Image – Page 7 – Go Lean…Caribbean

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Corporate Tax Dodging – Transfer Policing

Posted on September 23, 2014 in Ethos, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

Bermuda, Bahama … come on pretty mama” – List of fun-spots from the lyrics of the song “Kokomo” by the Beach Boys. (See Appendix & VIDEO below).

“Bermuda, Luxembourg and Ireland” – List of countries from the foregoing article that facilitate tax dodging and evading schemes by corporations in Big Economy countries.

Somehow this just seems wrong!

It seems even worst to be on this latter list.

This is not the Caribbean that we want to bequeath to our children. (According to previous blog commentaries, the children have also voted to divorce themselves of their Caribbean heritage).

The following article depicts the great lengths that “tax dodgers” go through to avoid their social responsibilities…and then use the Caribbean as “partners in crime”.

Subtitle: Big Economies take aim at the firms running circles around their taxmen

POLITICIANS in the rich world like to splutter about the ever more elaborate dodges that big multinational firms undertake to minimise their tax bills. But doing something about them is trickier. America’s Congress is struggling to agree on ways to stop companies “inverting”—switching domicile to reduce tax bills (see article). The European Union is locked in a protracted debate about whether the favourable treatment that some of its members give to particular forms of corporate revenue are tantamount to illegal subsidies. So the news that the world’s biggest economies have agreed on a plan to limit “base erosion and profit shifting” in corporate tax is something of a watershed.

It has become the norm for multinationals to park themselves or large chunks of their assets—especially intangible ones, such as rights to royalties—in low- or no-tax places such as Bermuda, Luxembourg and Ireland. The wiliest, including Apple, have even discovered ways to re-route funds so as to render income stateless. These transactions are generally legal, or at least exploit grey areas in the tax codes of the countries concerned. But they appear unfair to many in these fiscally strained times, not least because they are beyond the reach of small, domestic firms.

It is only natural that companies take advantage of the gaps. They plough huge resources into doing so, viewing cutting-edge tax arbitrage as a competitive advantage. One study estimated that the resulting tax avoidance could amount to a quarter of total corporate profit-tax receipts in rich countries, and more in poor ones. In truth, the extent of the fleecing is unclear. Corporate tax receipts as a share of GDP, although volatile, do not appear to have declined markedly in the past decade. As a share of profits, however, they have fallen steeply (see chart), though that is partly due to declining rates.

In 2012 the G20, a club of the world’s biggest economies, called on the OECD*, a similar grouping which has long overseen international tax standards, to seek consensus on ways to close the loopholes. Its members have agreed on one set of proposals, released this week, and are working on another. The G20 will formally approve the OECD’s plan at a summit in Australia on September 20th. All told, 44 countries accounting for 90% of the world economy are on board.

The proposals aim to reduce the discrepancy, for many firms, between where they do most of their business and where they pay most of their taxes. One target is “transfer pricing”, the rates that subsidiaries of a single firm charge each other for goods and services. By setting these high, firms can spirit profits out of the countries where they do most of their business to tax havens where they locate their intangibles. The proposals would also clamp down on “treaty shopping”, arrangements through which firms obtain benefits from a tax treaty despite not being resident in either country that is party to it.

Another measure attempts to end the absurd practice of “hybrid mismatches”, whereby companies claim double deductions by classifying financial instruments as debt in some countries and equity in others. In a genuine coup, all members will share basic information about multinationals (such as assets, sales, profits and employees), giving authorities a better chance of spotting tax dodging.

In some areas, consensus could not be reached or is slow to emerge. There was, for instance, no agreement on restricting the use of “patent boxes”, favourable tax regimes for patented inventions and other innovations. In a win for America, the countries agreed not to treat e-commerce as a distinct sector, subject to special “Google taxes”, although they did undertake to study the digital economy’s impact on taxes further. The second set of proposals, expected late next year, is unlikely to include anything much more concrete on this. It will, however, tackle a number of other thorny issues, such as the rampant use of intra-group loans to “strip” earnings out of higher-tax countries.

The chief complaint against the OECD’s approach is that it eschews more radical reforms, such as divvying up taxing rights among countries according to the proportion of a firm’s sales or staff located there. Sol Picciotto of Lancaster University and the Tax Justice Network, an NGO, calls the reforms “a patch-up job” that maintains the “fiction” that subsidiaries charge each other market prices and does little for the poor African countries that are among the main victims of profit-shifting. Jeffrey Owens, a former head of the OECD’s tax division, applauds his former employer’s work but thinks policymakers could struggle to keep up as location becomes an ever-fuzzier concept in business.

Moreover, much of what has been agreed requires the amending of laws and treaties. The risk is that countries implement only the bits that suit them. It remains to be seen how Britain, for instance, will square its official support for the project with its desire to be the most tax-competitive nation in the G20. It offers an alluring patent box and generous treatment of interest and has enthusiastically cut its corporate tax rate, to 20%. America often drops multilateral initiatives in favour of its own preferences.

Small wonder, then, that only 23% of the 3,000 firms surveyed recently by Grant Thornton, an accountancy, expect the proposals to win global approval. And even if they do, the next step is even harder: making sure the multinationals’ supremely inventive lawyers and accountants do not find a way around them.
The Economist Magazine (Posted 09-20-2014) –
http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21618911-big-economies-take-aim-firms-running-circles-around-their-taxmen-transfer?fsrc=nlw|hig|18-09-2014|53552127899249e1cc9ea210|NA

*OECD = Organization of Economic Cooperation & Development

The book Go Lean…Caribbean asserts that governments need to collect their taxes, plain and simple. The Social Contract with their citizens requires that they collect revenues so as to render services on behalf of their people. The less tax revenues, the less services that can be rendered. When this trending continues, the destination takes on a “failed-state status”. Unfortunately, the Caribbean region is far too familiar with this “failed-state status”. So cooperating with foreign companies looking to continue tax dodging practices would be counter-productive – a negative community ethos that we would want to avoid.

The Go Lean book purports that the Caribbean can – and must – do better.

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

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

The Go Lean roadmap provides turn-by-turn directions on how to forge a change in the region’s community ethos to encourage honest/moral business practices and a level-playing field. There is this established business axiom: “there are two certainties: Death and Taxes”. This roadmap thusly views the moral obligation to facilitate government tax deliverables, pronouncing this point early in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12) with these statements:

xiv. Whereas government services cannot be delivered without the appropriate funding mechanisms, “new guards” must be incorporated to assess, accrue, calculate and collect revenues, fees and other income sources for the Federation and member-states. The Federation can spur government revenues directly through cross-border services and indirectly by fostering industries and economic activities not possible without this Union.

The Caribbean have for far too long looked for opportunities on the grey-side of international laws. The foregoing article relates the business historicity of booking Intellectual Property rights royalties and other intangible assets in off-shore locales:

“These transactions are generally legal, or at least exploit grey areas in the tax codes of the countries concerned. But they appear unfair …”

Rather than being complicit in these “grey” activities, indicative of a “parasite” mentality, this roadmap now projects that it is past the time to “straighten up and fly right”. The Go Lean book, and accompanying blog commentaries, go even deeper in describing a “parasite” status that proliferates the Caribbean disposition.

Change has now come to the Caribbean. Rather than a “parasite” ethos, the Go Lean movement calls for a protégé ethos. This shift is now in progress. The Go Lean book (Pages 199, 321 – 326) describes the reform developments in the Offshore Tax & Financial Services industries, in moving the industries from Black List to White List status.

There are many Go Lean blog commentaries that have echoed this point, addressing the change for the Caribbean to shift from “parasite” to protégé:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2207	Hotels Parasite Policies are making billions from added fees
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1984	Casinos Failing Business Model
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1869	Senate Bill targets cowardly companies that move overseas
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=623	Only at the precipice, do they change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=451	CARICOM Chairman to deliver address on reparations – Parasitical
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273	10 Things We Want from the US – Free Market

Change is coming throughout the world, a by-product of globalization. It will not be tolerated for one country to exploit tax loopholes in other countries. This intolerance for “parasites” is not just among the publishers of Go Lean. While this movement anticipates change and then prepares the Caribbean for it, there is an international parallel effort. The G20, a club of the world’s biggest economies, has called on the OECD to oversee international tax standards, to seek consensus on ways to close the tax loopholes. The foregoing article relates that its members have agreed on one set of proposals; so far 44 countries, accounting for 90% of the world economy, are on board for the proposals.

How about for the Caribbean? It is only a matter of time for some international corporate tax reforms to take root. How will those changes affect the Offshore Financial industries and the practice of allowing companies to run circles around tax rules by using “Black List” countries? The fact that these questions have to be considered demonstrate the need for a more “White List” community/business ethos. These questions should be moot! Never mind the answers.

Debate Over!

The Go Lean book purports that the Caribbean can – and must – do better. The roadmap for the CU is a confederation of the 30 member-states of the Caribbean to do the heavy-lifting of optimizing economic-security-governing engines. The Go Lean book details the community ethos to adopt, plus the executions of the following strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to change Caribbean society:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Whistleblower Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – Intelligence Gathering	Page 23
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development	Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Agents of Change – Technology	Page 57
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization	Page 57
Tactical – How to Grow to a $800 Economy – Trade and Globalization	Page 70
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Securities Exchange Regulatory Agency	Page 74
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Trade Anti-Trust Regulatory Commission	Page 77
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Patent, Standards, and Copyrights Office	Page 78
Implementation – Trade Mission Offices Objectives	Page 117
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization	Page 119
Planning – Ways to Improve Trade	Page 128
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 169
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 171
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering & Analysis	Page 182
Advocacy – Reforms for Banking Regulations	Page 199
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Wall Street	Page 200
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Main Street	Page 201
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the One Percent	Page 224
Advocacy – Ways to Impact … – Bottom Line on the OECD	Page 240
Appendix – Offshore Tax & Financial Services Industry Developments	Page 321
Appendix – Offshore Tax & Financial Services Industry – Bahamas Example	Page 322

The book Go Lean…Caribbean posits that many problems of the region are too big for any one member-state to solve alone, that there is the need for the technocracy of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation. The purpose of this Go Lean/CU roadmap is to make the Caribbean homeland, a better place to live, work and play. We want to be on the list of fun places to PLAY, as conveyed by the below Beach Boys song, not on the list of the “grey”/shady places to WORK.

We do want to be on the consciousness of the rest of the world. We want them envious of our lifestyle and desirous to sample this imagery:

That’s where you wanna go
to get away from it all
Bodies in the sand,
tropical drink melting in your hand
We’ll be falling in love
to the rhythm of a steel drum band

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to lean-in for the changes described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean.

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

———————————–

Appendix – Song Lyrics for “Kokomo” by the Beach Boys

Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya
Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego,
baby why don’t we go,
Jamaica

Off the Florida Keys
there’s a place called Kokomo
That’s where you wanna go
to get away from it all
Bodies in the sand,
tropical drink melting in your hand
We’ll be falling in love
to the rhythm of a steel drum band
Down in Kokomo

[Chorus:]
Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take you to
Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama
Key Largo Montego,
baby why don’t we go
Ooh I wanna take you down to Kokomo,
we’ll get there fast
and then we’ll take it slow
That’s where we wanna go,
way down in Kokomo.

Martinique, that Monserrat mystique…

We’ll put out to sea
and we’ll perfect our chemistry
By and by we’ll defy
a little bit of gravity
Afternoon delight,
cocktails and moonlit nights
That dreamy look in your eye,
give me a tropical contact high
Way down in Kokomo

[Chorus]

Port au Prince, I wanna catch a glimpse…

Everybody knows a little place like Kokomo Now if you wanna go to get away from it all
Go down to Kokomo

[Chorus]

—————

YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/_wHiliL4He4

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Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman, Crony-Capitalism, Image, Power, Security

What’s In A Name…

Posted on September 4, 2014 in Industries, Social

Go Lean Commentary

Joe versus Jose; Emily versus Lakisha^[a] – race still matters very much in the US labor market. So says the following VIDEO from NBC News The Today Show and the research in the appendix below.

Title: What’s in a name when you apply for a job?
By: NBC News – The Today Show

A man named Jose spent six fruitless months looking for work online. But when he dropped the “s” from his name and applied as “Joe,” the job offers started coming in.
NBC News – The Today Show – September 4, 2014 –
http://www.today.com/video/today/55986337#55986337

One would think that such a racially-charged society was only representative of the America of old; that now America has transformed, to the point that the President is of African-American descent. But it must be concluded that the more things change, the more they remain the same.

The issue in the foregoing news article/VIDEO relates to the lure of America as a destination for Caribbean immigrants. This is the labor market that new arrivals would have to navigate. Perhaps the shining light of that Welcome Sign should be dulled a little.

The story in the VIDEO, and the research in the Appendix, is being brought into focus in a consideration of the book Go Lean … Caribbean. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the economic optimization in the region. One mission of the roadmap is to minimize the “push-and-pull” factors that contribute to the alarmingly high societal abandonment rate of Caribbean citizens – one report reflects a 70% brain drain rate.

This blog/commentary also infers one additional issue, that of job creation. The Go Lean book posits that when the economic engines are not sufficient that people will flee, abandon their homelands, despite the love of family, friends and culture and endure all obstacles to secure a better livelihood. This has been the reality for all of the Caribbean, even the American member-states (Puerto Rico & Virgin Islands). If only, there would be a better option for the Caribbean?

Go Lean…Caribbean presents that option!

This CU/Go Lean roadmap provides the turn-by-turn details with the following 3 prime directives:

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

The roadmap posits that the United States of America should not be viewed as the panacea for Caribbean ailments; that when the choices of a challenge is “fight or flight” that Caribbean society must now consider the “fight” options. (No violent conflict is being advocated, but rather a strenuous effort, heavy-lifting, to compete and win economic battles).

As related in the foregoing article/VIDEO, America is not so welcoming a society for the “Black and Brown” populations from the Caribbean – and yet they come, there are in the USA and their numbers cannot be ignored. Here is the need for the heavy-lifting, to effect change to dissuade further brain drain and in reverse to incentivize repatriation. While not ignoring the “push” reasons that cause people to flee, the book stresses (early at Page 13) the need to be on-guard for this fight in the following pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence:

xix.      Whereas our legacy in recent times is one of societal abandonment, it is imperative that incentives and encouragement be put in place to first dissuade the human flight, and then entice and welcome the return of our Diaspora back to our shores. This repatriation should be effected with the appropriate guards so as not to imperil the lives and securities of the repatriated citizens or the communities they inhabit. The right of repatriation is to be extended to any natural born citizens despite any previous naturalization to foreign sovereignties.

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

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

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, automobile manufacturing, prefabricated housing, frozen foods, pipelines, call centers, and the prison industrial complex. In addition, the Federation must invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries like tourism, fisheries and lotteries – impacting the region with more jobs.

This commentary previously related details of the Caribbean Diaspora experience, the “push-and-pull” factors in the US, and our region’s own job-creation efforts. Here is a sample of earlier Go Lean blogs:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2025	Caribbean Jobs – Attitudes & Images of the Diaspora
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1896	American “Pull” Factors – Crisis in Black Homeownership
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1698	American “Pull” Factors – STEM Jobs Are Filling Slowly
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1596	Book Review: “Prosper Where You Are Planted”
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1433	Caribbean loses more than 70 percent of tertiary educated to brain drain
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1296	Remittances to Caribbean Increased By 3 Percent in 2013
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1256	Traditional 4-year College Degree are Terrible Investments for the Caribbean Region
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=599	Ailing Puerto Rico Open to Radical Economic Fixes To Keep Citizens At Home
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=623	Book Review: “The Divide – American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap”
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273	10 Things We *Don’t* Want from the US – Discrimination of Immigrations
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=209	Muhammad Ali and Role Model/Advocate Kevin Connolly – Demanding Equal Rights in America’s Supreme Court

For the Caribbean Diaspora, fleeing from their homelands to reside in the US is akin to “jumping from the frying pan into the fire”. While we may not be able to change American society, we can – no, we must – impact our own society. How? What? When? Why? All of these questions are valid, because the answers are difficult. The Go Lean book describes the solution as heavy-lifting.

This is the charge of the Go Lean…Caribbean roadmap: to do the heavy-lifting, to implement the organizational dynamics to impact Caribbean society here and now. The following are the community ethos, strategies, tactics and operational advocacies to effectuate this goal:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influences Choices & Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – The Consequences of Choice Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Minority Equalization	Page 24
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Make the Caribbean the Best Address on Planet	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Repatriate Diaspora	Page 46
Strategy – Mission – Dissuade Human Flight/“Brain Drain”	Page 46
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Department of Labor – Equal Opportunities	Page 89
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate	Page 118
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization	Page 119
Planning – Ways to Better Manage Image	Page 133
Planning – Lessons from the US Constitution	Page 145
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Labor Unions	Page 164
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Diaspora	Page 217
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Impact US Territories	Page 244
Appendix – Analysis of Caribbean Diaspora by Country of Residence	Page 267
Appendix – Analysis of Caribbean Emigration	Page 269
Appendix – Puerto Rican Population in the US	Page 304

The scope of this roadmap is to focus on the changes we have to make in the Caribbean, not the changes for American society. Our success is conceivable, believable and achievable. The Caribbean can be the world’s best address. Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to lean-in to this Go Lean … Caribbean roadmap.

This is a big deal for the region. This roadmap is not just a plan, its a prescription. We want the current Jose’s and Lakisha’s to fully “be all they can be”, here at home in the Caribbean. Let’s show America, and the world in general, that our homeland, is the best place to live, work and play, no matter our name.

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———————–

Appendix a: Emily versus Lakisha

The following is the summary/introduction of a landmark study conducted by academicians in 2004:

We study race in the labor market by sending fictitious resumes to help-wanted ads in Boston and Chicago newspapers. To manipulate perceived race, resumes are randomly assigned African-American or White-sounding names. White names receive 50 percent more callbacks for interviews. Callbacks are also more responsive to resume quality for White names than for African-American ones. The racial gap is uniform across occupation, industry, and employer size. We also find little evidence that employers are inferring social class from the names. Differential treatment by race still appears to be prominent in the U.S. labor market.

Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan (2004). “Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination”; The American Economic Review. Published September 2004. Retrieved September 4, 2014 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3592802?origin=JSTOR-pdf

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Diaspora, Image, Jobs

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Caribbean Jobs – Attitudes & Images of the Diaspora

Posted on August 17, 2014 in Economics, Ethos, Social

Go Lean Commentary

“Make fun of our work ethic. I dare you. I double dare you.”

The experience of new Caribbean Diaspora members is that their work ethic is appreciated by employers. So if an employer has a tie in decision-making to fill a job with Caribbean candidate or an African American candidate, the Caribbean prospects wins out.^[a]

The foregoing VIDEO/TV show from the 1990’s was a production by African Americans (Wayans brothers of Keenen, Damon, Kim, Shawn and others) for an African American audience. They laughed at Caribbean immigrants in Urban America. This is a population that have no basis to berate others. They have suffered since the 2008 Great Recession with a 21% unemployment rate^[b]; even worse among Black youth where the unemployment rate is 49%^[c].

This following video harmonizes with the book Go Lean…Caribbean which posits that Caribbean image should be monitored and guarded against defamation and disparaging stereotypes. While the VIDEO/TV show was produced in 1990, this Go Lean effort is recent, composed November 2013. The negative image aside, the following VIDEO is funny:

The sketch comedy television show In Living Color debuted on FOX-TV in September 1990. This skit emerged in Season 1 Episode 7 depicting a hardworking West Indian family (Father, Mother, Son and Daughter) all with multiple jobs.

The underlying issue in this consideration is jobs. There is the need for more jobs – in the US urban communities and in the Caribbean. But there are more issues in consideration of this book. A compelling mission of the Go Lean book is to lower the “push and pull” factors that lead many to abandon the Caribbean homeland for American shores. The book posits that the region must create jobs so that its citizens do not have to leave to become aliens in a foreign land, to be ridiculed for their accents, hairstyles (dreadlocks) and work ethic. This goal is detailed in the Go Lean book as it serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). So the CU would be set to optimize Caribbean society, starting with economic empowerment. In fact, the Go Lean roadmap has 3 prime directives:

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

The Go Lean roadmap calls for many changes and empowerments. One such example is the infrastructure of Self-Governing Entities (SGE), to allow for industrial developments in a controlled environment. There is so much that can be accomplished with the right climate, entrepreneurial spirit, access to capital and willing work force.

There are so many other defects of Caribbean life that need to be addressed. We do not want to be the “laughing stock” of the developed world. We want to be recognized as protégés, not parasites! This point is pronounced early in the book with the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12) with many statements that demonstrate the need to remediate Caribbean communities and enhance the Caribbean world-wide image:

xix.      Whereas our legacy in recent times is one of societal abandonment, it is imperative that incentives and encouragement be put in place to first dissuade the human flight, and then entice and welcome the return of our Diaspora back to our shores. This repatriation should be effected with the appropriate guards so as not to imperil the lives and securities of the repatriated citizens or the communities they inhabit. The right of repatriation is to be extended to any natural born citizens despite any previous naturalization to foreign sovereignties.

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

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

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

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

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, automobile manufacturing, pre-fabricated housing, frozen foods, pipelines, call centers, and the prison industrial complex. In addition, the Federation must invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries like tourism, fisheries and lotteries – impacting the region with more jobs.

It is the strong urging of every Caribbean empowerment plan to minimize the size of the Diaspora. We would prefer to keep our people and our educated work force “home” in the homeland. But it is what it is. Wishing alone will not accomplish this goal – there must be real solutions. This is the purpose of the Go Lean…Caribbean roadmap: to compose, communicate and compel solutions back in the Caribbean homeland. How, what, when? The Go Lean book also details a series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to impact the region, member-states, cities and communities economic prospects:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principle – Economic Systems Influence Choices & Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principle – Voluntary Trade Creates Wealth	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development	Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Mission – Facilitate Job-Creating Industries	Page 46
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Tactics to Forge an $800 Billion Economy – High Multiplier Industries	Page 70
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Self-Governing Entities	Page 80
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities	Page 105
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate to the Caribbean	Page 118
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Ways to Better Manage Caribbean Image	Page 133
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Emergency Management Processes and Systems	Page 196
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Hollywood	Page 203
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Diaspora	Page 217
Appendix – Job Multipliers	Page 259

With some measure of success, we should be able to reduce the size of the Diaspora, repatriating many to return to the homeland. Even more so, we should reduce the “push and pull” factors that lead many to abandon the region in the first place. We want North America (and Europe) laughing with us, not at us!

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

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2003	Where the Jobs Are – One Scenario for Creating Caribbean Jobs
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1698	STEM Jobs Are Filling Slowly
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1683	British public sector workers (Afro-Caribbeans) strike over ‘poverty pay’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1596	Book Review: ‘Prosper Where You Are Planted’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1433	Caribbean loses more than 70 percent of tertiary educated to brain drain
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1256	Traditional 4-year Colleges – Terrible Investment for Region and Jobs
http://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=857	Caribbean Image: Dreadlocks
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=398	Self-employment on the rise in the Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273	10 Things We *Don’t* Want from the US – Discrimination of New Immigrations

The purpose of this roadmap is to make the Caribbean homeland, a better place to live, work and play. Comedy falls under the “Play” category. With all the emphasis on jobs, work ethic, image and opportunities, there is room for fun too, or better stated: funny. This dialogue from the skit in the foregoing VIDEO is just plain funny:

Father: “What happened to that boy you were dating with those 100 jobs?”
Daughter: “Him dead now”
Father/Mother: “What?! That means there are 100 jobs open”.
Father: “Where’s my newspaper?”

If only we were not the “butt” of the joke!

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

—————————————————————————

Appendix – Cited References

a. Posted September 26, 2012; retrieved August 17, 2014 from:
http://m.ibtimes.com/caribbean-americans-invisible-minority-seeking-identity-affirmation-795709

b. Posted August 6, 2013; retrieved August 17, 2014 from: http://newsone.com/2662081/black-unemployment-rate-2/

c. Posted November 2013; retrieved August 17, 2014 from: http://www.laprogressive.com/african-american-teen-unemployment/

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Cuban Cigars – Declared “Among the best in the world”

Posted on July 24, 2014 in Locations, Social

Go Lean Commentary

This is something good to hear: “your product is considered among the best in the world”.

The product in this case is a cigar…Cuban cigars from local cultivation.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean recognizes and honors the core competence of the Caribbean, the “things that we do best in the world”.

Despite that Cuba has been largely ignored for the last 50 years, due to the 1959 Revolution, expansion of communism, US trade embargo and 50 years of isolation, the legacy of Cuban cigar quality has been preserved. That “best in the world” designation is contemporary. This is evidenced by the adoration being placed on the First Family of Cuban Tobacco as Hirochi Robaina makes his first US visit, as depicted in the foregoing news article. See this article here and the accompanying appendix and VIDEO below:

By: Caribbean News Now Contributor

Title: Cuban cigar legend visits US

OLDE NAPLES, USA — For the first time in history, Hirochi Robaina, head of the legendary Robaina family tobacco plantation, established in 1845 in Cuba, will visit the United States to meet with fellow cigar connoisseurs in Olde Naples, Florida.

Hirochi, grandson of the late Alejandro Robaina^[a], who was known as the most famous Cuban tobacco grower of all time, will be in Olde Naples on Friday and Saturday [July 25 & 26, 2014].

This momentous occasion will give Robaina fans the unique opportunity to spend time with Hirochi to discuss the finer side of cigars, the Robaina family traditions, and his vision for the future.
Caribbean News Now – Online Regional Source (Posted 07-25.2014) –
http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/topstory-Cuban-cigar-legend-visits-US-22141.html

See VIDEO here of interview with Hirochi Robaina on his early hit-and-miss with Cigar Critic James Suckling. (Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MxI_2rgChc):

The Caribbean is the “best in the world” in a number of endeavors; (i.e. the current world record-holder for the 100 meter dash – Usain Bolt – is from Jamaica). Thanks to this Cuban (Robaina) family’s legacy, cigars are also recognized as one of those “best” contributions. The United Nations cultural institutions have even recognized the physical region around the Robaina’s plantation – Vinales Valley in Pinar del Río Province – as a World Heritage Site – one of the listed 21 for the Caribbean region. These facts are not ignored in the Go Lean…Caribbean book. In fact, Cuba is not ignored at all. This island is the largest population base in the Caribbean, with 11,236,444 people (as of 2010). This Go Lean empowerment effort for the region contemplates all that Cuba has to offer. There are many positives.

There are negatives too.

Go Lean…Caribbean is not a dream; it does not “white-wash” the region with broad strokes. It acknowledges the historicity of Cuba; there is a current trade embargo with the US and there are US$ 6 Billion of unsettled civil judgments against the Cuban government. The book admits that confederating with Cuba into the rest of the region is a “Big Idea” for the Caribbean. This roadmap therefore does the heavy-lifting in a detailed, turn-by-turn plan for reconciling the 55 year-old rift in US-Cuban relations.

This commentary has previously highlighted topics and dimensions of an eventual Cuban integration into the Caribbean brotherhood, as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1609	Cuba mulls economy in Parliament session
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=789	America’s War on the Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=554	Cuban cancer medication registered in 28 countries
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=436	Cuba Approves New “Law on Foreign Investment”

At the outset, the Go Lean roadmap recognizes the significance of Cuban reconciliation into any Caribbean integration with this statement in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12):

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

A lot of people (their time, talent and treasuries) fled Cuba over the decades because of their political and ideological differences with the Castro government there. But now, the Castro regime is coming to an end – Raul Castro, the current President, and brother of founding revolutionary Fidel Castro, has announced that he will relinquish power in the year 2017.

What will become of Cuba then?
What of its economy?
What of its production of the “world’s finest” cigars?

It is more than just hope to preserve and elevate Cuba’s agriculture production. This book presents a comprehensive roadmap for doing so. The roadmap encourages the fostering of “genius” in the region, as has been the legacy of the Robaina family. If they have survived these past decades despite the oppressive conditions of Cuba’s revolution and US trade sanctions, imagine how much more they will thrive under a new CU regime.

So the planning must start now. The Caribbean is hereby urged to lean-in to the following community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to re-boot Cuba; as detailed in the book Go Lean … Caribbean sampled here:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Communimty Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices & Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Manage Reconciliations	Page 34
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategic – Vision – Integrating Region in to a Single Market	Page 45
Strategic – Core Competence – Specialty Agriculture	Page 58
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Federal Courts – Truth & Reconciliation Commissions	Page 90
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Department of Agriculture – Licensing / Inspections	Page 88
Implementation – Assemble & Create Super-Regional Organs to represent all Caribbean	Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Foreign Policy Initiatives at Start-up	Page 102
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization	Page 119
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – Cuba	Page 127
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Re-boot Cuba	Page 236
Advocacy – Ways to Promote World-Heritage-Sites	Page 248
Appendix – World Heritage Sites – #21 Cuba’s Vinales Valley & Pinar del Río Province	Page 332

The foregoing article addresses the issue of legacy preservation. This subject impacts economics, security and governance. The Go Lean book focuses heavy on these issues, but also on important non-financial issues – cultural identity and image. The Go Lean roadmap addresses the specific cultural issues such as music, sports, art, education, repatriation and heritage. It is unfortunate that most of Cuba’s history has been neutralized since 1959, because this island nation has so much to offer. They have a vibrant past. According to the foregoing article, they have preserved some of that past, right into the present.

The Go Lean roadmap maintains that change is coming to the Caribbean in general and Cuba in particular, so that they will also have a vibrant future.

Cuba será libre! Cuba can … and will become a better place to live, work and play.

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

————————————————————————————————————————————

Appendix a: Alejandro Robaina (March 20, 1919 – April 17, 2010)

Robaina, was known as a Cuban tobacco grower; he was born in Alquízar in La Habana Province of Cuba but grew up and lived most of his life in the renowned tobacco-growing Vuelta Abajo district of Pinar del Río Province where his family had been growing tobacco since 1845. He became involved with his family’s tobacco growing business at the age of ten, having smoked his first cigar just shortly before then. He took over the operations of the plantation after the death of his father Maruto Robaina—also an acclaimed tobacco grower—in 1950 and remained an independent grower even after the 1959 Cuban Revolution when plantations were often absorbed into cooperative organizations. In a 2006 interview with Cigar Aficionado magazine, Robaina stated that he spoke with Castro and that he “told Fidel I did not like cooperatives or state farms and that the best way to grow tobacco was through family production. He wanted me to join a cooperative and I told him no.”

The tobacco leaves from Robaina’s plantations are often considered among the best in the world and have been used by high quality cigars brands such as Cohiba and Hoyo de Monterrey. Robaina himself has been dubbed the “Godfather of Cuban tobacco.”

During the 1990s, Robaina was recognized by the Cuban government as the country’s best tobacco grower. In 1997, Vegas Robaina cigar brand was created by the Cuban government-owned company Habanos S.A. to honour Robaina’s accomplishments in the industry, although cigar experts have had a hard time detecting Robaina’s tobacco in the cigar and Robaina himself never provided a definitive answer. Robaina is the only tobacco grower with a Cuban cigar named after himself and has spent several decades travelling the world as Cuba’s unofficial tobacco and cigar ambassador. His travelling subsided as he got older and he received visits at his home and plantation by thousands of cigar enthusiasts and tourists annually.

[Today, a box of 25 of the Vegas Robaina brand cigars can go for between $300 and nearly $500. Hirochi Robaina said his grandfather always said the most important element in growing top tobacco is not the seed or the climate, but the soil. “The land is everything,” he said].

Alejandro Robaina was diagnosed with cancer in 2009 and died on April 17, 2010 in his home on his tobacco plantation near San Luis, Pinar del Río. He handed over the majority of the day-to-day operations of the plantation to his grandson Hirochi several years before his death. – Source: Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia; retrieved July 24, 2014 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alejandro_Robaina

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Miami’s Caribbean Marketplace Re-opens

Posted on July 20, 2014 in Locations, Social

Go Lean Commentary

Make no mistake: having a warm welcome in a City of Refuge is not as good as being safe and secure at home. Yet, when conditions mandate that one take flight, a warm welcome is greatly appreciated.

According to the foregoing article, the City of Miami now extends a warm welcome … to the Caribbean Diaspora. While Miami profits from this embrace, the benefits for the Caribbean are not so great.

This is the American Immigrant experience, one of eventual celebration, but only after a “long train of abuses”: rejection, anger, protest, bargaining, toleration and eventual acceptance. The experience in Miami today is one of celebration.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean champions the cause of retaining Caribbean citizens in the Caribbean, even inviting the Diaspora back to their homelands. So the idea of celebrating a cultural contribution at a center in a foreign land is a paradox. Yes, we want the positive image, but no, we do not want to encourage more assimilation in the foreign land.

However, the book declares: It is what it is!

The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), a technocratic federal government to administer and optimize the economic/security/ governing engines in the homeland of the region’s 30 member-states. The CU strives to elevate Caribbean image at home and abroad. There are many empowerments in the roadmap for the far-flung Diaspora to improve the interaction with the Caribbean community. So the cultural center in the foregoing article is germane to the Go Lean discussion.

The entire article is listed as follows:

Sub-title: The Caribbean Marketplace has become a cultural icon in the Little Haiti community and re-opens with much fanfare….

By: Fabiola Fleuranvil | Noire Miami

The long awaited re-opening of the Caribbean Marketplace (CMP) is back as a cultural marker in the vibrant Little Haiti community. For years, the venue has been a strong figure along Little Haiti’s main corridor and has been easily identified by its bright colors and vibrant activity of vendors as well as Haitian and Caribbean culture. After undergoing a lengthy renovation to transform this cultural gem into a community staple for unique arts and crafts, Caribbean culture, special events, and community events, the highly anticipated reopening positions the Caribbean Marketplace as a vibrant addition to the Little Haiti Cultural Center next door and the burgeoning arts and culture spirit in Little Haiti.

The re-establishment of this Marketplace is a collaborative effort of the City of Miami in partnership with the Miami-Dade Department of Cultural Affairs, the Little Haiti Cultural Complex (LHCC), the Northeast Second Avenue Partnership (NE2P) and District 5 Commissioner Keon Hardemon.

The 9,500-square-foot space includes a refreshment and concession area, gift shops, arts and crafts, retail vendors and space available for private events. The renovations reflect the beautiful diversity of the Caribbean. Low rates, technical and marketing assistance will be provided to all vendors. It is anticipated that new businesses will be created in this cultural hub, resulting in employment opportunities for the local community.

Physical Address for the Caribbean Marketplace: 5925 NE 2nd Ave, Miami (Besides the Little Haiti Cultural Center) Hours: Thursday – Sunday, 11AM – 11PM
Miami Herald Daily Newspaper (Retrieved 07-16-2014) –
http://www.miami.com/little-haiti039s-caribbean-marketplace-reopens-article

The Miami community is doing even more to embrace the exile populations in its metropolis, (including jurisdictions up to West Palm Beach). They have declared an entire month (June) for celebrating Caribbean communities; the term “month” is a loose definition, it starts in the Spring and forwards deep into the Summer. The following is a sample of events planned for this year (2014).

Caribbean-American Heritage “Month” events around South Florida:

3rd Annual Colors of the Caribbean

Saturday, June 14, 4PM – 11PM – Hollywood Arts Park – Hollywood Blvd & US1

What do you get when you blend the diverse, authentic ingredients of the Caribbean? You get a Caribbean inspired day of food, arts and culture, entertainment and irie vibes. Colors of the Caribbean features: Junkanoo procession, Moko Jumbies (Stilt walkers), Steelpan music, and live performances by Wayne Wonder (Jamaica), Midnite (Virgin Islands), Kevin Lyttle (St Vincent), Harmoniq (Haiti), music by DJ Majestic (DC/Trinidad & Tobago), and more.

AllSpice: Flavors of the Caribbean

Friday, June 20, 6PM – 10PM – Borland Center, 4885PGABlvd,Palm BeachGardens

The Caribbean Democratic Club of Palm Beach County presents a Taste of the Caribbean in celebration of Caribbean American Month.

Caribbean Style Week

June 23-29 – Westfield Mall Broward, 8000 West Broward Blvd, Plantation

The Caribbean American Heritage Foundation hosts a week-long showcase featuring both popular and upcoming Caribbean fashion designers and brands. Fashion pieces will be available for purchase during the fashion expo.

Caribbean Heritage Month Travel Experience/Travel Expo

June 28-29 – Westfield Mall Broward, 8000 West Broward Blvd, Plantation

The Caribbean Travel Expo celebrates and promotes each individual as a destination for your next vacation. The expo experience will also showcase live music, cultural performances, and special surprise giveaways over the weekend.

Caribbean: Crossroads of the World Exhibit

April 18 – Aug 17 – PerezArt MuseumMiami (PAMM), 1103 Biscayne Blvd, Miami

Highlighting over two centuries of rarely seen works — from paintings and sculptures to prints, photographs, installations, films, and videos — dating from the Haitian Revolution to the present, this exhibition advances our understanding of the Caribbean and its artistic heritage and contemporary practices.
http://www.miami.com/caribbean-american-heritage-month-events-around-south-florida-article)

The Go Lean…Caribbean clearly recognizes the historicity of Cuban and Afro-Caribbean (Haitian, Jamaican, Dominican, Bahamian, etc) exiles in Miami. They went through the “long train of abuses”. But today, their communities dominate the culture of South Florida, resulting in a distinctive character that has made Miami unique as a travel/tourist destination; see VIDEO below. The expression “take my talents to South Beach” now resonates in American society.

This commentary previously featured subjects related to the Caribbean Diaspora in South Florida. The following here is a sample:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1433	Caribbean loses more than 70 percent of tertiary educated to brain drain
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1148	Sports Bubble – Franchise values in basketball
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=689	eMerge conference aims to jump-start Miami tech hub
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=235	Tourism’s changing profile

At the outset, the Go Lean roadmap recognizes the value and significance of Cuban and Haitian exile communities in the pantheon of Caribbean life. Any serious push for Caribbean integration must consider Diaspora communities, like the Cuban/Haitian exiles in Miami. This intent was pronounced early in the book with these statements in the Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 & 13):

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

xix.      Whereas our legacy in recent times is one of societal abandonment, it is imperative that incentives and encouragement be put in place to first dissuade the human flight, and then entice and welcome the return of our Diaspora back to our shores. This repatriation should be effected with the appropriate guards so as not to imperil the lives and securities of the repatriated citizens or the communities they inhabit. The right of repatriation is to be extended to any natural born citizens despite any previous naturalization to foreign sovereignties.

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

It was commonly accepted that Cuban exiles and other Caribbean Diaspora were sitting, waiting in Miami for change in their homelands; then they would return to claim their earned positions of respect. Along the way, the Survive-then-Thrive strategy was supplanted with a new Thrive-in-America strategy – credited to the next generation’s assimilation of the American Dream and the long duration of Caribbean dysfunctions, i.e. the Castros still reign after 55 years. Miami subsequently emerged as the trading post for the Caribbean and all of Latin America. The Caribbean is now hereby urged to lean-in to the community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to finally re-boot Caribbean society; as detailed in the book Go Lean … Caribbean sampled here:

Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices & Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Voluntary Trade Creates Wealth	Page 21
Community Ethos – Anti-Bullying and Mitigation	Page 23
Community Ethos – Minority Equalization	Page 24
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Manage Reconciliations	Page 34
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategic – Vision – Integrating Region in to a Single Market	Page 45
Strategic – Agents of Change – Globalization	Page 57
Tactical – Fostering a Technocrary	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – State Department – Culture Administration	Page 81
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Federal Courts – Truth & Reconciliation Commissions	Page 90
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Foreign Policy Initiatives at Start-up	Page 102
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Trade Mission Objectives	Page 117
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate	Page 118
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization	Page 119
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – Cuba/Haiti	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Diaspora	Page 217
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Improve the Arts	Page 230
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Music	Page 231
Advocacy – Ways to Re-boot Cuba	Page 236
Advocacy – Ways to Re-boot Haiti	Page 238

The foregoing article addresses the story of the Caribbean Marketplace facility to promote Caribbean culture in the South Florida market, and even provide some economic benefits (trade, job, import/export options). The Go Lean book focuses on these economic issues to the N^th degree, and also addresses the important issues regarding Caribbean societal elevation: music, sports, art, education, repatriation and heritage. This cultural center in the foregoing article aligns with the Go Lean roadmap.

Just like Miami grew, and prospered so much over the last 50 years, with help from our people, the Caribbean can also be a better place to live, work and play. This is a new day for the Caribbean!

It’s time now for change; not just change for change sake, but the elevations that were identified, qualified and proposed in the book Go Lean…Caribbean. It’s time to lean-in. Then we can move from celebrating the Diaspora in a foreign land to celebrating their return to the Caribbean, the best address in the world.

Download the book Go Lean…Caribbean now!

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Bad Tweet: Dutch airline angers Mexico soccer fans

Posted on July 1, 2014 in Implementation, Planning

Go Lean Commentary

“In 2 minutes a computer can make as many mistakes as 20 men in 20 years” – Murphy’s Law on Technology.

“Once posted, you can’t take it back” – Social Media Harsh Reality.

These two expressions are the new normal. Social media can be an effective communication tool to reach the general public and/or a dedicated controlled group. This can be a blessing and a curse. This fact was demonstrated after the recent World Cup Elimination Game between Mexico and The Netherlands. Mexico lost! In its haste to capitalize on all the fanfare, representatives at Dutch airline KLM committed this PR blunder of denigrating Mexican fans:

By: AP Writer Alan Clendenning
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — What was meant to be a joke has turned into a PR blunder for Dutch airline KLM after it angered Mexican soccer fans by taking to Twitter to celebrate the Netherlands’ dramatic comeback victory in the World Cup.

Within minutes of the Netherlands’ 2-1 victory over the Tri, KLM let loose on its Twitter feed a picture of an airport departures sign under the heading “Adios Amigos!” Next to the word “Departures” is the image of a man with a mustache wearing a sombrero.

The post immediately went viral, with A-list Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal using not one but two expletives in a 140-character Tweet to tell his 2 million-plus followers that he’ll never fly the carrier again. Amid the widespread protest online, the post was pulled a half-hour later without an explanation.

“It was meant to be a joke,” KLM spokeswoman Lisette Ebeling Koning told The Associated Press, adding that the airline never intended to offend Mexicans, which it serves via a daily direct flight between Mexico City and Amsterdam. “But there was too much negative reaction.”

KLM issued a formal apology late Sunday.

“In the best of sportsmanship, we offer our heartfelt apologies to those who have been offended by the comment,” said Marnix Fruitema, director general of KLM in North America.

For its part, Mexican national carrier AeroMexico is also getting in on the fun, broadcasting on Twitter its support for the country’s soccer team under an arrivals sign.

“Thank you for this great championship,” AeroMexico said. “You’ve made us proud and we’re waiting for you at home.”
Associated Press (AP) News Wire Service (Retrieved 06/30/2014) –
http://news.yahoo.com/bad-tweet-dutch-airline-angers-mexico-soccer-fans-205929269.html

The expression “the post immediately went viral” could be a good thing or a bad thing. The book Go Lean…Caribbean posits that the power of social media must be harnessed strategically and tactically in order to explore all the benefits of Internet Communications Technologies. The book further asserts that the internet can be a great equalizer between large and small economy states, that talent and value can readily be searched and discovered.

The foregoing article depicts a Bad Tweet; then proceeds to describe how impactful response tweets can be, especially when wielded by an “Influencer” – a person with at least 100,000 followers – such as A-list Mexican celebrity Gael Garcia Bernal.

The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This effort will launch the Caribbean Postal Union to facilitate the region’s “mail” functionality. In 2014, the mail delivery cannot be seriously mentioned without considering electronic messaging options. Social media is an electronic messaging scheme. The CPU will administer the domain for www.myCaribbean.gov. The universe for this domain is scoped at 130 million unique users.

This strategy will elevate Caribbean society, and image. There is the need for a sentinel role for Caribbean image, as there are a lot of times that Caribbean life and people are denigrated in works of media arts: film, TV, books, magazines. Consider the example of Jamaican “Yardies”, or Dominican Cartels. The Go Lean roadmap calls for the CU to assume that role.

The CU, using cutting edge delivery of best practices, will employ strategies, tactics and implementations to impact its prime directives; identified with the following 3 statements:

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

The Go Lean book speaks of a Caribbean crisis and posits that this crisis can be averted, the same way the non-malevolent jest on social media by KLM was quickly averted using stronger social media tactics. Considering the events in the foregoing article, an undeniable credo is reiterated that “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste”. The Go Lean roadmap seeks to optimize the entire Caribbean economic/security/governance eco-system. This vision is defined early in the book (Page 12 & 14) in the following pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence:

xv. Whereas the business of the Federation and the commercial interest in the region cannot prosper without an efficient facilitation of postal services, the Caribbean Union must allow for the integration of the existing mail operations of the governments of the member-states into a consolidated Caribbean Postal Union, allowing for the adoption of best practices and technical advances to deliver foreign/domestic mail in the region.

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.

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

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

Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Choices & Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development	Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide	Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederating a Non-Sovereign Union	Page 45
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Caribbean Postal Union	Page 78
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Improve Mail Services	Page 108
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Impact Social Media	Page 111
Planning – Ways to Improve Image	Page 133
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce	Page 198
Appendix – Measuring Media Consumption	Page 265

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to lean-in for the empowerments described in the book Go Lean…Caribbean. There is reason to believe that these empowerment efforts can be successful. The Go Lean roadmap conveys how single causes/advocacies have successfully been forged throughout the world (Page 122 – Anatomy of Advocacies). With social media deployments, millions of people can be advocates. No defamation of Caribbean image will go unchallenged. We, in the Caribbean, can do the same as the Mexican power brokers when bad sportsmanship was displayed by the KLM airline.

The Caribbean can succeed in the advocacy to improve the Caribbean image and deployments of social media in the region. There are previous blog commentaries that delve into aspects of these same issues:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1416	Amazon’s new FIRE Smartphone
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1404	Facebook goes down across multiple countries
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=857	Caribbean Image: Dreadlocks

Congratulation to the Netherlands football/soccer national team in their pursuits of the FIFA World Cup. There is room for good sportsmanship for all.

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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COB Master Plan 2025 – Reach for the Lamp-Post

Posted on June 24, 2014 in Economics, Locations, Planning

Go Lean Commentary

“Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars” – Casey Kasem (1932 – 2014).

The world lost another icon of Rock-n-Roll last week with news of the passing of renowned DJ and Media Host Casey Kasem. He was well known for his closing salutation quoted above.

“Reaching for the stars” should be more than a radio catch phrase; it should be a community ethos. This is noticeably missing in the 2025 Master Plan for the University of the Bahamas. They appear to be striving for the cutting edge of 1985; they are not reaching for the stars, they are reaching for the lamp-post.

Title: College of The Bahamas Master Plan 2014-2024
The College’s plan to accommodate growth in programs and to improve campus life through the creation of a more beautiful and cohesive campus.

“Twenty-five percent growth in student enrollment is what the Master Plan for the University of the Bahamas seeks to accommodate”. Visit the link… to view this newly produced infomercial on the blueprint for the physical growth that will undergird the impending University.
Vimeo – Video Sharing Site (Retrieved 06/23/2014) – http://vimeo.com/98270213

College of The Bahamas Master Plan 2014-2024 from The College of The Bahamas on Vimeo.

Make no mistake; it is a good thing that the College of the Bahamas (COB) is graduating to the University of the Bahamas (in 2015). It is also incontrovertible that COB is inadequate in meeting tertiary education needs of Bahamians, not to think of the rest of the world. Don’t agree? Consider how many Bahamian students matriculate abroad; now consider how many foreign students matriculate at COB.

Debate over!

This is more than just an academic discussion, as the subject of Caribbean students abandoning their homeland for foreign shores is a motivator for the book Go Lean…Caribbean. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This effort mitigates published reports that the Caribbean loses over 70% of tertiary educated citizens due to brain drain; (https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1433).

So as the sole tertiary education institution in the Bahamas, it would be expected that a Master Plan would “dream a little dream” and strive to counter the negative realities of students matriculating abroad. Instead COB delivered a plan that only inches forward – only reaching for the lamp-post. The inadequacy in the Master Plan highlights the need for the Go Lean roadmap for elevating Caribbean society. The CU, using cutting edge delivery of best practices, will employ strategies, tactics and implementations to impact its prime directives; identified with the following 3 statements:

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

The Go Lean book posits that the Caribbean is in crisis, with the debilitating brain drain/societal abandonment rate, but that this crisis can be a useful because a “crisis is a terrible thing to waste”. Therefore the roadmap seeks to change the entire eco-system of Caribbean education and learning solutions. This vision is defined early in the book (Page 13 & 14) in the following pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence:

xix.   Whereas our legacy in recent times is one of societal abandonment, it is imperative that incentives and encouragement be put in place to first dissuade the human flight, and then entice and welcome the return of our Diaspora back to our shores…

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

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

So what (also how/when) should be featured in a Master Plan/roadmap for effectuating change in the tertiary education landscape for the Bahamas and the rest of the Caribbean?

The answer is not as simple as A-B-C-1-2-3. The answer requires heavy-lifting, a long reach, and a consideration of the economic realities of the region. Thus the Casey Kasem axiom is so applicable:

“Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars”.

“Reaching for the stars” would include fostering Research & Development (R&D) on our college campuses. Also, the deployment of cutting-edge technologies to avail the benefits of e-Learning would deter the trend (and necessity) of young students studying abroad; thus minimizing the temptations to remain abroad or to subsequently emigrate. This would mean staying grounded!

The Go Lean book details a lot more, a series of assessments, community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to foster the elevation of college education in the Caribbean region:

Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Choices & Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development	Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide	Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Anecdote – Valedictorian Now Diaspora Member	Page 38
Strategy – Vision – Realistic, Achievable, Demanding, & Inspirational Goal	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Local Education to Compete with the Best in the World	Page 46
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Education Department – University Admin	Page 85
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Labor Department – On-the-Job Training	Page 89
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Steps to Implement Campuses as Self-Governing Entities	Page 105
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Education	Page 159
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Student Loans	Page 160
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Libraries	Page 187
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Youth	Page 227
Appendix – Education & Economic Growth	Page 258
Appendix – Measuring Education	Page 266

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to lean-in for the empowerments described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. This is a big deal for the region. This book is not just a Master Plan; it is roadmap with turn-by-turn directions of how to get from Point A, where we can only hope to dream of reaching the lamp-post, to Point B, where we can finally dream about reaching the stars.

The Bahamas in particular, and the Caribbean region as a whole needs the deliveries of Go Lean … Caribbean. Otherwise, we have no hope to incite/retain our young people to work towards promoting a better future for the Caribbean, and making it a better place to live, work, learn and play.

Thank you Casey Kasem, for reminding us, (with song, great-story-telling and a heartfelt out-reach), what it means to keep our feet on the ground while continuing to reach for the stars. Rest in Peace!

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Marijuana in Jamaica – Puff Peace

Posted on June 18, 2014 in Ethos, Government, Locations

Go Lean Commentary

Come to Jamaica and feel alright! – Advertising tag line sampling Bob Marley’s song: One Love.

Marijuana decriminalization is not a Jamaican issue… alone. Other countries have already addressed this debate; like Latin America^[a] and Europe; legal in The Netherlands & Portugal, and decriminalized in Norway. In the US, Colorado is about to be joined by the State of Washington in allowing recreational use of the cannabis plant.

While medical marijuana originated in Jamaica (1970’s), many jurisdictions now allow marijuana to be legally distributed by medical professionals, with a prescription. Life imitates art, art imitates life. Hollywood has lampooned this practice many times in movies, TV shows and commentary. In the State of California, it is common-place to get a prescription for marijuana for “dubious” ailments like insomnia, appetite abatement, non-clinical depression, even sneezing. Without a doubt in California, the whole process is a farce! (See Comedian Bill Maher’s tongue-in-cheek commentary in Referenced VIDEO below^[c]).

The world has changed; the acceptance of marijuana is changing.

The following news article addresses the issue of Marijuana decriminalization, (more so than legalization):

Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago – It would have seemed a lot more revolutionary just two years ago but for Jamaica, it is still a welcome whiff of sense. The island’s energy minister, Philip Paulwell, who also leads government business in parliament, has said he will find time this year to decriminalise possession of small amounts of marijuana. At a stroke, the move will cut the number of illicit smokes by as many as a million a week. It will also make a Jamaican break somewhat less nervy for ganja-puffing tourists.

Reform proposals have been knocking around for some time: a National Commission on Ganja recommended decriminalisation in 2001. But helped by moves towards legalisation in Uruguay and decriminalisation in the United States, momentum has been growing. A Cannabis Future Growers and Producers Association was launched last month, and a commercial company to support medical marijuana in December.

Selling for less than five dollars an ounce, ganja has a long history in Jamaica, going all the way back to 19th-century Indian immigrants. Cultivation and import have been illegal since 1913, but everyone’s granny remembers when the herb was quite openly on sale as a cure-all. Some of the early work on medicinal uses for marijuana was done in Jamaica in the 1970s and 1980s.

In practice, most small-time ganja users are not arrested or prosecuted. But for those who are, the consequences can be dire. A criminal record makes it hard to get a coveted American visa or to land jobs in Jamaica itself. For that reason alone, reform looks like a surefire vote-winner.

Decriminalisation will also unclog the courts and free up police time. But it won’t change the big picture. It will remain illegal to grow and trade marijuana in large quantities, something that suits the big players just fine. Full legalisation would knock the bottom out of the market, hurting the island’s powerful criminal gangs. It would also curtail the potential for extortion; seven police officers appeared in court this month to face allegations that they took a $2,750 bribe from a businessman in return for overlooking a ganja find on his premises.

Jamaicans are prone to waves of moral panic, but the proposal to decriminalise ganja has caused barely any waves. The foreign minister AJ Nicholson and the opposition leader, Andrew Holness, have expressed mild reservations; the vocal church lobby has been silent. Says a well-educated and dreadlocked Jamaican: “Most of them accept that there are people who do this, just like there are people who drink.” Such tolerant sentiments only go so far, however. The “abominable crime of buggery” carries a prison sentence of up to ten years, and the government has no plans to right that injustice.
The Economist Magazine; posted 06/13/2014; retrieved 06/18/2014 from: http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2014/06/marijuana-jamaica?spc=scode&spv=xm&ah=9d7f7ab945510a56fa6d37c30b6f1709

Marijuana tourism or “ganja-puffing tourists” …
…these words jump off the page of this foregoing news article.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean anticipates the compelling issues associated with economic engines. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This effort calls for the focus of the following 3 prime directives related to Trade:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus (including law enforcement enhancements) to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

But the subject of marijuana is bigger than Trade. There are moral, religious, legal and psychological (treatment) issues associated with this topic; and there is history – good and bad. Any jurisdiction decriminalizing the use of marijuana has to contend with the previous messaging to the community of: “Just say no to drugs”.

The book asserts that before the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies of a roadmap to elevate a society can be deployed, the affected society must first embrace a progressive community ethos. The book defines this “community ethos” as the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of society; dominant assumptions of a people or period. Think of the derivative term: “work ethic”.

Marijuana is a mood-altering drug; it has negative effects, one being preponderance for apathy, to tune out of any active engagement. In the US, even in the states where marijuana is legal, most firms/governments still screen staffers (new hires and veterans) and ban consumption of the drug. The reason is simple: Apathy does not make for industriousness. So this issue/drug presents a conundrum for the CU. The mission to grow the economy, promote industriousness, foster new jobs and new industries is pronounced early in the roadmap, detailed in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 14) with this statement:

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 … In addition, the Federation must invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries … impacting the region with more jobs.

According to the foregoing article, reconciling the history of marijuana/ganja will be a “tall order”:

ganja has a long history in Jamaica, going all the way back to 19th-century Indian immigrants.

The history of marijuana/ganja in the Caribbean in general and Jamaica in particular has generated a lot of proponents and opponents. Despite outlawing “the weed” for over 100 years, there is a vibrant black market economy associated with the drug. This reality challenges the security apparatus of the Caribbean’s legitimate governing entities. The Go Lean roadmap therefore features the necessary homeland security/law enforcement mitigations. This need was pronounced at the outset of the book (Page 12), recognizing that the problem of drug enforcement/interdiction may be too big for any one member-state alone:

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.

This issue of decriminalizing marijuana must now reconcile with the long history of criminal prosecutions, prison terms and probation/parole eco-system. Management of these attendant functions of criminology has been a consistent theme of the Go Lean roadmap, commencing with this statement in the same Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12):

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. The Federation must allow for facilitations of detention for convicted felons of federal crimes, and should over-build prisons to house trustees from other jurisdictions.

The Go Lean book envisions the CU as a confederation of the 30 member-states of the Caribbean to do the heavy-lifting of empowering and elevating the Caribbean society by creating a “single market” for the region. Among the many benefits of this roadmap is the economies-of-scale for leveraging regional security solutions, like the upheavals of marijuana decriminalization.

Despite the many economic benefits researched for decriminalizing drugs, as measured in the mature market of the US^[b], this roadmap and supporting blogs are NOT proposing this measure for the Caribbean … per se. This is presented here as a political issue; the CU strives to maintain an apolitical stance.

There is security risk on both sides of this issue. The book details the community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to monitor, manage and mitigate the security risks to Caribbean society. The following is a sample list:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Privacy versus Public Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – Light Up the Dark Places	Page 23
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development	Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Integration of Single Market Economy	Page 45
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization	Page 57
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Homeland Security	Page 75
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Justice Department	Page 77
Implementation – Security Initiatives at Start-up	Page 103
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Ways to Mitigate Black Markets	Page 165
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Remediate and Mitigate Crime	Page 178
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Prison Industrial Complex	Page 211

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to lean-in for the empowerments described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. For us to send the invitation to the wide-world to ”come to Caribbean and feel alright”, but we must first put “our house” in order.

The world’s acceptance of marijuana has changed. While this is true, this change has created opportunities and also challenges. There is plenty of work yet to be done; heavy-lifting.

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

————————-

Referenced Citations:

a. Marijuana is legal to some degree in 8 Latin America countries (Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico and Uruguay).

b. A Harvard economist, Jeffery Miron, estimated that ending the war on drugs would inject 76.8 billion dollars into the US economy in 2010 alone.^[1] He estimates that the government would save $41.3 billion for law enforcement and the government would gain up to $46.7 billion in tax revenue.^[2]Since President Nixon began the war on drugs, the federal drug-fighting budget has increased from $100 million in 1970 to $15.1 billion in 2010, with a total cost estimated near 1 trillion dollars over 40 years.^[3] In the same time period an estimated 37 million nonviolent drug offenders have been incarcerated. $121 billion was spent to arrest these offenders and $450 billion to incarcerate them.^[3]

1. Debusmann, Bernd (12/03/2008). “Einstein, Insanity and the War on Drugs”. Reuter. Retrieved 04/01/2012 from: http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2008/12/03/einstein-insanity-and-the-war-on-drugs/.

2. Miron, Jeffrey A.; Katherine Waldock. “The Budgetary Impact of Ending Drug Prohibition”. The Cato Institute. Retrieved 05/03/2010 from: http://www.cato.org/publications/white-paper/budgetary-impact-ending-drug-prohibition

3. The Associated Press (05/13/2010). “After 40 years, $1 trillion, US War on Drugs Has Failed to Meet Any of its Goals”. The Associated Press. Retrieved 04/01/2012 from: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/05/13/ap-impact-years-trillion-war-drugs-failed-meet-goals/.

c. Referenced VIDEO:

After Maureen Dowd’s pot disaster, Bill Maher offers ‘New Rules’ for marijuana beginners (via Raw Story )

Post by Bill Maher.

On Friday night’s episode of “Real Time,” Bill Maher offered some advice to viewers and to the state of Colorado about how to use marijuana safely and effectively, which we need to do, he said, because “after all, we’re pretending it’s medicine…

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

Posted on May 28, 2014 in Ethos, Planning

Go Lean Commentary

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

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

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

noun, plural hu·man·i·ties.

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

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

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

4. the humanities.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Bible book of Psalms Chapter 90 quotes:

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

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

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

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

—————————————————————————-

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

Autobiographies

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

Poetry

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

Personal essays

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

Cookbooks

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

Children’s books

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

Plays

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

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

Actress (15 credits)

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

Writer (7 credits)

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

Soundtrack (4 credits)

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

Director (2 credits)

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

Music department (1 credit)

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

Producer (1 credit)

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

Miscellaneous Crew (1 credit)

Year	Movie/Show
1993	Poetic Justice (poetry)

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

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Sports Revolutionary: Advocate Jeffrey Webb

Posted on May 27, 2014 in Ethos, Social

Go Lean Commentary

The forgoing encyclopedia source focuses on the background person connected to an important issue in sports administration: blatant racism in European soccer.

Blatant racism is a scourge to the beautiful sport of football (soccer). Black players have to endure unspeakable acts of disrespect (cursing, spitting, monkey-chants, tossed bananas, etc). The international governing body for soccer/football, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), wants to forge change among the game’s stakeholders. This issue relates to the Caribbean, in that the FIFA advocate in this cause is from the Cayman Islands.

This advocate, Jeffrey Webb, is featured in a current episode of a sports documentary television show in the US.

MIAMI — CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb, who is Chairman of FIFA¹s Anti-Racism and Discrimination Task Force, appeared Tuesday (May 20, 2014) on the acclaimed HBO program Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, addressing FIFA’s strategy and efforts to eradicate racism from football. He discussed the governing body’s responsibility in providing meaningful support for all players around the globe and implementing tougher sanctions to fortify the sport, so that focus can be placed on the game itself.

The Emmy-winning show also featured an interview with United States international striker Jozy Altidore, a member of FIFA’s anti-discrimination body.

HBO will re-air the episode between May 20 and June 21, 2014.

During the 63rd FIFA Congress last year in Mauritius, Member Associations approved the Anti-Racism and Discrimination resolutions proposed by the task force chaired by President Webb. The application of these resolutions in every country where football is played will bring universality to the mechanisms that combat racism and discrimination.

(http://www.concacaf.com/article/president-webb-speaks-about-racism-on-real-sports-with-bryant-gumbel)

Many professional athletes participating in European soccer, are of Afro-Caribbean heritage. This should be a proud legacy, one to be protected and promoted. (This is also an issue in Brazil).

Jeffrey Webb (born 1964)^[1], is the president of CONCACAF and the Cayman Islands Football Association (CIFA) and FIFA Vice President.

He was educated at HillsboroughCommunity College in the United States. His career in the football field spans almost three decades. He was appointed as President of the Cayman Islands Football Association in 1991.^[2]

CIFA’s accomplishments under Webb’s administration and leadership were widely recognized and in 1994 he was co-opted as a member of the CFU Executive Committee, and member of FIFA’s Protocol Committee in 1995. Prior to his appointment to CIFA, Webb served as President of the local football club Strikers FC.

Moreover, within FIFA’s governing body, in 2002 Webb became Deputy Chairman of the FIFA Internal Audit Committee and subsequently Chairman in 2011. He is a former member of FIFA’s Transparency and Compliance Committee and, most recently, was appointed as member of FIFA’s Strategic, Finance, Organizing World Cup and Emergency Committees.

Webb also took part of FIFA’s delegations to the World Cup including France (1998), U.S. Women’s World Cup (1999), Korea/Japan (2002), Germany (2006), and South Africa (2010).

Webb was a Business Development Manager at Fidelity Bank (Cayman) Limited, a subsidiary of Fidelity Bank & Trust International Limited, which is involved in retail banking, investment banking, corporate finance and asset management. Outside of banking, Webb co-owns a franchise of Burrell’s bakery chain “Captain’s Bakery” in the Cayman Islands.^[3]

On May 23, 2012, in Budapest, Hungary, Webb was unanimously elected to lead the Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean Football Association (CONCACAF). He became the fourth President in the Confederation’s history and the youngest leader of any regional association within FIFA to reach this position. As CONCACAF President, his core focus is to restructure the Confederation by building solid foundations to manage, develop and promote the game with a resilient commitment to inclusiveness, accountability and transparency.

As President of CONCACAF, Webb also became FIFA Vice President and an official member of the governing body’s Executive Committee. Moreover, on March 2013 Webb was appointed by FIFA President Joseph Blatter as Chairman of the FIFA anti-discrimination task force, which will oversee all matters related to discrimination within global football.

At the time of his appointment, in 2012, Webb was President of the Cayman Islands Football Association (CIFA).

Webb appointed a new Miami-based General Secretary Enrique Sanz de Santamaría enabling the CONCACAF head office to relocate to Miami.^[4]

Source References:

“Jeffrey Webb profile”. FIFA.com. Retrieved 11 July 2013.

“Jeff Webb profile”. Cayman Active. 6 January 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2012.

Brown, Rudolph (9 February 2002). “Captain’s Bakery opens in Cayman”. Gleaner (Jamaica). Retrieved 1 March 2012.

“CONCACAF appoints Enrique Sanz as General Secretary”. CONCACAF.com. 13 July 2012. Retrieved 14 July 2012.

Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia (Retrieved 05/25/2014)–http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Webb

The book Go Lean … Caribbean recognizes that image is an important intangible factor that must be managed to optimize value of Caribbean contributions – more value should equal more pay – see Appendix A – Table. As such the book is submitted as a complete roadmap to advance the Caribbean economy/culture, at home, for Caribbean residents, and advance the Caribbean image throughout the world, to benefit residents and Diaspora alike – see Appendix B for book reference on Brazil footballers.

The book, Go Lean … Caribbean, serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), as a sentinel for the Caribbean “image”. This subject of blatant racism in European soccer is in scope for the CU as this technocratic agency will assume oversight to optimize the region’s:

(1) economy,

(2) security apparatus, and

(3) governing engines.

The roadmap commences with a Declaration of Interdependence. In Verse XXXI (Page 14) it pronounces:

Whereas sports have been a source of great pride for the Caribbean region, the economic returns from these ventures have not been evenly distributed as in other societies. The Federation must therefore facilitate the eco-systems and vertical industries of sports as a business, recreation, national pastime and even sports tourism.

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

The roadmap specifically encourages the region to foster the genius potential (Page 27) in their communities, forge leadership skills (Page 171), improve for sports (Page 229) and pursue the Greater Good (Page 37). With the participation of many advocates on many different paths for progress, the Caribbean can truly become a better place to live, work and play. We can, and must, promote positive images (Page 133).

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

————————-

Appendix A – Table: Lucky 18 – The World’s Highest Paid Black Athletes for 2011

Athlete	Sport	Heritage	Contract $$$*
Tiger Woods	Golf	American	$75 million
Kobe Bryant	Basketball	American	$53 million
LeBron James	Basketball	American	$48 million
Dwight Howard	Basketball	American	$27.6 million
Dwayne Wade	Basketball	American	$26.2 million
Carmelo Anthony	Basketball	American	$25.1 million
Ronaldo de Assis Moreira aka “Ronaldinho”	Football / Soccer	Brazil	$24.7 million
Amar’e Stoudemire	Basketball	American	$24.5 million
Kevin Garnett	Basketball	American	$23.8 million
CC Sabathia	Baseball	American	$23.6 million
Vince Carter	Basketball	American	$21.8 million
Tim Duncan	Basketball	US Virgin Islands	$21.2 million
Chris Paul	Basketball	American	$20.9 million
Ryan Howard	Baseball	American	$20.8 million
Usain Bolt	Track and Field	Jamaican	$20.3 million
Rashard Lewis	Basketball	American	$20.1 million
Jahri Evans	American Football	American	$19.1 million
Michael Redd	Basketball	American	$18.8 million

Source: http://madamenoire.com/60523/lucky-17-the-worlds-highest-paid-black-athletes/; posted June 10, 2011; retrieved May 25, 2014.

* Salaries, bonuses, prize money, appearance fees, licensing & endorsement income in the 12 months ending May 1, 2011

————————————

Appendix B: Book Reference

The phrase ‘Brazilian soccer player’ is like the phrases ‘French chef’ or ‘Tibetan monk.’ The nationality expresses an authority, an innate vocation for the job – whatever the natural ability.

Original: Bellos, Alex (2003). Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. Publication date: 5/02/2003 ISBN: 9780747561798

Revision: Bellos, Alex (2014). Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life. Publisher: Bloomsbury USA. Publication date: 5/6/2014 ISBN: 9781620402443

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Civil Rights, Image, Model, Play, Sports

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Tag: Image

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

Autobiographies

Personal essays

Cookbooks

Children’s books

Plays

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

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

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