehensive view of the technocratic stewardship for the region’s economic engines is presented early in the book with these opening pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 13 and 14):

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.

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.

The business models of Amazon and similar companies – and competitors – have been further elaborated upon in previous blog/commentaries. Consider this sample:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11453	Location Matters, Even in a Virtual World
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9839	Alibaba Cloud stretches global reach with four new facilities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9800	Model of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade – By The Numbers
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7297	Death of the ‘Department Store’: Exaggerated or Eventual
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7023	Thanksgiving and American Commerce – Past, Present and Amazon
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2488	Model of an E-Commerce Fulfillment Company: Alibaba
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1416	Model of an E-Commerce Fulfillment Company: Amazon

Notice to all retail stakeholders: Amazon is not just your enemy; they are your “Pace Car”, the “target rabbit in a Greyhound race”.

Know your enemy!

Notice to all Caribbean stakeholders: Lean-in for the empowerments for e-Commerce described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. We can do this; we can elevate our communities and our own retail eco-systems. We can be a better place to live, work and play; and a better place to shop.

🙂

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

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

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Commerce of the Seas – Lessons from Alang (India)

Posted on June 13, 2017 in Economics, Government, Industries, Tactical

Go Lean Commentary

Despite our beautiful vistas in the Caribbean – with our sun, sand and sea – not everywhere is paradisiac. Some locations are just plain ordinary, or even Less-Than. Tourism is the region’s Number 1 economic activity, but there are certain areas where tourists should not venture. This is true for agricultural areas and certain industrial zones.

The movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean wants to add another type of “not for tourists” industrial zone to the Caribbean landscape: Ship-breaking Yards.

Just that combination of words – “Ship” + “Breaking” – connotes some negative images. The lessons we learned from the Indian port city of Alang is that Ship-breaking is dirty; see the encyclopedic reference here:

Reference Title: Alang, Indian State of Gujarat.

Alang is a census town in Bhavnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. In the past three decades, its beaches have become a major worldwide centre for ship breaking. The longest ship ever built, Seawise Giant, was sailed to and beached here for demolition in December 2009. ^[1]

Marine salvage industry
The shipyards at Alang recycle approximately half of all ships salvaged around the world.^[2] It is considered the world’s largest graveyard of ships.^[3] The yards are located on the Gulf of Khambat, 50 km (31 mi) southeast of Bhavnagar. Large supertankers, car ferries, container ships, and a dwindling number of ocean liners are beached during high tide, and as the tide recedes, hundreds of manual laborers move onto the beach to dismantle each ship, salvaging what they can and reducing the rest to scrap.

The salvage yards at Alang have generated controversy about working conditions, workers’ living conditions, and the impact on the environment. One major problem is that despite many serious work-related injuries, the nearest full service hospital is 50 km (31 mi) away in Bhavnagar.

Future
Japan and the Gujarat government have joined hands to upgrade the existing Alang shipyard. The two parties have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, which focuses on technology transfer and financial assistance from Japan to assist in the upgrading of operations at Alang to meet international standards. This is a part of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor, a larger partnership between the Japanese and Gujarat government. Under this plan, Japan will address the environmental implications of ship breaking in Alang, and will develop a .marketing strategy. The project is to be carried out as a public-private partnership. The project’s aim is to make this shipyard the largest International Maritime Organisation-compliant ship recycling yard in the world.

Source: Retrieved June 8, 2017 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alang

The dirty nature of these industrial endeavors, as depicted in Alang, provides a negative lesson that we want to learn from to avoid all perilous consequences of doing this business in a “wrong” manner.

Another lesson we learn from Alang is that Ship-breaking work (jobs) is consistent and steady. There are many ships that have lived out their usefulness and now need to be dismantled for scrap; the more labor available, the more ships to break. This is such a positive lesson for us to learn right now, as the Caribbean region is badly in need of jobs. The economic engine involves salvaging the scrap metal (and other materials) for recycling.

The challenge is to embrace the commerce of Ship-breaking for the positives, while avoiding the negatives.

Challenge accepted! (The foregoing relates the welcoming support from Japan for clean ship-breaking).

The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This would be the governmental entity for a regional Single Market that covers the land territories of the 30 member-states, and their aligning seas; (including the 1,063,000 square miles of the Caribbean Sea). The Go Lean/CU roadmap features this prime directive, as defined by these 3 statements:

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

This commentary posits that there are opportunities for the Caribbean to better explore the “Commerce of the Seas”, to deploy International Maritime Organisation-compliant shipyards. There are so many lessons that we can learn from the Economic History of other communities’ exploitation of the high seas. This commentary is 4 of 4 in a series considering the Lessons in Economic History related to “Commerce of the Seas”. The full series is as follows:

Commerce of the Seas – Stupidity of the Jones Act
Commerce of the Seas – Book Review: ‘Sea Power’
Commerce of the Seas – Shipbuilding Model of Ingalls
Commerce of the Seas – Lessons from Alang (India)

The reference to “Commerce” refers to the economic interest of the 30 member-states in the Caribbean region. There is the need for more commercial opportunities that would impact the community with job and entrepreneurial empowerments. Ship-breaking could be providential!

Ship-breaking can provide high tech, mid tech and low tech jobs; especially if the salvage operation is executed in a technocratic manner. The Art & Science of technocratic ship-breaking versus dirty-breaking (i.e. Alang) was previously detailed in a blog-commentary on August 14, 2014. See some highlights from that blog in the excerpt here:

… ship-breaking activities in Third World countries, like Bangladesh, pose harm to the environment, workers and remaining systems of commerce. But when executed correctly, as in Brownsville-Texas, ship-breaking can be all positive. There are benefits in applying the appropriate best practices in handling hazardous materials. The tons of toxic waste (asbestos) can be properly managed and disposed of, with the proper eco-system surrounding the industry. The CU will facilitate the eco-system, especially with the Self-Governing Entities (SGE) concept for shipyards. This is covered in the Go Lean book under the auspices of “turn-around” industries, a federally regulated/promoted activity.

So there is a way to perform ship-breaking – one expression of maritime commerce – in a lean, clean manner while guaranteeing safety for the workers and profit for the investors.

This is the win-win … of the Go Lean roadmap.

The Go Lean book/roadmap was published in November 2013 with a vision for a new industrialization for the region. The quest is for the region to cooperate, collaborate and convene so as to accomplish more as a unified Single Market than may be possible alone. Not one of the Caribbean member-states – all Third World – can do ship-breaking right. It would quickly denigrate to the Alang and Bangladesh models. But together, leveraging the interdependence – so much more can be accomplished. This was the vision of the opening Declaration of Interdependence in the book. Here, the need for regional coordination and integration was pronounced as the basis of reforming and transforming Caribbean society.

See a sample of relevant stanzas from the Declaration here (Page 11 – 13):

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

xxvi. Whereas the Caribbean region must have new jobs to empower the engines of the economy and create the income sources for prosperity, and encourage the next generation to forge their dreams right at home, the Federation must therefore foster the development of new industries, like that of ship-building…. In addition, the Federation must invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries like … fisheries … – impacting the region with more jobs.

Reforming and transforming the Caribbean is the quest. The Go Lean book explains “how”, providing 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos for economic regionalism, and “how” to execute the right strategies, tactics, and implementations to reboot, reform and transform the maritime commerce to benefit Caribbean society.

The issue of fostering industrial developments in the Art-and-Science of the salvage industry has been a frequent subject for previous blog-commentaries; consider this list of sample entries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10140	Lessons Learned: Detroit demolishes thousands of structures
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6760	A Lesson in ‘Garbage’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2953	Funding Caribbean Entrepreneurs – The ‘Crowdfunding’ Way
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2857	Where the Jobs Are – Entrepreneurism in Junk

All Caribbean member-states are islands or coastal territories – they can all be candidates for maritime salvaging (ship-breaking) operations – even all at the same time. While there is a large footprint of “cheap” ship-breakers in Asia, not as many proliferate in the Western Hemisphere. It is a perfect time to explore these opportunities.

This is not tourism! Ship-breaking activities are not paradisiac nor inviting so they should be limited to shipyards, not beaches.

Imagine: towing an old ship from the Americas to the Caribbean, rather than across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans; see the experience of salvaging the “Love Boat” in the Appendix VIDEO below.

This is commerce!

There is a need to transform maritime commerce for the Caribbean region; we can get more economic activity from this sector; the Go Lean book projects 15,000 new direct jobs in the shipbuilding and/or ship-breaking activities. The possibility of these new jobs is hope-inspiring. At last we can arrest the societal abandonment where men and women leave the community looking for any kind of work.

This is Commerce of the Seas; we saw how previous generations of Caribbean people lived off the sea; we can again, with these creative expressions of maritime commerce.

This plan is conceivable, believable and achievable. We urge all Caribbean stakeholders – governments, business owners and workers – to lean-in to this roadmap for economic empowerment. We can make the Caribbean homeland and seas better places to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

————–

Appendix VIDEO – The End of The Love Boat – https://youtu.be/lauAeMtzMYM

Published on Nov 5, 2016 – English Captions Available!!!
MS Pacific Princess is a voyage send possessed by Princess Cruises and worked by Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises Australia. She was inherent 1999 by the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France as MS R Three for Renaissance Cruises.

The vessel initially entered operation in 1999, with Renaissance Cruises. The ship was not claimed by the organization, ownership rather living with a gathering of French speculators, who rented the ship to the organization. In late 2001, the whole Renaissance armada was seized by lenders.

Pacific Princess in Yalta inlet.

In late 2002, Princess Cruises sanctioned the R Three, alongside sister transport R Four (now Ocean Princess). Both vessels entered operation before the end of 2002. The contract ended toward the end of 2004, at which time both vessels were acquired by Princess Cruises. Gabi Hollows renamed the ship Pacific Princess in Sydney on 8 December 2002.
This ship has been the subject of a state help choice by the European Commission: Decision 2006/219.
—
Princess Cruise Line Youtube channel: youtube.com/user/princesscruises
Cruise Ships Info Youtube channel: youtube.com/cruiseshipsinfo
Cruise Ships Info Facebook Page: facebook.com/cruiseshipsinfo
Cruise Ships Info Twitter Page: twitter.com/cruiseship_info
Cruise Ships Info Pinterest Page: pinterest.com/cruiseshipinfo

Category: Autos & Vehicles

License: Standard YouTube License

————–

Additional VIDEO – Jobs of Workers in Ship-breaking Industry – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOGjYfBltZc

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Commerce of the Seas – Shipbuilding Model of Ingalls

Posted on June 12, 2017 in Economics, Government, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

The ‘Law of Supply-and-Demand’ is almost as natural as the ‘Law of Gravity’; leave it alone and it will pre-determine what will happen … in the marketplace. But just like the ‘Law of Gravity’ can bend and be defied (think airplanes and rockets), so too the ‘Law of Supply-and-Demand’ can bend and be defied. A great example of defying ‘Supply-and-Demand’ is the Crony-Capitalism (subsidies and protectionist schemes) in the highly-protected Ship-Building industry. (See the Appendix below regarding OECD Ship-Building Industry monitoring efforts).

Look at the numbers in the 2 photos above. It is apparent that the US distorts the Supply-and-Demand factors for Ship-Building in its market; their protectionist laws prevent the international market from supplying domestic shipping needs. This is bad! Though there is the need for some government-aid, to protect jobs and defense options, the US model of Crony-Capitalism is a blatant distortion – Source: https://youtu.be/GpwzoDGDGAQ.

Ship-Building can be a strategic industry! The book Go Lean…Caribbean asserts that 15,000 new direct jobs can be created with strategic endeavors for the Ship-Building industry in the region. (Even more indirect jobs applies – multiplier rate of 3-to-1). The Go Lean book calls for the elevation of Caribbean economics, positing that governmental entities must stimulate and incubate this industry. The book surveyed the world looking for industrial opportunities that could be fully explored in the Caribbean region where the natural resources of the region could be considered; the region is known for sun, sand and sea.

Tourism is a natural assumption for utilizing these “sun, sand and sea“ resources, but with the recent inadequacies of this industry, there needs to be more diversity in our commercial offerings; ship-building – which needs the sea – was identified as an ideal supplement and alternative for regional commerce. This reference to “regional commerce” refers to the economic interest that the 30 member-states in the Caribbean have to consider to provide job and entrepreneurial opportunities for its people. So this Ship-Building focus prioritizes the “Commerce of the Seas” concept. This commentary is 3 of 4 in a series considering the Lessons in Economic History related to “Commerce of the Seas”, the Crony-Capitalism in laws and practices around the maritime eco-system in the United States … and other countries. The full series is as follows:

Commerce of the Seas – Stupidity of the Jones Act

Commerce of the Seas – Book Review: ‘Sea Power’

Commerce of the Seas – Shipbuilding Model of Ingalls

Commerce of the Seas – Lessons from Alang (India)

There are many Lessons in Economic History for the Caribbean to glean by considering the actuality of this industry. Let’s consider the role model of just one American shipbuilding entity: Ingalls Shipbuilding Company in Pascagoula, Mississippi. See the reference source here, describing the business model for building ships to ‘Supply’ any open ‘Demand’ in the commercial market:

Title: Ingalls Shipbuilding

Ingalls Shipbuilding is a shipyard located in Pascagoula, Mississippi, United States, originally established in 1938, and is now part of Huntington Ingalls Industries. It is a leading producer of ships for the United States Navy, and at 12,500 employees, the largest private employer in Mississippi.

History

In 1938, Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation was founded by Robert Ingersoll Ingalls, Sr. (1882–1951) of Birmingham, Alabama, on the East Bank of the PascagoulaRiver in Mississippi.^[1] Ingalls was located where the Pascagoula River runs into the Gulf of Mexico. It started out building commercial ships including the USS George Clymer (APA-27), which took part in Liberty Fleet Day 27 September 1941. In the 1950s Ingalls started bidding on Navy work, winning a contract in 1957 to build 12 nuclear-powered attack submarines.

Litton Industries acquired Ingalls in 1961, and in 1968 expanded its facilities to the other side of the river. Ingalls reached a high point of employment in 1977, with 27,280 workers. In April 2001, Litton was acquired by the Northrop Grumman Corporation.^[2]

On August 29, 2005, Ingalls facilities were damaged by Hurricane Katrina; most of the ships in dock and construction escaped serious harm. While shipbuilding was halted for a while due to the destruction of many buildings, most vehicles, and the large overhead cranes, the facility continues to operate today.

On March 31, 2011, Northrop Grumman spun off its shipbuilding sector (including Ingalls Shipbuilding) into a new corporation, Huntington Ingalls Industries.

In 2015, Ingalls Shipbuilding Company signed a contract with US Navy for new destroyers, littoral combat ships and new landing craft. USS John Finn (DDG-113) was one of the first destroyers was launched on March 28. Company also is building Ralph Johnson (DDG 114), Paul Ignatius (DDG 117) and Delbert D. Black (DDG 119).

On March 21, 2015, the new San Antonio LPD 17-class amphibious ship John P. Murtha (LPD 26) was ceremonially christened. The vessel having been launched on October 30 and scheduled to be delivered in 2016.

On March 27, 2015, the shipyard received construction contracts for their next destroyers. Ingalls Shipbuilding Company was awarded a $604.3 million contract modification to build the yet-to-be-named DDG 121.

On March 31, 2015, the shipyard also received another contract with a $500 million fixed price to build the eighth National Security Cutter (NSC) for the US Coast Guard. Most of them will be under construction until 2019. The cutters are the most advanced ships ever built for the Coast Guard. ^[3]

On June 30, 2016, Ingalls Shipbuilding signed a contract with US Navy to build the U.S. Navy’s next large-deck amphibious assault warship. The contract included planning, advanced engineering and procurement of long-lead material, is just over $272 million. If options are exercised, the cumulative value of the contract would be $3.1 billion.^[4]…
Ships built

2.1.1 Submarines

2.1.2 Destroyers

2.1.3 Cruisers

2.1.4 Cutters

2.1.5 Amphibious transport dock

2.1.6 Amphibious assault ship

2.1.7 Attack transport

2.1.8 Corvette

2.1.9 Tankers

2.1.10 Cruise ships and ocean liners
i.e. Pride of America (partially built in Mississippi, then towed to Germany for outfitting)
This ship was built in the United States and is operated by Norwegian Cruise Lines. Inaugurated during the 2005/2006 cruise season as the first new US-flagged cruise ship in nearly fifty years,^[5] Pride of America was designed to pay homage to the spirit of the United States, from the patriotic artwork on the hull to the American-themed public spaces.

2.1.11 Ships refitted

Source: Retrieved 06-11-2017 from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingalls_Shipbuilding

———–

VIDEO – Ingalls Shipbuilding Promotional Video – https://youtu.be/EFl8Tl0ImJo

Published on Jan 10, 2017 – Ingalls Shipbuilding is located in Pascagoula, Mississippi on 800 acres of the most important real estate in America. With 11,000 employees, Ingalls is the largest manufacturing employer in Mississippi and a major contributor to the economic growth of both Mississippi and Alabama. Our 77-year legacy has continuously proven we have the talent, experience and facilities to simultaneously build more classes of ships than any other shipyard in America.

We are the builder-of-record for 35 Aegis DDG 51 class guided missile destroyers, LHA 6 class large deck amphibious ships, National Security Cutters for the U.S. Coast Guard and the sole builder of the Navy’s fleet of San Antonio (LPD 17) class amphibious assault ships. Ingalls Shipbuilding has what it takes to build the capital ships that keep America and our allies safe.

Category: Science & Technology

License: Standard YouTube License

Additional VIDEO consideration: https://youtu.be/0pak_gKglqo – Ingalls shows ‘Shipyard of the Future’.

Considering that 90% of all trade transports by water, there is natural demand for shipbuilding. There is a lot of supply as well.

Ingalls Shipbuilding Company is a definite beneficiary of government-aided commerce in the US; most of their shipbuilding engagements are government contracts. They are a leading producer of ships for the US Navy or Coast Guard, and at 12,500 employees, the largest private employer in Mississippi. As related in the first commentary in this series, the Jones Act has protected maritime commerce and shipbuilding for American stakeholders like Ingalls.

It is ‘high tide’ for the Caribbean to engage some protectionism strategies. Considering that the Caribbean region is the #1 market for the Cruise Line industry, collective bargaining should be prioritized to direct some shipbuilding business to local entities in this industry. The book Go Lean… Caribbean posits that as a unified region – a Single Market – the power of collective bargaining is possible. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) with the charter to facilitate jobs in the region. We should explore the benefits of the shipbuilding (and ship-breaking) industry. This aligns with the CU charter; as defined by these 3 prime directives:

Optimization of 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.

Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

Early in the Go Lean book, this responsibility to create jobs was identified as an important function for the CU with this pronouncement in the Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 14):

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.

xxvi. Whereas the Caribbean region must have new jobs to empower the engines of the economy and create the income sources for prosperity, and encourage the next generation to forge their dreams right at home, the Federation must therefore foster the development of new industries, like that of ship-building…. In addition, the Federation must invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries tourism, fisheries and lotteries – impacting the region with more jobs.

Accordingly, the CU will facilitate the eco-system for Self-Governing Entities (SGE), an ideal concept for shipyards, with its exclusive federal regulation/promotion activities.

The Go Lean movement (book and blogs) also details the principle of job multipliers, how certain industries are better than others for generating multiple indirect jobs down the line for each direct job on a company’s payroll. In a previous blog-commentary, it was related that the shipbuilding industry has a job-multiplier rate of 3.0. So once the job-multiplier rate is applied to the 15,000 direct shipbuilding jobs, generating 45,000 indirect jobs, the full economic impact is 60,000. This is transforming!

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to reform and transform the Caribbean, starting first with how to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to transform the maritime commerce to benefit Caribbean society. Consider the Chapter excerpts and headlines from this sample on Page 209 related to Ship-Building:

10 Ways to Develop Ship-Building

1
Lean-in for Caribbean Integration
The CU will allow for the unification of the region into one market, creating an economy of 30 member-states, 42 million people and 2010 GDP over $800 Billion. All of the member-states are either islands or coastal, therefore there are lots of coastline and harbors. Boats, yachts and ships are therefore plentiful in the region. Consistent with the CU’s mission for globalization, the region cannot just consume these vessels; we must create and build as well. There is a history of boat-building in the islands (slopes, schooners, clippers), but what had been missing to forge a formidable industry is the capital and the community “will”. The CU will now fill those gaps. The CU will tap the capital markets to secure long-term funding (stocks/bonds), prepare the labor force for advanced skill-sets, and negotiate treaties with “mature” EU states (i.e. Holland, Ireland) for master-apprentice labor-coaching. Boats, yachts and ships are considered durable goods, the opposite of planned obsolescence. …

2
Cooperatives Movement – “Many hands make heavy job light”

3
Ferry Operations – Demand & Supply
The CU envisions a fleet of ferries, to service the individual islands, in a scheme dubbed “Union Atlantic Turnpike”. The proliferation of scheduled ferries, synchronized with trains and trucks will depict a continuous logistic network. This constitutes the demand for ferries. The CU will henceforth award the contracts for building and maintaining the ferries to local industry players – this constitutes the supply. The CU will therefore foster a ship-building “incubator”.

4
Spin-off Strategy – Low-risk Contracts
The CU vision is to deploy a “spin-off” strategy for ship-owning patrons. The CU region needs ships. Therefore, the CU will incentivize patrons to “go local” with their ship-building/maintenance needs. A domestic ship-building industry is a great source of skilled/high-wage jobs. So there are many ways to exploit the cost-benefit equation for a win-win.

5
Cruise Ship Dry-Dock – Let’s Make-A-Deal
The Caribbean region is the Number One market for the Cruise Line industry. Big expenses for Cruise Lines are port charges and landing fees. The CU will offer rebates and incentives for the Cruise Lines to use local dry-docks for retro-fittings and refurbishing.

6
Yacht Development – Catering to a Special Market

7
Sailboats – For Every Man
The history of Caribbean boat building is rich with sailing crafts; cruise ships evolved from local Banana-Boats. The CU will channel that history, passion and ethos for the region to design/develop best-inbred sailboats, big and small.

8
Boat Shows and Open Houses – Show and Tell

9
Regattas – More than Just Winning a Race
The history of the region has highlighted ships, boats and boat building. There is the tradition of Regattas, used to showcase the islands boat building prowess. [199] The CU now intends to feature Regattas in the same manner that automakers feature auto racing (NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula-One), as a demonstration platform for their art and science.

10
Maritime Emergencies – Professional Response
The CU will deploy the necessary equipment and training for the ship-building industry to respond to maritime emergencies in the region. Therefore a disabled cruise ship will have the rapid response of “support-barges”, tug boats, dredging equipment, portable generators. This effort will be marshaled by the CU Emergency Management Agency.

The CU will foster shipbuilding as an industrial supplement and alternative to tourism. We have the resources (waterscapes, ports and harbors), the skills and the passionate work-force. We only need the Commerce of the Seas. The Caribbean people are now ready for this industrial empowerment. But we need to be cautious as to which role model we emulate. The US does provide material support and subsidies to their shipbuilding industry, but their protection laws – i.e. the Jones Act – have nullifies the positive effects of a Free Market. While other countries build and launch hundreds of ships every year, the US model only produce 2. That’s a lot of missing jobs, and artificially induced high prices.

In the Caribbean, we must do better. Fortunately, we do not have the Crony-Capitalism of the Jones Act to deter us. We can follow other – better – models to progress our societal investments in this industry. This is the assertion of the Go Lean roadmap.

We hereby urge all Caribbean stakeholders – governments and citizens – to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap to foster this industrial development, so that our region can be a better homeland and seas to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

———–
Appendix – The OECD Council Working Party on Shipbuilding

(OECD = Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development)

The OECD Council Working Party on Shipbuilding (WP6) seeks to progressively establish normal competitive conditions in the industry. It encourages transparency through data collection and analysis, and seeks to expand policy dialogue with non-OECD economies that have significant shipbuilding industries. WP6 is the only international body that can influence and guide government policies by identifying and, where possible, eliminating factors that distort the shipbuilding market.

The Working Party is chaired by Ambassador Elin Østebø Johansen, Permanent Representative of Norway to the OECD. Participating OECD members are: Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and Turkey. Croatia and Romania are full participants in the Working Party, and the Russian Federation participates as an observer. The European Commission, representing the European Union, also participates in WP6 meetings.

What does the Working Party on Shipbuilding do?
The WP6 has placed a high priority on encouraging policy dialogues, and on establishing close working relationships with non-OECD economies. In particular, these economies were invited to participate on an equal footing with OECD members in the negotiations on a shipbuilding agreement that ran from 2002 until 2005, and Brazil, China, Croatia, the Philippines, Romania, the Russian Federation, Chinese Taipei and Ukraine participated in those negotiations. Although the negotiations were eventually halted, a close working relationship has continued with all of these economies.

The WP6 organizes regular workshops aimed at facilitating the exchange of information on policy and industry developments, and as well as the economies already mentioned, other participants have come from India, and Indonesia, amongst others.

The WP6 has also worked closely with industry groups representing shipbuilders, ship owners, ship operators and trade union interests, so that a wide range of perspectives can be taken into account by WP6 members during their formulation of policy responses to address issues and challenges faced by the global shipbuilding sector.

What is the relevance of the Working Party to non-OECD economies and industry?

While the world’s shipbuilding industry has been through a period of record production, it was severely affected by the 2008 global financial crisis, and recent years have seen very low levels of new orders received by virtually all shipyards. The global industry now faces a number of challenges, most notably global excess capacity, which will place the economic viability of the industry under pressure in some parts of the world.

Persistent worldwide overcapacity may encourage governments to provide support through subsidies and other measures, as well as spur other market distorting practices, which can create major structural problems even in the most efficient shipbuilding industries. But potential market distortions can be addressed through close co-operation among economies with significant shipbuilding sectors and the active involvement of industry.

———-

INVENTORY OF GOVERNMENT SUPPORT MEASURES

The Inventory of Government Subsidies and Other Support Measures is a regular exercise for the WP6. The main aim of this exercise is to provide transparency and continuity of data on support measures for the shipbuilding industry. As well as WP6 participants, the Inventory provides some information on the support measures in Partner economies.

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Commerce of the Seas – Book Review: ‘Sea Power’

Posted on June 9, 2017 in Economics, Government, Implementation

Go Lean Commentary

70% of the earth is covered by water
70% of the human body is made up by water

It seems that water is pretty important in managing the affairs of people and their community.

The quest of the movement behind the book Go Lean… Caribbean is to confederate, collaborate and convene the 30 member-states of the Caribbean region into a Single Market; this would include the territorial homelands and aligning seas. How, where, when ‘Sea Power’ is managed becomes a major consideration in this quest. A lesson we have learned from Economic History is that a people who wield ‘Sea Power’ can control the economic prospects of its people.

We learn this lesson even more succinctly now, thanks to the new book by Admiral James Stavridis entitled: Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World’s Oceans. See a summary-review of the book here and listen to an AUDIO-Podcast interview with the Author:

Book Review for Book: Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World’s Oceans By: Admiral James Stavridis

From one of the most admired admirals of his generation – and the only admiral to serve as Supreme Allied Commander at NATO – comes a remarkable voyage through all of the world’s most important bodies of water, providing the story of naval power as a driver of human history and a crucial element in our current geopolitical path.

From the time of the Greeks and the Persians clashing in the Mediterranean, sea power has determined world power. To an extent that is often underappreciated, it still does. No one understands this better than Admiral Jim Stavridis. In Sea Power, Admiral Stavridis takes us with him on a tour of the world’s oceans from the admiral’s chair, showing us how the geography of the oceans has shaped the destiny of nations, and how naval power has in a real sense made the world we live in today, and will shape the world we live in tomorrow.

Not least, Sea Power is marvelous naval history, giving us fresh insight into great naval engagements from the battles of Salamis and Lepanto through to Trafalgar, the Battle of the Atlantic, and submarine conflicts of the Cold War. It is also a keen-eyed reckoning with the likely sites of our next major naval conflicts, particularly the Arctic Ocean, Eastern Mediterranean, and the South China Sea. Finally, Sea Power steps back to take a holistic view of the plagues to our oceans that are best seen that way, from piracy to pollution.

When most of us look at a globe, we focus on the shape of the of the seven continents. Admiral Stavridis sees the shapes of the seven seas. After reading Sea Power, you will too. Not since Alfred Thayer Mahan’s legendary The Influence of Sea Power upon History have we had such a powerful reckoning with this vital subject.

Sea Power makes a great Father’s Day gift!

Source: Amazon Online Bookstore-Portal; retrieved June 9, 2017 from: https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Power-History-Geopolitics-Worlds/dp/073522059X/

———–

Appendix AUDIO-Podcast – Stavridis’ Book ‘Sea Power’ Explains Why Oceans Matter In Global Politics – http://www.npr.org/2017/06/06/531701056/stavridis-book-sea-power-explains-why-oceans-matter-in-global-politics

Published June 6, 2017 – NPR’s Morning Edition’s Steve Inskeep talks to retired Admiral James Stavridis, former supreme allied commander for NATO, about his new book: Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World’s Oceans.

Listen to an extended NPR Podcast here: http://www.npr.org/podcasts/510053/on-point-with-tom-ashbrook

The theme of this new book aligns with the book Go Lean…Caribbean in explaining the significance of ‘Sea Power’ in any plan to elevate the Caribbean region’s societal engines. This commentary is 2 of 4 in a series considering the Lessons in Economic History related to “Commerce of the Seas”, the good, bad and ugly (think Crony-Capitalism) strategies and practices around the maritime eco-system in the United States … and other countries. The full series is as follows:

Commerce of the Seas – Stupidity of the Jones Act

Commerce of the Seas – Book Review: ‘Sea Power’

Commerce of the Seas – Shipbuilding Model of Ingalls

Commerce of the Seas – Lessons from Alang (India)

The previous commentary in this series relates how “Commerce” refers to the economic interest of the 30 member-states in the Caribbean region. Admiral Stavridis book has a heavy focus on naval military power; he posits that a strong Navy paves the way for and protects the continuation of maritime commerce. From the book Sea Power and the Go Lean book we see this consistent Lesson in Economic History:

Around the world, countries that have access to control of the “Sea” have a distinct advantage economically versus countries that are land-locked; i.e. England versus Austria.

As stated previously, the United States have wielded its ‘Sea Power’ to promote profit for its maritime industrial stakeholders at the expense of the residents of off-shore territories, like Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands in the Caribbean.

There is therefore a need to reboot, reform and transform the Caribbean region’s stewardship of the Seas. This is the purpose of the book Go Lean … Caribbean, to help empower and elevate the societal engines of the 30 member-states of the Caribbean region and their waterscapes. The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This would be the inter-governmental entity for a regional Single Market that covers the land territories of the 30 member-states, and their aligning seas; (including the 1,063,000 square miles of the Caribbean Sea in an Exclusive Economic Zone). The Go Lean/CU roadmap features this prime directive, as defined by these 3 statements:

Optimization of the economic engines to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.

Establishment of a security apparatus to protect public safety and ensure the economic engines of the region, including the seas.

Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines in local governments and in the Exclusive Economic Zone, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

This Go Lean roadmap envisioned a wide-ranging, fully-encompassing treaty for all Caribbean member-states to deputize a technocratic agency to better administer the affairs (economic, security and governance) of the waterscapes in the region. It was recognized that this quest was “out-of-scope” and too big for any one Caribbean member-state alone, but rather, acknowledging their regional interdependence, these stakeholders would be able to engage a new inter-governmental administration for better regional stewardship. This, regionalism, was the original intent of the Go Lean book, which commenced with a Declaration of Interdependence, pronouncing the need for regional coordination and integration so as to reform and transform Caribbean society. See a sample of relevant stanzas here (Page 11 – 12) as related to the Caribbean ‘Sea Power’:

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

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

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. …

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

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes, 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 foregoing book, Sea Power, aligns with the Go Lean book references to strategies, tactics and implementations for the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn directions on “how” this EEZ can impact and benefit Caribbean society. Consider the Chapter excerpts and headlines from this sample on Page 104:

The Bottom Line on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
The UNCLOS is the international agreement that resulted from the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea which took place between 1973 and 1982. This Convention defines the rights and responsibilities of nations in their use of the world’s oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources. As of October 2012, 164 countries and the European Union have joined in the Convention. The convention introduced a number of provisions. The most significant issues covered were setting limits, navigation, archipelagic status and transit regimes, exclusive economic zones (EEZs), continental shelf jurisdiction, deep seabed mining, the exploitation regime, protection of the marine environment, scientific research, and settlement of disputes. EEZs extend from the edge of the territorial sea out to 200 nautical miles (230 miles) from the 12-mile baseline. Within this area, the coastal nation has sole exploitation rights over all natural resources, including the continental shelf. EEZs were introduced to halt the increasingly heated clashes over fishing rights, although oil was also becoming important. The success of an offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico in 1947 was soon repeated elsewhere in the world, and by 1970 it was technically feasible to operate in waters 4000 meters deep. Foreign nations still have freedoms of navigation and over-flights for the EEZ, subject to the regulation of the coastal states. Foreign states may also lay submarine pipes and cables.

CU independent UNCLOS member-states include: Antigua, Jamaica, Suriname, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Barbados, Saint Vincent, Saint Kitts, Trinidad, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Cuba, Bahamas & Belize.

10 Start-up Benefits from the EEZ

1
Lean-in for Caribbean Integration
The CU treaty unifies the Caribbean region into one single market of 42 million people across 30 member-states, thereby empowering the economic engines in and on behalf of the region. Integral to CU roadmap, is the territory between the island states. The CU will petition the United Nations for rights under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea for acquisition of an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). This will facilitate both economic empowerment (including Fisheries management) and security assurances for the region. (This effort was started by the Association of Caribbean States).

2
Funding by Selling Exploration Rights

3
Off-shore Wind Turbines

4
Pipelines

5
Extractions – Economic & Security

6
Security – Anti-Piracy
The CU has the mission to defend the homeland against enemies: foreign, domestic, and in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Caribbean Seas. There is still a threat of piracy in modern times, and these “bad actors” hide behind jurisdictional confusions of one territorial waters after another. But the CU, with its regional oversight, can be more effective in bringing these ones to justice. Piracy is a form of terrorism, and cruise ships (smaller vessels catering to a High Net Worth – One Percent – market) and leisure crafts can be vulnerable to these threats.

7
Security – Interdictions
There is the need to be on alert for seaborne drug smuggling activities, as these can have corrupting influences on the local community. This would be the direct responsibilities of the CU Naval Operations for the jurisdiction of the EEZ. Today the US Coast Guard conducts patrols in the Caribbean Seas with impunity. There is no plan in the CU roadmap to curtail any of this activity; instead the CU will better coordinate their routes and maneuvers with CU Naval Operations.

8
Security – Search & Rescue

9
Security Monitoring
The CU will embrace many cutting-edge technological options to “keep eyes” on the Caribbean Seas. This includes satellite (visual & GPS), drones (unmanned airborne vehicles & dirigibles or blimps. Boaters will be incentivized tocooperate and install location beacons.

10
Security – Defense Pact (Naval Maneuvers)
The US, France, Netherlands, UK and some European trading partners have declared a “War Against Terrorism”; those battles will surely come to Caribbean shores. The CU therefore invites the Navies of allied nations to train, visit and conduct operations in our Caribbean waters, especially in the EEZ.

The issue of managing marine resources for commerce and security in the Caribbean has been a frequent subject for previous blog-commentaries; consider this list of sample entries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11544 Forging Change in the Cruise Industry with Collective Bargaining

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10566 Funding the Caribbean Security Pact

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8819 Lessons from China – South China Seas: Exclusive Economic Zones

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5210 Cruise Ship Commerce – Getting Ready for Change

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3594 Better Fisheries Management for Queen Conch

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1965 America’s Navy – 100 Percent – Model for Caribbean

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=673 Ghost ships – Autonomous cargo vessels without a crew

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273 10 Things We Want from the US – # 4: Pax Americana

All Caribbean members are islands or coastal territories. The subject of ‘Sea Power’ and security of the waterscapes matters to us. Rather than 70 percent, we have to be concerned with 100 percent of the issues, challenges and opportunities.

There is a need to reform our maritime eco-system, for commerce and security. ‘Sea Power’ determines world power, so there is also a need to have a “seat at the table” among the big nations and sea-faring empires. As one small island alone, there is no chance for that consideration; but as a Single Market entity of 42 million people and 30 separate countries (and territories), the Caribbean can now have a Voice … and a Vote (in international forums) so as to shape the destiny of our homeland … and maybe even the whole world of commerce & security.

We hereby urge all Caribbean stakeholders – governments and citizens – to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap to better wield our ‘Sea Power’, so that our region can be a better homeland (and waterscapes) to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

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Commerce of the Seas – Stupidity of the Jones Act

Posted on June 8, 2017 in Economics, Government, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

In the Caribbean, we are surrounded by water (straits, banks, Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, etc); if you stare upon the waters in the middle of a sunny day, you start to see a mirage – a distortion in reality. In the Caribbean, we are also surrounded by a lot of stupidity. Make no mistake, this is not a mirage; it is mercantilism*.

In a previous blog, this commentary asserted that the historicity of a lot of stupidity in society is due to Crony-Capitalism:

Someone is getting paid!

This applies in so many areas of American life that Caribbean people can learn lessons from this history and distortion in reality. This commentary is 1 of 4 in a series considering the Lessons in Economic History related to “Commerce of the Seas”, the Crony-Capitalism in laws and practices around the maritime eco-system in the United States … and other countries. The full series is as follows:

Commerce of the Seas – Stupidity of the Jones Act

Commerce of the Seas – Book Review: ‘Sea Power’

Commerce of the Seas – Shipbuilding Model of Ingalls

Commerce of the Seas – Lessons from Alang (India)

The reference to “Commerce” refers to the economic interests of the 30 member-states in the Caribbean region. There are so many Lessons in Economic History for us to glean:

Around the world, countries that had access to the “Sea” have a distinct advantage economically versus countries that were land-locked; i.e. England versus Austria.

Mercantilism dictated that empires force rules and laws to preserve commerce for their home countries. This was also the case for the United States. One prominent law that was instituted was the Jones Act; see more in Appendix B below.

The Jones Act mandates that for a ship to go from one US port to another US port it must be American-made and American flagged. Also, for foreign ships to trade in US Territories, they must first journey to a foreign port before they could journey to another American port to transport goods. This seems “stupid”; but the adherence to this law keeps American maritime commerce options afloat; this means someone is getting paid; see VIDEO in Appendix A below, highlighting a distortion in the reality of Puerto Rico-to US Mainland trade.

How about the Caribbean, do we have or need maritime “protectionism” in the laws of the member-states of our region? The answer is affirmative for the dysfunctional US Territories; there is a need for economic regionalism, not protectionism.

The US Territories of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands are also regulated by the Jones Act. According to the encyclopedic reference (in Appendix B below), this is not good; it hinders economic development!

In March 2013, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a study of the effect of the Jones Act on Puerto Rico that noted “freight rates are set based on a host of supply and demand factors in the market, some of which are affected directly or indirectly by Jones Act requirements.” The report further concludes … [that] freight rates between the United States and Puerto Rico are affected by the Jones Act.” The report also addresses what would happen “under a full exemption from the Act, the rules and requirements that would apply to all carriers would need to be determined.” The report continues that “while proponents of this change expect increased competition and greater availability of vessels to suit shippers’ needs” …

The American territories in the Caribbean are in the middle of the Caribbean geography, rimming the Caribbean Sea. The “Laws of the Sea” need to reflect this reality and not just political alignments. This is the purpose of the book Go Lean … Caribbean, to help reform and transform the societal engines for the 30 member-states of the Caribbean region. The book specifically addresses customization to the “Laws of the Sea” to benefit the Caribbean region. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This would be the governmental entity for a regional Single Market that covers the land territories of the 30 member-states, and their aligning seas; (including the 1,063,000 square miles of the Caribbean Sea in an Exclusive Economic Zone). The Go Lean/CU roadmap features this prime directive, as defined by these 3 statements:

Optimization of the economic engines to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.

Establishment of a security apparatus to protect public safety and ensure the economic engines of the region, including the seas.

Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines in local governments and in the Exclusive Economic Zone, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

The Go Lean roadmap allows for the regional stewardship and administration of the commerce on the Caribbean Seas in collaboration, conjunction and cooperation with US legal jurisdiction and foreign entities. The legal premise for this strategy is an Interstate Compact & Treaty – see details in the Go Lean book (Page 278) or the photo-excerpt in Appendix IA below – legislated by the US Congress, independent Caribbean governments (17) and the colonial masters for the existing overseas territories:

France (Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Martin, St. Barthélemy)

The Netherlands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten)

United Kingdom (Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks & Caicos and the British Virgin Islands)

Such a wide-ranging, fully-encompassing Compact-Treaty was an original intent of the Go Lean book – economic regionalism. The publication (published in November 2013) commenced with a Declaration of Interdependence, pronouncing the need for regional coordination and integration so as to reform and transform Caribbean society. See a sample of relevant stanzas here (Page 11 – 13):

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

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

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

xxiii. Whereas many countries in our region are dependent Overseas Territory of imperial powers, the systems of governance can be instituted on a regional and local basis, rather than requiring oversight or accountability from distant masters far removed from their subjects of administration. The Federation must facilitate success in autonomous rule by sharing tools, systems and teamwork within the geographical region.

The foregoing Jones Act is an American legislation that probably needs to be repealed or revised to reflect the actuality of a globalized economy; (there are some good provisions related to injury of seamen). Consider this recent experience recorded by a commentator on a news site, below an article regarding the efforts to repeal the Jones Act:

John David Oct 25, 2016 at 7:38 pm

The Act does not Protect the Ports and Waterways, that task is left to the US Navy and US Coast Guard. We have Significant Ports on the US Mainland. None of them have had any security issues with Foreign Flagged Vessels. Trade is restrictive to and from places like Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Guam Etc.

Therefore business that could be entertained and cultivated providing a boost in their respective economies, those areas economically are suppressed. The United States has a significant Naval and Coast Guard presence in each of these areas. An example of how this stifles the economy would be to take a guitar manufacturer located on the Big Island of Hawaii. The Big Island has an abundance of Koa wood, a highly sought after wood for the manufacture of wooden guitars. However if they wanted to ship their guitars to a distributor in Australia, they have to first ship it to the USA mainland. They then Offload it and re-ship it to Australia, The interesting part of this story is that many times the costs for shipping it to Australia are less than it was to ship it to the US Mainland on the initial leg. So as you can see this stifles any possible USA productivity. And maybe that is why no one in Hawaii is Mfg guitars, or hardly anything else for that matter.

Original News Article: The Triton – Nautical News – Published January 26, 2015; retrieved June 8, 2017 from: http://www.the-triton.com/2015/01/mccain-repeal-jones-act/

Reforming America is out-of-scope for the Go Lean movement, notwithstanding Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Our quest is to reform and transform the Caribbean … only. The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos for economic regionalism, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the maritime commerce to benefit Caribbean society.

The issue of rebooting maritime commerce has been a frequent subject for previous blog-commentaries; consider this list of sample entries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11544 Forging Change in the Cruise Industry with Collective Bargaining

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5210 Cruise Ship Commerce – Getting Ready for Change

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4639 Tobago: A Model for Cruise Tourism

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4037 One mission for Maritime Commerce: Expanding Shipbuilding

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3594 Better Fisheries Management for Queen Conch

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2003 Where the Jobs Are in Maritime Commerce? Consider Shipbreaking

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=673 Ghost ships – Autonomous cargo vessels without a crew

All Caribbean members are islands or coastal territories. There is a need to reform maritime commerce for the Caribbean region; we can get more economic activity from this sector; the Go Lean book projects 15,000 new direct jobs in the shipbuilding industry, 4000 in fisheries and 800 jobs by reforming payment systems for cruise passengers. The possibility of new jobs are positive economic fruitage from considering a reboot of maritime eco-system; it would be stupid not to try.

Previous generations in the Caribbean lived off the sea; we can again; it would be stupid not to try. This plan is conceivable, believable and achievable. We urge all Caribbean stakeholders – seafarers and land-lovers – to lean-in to this roadmap for economic empowerment. We can make the Caribbean homeland and seas better places to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

————-

Appendix A VIDEO – The Jones Act And The Debt Crisis – https://youtu.be/PFnrGcP1OyE

Published on Sep 27, 2016 – Nelson Denis talks about the Jones Act.

In addition, see the FULL Documentary on the Jones Act Explanation: https://youtu.be/GpwzoDGDGAQ

————-

Appendix B: Merchant Marine Act of 1920 aka Jones Act

The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (P.L. 66-261), also known as the Jones Act, is a United States federal statute that provides for the promotion and maintenance of the American merchant marine.^[1] Among other purposes, the law regulates maritime commerce in U.S. waters and between U.S. ports. Section 27 of the Jones Act deals with cabotage and requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried on U.S.-flag ships, constructed in the United States, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents.^[2] The act was introduced by Senator Wesley Jones.

Laws similar to the Jones Act date to the early days of the nation. In the First Congress, on September 1, 1789, Congress enacted Chapter XI, “An Act for Registering and Clearing Vessels, Regulating the Coasting Trade, and for other purposes”, which limited domestic trades to American ships meeting certain requirements.^[3]

The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 has been revised a number of times; the most recent revision in 2006 included recodification in the U.S. Code.^[2] In early 2015 Senator John McCain filed for an amendment that would essentially annul the Act.^[4] [The amendment failed].

The Jones Act is not to be confused with the Death on the High Seas Act, another United States maritime law that does not apply to coastal and in-land navigable waters.

Objectives and purpose
The intention of Congress to ensure a vibrant United States maritime industry is stated in the preamble to the Merchant Marine Act of 1920.^[5]

Cabotage
Cabotage is the transport of goods or passengers between two points in the same country, alongside coastal waters, by a vessel or an aircraft registered in another country. Originally a shipping term, cabotage now also covers aviation, railways, and road transport. Cabotage is “trade or navigation in coastal waters, or the exclusive right of a country to operate the air traffic within its territory”.^[6] In the context of “cabotage rights”, cabotage refers to the right of a company from one country to trade in another country. In aviation terms, for example, it is the right to operate within the domestic borders of another country. Most countries enact cabotage laws for reasons of economic protectionism or national security.^{[citation needed]}

The cabotage provisions relating to the Jones Act restrict the carriage of goods or passengers between United States ports to U.S.-built and flagged vessels. It has been codified as portions of 46 U.S.C. ^[7] Generally, the Jones Act prohibits any foreign-built, foreign-owned or foreign-flagged vessel from engaging in coastwise trade within the United States. A number of other statutes affect coastwise trade and should be consulted along with the Jones Act. These include the Passenger Vessel Services Act, 46 USC section 289 which restricts coastwise transportation of passengers and 46 USC section 12108 restricts the use of foreign vessel to commercially catch or transport fish in U.S. waters.^[8] These provisions also require at least three-fourths of the crewmembers to be U.S. citizens. Moreover, the steel of foreign repair work on the hull and superstructure of a U.S.-flagged vessel is limited to ten percent by weight.

…

Effects
The Jones Act prevents foreign-flagged ships from carrying cargo between the US mainland and noncontiguous parts of the US, such as Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Alaska, and Guam.^[11] Foreign ships inbound with goods cannot stop any of these four locations, offload goods, load mainland-bound goods, and continue to US mainland ports. Instead, they must proceed directly to US mainland ports, where distributors break bulk and then send goods to US places off the mainland by US-flagged ships.^[11] Jones Act restrictions can be circumvented by making a stop in a foreign country between two US ports, e.g., Anchorage–Vancouver–Seattle.

Puerto Rico
Studies by the World Economic Forum and Federal Reserve Bank of New York have concluded that the Jones Act hinders economic development in Puerto Rico.^[12]

In March 2013, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a study of the effect of the Jones Act on Puerto Rico that noted “[f]reight rates are set based on a host of supply and demand factors in the market, some of which are affected directly or indirectly by Jones Act requirements.” The report further concludes, however, that “because so many other factors besides the Jones Act affect rates, it is difficult to isolate the exact extent to which freight rates between the United States and Puerto Rico are affected by the Jones Act.” The report also addresses what would happen “under a full exemption from the Act, the rules and requirements that would apply to all carriers would need to be determined.” The report continues that “[w]hile proponents of this change expect increased competition and greater availability of vessels to suit shippers’ needs, it is also possible that the reliability and other beneficial aspects of the current service could be affected.” The report concludes that “GAO’s report confirmed that previous estimates of the so-called ‘cost’ of the Jones Act are not verifiable and cannot be proven.”^[13]

In the Washington Times, Rep. Duncan Hunter spoke to the need for the Jones Act and why it is not to blame for the island’s debt crisis. “With or without such an effort, it’s imperative not to conflate the unrelated issues of Puerto Rico’s debt and the Jones Act, and to fully grasp the importance of ensuring the safe transport of goods between American ports. There must also be acknowledgment of the dire consequences of exposing ports and waterways to foreign seafarers.”^[14]

[See VIDEO in Appendix A above].

US shipbuilding
Because the Jones Act requires all transport between US ports be carried on US-built ships, the Jones Act supports the domestic US shipbuilding industry.^[15][16]Critics of the act describe it as protectionist, harming the overall economy for the sake of benefiting narrow interests.^[17][18] Other criticism argues that the Jones Act is an ineffective way to achieve this goal, claiming it drives up shipping costs, increases energy costs, stifles competition, and hampers innovation in the U.S. shipping industry^[19] – however, multiple GAO reports have disputed these claims.^[20]

Source: Retrieved June 8, 2017 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_Marine_Act_of_1920

[See the FULL Documentary on the Jones Act Explanation: https://youtu.be/GpwzoDGDGAQ]

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Appendix IA – Interstate Compacts

Since Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are US Territories, their implementation of the provisions of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation must legally be construed as an Interstate Compact.

An Interstate Compact is an agreement between two or more states of the US. Article I, Section 10 of the US Constitution provides that “no state shall enter into an agreement or compact with another state” without the consent of Congress. Frequently, these agreements create a new governmental agency which is responsible for administering or improving some shared resource such as a seaport or public transportation infrastructure. In some cases, a compact serves simply as a coordination mechanism between independent authorities in the member states.

Click on photo to enlarge

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Footnote Reference – * Mercantilism

A system of political and economic policy, evolving with the modern national state and seeking to secure a nation’s political and economic supremacy in its rivalry with other states. According to this system, money was regarded as a store of wealth, and the goal of a state was the accumulation of precious metals, by exporting the largest possible quantity of its products and importing as little as possible, thus establishing a favorable balance of trade.
Source: Retrieved June 8, 2017 from: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/mercantile-system

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Costa Rica	Cuba (Suspended)	Dominica	Dominican Republic	Ecuador
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Suriname	Trinidad	United States	Uruguay	Venezuela (Withdrew)

1	Lean-in for Caribbean Integration The CU will allow for the unification of the region into one market, creating an economy of 30 member-states, 42 million people and 2010 GDP over $800 Billion. All of the member-states are either islands or coastal, therefore there are lots of coastline and harbors. Boats, yachts and ships are therefore plentiful in the region. Consistent with the CU’s mission for globalization, the region cannot just consume these vessels; we must create and build as well. There is a history of boat-building in the islands (slopes, schooners, clippers), but what had been missing to forge a formidable industry is the capital and the community “will”. The CU will now fill those gaps. The CU will tap the capital markets to secure long-term funding (stocks/bonds), prepare the labor force for advanced skill-sets, and negotiate treaties with “mature” EU states (i.e. Holland, Ireland) for master-apprentice labor-coaching. Boats, yachts and ships are considered durable goods, the opposite of planned obsolescence. …
2	*Cooperatives Movement – “Many hands make heavy job light”*
3	Ferry Operations – Demand & Supply The CU envisions a fleet of ferries, to service the individual islands, in a scheme dubbed “Union Atlantic Turnpike”. The proliferation of scheduled ferries, synchronized with trains and trucks will depict a continuous logistic network. This constitutes the demand for ferries. The CU will henceforth award the contracts for building and maintaining the ferries to local industry players – this constitutes the supply. The CU will therefore foster a ship-building “incubator”.
4	Spin-off Strategy – Low-risk Contracts The CU vision is to deploy a “spin-off” strategy for ship-owning patrons. The CU region needs ships. Therefore, the CU will incentivize patrons to “go local” with their ship-building/maintenance needs. A domestic ship-building industry is a great source of skilled/high-wage jobs. So there are many ways to exploit the cost-benefit equation for a win-win.
5	Cruise Ship Dry-Dock – *Let’s Make-A-Deal* The Caribbean region is the Number One market for the Cruise Line industry. Big expenses for Cruise Lines are port charges and landing fees. The CU will offer rebates and incentives for the Cruise Lines to use local dry-docks for retro-fittings and refurbishing.
6	Yacht Development – *Catering to a Special Market*
7	Sailboats – For Every Man The history of Caribbean boat building is rich with sailing crafts; cruise ships evolved from local Banana-Boats. The CU will channel that history, passion and ethos for the region to design/develop best-inbred sailboats, big and small.
8	Boat Shows and Open Houses – Show and Tell
9	Regattas – More than Just Winning a Race The history of the region has highlighted ships, boats and boat building. There is the tradition of Regattas, used to showcase the islands boat building prowess. [199] The CU now intends to feature Regattas in the same manner that automakers feature auto racing (NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula-One), as a demonstration platform for their art and science.
10	Maritime Emergencies – *Professional Response* The CU will deploy the necessary equipment and training for the ship-building industry to respond to maritime emergencies in the region. Therefore a disabled cruise ship will have the rapid response of “support-barges”, tug boats, dredging equipment, portable generators. This effort will be marshaled by the CU Emergency Management Agency.

1	Lean-in for Caribbean Integration The CU treaty unifies the Caribbean region into one single market of 42 million people across 30 member-states, thereby empowering the economic engines in and on behalf of the region. Integral to CU roadmap, is the territory between the island states. The CU will petition the United Nations for rights under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea for acquisition of an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). This will facilitate both economic empowerment (including Fisheries management) and security assurances for the region. (This effort was started by the Association of Caribbean States).
2	Funding by Selling Exploration Rights
3	Off-shore Wind Turbines
4	Pipelines
5	Extractions – Economic & Security
6	Security – Anti-Piracy The CU has the mission to defend the homeland against enemies: foreign, domestic, and in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Caribbean Seas. There is still a threat of piracy in modern times, and these “bad actors” hide behind jurisdictional confusions of one territorial waters after another. But the CU, with its regional oversight, can be more effective in bringing these ones to justice. Piracy is a form of terrorism, and cruise ships (smaller vessels catering to a High Net Worth – One Percent – market) and leisure crafts can be vulnerable to these threats.
7	Security – Interdictions There is the need to be on alert for seaborne drug smuggling activities, as these can have corrupting influences on the local community. This would be the direct responsibilities of the CU Naval Operations for the jurisdiction of the EEZ. Today the US Coast Guard conducts patrols in the Caribbean Seas with impunity. There is no plan in the CU roadmap to curtail any of this activity; instead the CU will better coordinate their routes and maneuvers with CU Naval Operations.
8	Security – Search & Rescue
9	Security Monitoring The CU will embrace many cutting-edge technological options to “keep eyes” on the Caribbean Seas. This includes satellite (visual & GPS), drones (unmanned airborne vehicles & dirigibles or blimps. Boaters will be incentivized tocooperate and install location beacons.
10	Security – Defense Pact (Naval Maneuvers) The US, France, Netherlands, UK and some European trading partners have declared a “War Against Terrorism”; those battles will surely come to Caribbean shores. The CU therefore invites the Navies of allied nations to train, visit and conduct operations in our Caribbean waters, especially in the EEZ.

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11544	Forging Change in the Cruise Industry with Collective Bargaining
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10566	Funding the Caribbean Security Pact
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8819	Lessons from China – South China Seas: Exclusive Economic Zones
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5210	Cruise Ship Commerce – Getting Ready for Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3594	Better Fisheries Management for Queen Conch
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1965	America’s Navy – 100 Percent – Model for Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=673	Ghost ships – Autonomous cargo vessels without a crew
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273	10 Things We Want from the US – # 4: Pax Americana