History – Page 8 – Go Lean…Caribbean

Tag: History

Lessons Learned from 2008: Still Recovering

Posted on September 20, 2018 in Economics, Ethos, Government, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

“Count on the Greedy to be Greedy” – Book: Go Lean…Caribbean Page 26

When policies are put in place that allow greedy people – bad actors – to continue unabated, bad things happen … to the bad actors and to society in general. This reality is something that stewards of every society must contend with. Every community is required to implement public safety provisions – at great expense. But the lesson is undisputed: whatever law enforcement costs, pales in comparison to lawlessness.

This actuality applies all the more so to economic crimes and misdeeds; this was definitely true with all the economic crimes leading up to the Great Recession of 2008 – lost of net worth estimated at $11 Trillion. And yet, the US is throwing out much of the wisdom gleaned after 2008. There is the trend now to undo a lot of the reforms that were implemented after the Financial Crisis – to de-fang the Dodd-Frank regulations. This is unwise! The regulations that were imposed are designed to mitigate the risk of subsequent economic meltdowns.

History does repeat itself.

Before the Great Recession of 2007 – 2009, there was the Great Depression of 1929 – 1933. A lot of lessons were learned in its aftermath and new regulations instituted; these protected the American economy – from Bad Actors – for more than 60 years. One regulation was Glass-Steagall. The Go Lean book relates this summary:

The Bottom Line on Glass-Steagall
Glass–Steagall legislation is four provisions of the US Banking Act of 1933 that limited commercial bank securities activities & affiliations between commercial banks and securities firms. The entire Banking Act of 1933 is often referred to as the Glass–Steagall Act.Starting in the early 1960s, federal banking regulators interpreted provisions of the Glass–Steagall Act to permit commercial banks and especially commercial bank affiliates to engage in an expanding list and volume of securities activities. [Slowly over the decades, more provisions were chipped away]. By the time Glass–Steagall was repealed officially through the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act of 1999 (GLBA), many commentators argued Glass– Steagall was already “dead”. These commentators have stated that the GLBA’s repeal of the affiliation restrictions of the Glass–Steagall Act was an important cause of the 2008 financial crisis. Some critics of that repeal argue it permitted Wall Street investment banking firms to gamble with their depositors’ money that was held in affiliated commercial banks.

It is now 10 years after the peak day of the 2008 Financial Crisis. We all now have an expanded vocabulary with phrases like “Too Big to Fail”. This theory in economics – that asserts that certain corporations, particularly financial institutions, are so large and so interconnected that their failure would be disastrous to the greater economic system ^[1] – transcends to other aspects of society, like government. The contention is that “Too Big to Fail” institutions must be supported by the people – their government – when these institutions face potential failure. Otherwise, things go from bad to worse.

For the Great Recession of 2008, the Caribbean did experience the “worse”.

Even now, many of our economies are still recovering. (Many aspects of modern life is still reeling – see Appendix A).

This is because our primary economic driver is tourism; and the primary source of Caribbean tourists had been the countries at the epicenter of the Financial Crisis (North America and Western Europe).

This commentary completes the series relating the Lessons Learned from 2008. This entry – 4 of 4 from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean – is in consideration of the post-2008 recovery and reconciliation since that Financial Crisis. Our parasitic condition was exposed during this crisis; we now want to do better, and be better.

The commentaries in the series are cataloged as follows:

Lessons Learned from 2008 – The Long View – ENCORE
Lessons Learned from 2008 – Too Big to Fail –vs- Too Small to Thrive
Lessons Learned from 2008 – Righting The Wrong – ENCORE
Lessons Learned from 2008 – Still Recovering

All of these commentaries relate to “how” the stewards for a new Caribbean can shepherd the economic engines of the region to apply the economic best-practices to finally make progress, think: diversification. The book quotes the convenient timing:

A crisis is a terrible thing to waste – Page 8

The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap to implement the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) and aligning institutions, like the Caribbean Central Bank (CCB). These are designed to provide better economic stewardship, to ensure that failures of the past do not re-occur. There is the need for a regional sentinel (watch dog and attack dog); we do not want to just sound the alarm; we also want to effect change by employing strategies, tactics and implementations.

This is an example of a Watch Dog, the group FocusEconomics – see Appendix B VIDEO; they monitor the economic activity in the Latin America & Caribbean region and report to their clients accordingly. This is their summary of the full Caribbean region:

Strong fixed investment and spillovers from the expansion in the U.S. economy.

FocusEconomics do not rate each of the 30 Caribbean member-states, just a select few. This group of professional economists recognize that the Caribbean region has been burdened with repercussions from the Great Recession, and declare that only now is the recovery starting to take hold. See here, a sample of their projections for 2018 and beyond:

Belize	FocusEconomics panelists expect GDP to expand 1.9% in 2018; continuing the recovery trend in the last 5 years: 2013: 1.6; 2014: 1.7; 2015: 1.8; 2016: 1.8; 2017: 1.9 Source: https://www.focus-economics.com/countries/belize
Dominican Republic	FocusEconomics panelists expect GDP growth of 5.2% in 2018; continuing the recovery trend in the last 5 years: 2013: 4.9; 2014: 7.6; 2015: 7.0; 2016: 6.6; 2017: 4.6 Source: https://www.focus-economics.com/countries/dominican-republic
Haiti	Reconstruction efforts should continue to drive growth rates, but political instability risks derailing the outlook. Haiti is vulnerable to the ending of the Temporary Protected Status for Haitians in the U.S. starting in July 2019, which will hit remittance inflows. FocusEconomics panelists foresee growth of 2.1% in 2018, which is down 0.1 percentage points from last month’s forecast. The panel expects the economy to expand 2.8% in 2019. The last five years recorded these growth rates: 2013: 4.2; 2014: 2.8; 2015: 1.2; 2016: 1.5; 2017: 1.2 Source: https://www.focus-economics.com/countries/haiti
Jamaica	Moderating growth but still robust global economic activity and a pickup in mining output are expected to drive growth this year and the next. Panelists expect GDP growth of 1.9% in 2018, up 0.3 percentage points from last month’s forecast, and 2.2% in 2019. The last five years recorded these growth rates: 2013: 0.5; 2014: -0.7; 2015: 0.9; 2016: 1.4; 2017: 0.5 Source: https://www.focus-economics.com/countries/jamaica
Puerto Rico	Due to a low base effect from last year’s dismal economic performance (i.e. Hurricane Maria) and the stimulus received from federal disaster relief funding, the economy is likely to grow in FY 2019. Our panelists forecast that GNP will expand 4.3% in FY 2019, and 2.9% in FY 2020. The last five years recorded these growth rates: 2013: -0.1; 2014: -1.8; 2015: -0.8; 2016: -1.3; 2017: -2.4 Source: https://www.focus-economics.com/countries/puerto-rico
Trinidad and Tobago	Growth should accelerate in 2018 and over the following few years as new gas projects come online; these which should also support recovery in the non-oil economy. FocusEconomics panelists expect growth of 1.4% this year, and 2.0% in 2019. The last five years recorded these growth rates: 2013: 2.7; 2014: -0.6; 2015: -0.6; 2016: -2.3; 2017: NA Source: https://www.focus-economics.com/countries/trinidad-tobago

Considering these assessments, there is no doubt about the Caribbean’s economic disposition: we are parasites of the US economy, not protégés. Our primary activity for our service based economy is tourism – catering to North American snowbirds; those escaping harsh winters during the peak months. Their leisure is our business; our business is their leisure.

The prime directive of the CU/CCB roadmap is to optimize the economic engines of the region to elevate the economies from the parasite status to starting the journey to become protégés. This need was pronounced early in the Go Lean book, in the opening Declaration of Interdependence – (Page 13) – with these statements:

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

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

The Go Lean book – available to download for free – provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society. We never want to be in such a vulnerable position again, as we were in 2008, and the years thereafter. We must have technocratic oversight of the systems of commerce so that we can finally enjoy some diversification. This is perhaps the biggest-best lesson to glean from the 2008 crisis. But there are more lessons too; in fact, there is an advocacy in the book that relates specifically to lessons from that crisis. Consider the specific summaries, excerpts and headlines from the book on Page 136 entitled:

10 Lessons Learned from 2008

1	Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market This treaty unifies the region into a single economy of 30 countries, for 42 million people and a GDP of over $800 Billion. The neighbor to the northwest of the Caribbean, the US, is a unified economy of 50 states & 300 million people; they are the best example of economic prosperity in history. But the US suffered an economic “blood-bath” in the 2008 Great Recession; they lost $11 Trillion in net worth, mostly due to mortgage-based securities (MBS). Many lessons abound. The danger stemmed from banks initiating bad mortgages, then packaging them on the capital market for sale (globally) as bonds with no outsiders discerning the strength, or weakness, of the underlying mortgage assets.
2	Wall between Commercial and Investment Banking
3	Lax Oversight – NINJA Loans In the aftermath of the Great Recession, there were many “autopsies” and post-mortem analysis on the root-causes and systemic risks. Most blamed the lax oversight in the housing and mortgage industries, where there were sub-prime mortgages jokingly described as NINJA loans (No-Income-No-Job-no-Assets). Many legislators attempted to return to some of the common sense provisions that protected the economy for the 65 years of “Glass-Steagall”; there were all these failed bills: the “Banking Integrity Act of 2009”, “SAFE Banking Act of 2010”, and the Return to Prudent Banking Act of 2011. A softer banking reform did pass, Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010).
4	Volcker Rules The Dodd-Frank Act included the Volcker Rule, which among other things limited proprietary trading by banks and their affiliates. This proprietary trading ban prevents commercial banks and their affiliates from acquiring non-governmental securities with the intention of selling those securities for a profit in the near term. Some have described the Volcker Rule, particularly its proprietary trading ban, as a return to some prudence of “Glass-Steagall”, as “Glass–Steagall Lite”.
5	Credit Rating Reporting – Institutional and Individual
6	Opinions: Disclosure Requirement
7	Derivatives: As Insurance Product, Should Have Reserves
8	Leverage – Common Sense Restraints Banking risk is managed by controlling leverage, the magnifying factor compared to equity that borrowing money allows for a bank. Banking regulations best practices keeps leverage amount near 12-to-1. In 2008, Lehman Brothers leverage rate was pegged at 31-to-1; the more they borrowed the less capital equity they featured, so profits, and losses, were magnified. The mortgage crisis led to Lehman Brothers massive losses, then bankruptcy; the US largest at $691 Billion.
9	Consumer Protections
10	Systemic Risk – Economic Security The CU will monitor and mitigate systemic risks in the financial systems because failure can be cascading. This area, financial markets oversight, is where laissez-fare government oversight should end – economic security is too vital.

2008 was a giant mess for the US. We want to learn and apply lessons from their experiences. But truthfully, we have no power there. We have no vote and no voice to change them. We can only protect ourselves from their abusive activities; (the abuse to the American-self and the interconnected world). The bad trend of America stripping the new financial protections has begun – already after less than 10 years. This has been addressed in prior Go Lean commentaries; see a sample here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8379	Fallacy of Going back to Self-Regulation of Economic Centers
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7601	Returning to the Abusive Policies of Debt
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3397	Christmas Present for the Banks – Rolling back some of Dodd-Frank
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2259	Lax Regulation and Prosecutors again ,,, for American Business

So if we cannot change America, all we can do to prepare for the worst. We must first diversify our economy away from America First; we must no longer be parasites. The related subjects of rebooting the Caribbean economy – starting first by diversifying away from tourism – has been a frequent topic for Go Lean blog-commentaries; see a sample here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15346	Industrial Reboot – A Series on Diversified Jobs
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14242	Leading with Money Matters – Follow the Jobs
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10585	Two Pies: Economic Plan for a New Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=833	One currency, divergent economies

This is the quest of the Go Lean/CU roadmap, to reboot the societal engines of the region, the member-states individually and the region as a whole – in a Single Market. The roadmap details these 3 prime directives:

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

This is the quest for the Caribbean region, it is not unrealistic. It is conceivable, believable and achievable. Now is the time to lean-in to this roadmap for the CU. This is how we can make the the Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

—————

Appendix A – Opinion: We’re Measuring the Economy All Wrong
Sub-title: The official statistics say that the financial crisis is behind us. It’s not.
By: David Leonhardt

Ten years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the official economic statistics — the ones that fill news stories, television shows and presidential tweets — say that the American economy is fully recovered.

The unemployment rate is lower than it was before the financial crisis began. The stock market has soared. The total combined output of the American economy, also known as gross domestic product, has risen 20 percent since Lehman collapsed. The crisis is over.

But, of course, it isn’t over. The financial crisis remains the most influential event of the 21st century. It left millions of people — many of whom were already anxious about the economy — feeling much more anxious, if not downright angry. Their frustration has helped create a threat to Western liberal democracy that would have been hard to imagine a decade ago. Far-right political parties are on the rise across Europe, and Britain is leaving the European Union. The United States elected a racist reality-television star who has thrown the presidency into chaos.

Look around, and you can see the lingering effects of the financial crisis just about everywhere — everywhere, that is, except in the most commonly cited economic statistics. So who are you going to believe: those statistics, or your own eyes?

Over the course of history, financial crises — and the long downturns that follow — have reordered American society in all sorts of ways. One of those ways happens to involve the statistics that the government collects. Crises have often highlighted the need for new measures of human well-being.

The unemployment rate was invented in the 1870s in response to concerns about mass joblessness after the Panic of 1873. The government’s measure of national output, now called G.D.P., began during the Great Depression. Senator Robert La Follette, the progressive hero from Wisconsin, introduced the resolution that later led to the measurement of G.D.P., and the great economist Simon Kuznets, later a Nobel laureate, oversaw the first version.

Almost a century later, it is time for a new set of statistics. It’s time for measures that do a better job of capturing the realities of modern American life.

As a technical matter, the current batch of official numbers are perfectly accurate. They also describe some real and important aspects of the American economy. The trouble is that a handful of statistics dominate the public conversation about the economy despite the fact that they provide a misleading portrait of people’s lives. Even worse, the statistics have become more misleading over time.

The main reason is inequality. A small, affluent segment of the population receives a large and growing share of the economy’s bounty. It was true before Lehman Brothers collapsed on Sept. 15, 2008, and it has become even more so since. As a result, statistics that sound as if they describe the broad American economy — like G.D.P. and the Dow Jones industrial average — end up mostly describing the experiences of the affluent.

The stock market, for example, has completely recovered from the financial crisis, and then some. Stocks are now worth almost 60 percent more than when the crisis began in 2007, according to a inflation-adjusted measure from Moody’s Analytics. But wealthy households own the bulk of stocks. Most Americans are much more dependent on their houses. That’s why the net worth of the median household is still about 20 percent lower than it was in early 2007. When television commentators drone on about the Dow, they’re not talking about a good measure of most people’s wealth.

The unemployment rate has also become less meaningful than it once was. In recent decades, the number of idle working-age adults has surged. They are not working, not looking for work, not going to school and not taking care of children. Many of them would like to work, but they can’t find a decent-paying job and have given up looking. They are not counted in the official unemployment rate.

All the while, the federal government and much of the news media continue to act as if the same economic measures that made sense decades ago still make sense today. Habit comes before accuracy.

Fortunately, there is a nascent movement to change that. A team of academic economists — Gabriel Zucman, Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty (the best-selling author on inequality) — has begun publishing a version of G.D.P. that separates out the share of national income flowing to rich, middle class and poor. For now, its data is published with a lag; the most recent available year is 2014. But the work is starting to receive attention from other academics and policy experts.

In the Senate, two Democratic senators, including Chuck Schumer, the party leader, have introduced a bill that would direct the federal government to publish a version of the same data series. Heather Boushey, who runs the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, told me that it could be the most important change in economic data collection in decades.

Source: New York Times – Posted September 15, 2018; retrieved September 20, 2018 from: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/14/opinion/columnists/great-recession-economy-gdp.html

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Appendix B VIDEO – About FocusEconomics – https://youtu.be/L2Ys5GH_tmw

Published on Aug 2, 2018 – FocusEconomics is a leading provider of economic analysis and forecasts for 127 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, as well as price forecasts for 30 key commodities. The company is supported by an extensive global network of analysts.

Since its launch in 1999, FocusEconomics has established a solid reputation as a reliable source for timely and accurate business intelligence among Clients from a variety of industries, including the world’s major financial institutions, multinational companies and government agencies.

Source: Retrieved September 19, 2018 from: https://www.focus-economics.com/about-us

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2008, History, Model

Lessons Learned from 2008: Righting The Wrong – ENCORE

Posted on September 19, 2018 in Economics, Industries, Strategy

Learning lessons from the past means that we will not succumb to the same risks, threats and dangers.

Is this the case for the Caribbean? Have we truly learned from the Great Recession of 2008? Are we able to avoid those threats and overcome any dangers that may arise … anew.

Doubtful!

In the 10 years since 2008, our Caribbean region have only declined, not improved. We have still not recovered. 🙁

This is the continuation of a series of commentaries relating the Lessons Learned from 2008. This one – entry 3 of 4 in this series from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean – is in consideration of the “economic chaos” that led-up to the 2008 Financial Crisis and the lack of recovery in the Caribbean region. Our economic engines have been based primarily on tourism, so when the economic crisis befell our trading partners, we were affected worse – think parasites attached to a sick host.

Lesson for us: We must diversify!

The commentaries in the series are fully cataloged as follows:

Lessons Learned from 2008 – The Long View – ENCORE
Lessons Learned from 2008 – Too Big to Fail –vs- Too Small to Thrive
Lessons Learned from 2008 – Righting The Wrong – ENCORE
Lessons Learned from 2008 – Still Recovering

All of these commentaries relate to “how” the stewards for a new Caribbean can shepherd the economic engines of the region to apply the best-practices to finally make progress. We need a more diversified economy. So we must learn from the mistakes of the past, ours and others.

This is the purpose of this commentary to apply lessons learned from the mistakes of the US housing crisis and apply the lessons here. We must learn how “they righted that wrong”. See this Encore of a previous blog-commentary here from May 6, 2017, as follows:

——————————-

Go Lean Commentary – Righting a Wrong: 2008 Housing Crisis

Have you ever made a mistake?

“Let him that is without sin, cast the first stone” – Jesus Christ (The Bible @ John 8:7)

Since everyone makes mistakes, a good measure of a good character is how we “Right the Wrongs” that we may have caused to others. This could be the measurement of a good man (or woman), a good company and a good community. People want to be associated with goodness. They will travel great lengths and at great cost to associate with good people, affiliate with good companies and live in a good community.

There are lessons to be learned when people, companies and communities make mistakes and then make concerted efforts to “Right the Wrongs”. These are lessons that can be applied right here in the Caribbean so as to supplement our efforts to elevate our society, to make the Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play.

This is more than just an academic discussion for the Caribbean; we are known to have our defects – we repeatedly make mistakes, we endanger people, oppress them, suppress their rights and then carry on unrepentant – this all results in “pushing” people away, causing societal abandonment. We must recognize these defects and repent, reconcile, reform and “Right the Wrongs” of our society.

This is the purpose of the book Go Lean…Caribbean, to help reform and transform the societal engines in the 30 member-states of the Caribbean region. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The Go Lean/CU roadmap applies best-practices for community empowerment and features these 3 prime directives, proclaimed as follows:

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

What “Wrongs” exactly can we consider to glean lessons-learned for our community empowerment? This commentary is 1 of 4 in a series considering how to “Right a Wrong”. The full series is as follows:

Righting a Wrong: 2008 Housing Crisis
Righting a Wrong: Puerto Rico’s Bankruptcy
Righting a Wrong: Volkswagen Emissions Crisis
Righting a Wrong: Takata Air-Bags

These “Wrongs” relate to bad actions and inaction by different actors. The image and reputations of stakeholders “take a hit” while the issue is fresh. But eventually the recovery – Righting the Wrong – can override and became the lasting legacy. This first wrong – 2008 Housing Crisis – was one of the episodes of the recent Great Recession. The Go Lean book sought to catalog the cause-and-effect of many 2008 developments from an inside perspective. The book identifies its authority to comment on these developments. See this “Who We Are” quotation (Page 8) and the VIDEO in the Appendix below:

This book is published by the SFE Foundation, a community development foundation chartered for the purpose of empowering and re-booting economic engines. …

2008 – The peak day of the recent global financial crisis was September 15, 2008. On this day, Wall Street giant Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection, and eventual dissolution, after succumbing to the weight of over-leverage in mortgage-backed securities. There is an old observation/expression that states that “there are 3 kinds of people in the world, those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder ‘what happened?’“
Principals of the SFE Foundation were there in 2008 … engaged with Lehman Brothers; on the inside looking out, not the outside looking in. Understanding the anatomy of the modern macro economy, allows the dissection of the processes and the creation of viable solutions.

Omaha – The book was initially composed in Omaha, Nebraska, the home of one of the world’s richest men, Warren Buffet – the “Oracle of Omaha” – CEO of corporate giant Berkshire Hathaway. While the United States experienced boom and bust during the Great Recession, Omaha remained a stable, consistent model of prosperity (in March 2008 the unemployment rate in Omaha was 3.9 percent). This was no accident. This community embraces a certain ethos that is fundamental for stability and vibrancy: good corporate citizenship. Omaha is home to other corporate movers-shakers in addition to Berkshire Hathaway; (see Appendix A [on Page 254]). This community example is purported as a model for assimilation by the Caribbean region.

The Go Lean book, though composed in 2013, set the pattern for the Caribbean region to look-listen-learn from models, samples and examples like these. This allows for the regional stewards and administrators to structure policies and procedures so as to apply the lessons learned in their jurisdictions. This was an original intent. As a planning tool, the Go Lean book commenced with a Declaration of Interdependence, pronouncing the need for regional integration so as to improve our society based on lessons learned from other societies. See a stanza here (Page 14):

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

So here is the Wrong … and here is the “Righting of the Wrong” associated with the 2008 Housing Crisis:

The Wrong:
In 2008 a perfect storm of economic disasters hit the US and indeed the entire world. The most serious began with the collapse of housing bubbles in California and Florida, and the collapse of housing prices and the construction industries. Millions of mortgages (averaging about $200,000 each) had been bundled into securities called collateralized debt obligations that were re-sold worldwide. Many banks and hedge funds had borrowed hundreds of billions of dollars to buy these securities, which were now “toxic” because unknown values and no buying markets.

A series of the largest banks in the US and Europe collapsed; some went bankrupt, such as Lehman Brothers with $690 billion in assets; others such as Citigroup, the leading insurance company AIG, and the two largest mortgage companies (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac) were bailed out by the US government. Congress voted $700 billion in bailout money, and the Treasury and Federal Reserve committed trillions of dollars to shoring up the financial system. But the measures did not reverse the declines – banks drastically tightened their lending policies, despite infusions of federal money. The government, for the first time, took major ownership positions in some banks. The stock market plunged 40%, wiping out tens of trillions of dollars in wealth (estimates tallying $11 Trillion); housing prices fell 20% nationwide wiping out trillions more. By late 2008 distress was spreading beyond the financial and housing sectors, especially as the “Big Three” of the automobile industry (General Motors, Ford and Chrysler) were on the verge of bankruptcy, and the retail sector showed major weaknesses. Critics of the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) expressed anger that much of the TARP money that had been distributed to banks was seemingly unaccounted for, with banks being secretive on the issue.^[45] [See this portrayal in these photos or the VIDEO at https://youtu.be/N9YLta5Tr2A.]

Righting the Wrong:
In February 2009, [the newly inaugurated] President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; the bill provided $787 billion in stimulus through a combination of spending and tax cuts. The plan was largely based on the Keynesian theory that government spending should offset the fall in private spending during an economic downturn; otherwise the fall in private spending would perpetuate itself and productive resources, such as the labor hours of the unemployed, will be wasted.^[46] Critics at the time claimed that government spending cannot offset a fall in private spending because government must borrow money from the private sector in order to add money to it. However, most economists do not think such “crowding out” is an issue when interest rates are near zero and the economy is stagnant.

The recession period officially expended only 6 quarters (Q4-2007 to Q1-2009), but the effects were longer lasting. This was deemed the Great Recession because of the fundamental shifts the economy made. For example, in the US, jobs paying between $14 and $21 per hour made up about 60% those lost during the recession, but such mid-wage jobs have comprised only about 27% of jobs gained during the recovery through mid-2012. In contrast, lower-paying jobs constituted about 58% of the jobs regained.

As of December 2012, the US Federal Reserve Bank reported that the net worth of US households recovered by $1.7 trillion to $65 trillion during Q3-2012. It was still below the record high of $67 trillion during Q3-2007, but up $13.5 trillion since its recent cyclical low during Q1-2009.^[47]

Source: Book Go Lean…Caribbean Page 69 – 70

None of the Boom-and-Bust homes in this drama were in the Caribbean; (though Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands are American territories and did have crises, their home pricing were only mildly affected, going up or going down only a little).

While this was a crisis for continental America, due to inaction on the part of Caribbean regional stewards, this 2008 crisis brought devastation to our region. In some cases, we are still reeling from it; they are near Failed-State status as a result.

There were bad actors in this crisis. They had their Day of Reckoning as well. See these previous blog-commentaries that detailed the aftershocks of the 2008 economic crisis:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10187	Day of Reckoning for NINJA Loans
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8379	Economic Fallacy: Self-regulation of the Centers of Economic Activity
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6531	A Lesson in History – Book Review of the ‘Exigency of 2008’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1896	The Crisis in Black Homeownership
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1309	5 Steps of a Bubble
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=353	Book: Wrong Economic Policy Disasters and What We Can Learn

One mission of this Go Lean roadmap is to apply the lessons from this American Drama in the stewardship of our Caribbean homeland. Since we also had financial upheavals in our region, many things these were due to contagions of the American crisis. So we needed remediation of our financial institutions as well. This point was detailed in this previous blog-commentary from November 14, 2014:

‘Too Big To Fail’ – Caribbean Version

There were [financial] crises on 2 levels: the Global Financial Crisis of 2007 – 2009 and regional financial banking dysfunctions. See here:

Global – The banks labeled “Too Big To Fail” impacted the world’s economy during the Global Financial Crisis. Though the epi-center was on Wall Street, the Caribbean was not spared; it was deeply impacted with onslaughts to every aspect of Caribbean life (think: Tourism decline). In many ways, the crisis has still not passed.

Regional – The Caribbean region has not been front-and-center to many financial crises in the past, compared to the 465 US bank failures between 2008 and 2012. But over the past few decades, there have been some failures among local commercial banks and affiliated insurance companies where the institutions could not meet demands from depositors for withdrawal. Consider these examples from Jamaica and Trinidad:

There was a banking crisis in Jamaica in the 1990s. In January 1997, the decision was made to establish the Financial Sector Adjustment Company (FINSAC) with a mandate to take control and restructure the financial sector. FINSAC took control of 5 of the 9 commercial banks, 10 merchant banks, 21 insurance companies, 34 securities firms and 15 hotels. It was also involved in the re-capitalization and restructuring of 2 life insurance companies, with the requirement that they relinquish their shares in 2 commercial banks.^[48]
For Trinidad, the notable failure was the holding company CL Financial, with subsidiaries Colonial Life Insurance Company and the CLICO Investment Bank (CIB). In mid-January 2009, this group approached the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago requesting financial assistance due to persistent liquidity problems. The global financial events of 2008 combined with other factors placed tremendous strain on the group’s Balance Sheet. The CL Financial lines of business ranged from the areas of finance and energy to manufacturing and real estate services. The group’s assets were estimated at US$16 billion at year-end 2007, and it had a presence in at least thirty countries worldwide, including Barbados. Most significantly, the company held investments in real estate in Trinidad and the United States of America, and in the world’s largest methanol plant prior to its difficulties.

Going forward, there needs to be a solution to mitigate systemic threats that may plague the Caribbean region.

This is the quest of the Go Lean roadmap. The book first presents the community ethos that the region needs to adopt; then it presents detailed strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies for the economic stewards to deploy. These constitute Big Ideas for the Caribbean region.

For one, there is the plan for a Caribbean Central Bank!

Among the Big Ideas of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation is the introduction and assimilation of the Caribbean Central Bank (CCB) and the Caribbean Dollar. The CCB is actually a cooperative among the region’s Central Banks. All the existing Central Banks, at the time of ascension, will cede their monetary powers to the CCB and continue their participation using well-established cooperative principles. – Go Lean…Caribbean book Page 73

Secondly, there is the tactic of a separation-of-powers between the CU/CCB entities and the member-states in the region. This directive allows for the transfer of oversight and administration of certain state functions to the CU federal authorities. This is modeled after the European Union and the European Central Bank.

This is how the Go Lean roadmap proposes to “Right the Wrongs” of the recent financial crises: to incorporate the organizational structure with the mandate to administer and shepherd the region’s monetary and banking eco-system. This intent was pronounced at the outset, in the opening Declaration of Interdependence, enshrining the need for regional integration on monetary matters for Caribbean society. See the related stanzas here (Pages 12, 13):

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

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.

Now is the time for the Caribbean to embrace change. From an economic perspective, we have done wrong … in the past – at a minimum, we are guilty of inaction. We now need to “right those wrongs” or especially to develop the defenses to ensure no future damage to our economy by dysfunctional administration of the region’s monetary and economic engines. It is time for new stewards of the Caribbean economy, security and governing engines. It’s time for the CU/CCB. We must prove that we have learned from our past and that of our trading partners. We must do better and be better.

A lot is at stake: the hopes and dreams of our people, young and old. They all want; we all want a better Caribbean; better places to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

————

Footnote References

45 – Holt, Jeff. “A Summary of the Primary Causes of the Housing Bubble and the Resulting Credit Crisis: A Non-Technical Paper”. 2009, 8, 1, 120-129. The Journal of Business Inquiry. Retrieved 15 February 2013.

46 – Congressional Budget Office – “Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Employment and Economic Output from October 2011 Through December 2011”. February 2012; retrieved June 2013.

47 – American Enterprise Institute – Retrieved December 2012 from: www.aei-ideas.org/…/u-s-net-worth-hasrecovered-13-5-trillion-but-still- below-2007-peak/

48 – Retrieved November 14, 2014 from: http://www.centralbank.org.bb/WEBCBB.nsf/WorkingPapers/DB0CF759B9E97FB9042579D70047F645/$FILE/Exploring%20Liquidity%20Linkages%20among%20CARICOM%20Banking%20Systems.pdf

————

Appendix VIDEO – The 2008 Financial Crisis: Crash Course Economics – https://youtu.be/GPOv72Awo68

Published on Oct 21, 2015 – Today on Crash Course Economics, Adriene and Jacob talk about the 2008 financial crisis and the US Goverment’s response to the troubles. So, all this starts with home mortgages, and the use of mortgages as an investment instrument. For years, it seemed like the US housing market would go up and up. Like a bubble or something. It turns out it was a bubble. But not the good kind. And the government response was…interesting. Anyway, why are you reading this? Watch the video!
More Financial Crisis Resources:
Financial Crisis Inquiry Report: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-FCIC…
TAL: Giant Pool of Money: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio…
Timeline of the crisis: https://www.stlouisfed.org/financial-…
http://www.economist.com/news/schools…

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Lessons Learned from 2008: The Long View – ENCORE

Posted on September 15, 2018 in Ethos, Implementation

10 years ago today (September 15, 2008) …

… Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy … and brought the global financial system to its knees.

The whole world was watching, as global markets immediately plummeted.

But this writer was there, on the inside of Lehman Brothers. This fact was related in the opening of the 2003 book Go Lean … Caribbean (Page 8), as follows:

2008
The peak day of the recent global financial crisis was September 15, 2008. On this day, Wall Street giant Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection, and eventual dissolution, after succumbing to the weight of over-leverage in mortgage-backed securities. There is an old observation/expression that states that “there are 3 kinds of people in the world, those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder ‘what happened?’“ Principals of SFE Foundation were there in 2008 … engaged with Lehman Brothers; on the inside looking out, not the outside looking in. Understanding the anatomy of the modern macro economy, allows the dissection of the processes and the creation of viable solutions.

This is the first of a series of commentaries relating the Lessons Learned from 2008. This first one – entry 1 of 4 in this series from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean – is in consideration of the “economic chaos” that led-up to the Great Recession and why it is necessary for these commentaries to be so long and comprehensive. The Caribbean problems are complex and complicated – there are no short and simple solutions. It will take a thorough roadmap to effect the necessary changes for the region to reform and transform. If we do not learn the applicable lessons from 2008, we will only repeat the mistakes of 2008.

The commentaries in the series are cataloged as follows:

Lessons Learned from 2008 – The Long View – ENCORE
Lessons Learned from 2008 – Too Big to Fail -vs- Too Small to Thrive
Lessons Learned from 2008 – Righting The Wrong – ENCORE
Lessons Learned from 2008 – Still Recovering

All of these commentaries relate to “how” the stewards for a new Caribbean can shepherd the economic engines of the region to apply the economic best-practices to make progress. As a Caribbean region, we need those lessons, and progress.

Some of these commentaries are Encores, as is this one. So as follows is the original submission from August 26, 2014. See that entry here:

—————–

Go Lean Commentary – Why So Long? Can’t We Just…

We have now reached a milestone in the publishing of the (sometimes) daily blogs from the publishers of Go Lean…Caribbean, 150 submissions. This is a good time to address a consistent question we’ve gotten from some readers:

Why are the blog commentaries so long?
Can’t you accomplish the same objective with shorter blogs?

This submission here is meant to be a practice in active listening: We hear you! Consider this attribute of one blog published on August 20, 2014:

3742 words: NYC’s MetroCard – A Model for the Caribbean Dollar – https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2074

So can we accomplish the same objectives with shorter commentaries? The answer: No!

The question is interpreted by us as “Can’t we just…?”

There is a serious reason why this is the answer: These are serious issues. We cannot, must not skim on the consideration of the solutions.

Our experience has taught us that serious problems require thorough and thoughtful consideration. There is no place for abbreviation in this exercise.

Our experience?

Consider these events from 2008, (a frequent topic of discussion in Go Lean…Caribbean blogs):

Video: Too Big To Fail – 2011 Movie (Pardon the adult language):
YouTube Video Sharing Site (Retrieved 08/20/2014) –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqf97p1Rdm0

As the events of September 2008 unfolded where the financial system (Wall Street) was on the brink of collapse, stakeholders from the US Treasury Department assembled a representative body to conceive a remedy.

The resultant plan/proposal was introduced on September 20, by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and was later named the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)^[a].

The plan/proposal was only three pages long, intentionally short on details to facilitate quick passage by Congress.^[b]

The plan called for the U.S. Treasury to acquire up to $700 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities…

… in the end, in an analysis by Bloomberg Business News Source, it was disclosed that the Federal Reserve had, by March 2009, committed $7.77 trillion to rescuing the financial system. This amount is more than half the value of everything produced in the U.S. that year.^[c]Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia Source (Retrieved 08/20/2014) –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Economic_Stabilization_Act_of_2008

So can’t we just…?

The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) and the Caribbean Central Bank (CCB). This Caribbean empowerment roadmap has 3 prime directives:

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

The book described both the CU and CCB as hallmarks of technocracy, a commitment to efficiency and effectiveness. The book itself is 370 pages and covers 144 different missions.

As alluded above, principals in the Go Lean…Caribbean movement were front-and-center in the events that unfurled in 2008.

The roadmap was constructed with the ethos to be thorough in the assessment, strategies, tactics, implementation and advocacies to understand the complexities of our time and forge permanent change in the Caribbean region. The following is a sample of these specific details from the book:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Intelligence Gathering	Page 23
Community Ethos – “Crap” Happens	Page 23
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Strategy – Vision – Confederate 30 Member-States	Page 45
Strategy – Missions – 144 Advocacies	Page 457
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region	Page 127
Planning – Lessons Learned from 2008	Page 136
Planning – Lessons Learned from New York City	Page 137
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
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 Hollywood	Page 202
Appendix – Credit Ratings Agencies in 2008	Page 276

Imagine following a long complex and detailed recipe for baking a cake. To get the best results, it is important to include all the ingredients and follow the exacting instructions, the more detailed the better.

The quest for Go Lean…Caribbean is not as simple as baking a cake, rather a goal that is so much more important, to make the Caribbean region a better place to live, work and play.

We cannot skim on this effort – too much is at stake!

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

———————

Appendices:
a. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/business/21draftcnd.html?_r=0; retrieved August 20, 2014.
b. http://content.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1843642,00.html; retrieved August 20, 2014.
c. Ivry, Bob; Keoun, Bradley; Kuntz, Phil (November 28, 2011). “Secret Fed Loans Gave Banks $13 Billion Undisclosed to Congress”. Bloomberg Markets Magazine. Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved May 14, 2012 from: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-28/secret-fed-loans-undisclosed-to-congress-gave-banks-13-billion-in-income.html.

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The 45’s of Hip-Hop – ENCORE

Posted on August 11, 2018 in Ethos, Implementation, Social

On this day 45 years ago, Hip-Hop was forged as a musical genre …

… and Caribbean fingerprints were all over this origination. This was the assertion of the previous blog from August 11, 2016, on its 43rd anniversary. But for this 45th anniversary, we need to “spin” at a faster speed.

… 45 revolutions per minute (RPM) is the speed to play “Singles” on a record-player.

Record-players and 45’s are now all gone, but Hip-Hop is here to stay. In fact, in the past year, Hip-Hop exceeded Rock-n-Roll as the Number 1 consumed genre of music. People are celebrating …

VIDEO – Ne-Yo, Zaytoven, and more discuss their Favorite Era of Hip-Hop – https://www.fuse.tv/videos/2018/08/hip-hop-at-45-favorite-era-of-hip-hop

Hip-Hop at 45 – From Tribe Called Quest to Jay-Z to Cash Money, it’s hard to say what the best era of Hip-Hop is. As apart of Fuse’s Hip-Hop at 45 celebration, watch as these all star artists talk about their favorite era of Hip-Hop.

Now, is a good time to re-visit the historicity of Caribbean founders for Hip-Hop – yes, the father of Hip-Hop was Jamaican. See the Encore of that previous blog-commentary here-now:

=============================

#GoLeanCommentary – This Day In History: Jamaican Innovation for Hip Hop

This day – August 11 – in 1973 …

… a member of the Caribbean Diaspora – Jamaica – may have changed the world … for Hip Hop. On this day in 1973, Clive Campbell – better known to history as DJ Kool Herc – helped out his sister by “DJ-ing” her birthday party in a recreation room in The Bronx. History shows that he used his inspiration and influence from his Caribbean musical roots to innovate a music style and performance that would subsequently change the world … for good …

… or bad.

It’s music; you be the judge.

Musical taste is like “beauty” … in the “eye of the beholder”. The main thing is that the music made you listen and maybe learned something about the urban experience of America … and now the world.

See the story of Clive Campbell aka DJ Kool Herc here:

Title: This Day In History: 1973 – Hip Hop is born at a birthday party in the Bronx

Like any style of music, hip hop has roots in other forms, and its evolution was shaped by many different artists, but there’s a case to be made that it came to life precisely on this day in 1973, at a birthday party in the recreation room of an apartment building in the west Bronx, New York City. The location of that birthplace was 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, and the man who presided over that historic party was the birthday girl’s brother, Clive Campbell—better known to history as DJ Kool Herc, founding father of hip hop.

Born and raised to the age of 10 in Kingston, Jamaica, DJ Kool Herc began spinning records at parties and between sets his father’s band played while he was a teenager in the Bronx in the early 1970s. Herc often emulated the style of Jamaican “selectors” (DJs) by “toasting” (i.e., talking) over the records he spun, but his historical significance has nothing to do with rapping. Kool Herc’s contribution to hip hop was even more fundamental.

DJ Kool Herc’s signature innovation came from observing how the crowds would react to different parts of whatever record he happened to be playing: “I was noticing people used to wait for particular parts of the record to dance, maybe [to] do their specialty move.” Those moments tended to occur at the drum breaks—the moments in a record when the vocals and other instruments would drop out completely for a measure or two of pure rhythm. What Kool Herc decided to do was to use the two turntables in a typical DJ setup not as a way to make a smooth transition between two records, but as a way to switch back and forth repeatedly between two copies of the same record, extending the short drum break that the crowd most wanted to hear. He called his trick the Merry Go-Round. Today, it is known as the “break beat.” [(See Appendix VIDEO below).]

By the summer of 1973, DJ Kool Herc had been using and refining his break-beat style for the better part of a year. His sister’s party on August 11, however, put him before his biggest crowd ever and with the most powerful sound system he’d ever worked. It was the success of that party that would begin a grassroots musical revolution, fully six years before the term “hip hop” even entered the popular vocabulary.
Source: History Channel – This Day In History – Posted & Retrieved August 11, 2016 from: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hip-hop-is-born-at-a-birthday-party-in-the-bronx

Can we – in the Caribbean and from the Caribbean – change the world again?

Yes, we can!

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

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

This will not be the first time a Caribbean personality has changed the world through music (and hopefully not the last). Previously, this blog-commentary detailed the influence of music icon Bob Marley. Today, his name is synonymous with Reggae and socially-conscious music. RIP Bob Marley (1945 – 1981).

The Go Lean book identifies, in total, 169 different musical/national combinations of genres throughout the Caribbean. From these styles, Hip Hop has had its origins and roots. And then the transformation continued, with more inspiration back to the Caribbean sounds and more social messaging (classic of Reggae) going back to the Hip Hop sound.

Music does not stand still; it evolves. An excellent example of this cross-meshing is the musical genre of Reggaeton:

Reggaetón is a genre of music characterized by its repetitive beat rhythm that originated in Puerto Rico. Its roots can be traced back to the “underground” music of the island during the late 90’s, when music borrowing elements of reggae, rap, and hip-hop was being performed (in Spanish) in small, unofficial venues. Bootleg recordings and word of mouth were the means of distribution for this music until 1997. In 1998 eventually that music coalesced into what today is known as Reggaeton. The music’s popularity skyrocketed in the early 2000s as it spread to North American, European, Asian, and African audiences.^[1] Source: Retrieved 08/11/2016 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggaeton.

See sample Reggaetón song here: https://youtu.be/uHgnebZ_jYo

The movement behind the Go Lean book asserts that “one person can make a difference”. So just like Bob Marley, Clive Campbell aka DJ Kool Herc, should be recognized for his contributions to music, culture and Caribbean identity. This one Caribbean character has made a difference while residing as an alien in a foreign land. He has forge an example and a sample of how other Caribbean stakeholders can do more in the arts and impact the world – we can build a city on “rock-and-roll”.

Too bad he made this impact after leaving his Caribbean home of Jamaica.

Alas, we now bring the quest for change to Jamaica and all of the rest of the Caribbean. And that quest includes music and the arts. Early in the Go Lean book, the contributions that music can make is pronounced as an community ethos for the entire region to embrace, (Declaration of Interdependence – Page 15) with these statements:

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

This Go Lean/CU roadmap recognizes that a prerequisite for advancing society is a change in the community ethos – the fundamental spirit of a culture that drives the beliefs, customs and practices – in that society. Music should be appreciated for the truth of its power; it “can soothe the savage beast”. It can communicate culture and impact the economics for a people. One person, or a group of people can do this, can make a difference.

The following list from the Go Lean book details the community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to foster the next generation of artist:

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

Thank you Clive Campbell aka DJ Kool Herc; see Appendix VIDEO below.

Thank you for setting the pathway for success for new generations of talented, inspirational and influential artists – musical geniuses of Caribbean heritage – who are sure to follow. These artists, too will “rock the world”.

We are hereby “banking” on it here in the Caribbean, as communicated further in that Declaration of Interdependence – Page 13:

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

The Go Lean book posits “a change is going to come” to the Caribbean. The people, institutions and governance of region are all urged to “lean-in” to this roadmap for change and empowerment. Let’s do this … and make our homeland – all of the Caribbean – a better place to live, work and play.

🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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

————

Appendix VIDEO – Kool DJ Herc, Merry Go Round – https://youtu.be/Hw4H2FZjfpo

Uploaded on Oct 26, 2009 – Kool DJ Herc describing how he invented the idea of playing two breakbeats together.

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Arts, History, Image, Jamaica, Model, Music, Play, Transform

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August 6 – A Day which will ‘Live in Infamy’ – ENCORE

Posted on August 6, 2018 in Government, Tactical

“A Day which will ‘Live in Infamy'” – US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 8, 1941, Declaration of War at the Joint Session of Congress lamenting the December 7, 1941 Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor.

While the US President was referring to December 7, August 6 has become an even BIGGER ‘Day of Infamy’. This is the date in 1945 that the Atomic Bomb was detonated on Hiroshima, Japan. At that point only the USA had any Atomic/Hydrogen/Nuclear bombs. Today that number is 10, with fears that more “Rogue Nations” can get their hands on one.

This is the “Sum of All Our Fears”!

This fear was communicated in a previous blog-commentary from August 6, 2015. This is still a current fear, especially on the heels of Iran and North Korea Nuclear ambitions that are prominent in the news today.

Today, August 6, is a perfect time to Encore that previous blog-commentary as it is the 73rd Anniversary of the Hiroshima blast. See that Encore here-now:

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

It’s time for some serious talk:

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

Doubtful? Consider ISIS, Al Qaeda or Boko Haram!

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

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

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

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

This is the sum of all our fears!

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

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

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

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

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

Life imitating art; art imitating life.

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

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

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

This is the sum of our fears!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overkill? See this Photo here:

Nuclear/Hydrogen/Atomic weapons are overkill.

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

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

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

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

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

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History, Model, Security, Terrorism

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100 Years of Mandela – ENCORE

Posted on July 18, 2018 in Ethos, Government, Strategy

Wow, time flies!

It is 100 years now that Nelson Mandela had come into this world, and though his life has ended, his impact continues to reverberate … up to today.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader, and philanthropist, who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country’s first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalized racism and fostering racial reconciliation. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as President of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997.
Source: Retrieved July 17, 2018 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela

There are so many lessons that the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela offers to the modern Caribbean. One such lesson was provided in a previous blog-commentary from April 30, 2015. See an Encore of that submission here/now:

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Go Lean Commentary – A Lesson in History – Royal Charter: Zimbabwe -vs- South Africa

If presented the choice, which would you rather be granted: riches or power?

Many would conclude riches, because of societal expressions like the “Golden Rule: He who has the Gold… rules”. Yet the truth is riches can be created and destroyed quickly. This was the experience just recently during the 2008 Great Recession, where people in the US – the richest country on the planet – lost $11 Trillion in net worth in short order.

On the other hand, there is power. History shows that with power, the rights to riches can be granted, exploited and passed on, from century to century, generation to generation. Consider for example the African continent (in particular the southern region) and the Royal Charters that granted abundant wealth to a privileged few:

The English had been the first to adopt the approach of bundling their resources into a monopoly enterprise, with the English East India Company in 1600. This threatened their Dutch competitors with ruin,^[15] so in 1602 the Dutch monarchy followed suit and sponsored the creation of a single Dutch East Indies Company and granted it monopoly over the Asian trade. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Company#Formation_.281602.29)

The British monarchy has issued over 980 Royal Charters.^[1] (A formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate). A specific charter was issued for the South African region.

The British South Africa Company (BSAC) was established following the amalgamation of Cecil Rhodes‘ Central Search Association and the London-based Exploring Company Ltd which had originally competed to exploit the expected mineral wealth of Mashonaland but united because of common economic interests and to secure British government backing. The company received a Royal Charter in 1889 modeled on that of the English East India Company. Its first directors included the Duke of Abercorn, Rhodes himself and the South African financier Alfred Beit. Rhodes hoped BSAC would promote colonisation and economic exploitation across much of south-central Africa, as part of the “Scramble for Africa“. However, his main focus was south of the Zambezi, in Mashonaland and the coastal areas to its east, from which he believed the Portuguese could be removed by payment or force, and in the Transvaal, which he hoped would return to British control.^[1] (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_South_Africa_Company)

This historic information is being considered in conjunction with the book Go Lean…Caribbean; a publication designed to elevate the region’s economic (create 2.2 million new jobs), security and governing engines. Why would this “Lesson in History” matter in assessing today’s Caribbean status and fate?

It is of utmost importance. This discussion reveals how to reconcile the injustices of the past, and still build a better future. We have good models to consider, in this case the countries of Zimbabwe and South Africa.

In a previous blog/commentary, the issue of the origin of colonial entitlements was detailed at full length. A direct quote relates:

The most iconic of all the Papal Bulls [-“letters patent” or charters issued by a Pope, the Head of the Roman Catholic Church -] was the Inter caetera, a Papal Bull by Pope Alexander VI on 4 May 1493, which set a demarcation between the New Lands to Portugal and Spain; this granted to Spain all lands to the “west and south” … of the islands of the Azores … and all new lands to the East of this pole remained assigned to Portugal.

Just before this world-changing decree, there was an earlier Papal Bull that sealed the fate and would prejudice the African Diaspora for 500 years. The African Slave Trade and institution of “Slavery” was legally predicated on a Papal Bull from Pope Innocent VIII (Giovanni Battista Cybo) in 1491; just months before Christopher Columbus’s historic first voyage…

From the origins of slavery, [colonialism] traversed the historic curves of social revolution and evolution. In the 1500, the Protestant movement took hold. As other European powers deviated from Catholicism, Papal Bulls carried no significance to them and compliance was ignored. England and Holland established their own Protestant Churches with their own monarch as head of Church and State; Papal decrees were replaced with Royal Decrees and Charters. The intent and end-result was still the same: territories and lands awarded (colonized) with the stroke of a pen by one European power after another. The Royal Decrees and Charters were then reinforced with a strong military presence and many battles…

[The resultant] “oligarchy” … power effectively rested with a small number of people. These people could be distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, education, corporate, religious or military affiliation.

In this discussion of oligarchy, focus is given to powerful families. There are encyclopedic references that relate that oligarchy structures are often controlled by a few prominent families, who typically pass their influence/wealth from one generation to the next, even though inheritance alone is not a necessary condition for oligarchies to prevail…

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

The form of rulership that dominated these times in history is that of Oligarchy; empowered by Royal Charters/Decrees. Today, oligarchy – rule by the rich^[4] – is synonymous with another term commonly used, plutocracy.

The subject of oligarchs is very familiar on the African continent. This has been a real issue there. In many countries after colonialism, like Zimbabwe (1980), the cure for the oligarch disease was nationalization – forfeiting and seizing commercial farms and mines. This turned out disastrously for this country; the cure was worse than the disease. But, next door in South Africa (14 years later), the strategy, tactics and implementation was different. This country did not ascend to majority-rule until 1994; the first majority-ruled President there, Nelson Mandela saw the futility of the nationalization strategy amongst the precedent independent African nations, so he pursued an alternate approach to assuage White Flight and keep the capital and skilled labor in the country. But the continuation of the oligarchs ill-gained, and public-perceived-stolen assets forged problems in the reality of economic/wealth inequality. Majority-rule therefore brought no revolutionary change for the average man.

All in all, change is not easy. It is heavy-lifting. This is abundantly clear in the examination of the independent majority-ruled Zimbabwe and majority-ruled South Africa. See Chart in the Appendix of the comparisons.

The details of the Republic of Zimbabwe (1980) evolution are as follows:

The British South Africa Company was a Royal Charter, to administer “North-Western Rhodesia” and “North-Eastern Rhodesia” for White settlement; it was not under those names, but the names of the geographic parts—”Mashonaland”, “Matabeleland”, “Barotseland”, and so on. The collective territories were initially referred to as “Zambesia” – the name origins of both Zambia and Zimbabwe – but became Rhodesia as an international brand. While the White minority community resisted the transition to black majority-rule, the change inevitably came, empowering revolutionary leader Robert Mugabe. The new regime – due to spite, revenge and broken promises – began confiscating White-owned farmlands. This is widely blamed for leading to the deterioration of the Zimbabwean economy (societal abandonment of human and financial capital); this has plagued the country even until this day.^[113]

The details of the Republic of South Africa (1994) evolution are as follows:

The Cape Colony was a British colony in present-day South Africa and Namibia, named for the Cape of Good Hope. The British colony was preceded by an earlier Dutch colony of the same name, established in 1652 by the Dutch East India Company – granted by Royal Charter from the Dutch Monarchy. The Dutch lost the colony to Britain following the 1795 Battle of Muizenberg, but had it returned following the 1802 Peace Treaty of Amiens. It was re-occupied by the British following the Battle of Blaauwberg in 1806, and British possession affirmed with the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814. The Cape Colony then remained in the British Empire, becoming self-governing in 1872, and uniting with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa in 1910. Despite practicing racial segregation for most of its history, eventually integration and black majority-rule evolved in the Republic of South Africa. Despite their resistance to these changes, accommodations and reconciliations on the part of Nelson Mandela allowed for the continuation of the established societal engines; the minority White communities and business interests remained.

Considering these case studies, the Failed-State status of Zimbabwe versus the economic successes of South Africa, we see a lesson in this history, an obvious appreciation for best-practices … for us to apply in the Caribbean. We can optimize these best-practices by applying regional strategies, tactics and implementations to benefit everyone – the Greater Good – and try not to disenfranchise any one group.

The masses of people in the democratic Caribbean now have the right to rule, not just some special group set aside by Royal Decree or granted power by a Royal Charter. Since there is the scientific fact that no one can go back in time and change history; we can only move forward, hopefully with wisdom from the lessons learned in history. The Go Lean book presents a roadmap on how to benefit from these lessons – good, bad and ugly – and how to empower communities anew; to use political power to impact the Greater Good. We therefore see a role for the Rich (One Percent – Page 224), the Poor (Page 222) and the Middle Classes (Page 223).

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

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

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

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.

This Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) to provide better stewardship for the 30 member-states of the Caribbean region, despite their European heritage. The book (and subsequent blog/commentaries) posits that we must not fashion ourselves as parasites of our previous European colonizers, but rather pursue a status as protégés.

Our past history feature much oppression and repression; European colonialism had been a villainous “dragon”. But we can train our dragons! We can make the most of previous bad history. This point was presented as a strategy for Direct Foreign Investments, asserting that we want to invite and attract investments. We can use their resources to elevate our own communities, while still providing a return/profit for the investors.

This is Pragmatism 101!

We, in the Caribbean, were not the only ones abused. Other indigenous people (Africans, Asians, Amerindians, etc.) also suffered, sometimes even more so. The goal should be to thrive despite the disabling legacy; (and if not for everyone, then make the most of the situation for the most number of people).

This is the community ethos of the Greater Good!

Globalization is now an ‘Agent of Change’ that we must contend with. We must “play nice in the sandbox” with people of other countries, especially those with capital resources. So if a minority group represents a faction that previously exploited our land and forefathers, we cannot expect to extract vengeance against them – Zimbabwe proved the futility of such a quest for justice and inequity. As related in the Go Lean book (Page 151), the best-practice for any governing entity to grow the economy is to protect all property rights; (real, personal or intellectual). This is the “new” New World; and the new formula for success.

Another formula, an economic principle, is that “voluntary trade creates wealth” (Page 21). This fact has often been overlooked in policy decisions for Africa. The following VIDEO portrays this dilemma, decrying the current migrant/refugee crisis in Europe, when the best-practice the continent can provide the African people is a more liberal trade policy, allowing markets for African agricultural produce. (Without this type of proactive strategies, the continent is being oppressed … all over again … by today’s Europe; this is a lesson learned from the Native American Reservations in the US).

VIDEO: UKIP Leader Nigel Farage Addressing European Parliament on African Culpability & Hyprocrisy – https://youtu.be/NTwOap7ohc4

Posted by Wednesday, April 29, 2015 – UKIP Leader Nigel Farage: speaks to the European Parliament on the EU suggestion that the continent should have a common asylum and migration policy. He felt it was important to represent the view that this is not just another attack on British sovereignty but also inherently dangerous.

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

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Manage Reconciliations – South African Model	Page 34
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate all 30 member-states/ 4 languages into a Single Market	Page 45
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – CU Federal Government versus Member-State Governance	Page 71
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Foster International Aid	Page 115
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – #4: Confederation Without Sovereignty	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Improve Trade	Page 128
Planning – Ways to Model the new European Union – Unified Economy	Page 130
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Lessons Learned from 2008	Page 136
Planning – Lessons Learned from Indian Reservations – Audacity versus Absence of Hope	Page 141
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy – Protect Property Rights	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage Natural Resources	Page 183
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218

In considering this history and re-addressing the opening question: given the choice between riches and power, we choose power!

With the proper stewardship, we can “create real money from thin air”; establish trade networks to grow the economy, educate our people to be global leaders, foster development of products and services that the world demands. The “world would beat a path to our doors”.

Adherence to these best-practices – gleaned from this lesson in history – would help us make our Caribbean community a better homeland to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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Appendix – Comparative Analysis of Zimbabwe versus South Africa

	Zimbabwe	South Africa
Economy – overview	Zimbabwe’s economy is growing despite continuing political uncertainty. Following a decade of contraction from 1998 to 2008, Zimbabwe’s economy recorded real growth of roughly 10% per year in 2010-11, before slowing in 2012-13 due poor harvests and low diamond revenues. The government of Zimbabwe faces a number of difficult economic problems, including infrastructure and regulatory deficiencies, ongoing indigenization pressure, policy uncertainty, a large external debt burden, and insufficient formal employment. Until early 2009, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe routinely printed money to fund the budget deficit, causing hyperinflation. Dollarization in early 2009 – which allowed currencies such as the Botswana pula, the South Africa rand, and the US dollar to be used locally – ended hyperinflation and reduced inflation below 10% per year, but exposed structural weaknesses that continue to inhibit broad-based growth.	South Africa is a middle-income, emerging market with an abundant supply of natural resources; well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors and a stock exchange that is the 16th largest in the world. Even though the country’s modern infrastructure supports a relatively efficient distribution of goods to major urban centers throughout the region, unstable electricity supplies retard growth. The global financial crisis reduced commodity prices and world demand. GDP fell nearly 2% in 2009 but has recovered since then, albeit slowly with 2014 growth projected at about 2%. Unemployment, poverty, and inequality – among the highest in the world – remain a challenge. Official unemployment is at nearly 25% of the work force, and runs significantly higher among black youth. Eskom, the state-run power company, has built two new power stations and installed new power demand management programs to improve power grid reliability. Construction delays at two additional plants, however, mean South Africa is operating on a razor thin margin; economists judge that growth cannot exceed 3% until those plants come on line. South Africa’s economic policy has focused on controlling inflation, however, the country has had significant budget deficits that restrict its ability to deal with pressing economic problems. The current government faces growing pressure from special interest groups to use state-owned enterprises to deliver basic services to low-income areas and to increase job growth.
Population	12,973,808	54,002,000
GDP (purchasing power parity)	$7.496 billion (2013 est.)	$595.7 billion (2013 est.)
	$7.265 billion (2012 est.)	$584 billion (2012 est.)
	$6.957 billion (2011 est.)	$569.5 billion (2011 est.)
	note: data are in 2013 US dollars	note: data are in 2013 US dollars
GDP – real growth rate	3.2% (2013 est.)	2% (2013 est.)
	4.4% (2012 est.)	2.5% (2012 est.)
	10.6% (2011 est.)	3.5% (2011 est.)
GDP – per capita (PPP)	$600 (2013 est.)	$11,500 (2013 est.)
	$600 (2012 est.)	$11,400 (2012 est.)
	$500 (2011 est.)	$11,300 (2011 est.)
	note: data are in 2013 US dollars	note: data are in 2013 US dollars
GDP – composition by sector	agriculture: 20.1%	agriculture: 2.6%
	industry: 25.4%	industry: 29%
	services: 54.5% (2013 est.)	services: 68.4% (2013 est.)
Population below poverty line	68% (2004)	31.3% (2009 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share	lowest 10%: 2%	lowest 10%: 1.2%
Household income or consumption by percentage share	highest 10%: 40.4% (1995)	highest 10%: 51.7% (2009 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices)	8.5% (2013 est.)	5.8% (2013 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices)	8.2% (2012 est.)	5.7% (2012 est.)
Labor force	3.939 million (2013 est.)	18.54 million (2013 est.)
Labor force – by occupation	agriculture: 66%	agriculture: 9%
	industry: 10%	industry: 26%
	services: 24% (1996)	services: 65% (2007 est.)
Unemployment rate	95% (2009 est.)	24.9% (2013 est.)
	80% (2005 est.)	25.1% (2012 est.)
	note: figures include unemployment and underemployment; true unemployment is unknown and, under current economic conditions, unknowable
Distribution of family income – Gini index	50.1 (2006)	63.1 (2005)
Distribution of family income – Gini index	50.1 (1995)	59.3 (1994)
Budget	revenues: $NA	revenues: $88.53 billion
Budget	expenditures: $NA (2013 est.)	expenditures: $105.5 billion (2013 est.)
Industries	mining (coal, gold, platinum, copper, nickel, tin, diamonds, clay, numerous metallic and nonmetallic ores), steel; wood products, cement, chemicals, fertilizer, clothing and footwear, foodstuffs, beverages	mining (world’s largest producer of platinum, gold, chromium), automobile assembly, metalworking, machinery, textiles, iron and steel, chemicals, fertilizer, foodstuffs, commercial ship repair
Industrial production growth rate	3.7% (2013 est.)	0.9% (2013 est.)
Agriculture – products	corn, cotton, tobacco, wheat, coffee, sugarcane, peanuts; sheep, goats, pigs	corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables; beef, poultry, mutton, wool, dairy products
Exports	$3.144 billion (2013 est.)	$91.05 billion (2013 est.)
Exports	$3.314 billion (2012 est.)	$93.48 billion (2012 est.)
Exports – commodities	platinum, cotton, tobacco, gold, ferroalloys, textiles/clothing	gold, diamonds, platinum, other metals and minerals, machinery and equipment
Exports – partners	China 21.1%, South Africa 15.1%, Democratic Republic of the Congo 12.1%, Botswana 10.8%, Italy 4.6% (2012)	China 11.8%, US 8.3%, Japan 6%, Germany 5.7%, India 4.2% (2012)
Imports	$4.571 billion (2013 est.)	$99.55 billion (2013 est.)
Imports	$4.569 billion (2012 est.)	$102.6 billion (2012 est.)
Imports – commodities	machinery and transport equipment, other manufactures, chemicals, fuels, food products	machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum products, scientific instruments, foodstuffs
Imports – partners	South Africa 51.9%, China 10% (2012)	China 14.4%, Germany 10.1%, Saudi Arabia 7.7%, US 7.4%, Japan 4.6%, India 4.5% (2012)
Debt – external	$8.445 billion (31 December 2013 est.)	$139 billion (31 December 2013 est.)
Debt – external	$8.765 billion (31 December 2012 est.)	$130.4 billion (31 December 2012 est.)
Exchange rates	Zimbabwean dollars (ZWD) per US dollar –	rand (ZAR) per US dollar –
	234.25 (2010)	9.576 (2013 est.)
	234.25 (2009)	8.2031 (2012 est.)
	9,686.8 (2007)	7.3212 (2010 est.)
	note: the dollar was adopted as a legal currency in 2009; since then the Zimbabwean dollar has experienced hyperinflation and is essentially worthless	8.42 (2009)
		7.9576 (2008)
Fiscal year	calendar year	1 April – 31 March
Public debt	202.4% of GDP (2013 est.)	45.4% of GDP (2013 est.)
Public debt	244.2% of GDP (2012 est.)	42.3% of GDP (2012 est.)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold	$437 million (31 December 2013 est.)	$48.46 billion (31 December 2013 est.)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold	$575.6 million (31 December 2012 est.)	$50.7 billion (31 December 2012 est.)
Current Account Balance	-$576 million (2013 est.)	-$23.78 billion (2013 est.)
Current Account Balance	-$416.5 million (2012 est.)	-$24.07 billion (2012 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate)	$10.48 billion (2013 est.)	$353.9 billion (2013 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment – at home	$NA	$143.3 billion (31 December 2013 est.)

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History, Model, Power, Transform

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Should We Celebrate the ‘4th of July’? – ENCORE

Posted on July 4, 2018 in Government, Social

This is a good question.

Think about America’s closest Ally, England, Great Britain or the United Kingdom; (same country, 3 names): Do they celebrate this American Holiday in London?

Should they?

Of course not!

This good question was asked a year ago on July 4th, 2017 in a previous blog-commentary. It is so important that Caribbean people should ask it every year. The Encore of that previous submission follows:

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Go Lean Commentary – A Lesson in History – ‘4th of July’ and Slavery

Today is a special day in the United States, it is the 241st anniversary of their Declaration of Independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776. This day will be celebrated all over the country with parades, picnics, music and fireworks.

The celebrations of this day is a BIG deal!

What is buried in this annual celebration is the stark and sharp contrast on the different sides in the conflict of July 4, 1776. There were the British loyalists on one hand and those seeking freedom from the British, the patriots, on the other hand; see the opposing sides here:

Title #1: What two sides emerged in response to the Declaration of Independence? What did each side favor?

Answer:
The Patriots and Loyalists; Patriots favored independence and Loyalists favored staying as a British colony.

Explanation:
Tensions were simmering prior to the start of the Revolution, and the Declaration of Independence, signed in 1776 formally broadcasted to all that the United States was a new and independent nation. This led to two factions being formed: Patriots and Loyalists.

Patriots believed that the United States should be an independent nation separate from Britain. They felt that they were being treated unfairly as a colony and that their basic rights were being trampled upon. It was their view that the time for compromises was over and that the colonies needed to leave the British Empire.

Loyalists thought that the colonies were better off staying with England. Some did this out of loyalty for the king, but others feared instability and anarchy in the event of a change in government. In addition, many feared that the economic fallout with the mother country would destabilize the American economy.

All in all, these were the two groups that were formed, and as you know, the Patriots emerged as successful and formed a new nation.

Source: Retrieved July 4, 2017 from: https://socratic.org/questions/what-two-sides-emerged-in-response-to-the-declaration-of-independence-what-did-e

The patriots get to celebrate the 4th of July every year. But as there were 2 sides of this conflict, we sometimes forget the loyalists side of the conflict. They did not simply go away; they remained vocal and loyal to the Britain’s Crown.

The category of loyalists have a big bearing on the history of the Caribbean. Of the 30 member-states that caucus as the Caribbean, 18 of them have British heritage. Many of these were impacted by the American Declaration of Independence; many loyalists fled America and relocated to these British West Indies. Consider these notes:

When their cause was defeated, about 15% of the Loyalists (65,000–70,000 people) fled to other parts of the British Empire, to Britain itself, or to British North America (now Canada). …

The wealthiest and most prominent Loyalist exiles went to Great Britain to rebuild their careers; many received pensions. Many Southern Loyalists, taking along their slaves, went to the West Indies and the Bahamas, particularly to the Abaco Islands. – Source: Wikipedia

Great Britain also responded … formally. See details of the response here:

Title #2: The British Reply

When Great Britain first received the Declaration of Independence, the country was silent. To them, this was another annoyance from the colonies. The colonists had sent previous letters to King George III that had been ignored, but this was the first time that they had declared themselves free from Great Britain. You know how you feel when a little child continues to ask you for the same thing over and over again, and eventually, you stop listening? This was how King George III viewed the colonies. They were a nuisance, but relatively harmless. Or so he thought.

The government hired John Lind, an English politician and pamphleteer, to write a rebuttal to the declaration. He wrote Answer to the Declaration of the American Congress, a reply that tried to pick apart the Declaration of Independence. Lind focused on the issue of slavery, saying that the colonists were actually angry that King George III had offered freedom to the slaves. Lind even mocked the writers for stating, ‘All men are created equal…’, yet they allowed slavery. Of course, all of this was just a distraction. The colonists really paid no attention to the pamphlet.

Following this, King George III officially declared the colonies to be in a state of rebellion. By August of 1776, the King ordered troops to the colonies.

Once the Revolutionary War began, the citizens of Great Britain became more concerned about the colonies and their fight for independence. In October, King George III addressed Parliament, hoping to ease some of the concerns. He opened the address wishing that he could inform them that the troubles were at an end and that the people had ‘recovered from their delusion’ and ‘returned to their duty.’ However, the colonists continued to fight and even ‘openly renounced all allegiance to the Crown.’ King George III accused the colonists of treason, but reassured the Parliament that England was still united.

The King ended his address singing his own praises saying, ‘No people ever enjoyed more Happiness, or lived under a milder Government, then those now revolted Provinces.’ Everything that the colonies have—their land, sea, wealth, and strength—was because of him. His desire was to return the colonies as a part of the British Empire and end the war.

As we know, King George III’s desire to end the war and keep the colonies did not go as planned. The Revolutionary War, the war for American Independence, continued until 1783, ending with more than 50,000 deaths, and the colonies freed as a new country, the United States of America.

…

Source: Retrieved July 4, 2017 from: http://study.com/academy/lesson/british-reply-to-the-declaration-summary-analysis.html

As related, slavery was not the cause of the US War of Independence … entirely. But the notion that “all men are created equal” was a laughable American hypocrisy. The continuation of slavery in the wake of a trend of liberalism in England became a boiling point of contention. In fact as reported here, many African Americans – 12,000 or so – fled to the side of the British for the promise of freedom:

Title #3: Slavery and Black Loyalists

As a result of the looming crisis in 1775 the Royal Governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, issued a proclamation that promised freedom to servants and slaves who were able to bear arms and join his Loyalist Ethiopian Regiment. Many of the slaves in the South joined the Loyalists with intentions of gaining freedom and escaping the South. About 800 did so; some helped rout the Virginia militia at the Battle of Kemp’s Landing and fought in the Battle of Great Bridge on the Elizabeth River, wearing the motto “Liberty to Slaves”, but this time they were defeated. The remains of their regiment were then involved in the evacuation of Norfolk [(Virginia)], after which they served in the Chesapeake area. Eventually the camp that they had set up there suffered an outbreak of smallpox and other diseases. This took a heavy toll, putting many of them out of action for some time. There was a slave by the name of Boston King who joined the Loyalists and wound up catching smallpox. Boston King and other soldiers who were sick were relocated to a different part of the camp so that they did not contaminate the healthy soldiers. The survivors joined other British units and continued to serve throughout the war. Black colonials were often the first to come forward to volunteer and a total of 12,000 African Americans served with the British from 1775 to 1783. This factor had the effect of forcing the rebels to also offer freedom to those who would serve in the Continental Army; however, such promises were often reneged upon by both sides.^[31]

African Americans who gained their freedom by fighting for the British became known as Black Loyalists. The British honored the pledge of freedom in New York City through the efforts of General Guy Carleton who recorded the names of African Americans who had supported the British in a document called the Book of Negroes which granted freedom to slaves who had escaped and assisted the British. About 4,000 Black Loyalists went to the British colonies of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, where the British promised them land. They founded communities across the two provinces, many of which still exist today. Over 2,500 settled in Birchtown, Nova Scotia, instantly making it the largest free black community in North America. However, the inferior grants of land they were given and the prejudices of white Loyalists in nearby Shelburne who regularly harassed the settlement in events such as the Shelburne Riots in 1784, made life very difficult for the community.^[32] In 1791 Britain’s Sierra Leone Company offered to transport dissatisfied black Loyalists to the British colony of Sierra Leone in Africa, with the promise of better land and more equality. About 1,200 left Nova Scotia for Sierra Leone, where they named the capital Freetown.^[32] After 1787 they became Sierra Leone’s ruling elite. About 400 to 1,000 free blacks who joined the British side in the Revolution went to London and joined the free black community of about 10,000 there.

Source: Retrieved July 4, 2017 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyalist_(American_Revolution)#Slavery_and_Black_Loyalists

Wow, what a notion! An argument can be made that for the Black population – the majority ethnicity for 29 of the 30 Caribbean member-states – their celebration of the 4th of July should have been … for the other side!

Intriguing!

This is the lesson in history for the Caribbean; American historic accomplishments are NOT historic accomplishments for the majority of Caribbean people. Poor race relations tarnished so much of American history, that the country continues with this societal defect … even to this day.

This lesson from America’s initiation is presented by the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free – which serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This book features a declaration of its own, a Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 10 – 13):

Preamble: When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to unite with others so as to connect them together to collaborate, confederate and champion the challenges that face them, we the people of Caribbean democracies find it necessary to accede and form a confederated Union, the Caribbean Union Trade Federation, with our geographic neighbors of common interest.

While the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle us to form a society and a brotherhood to foster manifestations of our hopes and aspirations and to forge solutions to the challenges that imperil us, decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that we declare the causes which imperil us and incite us to unite to assuage our common threats.

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

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

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

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

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

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on this roadmap, on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

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

“Lessons in History” are a familiar theme for these Go Lean blog-commentaries; consider this sample of previous submissions:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12274	A Lesson in History – Spanish Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11870	A Lesson in History – Indian Termination Policy
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10933	A Lesson in History – White is Right – Not!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10733	150 Years of Historically Black Colleges & Universities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9151	The New Smithsonian African – American Museum
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8767	A Lesson in History – Haiti 1804
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7769	History’s Effect of the Current Caribbean Disposition
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7738	A Lesson in History – Legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5695	A Lesson in History – Repenting, Forgiving and Reconciling the Past
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4971	A Lesson in History – Royal Charters: Truth & Consequence
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=451	CariCom position on Slavery/Colonization Reparations

There are so many lessons that we, in the Caribbean, can learn from this history of the initiation of the United States; the role of slavery was integral to the whole fabric of American society. Repercussions and consequences of this societal defect reverberated from those events in July 1776 right down to our day. In many ways, these repercussions and consequences are responsible for our region’s poor performance in our economic, security and governing engines. Our society was created as parasites of the American- European (British) eco-system, rather than protégés of these advanced economies.

It is time for this disposition to end! It is not 1776 anymore; we must make the societal progress that 241 years of lessons should have taught us. America has reformed and transformed … some, but still needs more progress. But our goal is not to reform and transform America; our target is the Caribbean … only. We hereby urge everyone in the region – people, institutions and governments – to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap.

We can do this, we can declare our interdependence and make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

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Bahamas, Civil Rights, History

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‘Time to Go’ – Racist History of Loitering

Posted on June 25, 2018 in Ethos, Planning, Social

Go Lean Commentary

The cruel, inhumane institution of slavery finally ended in the United States … on which date?

January 1, 1863 – with the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln
April 9, 1865 – with the surrender of the Army of the Confederate States of America by General Robert E. Lee
June 19, 1865 – with the Abolition Declaration in Galveston, Texas (Juneteenth)
December 6, 1865 – Ratification of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution
December 12, 1942 – Prohibition against the Peonage System by Franklin D. Roosevelt – See Appendix
August 6, 1965 – Signing of the Voters Rights Act by Lyndon Johnson, that finally guaranteed citizenship rights.
January 20, 2009 – Inauguration of Barack Obama, First Black Man as US President
Not Quite yet, considering the Cop-on-Black Shootings on American streets, plus the enforcement of loitering laws against Blacks.

This was not meant to be a multiple choice! But rather, these answers demonstrate the continuous flow of racist oppression that had befallen the African-American experience, despite these identifiable dates ending the practices and legacy of America’s Original Sin.

Why so lingering here, when the practice was so much more easily disbanded elsewhere; think British Empire in 1834.

This commentary asserts than the Southern United States – the former Confederate States/Slave States – never embraced the end of slavery because of this philosophical premise here:

“An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again, but one which crumbles from within, is dead forever. ” – Popular Quotation from the Character Baron Zemo in the Marvel film Captain America: Civil Wars

Say it ain’t so! The Confederate South was toppled by its enemies (the non-Slave Northern States), their same spirit of racial superiority rose again. If the South had evolved on their own to assuage their societal defects, things may have been different for the Black minority there among the White majority.

While racial disparity in the US is a national reality, attitudes in the Southern States continued to reflect blatant White Supremacy. Since this was tolerated in the South, there was spin-off in the rest of the country. Truthfully, oppression, suppression and repression of the African race became the community ethos in the whole country: blatant in the South; subtle in the North and in the West. Community ethos is defined as:

The fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; dominant assumptions of a people or period.

Considering the foregoing historic timeline, loitering laws against African-Americans, is the focus of this commentary. There have been a number of high profile cases of Blacks being discriminated against in general society. See related VIDEO‘s here:

VIDEO 1 – Racist History of Loitering – https://youtu.be/jQuT0gO2X0o

Splinter
Published on May 16, 2018 – What is the line between “loitering” and just “hanging out”? Turns out, the enforcement of loitering laws often has less to do with committing the act and more to do with the skin color of the person who does:

Subscribe to Splinter: https://goo.gl/BwuJiy

Category: News & Politics

License: Standard YouTube License

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VIDEO 2 – Somebody Called The Cops On Me In My Own Building – https://youtu.be/LzQsYc_k4Tk

HuffPost
Published on May 18, 2018 – Someone called the police on him for suspected armed robbery. The reality? He was moving into his New York City apartment.

Subscribe to HuffPost today: http://goo.gl/xW6HG

Get More HuffPost Read: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Category: News & Politics

License: Standard YouTube License

Racial disparity in the US is still a reality. As related in the above VIDEO‘s, “you’re already criminalized when you have Black skin”.

This commentary asserts that it is easier for the Black-and-Brown populations in the Caribbean to prosper where planted in the Caribbean, rather than emigrating to foreign countries, like the United States. So the urging is as follows:

All Black-and-Brown Caribbean people exiling in the US, we entreat you: It’s Time to Go!

All Black-and-Brown people in the Caribbean wanting to emigrate to the US, we entreat you to Stay Home!

This point aligns with the book Go Lean…Caribbean, which states that while the blatant racist attitudes and actions may now be considered politically incorrect, the foundations of institutional racism in the US are entrenched. The book supports the notion that the Caribbean can be an even better place to live for the Caribbean’s Black-and-Brown, once we make the homeland a better place to live, work and play. Our quest is to optimize the economic, security and economic engines in the Caribbean region so as to dissuade our people from leaving and encourage the Diaspora to repatriate.

This commentary – Number 9 – continues a series from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean, in consideration of the rationale to return back to the Caribbean homeland. The other commentaries – published in September 2016 and beyond – detailed in this series are as follows:

Now, we consider 5 new entries along that same theme; they are identified as follows:

Time to Go: Windrush – 70th Anniversary
Time to Go: Mandatory Guns – Say it Ain’t So
Time to Go: Racist History of Loitering
Time to Go: Blacks Get Longer Sentences From ‘Republican’ Judges
Time to Go: States must have Population Increases

All of these commentaries in this series relate to the disposition of the Caribbean Diaspora in foreign countries; in the case of this one, the United States of America. The Go Lean book and movement serves as a roadmap for the introduction of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU is set to optimize Caribbean society through economic, security and governing optimizations. Therefore the Go Lean roadmap has 3 prime directives:

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

The Go Lean roadmap posits that the Caribbean region is in crisis now, and so many are quick to flee for refuge in foreign countries. But the “grass is not necessarily greener on the other side”. Here in the Caribbean, Black-and-Brown people are not arrested for being Black-and-Brown – they are the majority population. But they are a minority in the US; and that society is definitely not optimized for Caribbean people.

The Go Lean book asserts that every community has bad actors. The Caribbean has bad actors; and the US has bad actors. But because of the obvious need for reform and to transform the region, it may be easier to effect change at home, than in the foreign country of the US. Besides, many (non-Black) people in the US, don’t even think they need to change anything. They think there is no problem – they are perfectly allowed to call the police because a Black person is in their presence … loitering, or drinking coffee, or studying, or moving.

African Americans may have no where else to go, but the Black-and-Brown of the Caribbean can go back to the Caribbean. This is the urging now: It’s Time to Go!

This was a motivation of the Go Lean roadmap, we have to prepare for the Diaspora’s return; we have to fix our defects and mitigate for our “bad actors”; bad actors always emerge. This point is pronounced early in the book with the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12) that claims:

x. Whereas we are surrounded and allied to nations of larger proportions in land mass, populations, and treasuries, elements in their societies may have ill-intent in their pursuits, at the expense of the safety and security of our citizens. We must therefore appoint “new guards” to ensure our public safety and threats against our society, both domestic and foreign. The Federation must employ the latest advances and best practices of criminology and penology to assuage continuous threats against public safety. The Federation must allow for facilitations of detention for [domestic and foreign] convicted felons of federal crimes, and should over-build prisons to house trustees from other jurisdictions.

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

The Caribbean appointing “new guards”, or a security pact to ensure public safety and justice assurance is part of the comprehensive effort of reforming the societal engines in our region. Security lapses are among the reasons why people left – they were pushed to seek refuge. So better delivering on the Social Contract – citizens surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the State in exchange for protection of remaining natural and legal rights – sends the message that we are readying the homeland for our far-flung Diaspora to finally come home.

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society. Accepting that we have been inadequate in delivering security needs to our citizens in the past, we must now do better, not just in security promises, but in security deliveries. In addition, the Go Lean movement have presented many previous blog-commentaries on regional security and the assurance of public safety; consider this sample here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14482	International Women’s Day – Protecting Rural Women
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14424	Repairing the Breach: Crime – Need, Greed, Justice & Honor
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13664	Managing High Profile Sexual Harassment Accusations
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13476	Future Focused – Policing the Police
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13126	The Requirement for Better Security – ‘Must Love Dogs’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12400	Accede the Caribbean Regional Arrest Treaty
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10959	See Something, Say Something … Do Something
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10566	Funding the Caribbean Security Pact
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10222	Waging a Successful War on ‘Terrorism’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9072	Securing the Homeland – A Series featuring “On the Ground, Air and Sea”
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5002	Managing a ‘Clear and Present Danger’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4360	Dreading the American: ‘Caribbean Basin Security Initiative’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4308	911 – Improving Emergency Response

The Go Lean roadmap was composed with the community ethos of the Greater Good – the greatest good for the greatest number of people – Black, Brown, White, Yellow or Red. We advocate for a pluralistic democracy …

… and justice for all.

While this is an American concept … in words only, we have the opportunity to manifest this in the Caribbean. America does many things right, but they feature a lot of societal defects still, so we have the opportunity to do a pluralistic democracy Better than America.

This is the quest of the Go Lean/CU roadmap. We urge all Caribbean stakeholders to lean-in to this roadmap to elevate the Caribbean; to make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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

————

APPENDIX – The Bottom Line on Peonage – Book: Go Lean … Caribbean (Page 211)

Peonage, involuntary servitude, existed historically during the colonial period, especially in Latin America and areas of Spanish rule, as well as in the Southern United States … after slavery was abolished. These States passed “Black Codes” to control the freed “Black” population. Peonage was essentially debt slavery, where a person was held against their will to work off an alleged debt to someone who had purchased them. This was the language, buying and selling, that was used for inmates purchased from county jails and state prison systems. They often declared as vagrant those who were [simply] unemployed.

Under such laws, local officials arbitrarily arrested tens of thousands, and charged them with fines and court costs. (By the beginning of the 20th century, 40% of blacks in the South were imprisoned in peonage). Merchants, farmers or business owners could pay their debts, and the prisoners had to work off the debt. Prisoners were “sold” or leased as forced laborers to operators of coal mines, lumber camps, brickyards, railroads, quarries and farm plantations, with the fees for their labor going to the States. Overseers often used severe deprivation, beatings and other abuses as “discipline”.

By 1942, the jail/prison peonage system came to an end with public exposure of the abuses and atrocities, advances of the American Communist movement, congressional hearings and public outcry.

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Civil Rights, Diaspora, History, Model

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Counter-culture: Embracing the Change

Posted on May 7, 2018 in Ethos, Social

Go Lean Commentary

Children almost always rebel against their parental norms!

This is just a fact of life. Many times this actuality is a source of friction and frustration in families … and society in general. But many times, the rebellion can result in subsequent benefits to people and institutions in society; though this judgment may not be realized until a later time.

So a younger generation’s rebellion may be how whole communities are disciplined. This thought even aligns with the Bible’s counsel on discipline:

No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening – it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. – Hebrews 12:11 New Living Translation

Just consider these quick examples of protest movements: slavery abolition, women’s suffrage, labor rights and civil rights. These changes upended – sometimes violently – societal norms. But now, our communities are better for having endured it.

With this premise, we are now able to better embrace the historicity of the “counter-culture” of the 1960’s. This is our most recent example of a subculture whose values and norms of behavior differed substantially from those of mainstream society. And this is not just an academic discussion, for this timeframe corresponds with the time of upheaval for Caribbean society; yet we have not fully applied the lessons-learned and benefits from the resultant societal discipline; see Appendix VIDEO.

A counter-culture typically involves criticism or rejection of the status quo powerful institutions, with accompanying hope for a better life or a new society.

This is the focus of this series of commentaries on the counter-culture of the 1960’s. This first one – entry 1 of 4 in this series from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean – is in consideration of remaining societal defects in the Caribbean region. We did not reform or transform like other communities contending with the counter-culture. The other commentaries in the series are cataloged as follows:

Counter-culture: Embracing the Change – Battling against Orthodoxy
Counter-culture: Manifesting Change – Environmentalism & ‘Climate Change’
Counter-culture: Monetizing the Change – Education, Workplace, Healthcare & Retirement
Counter-culture: Pushing for Change – Is Ganja here to stay?

All of these commentaries relate to “how” the stewards for a new Caribbean can shepherd societal change in this region. We accept that with the counter-culture, young people can reject conventional social norms. This can be good when the “mainstream” culture reflects cultural standards that are defective. The counter-culturists of the 1960’s – think hippies – rejected the norms of their parents – from the 1950’s and before – especially with respect to:

Racial segregation – The US had a long, bad track record of enforcing a “separate but equal” standard. This was a sham! For the minority populations, they were separated but far from equal; they were oppressed, suppressed and repressed to ensure an inferior status. It took a counter-culture to press until change manifested; i.e. Linda Brown
Support for wars – The counter-culturists opposed military conscriptions with vocal protests, publications, demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience. In fact, not until the Military Draft ended in the US, did Caribbean people start to consider the prospect of emigrating to the US.
Women’s rights – These rights, like many other societal reforms, only come about as a result of advocates and activists fighting for change. But these battles were too important not to fight. Starting in the mid-19^th Century, the 1960’s Civil and Gender Rights succeeded with the landmark 1972 Title IX US federal legislation.
Sexual mores – Many countries criminalize sexual acts between consenting adults of the same sex and other forms of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression. The counter-culturists did not stand still; they persisted and got the US to continue the national trend of more tolerance with every generation.
Traditional modes of authority – The counter-culturists conveyed to the world that Police authorities were far from perfect, and many times, not even in the right. Standards for mitigating and managing Police Abuse of Power emerged from this hard-fought counter-culture revolution.
A materialist interpretation of Middle Class values – While capitalism has won all debate for governing policy, the harsh profit-first priority of Crony-Capitalism has been debunked by counter-culturists. Now environmentalism, arts, humanitarianism has emerged as great candidates for a purpose-driven life.
Drug usage – The counter-culture normalized marijuana use and now … State authorities are enacting legislation to legitimize or decriminalize recreational marijuana use. This implementation will be heavy-lifting as there are many security and governing dynamics to manage.

Lessons abound … all of this above drama from the counter-culture is not just American drama. No, the 1960’s counter-culture movement was truly global. It also impacted our Caribbean homeland as well; see Appendix VIDEO.

All of the above issues had a Caribbean parallel.

Yes, the 1960’s counter-culturists triggered dramatic changes; but they were not the first in history, nor were they the last. See here:

Prominent examples of countercultures in Europe and North America include Romanticism (1790–1840), Bohemianism (1850–1910), the more fragmentary counterculture of the Beat Generation (1944–1964), followed by the globalized counter-culture of the 1960s (1964–1974), usually associated with the hippie subculture^[3] and the diversified punk subculture of the 1970s and 1980s. – Wikipedia

The book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free – serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), to reform and transform all of Caribbean society – all 30 member-states. This is counter to the existing culture. There is the need to shepherd our communities through major changes; we need to reboot our societal engines. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

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

The Caribbean needs a counter-culture revolution! We have defects we need to abandon and gaps that need to be filled.

We need our young people to reject conventional social norms. We need them to rebel and revile their parents … and other members of society that are backwards – trying to preserve defective “mainstream” cultural standards – then move forward.

The Go Lean book identifies and defines “mainstream” cultural standards as community ethos; with this direct quotation (Page 20 – 25):

The people of the Caribbean must change their feelings about elements of their society – elements that are in place and elements missing. This is referred to as “Community Ethos”, defined as:

noun – (www.Dictionary.com)

1. the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; dominant assumptions of a people or period.

2. the character or disposition of a community, group, person, etc.

As such, some [missing] community ethos … have been identified as relevant for the Caribbean. They are as follows:

Deferred Gratification

Economic Principles

Money Multiplier

Job Multiplier

Security Principles

Privacy versus Public Protection

Whistleblower Protection

Witness Security & Protection

Anti-Bullying and Mitigation

Intelligence Gathering

Light Up the Dark Places

“Crap” Happens

Governing Principles

Minority Equalization

Lean Operations

Return on Investments

Cooperatives

Non-Government Organizations

Advocacies

Ways to Impact the Future

Ways to Foster Genius

Ways to Help Entrepreneurship

Ways to Promote Intellectual Property

Ways to Impact Research & Development

Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide

Ways to Improve Negotiations

Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds

Ways to Manage Reconciliations

Ways to Improve Sharing

Ways to Promote Happiness

Ways to Impact the Greater Good

The movement behind the Go Lean book have previously identified many defective “mainstream” cultural values in the Caribbean; consider this sample of previous blog-commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13974	Haiti – Earning its “Shit-Hole” Brand
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13890	We Need to Talk – The Caribbean Disposition is Dire!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13321	Divided and Conquered – Too Much Pluralism – Us and Them
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11244	Caribbean People Willing to “Live Too Fast and Die Too Young”
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11048	Ignoring the Society Golden Rule – Protecting Weak from the Strong
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8200	Promoting a ‘Climate of Hate’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7082	All Play, No Work – Only Known for Leisure
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5784	“Say it ain’t so”! – Archaic Buggery Laws Still in Jamaica
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4058	New York Times Maledictions on the Bahamas
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2709	58% of Caribbean Boys Agree to Female Discipline
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1386	Nonchalance About Impact of Drugs and De-Criminalization

There is so much to learn from the counter-culture movement of the 1960’s!

The ‘Hippies’ stood in the track of an oncoming locomotive … and stopped the train!

The counter-culture brought change, some good (ie: desegregation & anti-war protest) and some bad (ie: un-kept grooming & liberal drug use)! So the ‘Hippies’ are only to be emulated as a model for forging change, not necessarily what they change.

The Go Lean book and roadmap stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean’s societal engines is possible, but must be preceded with reforming and transforming Caribbean attitudes or community ethos. Despite the individual member-states, counter-cultural changes can be pushed regionally. This – regional push – was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):

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

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

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

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to forge a counter-cultural revolution transition in the Caribbean; it details the new community ethos that needs to be adopted, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society.

We are not asking the Caribbean to be “hippies”, just learn from the “hippies” and reject the status quo and orthodoxy of the broken Caribbean eco-system.

Yes, we can foster change, a counter-culture even; we can make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

—————

Appendix VIDEO-AUDIO – Eddie Minnis: “Ting an’ Ting Y2K” – https://youtu.be/oDF2cQsEURU

This is a Bahamian folk song by legend Eddie Minnis describing societal change in the capital city. ‘Ting and Ting’, the counter-culture had taken hold and everything changed … for good and bad:

“Nassau’s become such a funky town since “ting an’ ting” been going ’round.

EDDIE MINNIS – Topic

Published on Jul 20, 2015 – Provided to YouTube by CDBaby “Ting An’ Ting Y2k” (Granny and Fleabs Mix) · Eddie Minnis Tropical Waves ℗ 2012 Edward Minnis Released on: 2012-08-01 Auto-generated by YouTube.

Category: Music
License: Standard YouTube License
Music: “Ting An’ Ting Y2k (Granny and Fleabs Mix)” by EDDIE MINNIS Listen ad-free with YouTube Red

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‘Red Letter Day’ for Cuba – Raul Castro Retires

Posted on April 19, 2018 in Government, Locations, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

For the first time in decades, Cubans have a president whose last name is not Castro. – News Summary from New York Times article below.

This is a Red Letter Day for Cuba and all of the Caribbean, as Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez is sworn in as President.

We have been observing-and-reporting on the long-awaited re-approachment of Cuba into the brotherhood of Caribbean member-states. In all of our previous commentaries, we cautioned that the full inclusion of Cuba will not manifest until the Castros were gone from the leadership of the country. Today brings us one step closer to that eventuality. But overall this roadmap for Cuba will be a journey, not just a headline. See the news article here:

Title – Fidel Died and Raúl Resigned, but Castros Still Hold Sway in Cuba

By: Frances Robles

MIAMI — For the first time in decades, Cubans have a president whose last name is not Castro.

But as the new president, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, who turns 58 on Friday, takes his first strides to govern an economically distressed country that is perennially in crisis, he will do so with a ring of Castros, and their various spouses and children, around him.

Fidel Castro died in 2016 at 90, and his eldest son, nicknamed Fidelito, killed himself this year. But Raúl Castro, who stepped down on Thursday after two terms as president, remains the leader of the Communist Party and the head of the armed forces. And other Castros run the intelligence services and the vast military conglomerate that manages most state business. One of them is Raúl Castro’s most trusted bodyguard. Another is a lawmaker who supports gay rights.

They are the defenders of a dynasty that is ostensibly there to support Mr. Díaz-Canel — but also to scrutinize him. As an era comes to a close, these stalwarts and heirs of the Cuban revolution will be members of an inner circle that aims to guarantee the succession of a socialist state — all while managing the delicate task of not creating the appearance of a family dynasty reaching into its third reign.

“Don’t anyone get their hopes up,” said María C. Werlau, a Cuba researcher who studies the violent legacy of the Cuban revolution. “Díaz-Canel is purely there for a cosmetic change; he is an offshoot of Raúl and has no power or perceptible source of power. The succession is well underway, and the second generation of Castros is well lined up to take control when Raúl is really out of the picture.”

Here are some prominent members of the clan:

Raúl Castro, 86, stepped down after 12 years as president. He was defense minister for nearly five decades, from 1959 to 2008, and has led the Communist Party since 2006. He retains the title of first party secretary, which he has held since 2011, and which is “where true power resides,” Ms. Werlau said.

But even Mr. Castro, with his revolutionary credentials and fraternal connections, could not pull off all of the changes he had set out to make. Too many old-guard associates put up obstacles when they saw the widening inequalities that accompanied economic reforms. So although Mr. Castro is widely believed to be planning a move from Havana to Santiago de Cuba — on Cuba’s southeastern coast, the other side of the country — he is not expected to leave Mr. Díaz-Canel entirely to his own devices.

Mr. Castro was credited with strengthening institutional control and formalizing the concept of consensus governing. He believes in delegated authority. He has made sure that there are enough internal checks and balances to keep an eye on any successor with big ideas, while still watching this one’s back. Mr. Díaz-Canel was a handpicked successor, and it is not in Raúl Castro’s interest to see him fail.

“Raúl will be watching,” said Andy S. Gómez, a Cuba expert, now retired, who worked at the University of Miami. “Raúl, as first party secretary, will be not only watching him, but, more importantly, being there for him, symbolically, so he can move forward.”

Alcibíades Hidalgo, who was Raúl Castro’s chief of staff for a dozen years, believes that his former boss will hold on to power “until the day he dies.”

Alejandro Castro Espín, 52, is Raúl Castro’s son. Mr. Castro Espín runs the intelligence services for both the armed forces and the Interior Ministry. That is a big task in a country that works hard to stifle dissent and sniff out spies.

Mr. Castro Espín was part of the team that negotiated with President Barack Obama’s administration over restoring diplomatic ties with the United States, a sign that he is part of the most trusted inner circle.

But he also has serious anti-imperialist credentials: The title of a book he wrote in 2009, “Empire of Terror,” offers a not-very-subtle clue of his opinion of Cuba’s big neighbor to the north.

“The most important of the younger generation is Castro Espín,” said Brian Latell, a former C.I.A. analyst who has closely watched the Castro family. “I think he has a lot of influence with his father.”

Juan Juan Almeida, the son of a Cuban revolutionary war hero, grew up with Mr. Castro Espín and lived in his house when they were children. He said he was not convinced that his former best friend had the skills to succeed after his father dies.

“He’s powerful, but his power was given to him by his father,” Mr. Almeida said. “He will last as long as his father’s power lasts.”

Some experts believe that Raúl Castro would have liked to have made his son president, but that it would have looked bad internationally to have another Castro take over.

Gen. Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Callejaswas a Castro by marriage — he used to be married to Raúl Castro’s daughter Débora, and is the father of Mr. Castro’s favorite grandson.

General Rodríguez is president of Gaesa, the holding company that controls the military’s business interests. The military runs all of the hotels and state-run restaurants, convenience stores and gas stations, making General Rodríguez one of the country’s most powerful men.

“He must have 1,200 companies under him,” said Guillermo Fariñas, an outspoken critic of the government who lives in Villa Clara Province. “I think the one who manages the country economically is him.”

Raúl Rodríguez Castro, General Rodríguez’s son, is Raúl Castro’s bodyguard, the kind of position that lends itself to knowing all kinds of secrets, Mr. Fariñas said.

Mariela Castro is Raúl Castro’s daughter. A member of Parliament, she enjoys an international and domestic following, largely because of her support for gay and transgender rights.

“Mariela is part of the scenery,” Mr. Hidalgo said. “She’s a decorative figure with a nice cause. In terms of power, she is far from the role of her brother or her ex-brother-in-law.”

Mr. Almeida said it boiled down to appearances.

“In terms of becoming a vice minister or joining the Council of State, I don’t see her doing that,” Mr. Almeida said. “The idea is to present a democratic face and erase the faces of the past. For the international community, they need to offer a nice friendly face of Cuba, which means not putting forth a Castro.”

Mr. Hidalgo, a former ambassador to the United Nations who later defected and now lives in Miami, does not think it will work.

“They are trying to give an appearance of change to what is fundamentally the same,” he said. “They are trying to continue Castroism without Castros in the near future, which is practically impossible.”

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/world/americas/cuba-castros-communism.html; posted April 19, 2018.

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VIDEO – Life After Castro: Who Is Cuba’s Next President? – https://nyti.ms/2vmutkE

Posted April 19, 2018 – As Raúl Castro of Cuba steps down, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez steps up. Here’s a look at Mr. Castro’s handpicked successor and what’s ahead for the communist country. By DEBORAH ACOSTA and NATALIE RENEAU.

In addition, see here, how the journey for a new Cuba has transpired in the last years – in reverse chronological order:

State of the Union – Spanish Caribbean Need for Brotherhood with Full Region – June 20, 2017
Farewell to Obama and to ‘Wet Foot/Dry Foot’ for Cubans – January 20, 2017
Fidel Castro Is Dead; Now What? – November 27, 2016
The Road to Restoring Cuba – February 4, 2016
Restoration of Mail Service – December 12, 2015
Cuba started the expansion of Internet Access – October 12, 2015
Cuba removed from the United States “Terrorist Sponsor” list. – April 14, 2015
Relaxation of travel restrictions for Americans to Cuba – January 16, 2015
Set in motion to normalize relations with Cuba – December 17, 2014
CariCom urges end of US Embargo – December 12, 2014

Cuba’s President Raul Castro greets members of Parliament at the opening of the third regular session of the eighth legislature, at the National Assembly in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, July 5, 2014. (AP Photo/Ismael Francisco, Cubadebate)

The book Go Lean…Caribbean was designed with the expectation of an eventual integration of Cuba into a Caribbean Single Market. This would allow for technocratic stewardship and oversight of the region’s economic, security and governing engines for all 30 Caribbean member-states. The book therefore serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The roadmap anticipated the heavy-lifting of the needed reconciliation in the Cuban eco-system. This relevant statement is embedded in the opening 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.

While Cuba is Too Big To Ignore – a quarter of the region’s population and landmass – it is a near Failed-State status today. So the roadmap anticipates a “Marshall Plan”-like effort to reform and transform Cuba. Marshall Plan? As in …

The Bottom Line on the Marshall Plan

By the end of World War II much of Europe was devastated. The Marshall Plan, named after the then Secretary of State and retired general George Marshall, was the American program to aid Europe where the United States gave monetary support to help rebuild European economies after the end of the war. During the four years (1948 – 1952) that the plan was operational, US $13 billion in economic and technical assistance was given to help the recovery of the European countries. The plan looked to the future, and did not focus on the destruction caused by the war. Much more important were efforts to modernize European industrial and business practices using high-efficiency American models, reduce artificial trade barriers, and instill a sense of hope and self-reliance. This worked! By 1952 as the funding ended, the economy of every participant state had surpassed pre-war levels. Generally, economists agree that the Marshall Plan was one of the first elements of European integration, as it erased trade barriers and set up institutions to coordinate the economy on a regional level—today, the European Union, the latest successor of the integration effort, is the world largest integrated economy.

There is the need to re-boot … the entire region, but Cuba is more acute. This re-boot roadmap – Marshall Plan – commences with the recognition that all the Caribbean is in crisis, and in the “same boat” despite the colonial heritage or language. All 30 geographical member-states need to confederate, collaborate, and convene for solutions – we cannot leave any member-states behind. This is the purpose of the Go Lean/CU roadmap, as featured in this declaration of the Go Lean/CU prime directives:

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

The ill-fated Cuban-Communism Revolution started 1959, during the hey-day of the Cold War – manifested enmity between the United States of America (USA) and allies versus the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and their aligned communist states. Cuba has not progressed since then.

The Go Lean book therefore features 370 pages of details of the community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to facilitate a re-boot for Cuba (and other countries). Describing “how”, the book includes one advocacy particular related to Cuba; consider the specific plans, excerpts and headlines here from Page 236, entitled:

10 Ways to Re-boot Cuba

1	Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market This regional re-boot will allow for the unification of the region into one market, thereby creating a single economy of 30 member-states, 42 million people and a GDP of over $800 Billion. Following the model of European integration, the CU will be the representative and negotiating body for Cuba and the entire region for all trade and security issues. This helps to assuage the political adversity expected from Anti-Castro groups.
2	Political Neutrality of the Union Cuba is the only Communist-led state in the CU region. Other states have multiple party systems: left-leaning or right leaning governments; many have more than 2 parties. The CU is officially neutral! The election of the popular leaders of each country is up to that country. The Election functionality of member-states can be outsourced to the CU as the organization structure will provide the systems, processes and personnel to facilitate smooth and fair election.
3	US Trade Embargo By-Pass The US embargo against Cuba is an economic, and financial embargo imposed in October 1960. It was designed to punish Cuba to dissuade communism and the nationalization of private property during the revolution. To date, there are judgments of up to $6 billion worth of claims against the Cuban government. Despite this US action, the rest of the Caribbean, Canada and Europe do trade with Cuba, with no repercussions in their relationship with the US. It is expected that after Fidel and Raul Castro, there will be greater liberalization of trade and diplomacy with the US.
4	Marshall Plan for Cuba To reboot Cuba will require a mini-Marshall Plan. The infrastructure, for the most part, is still the same as in 1958. The engines of the CU will enable a rapid upgrade of the infra-structure and some “low hanging fruit” for returns on the investment. The US-based Cuba Policy Foundation estimates that the embargo costs the U.S. economy $3.6 billion per year in economic output. The vision is for the CU to be the benefactor of a re-booted Cuban economy, not the US.
5	Leap Frog Philosophy There is no need to move Cuba’s 1950’s technology baseline to the 1960’s, then the 1970’s, and so on; rather, the vision is to leap-frog Cuba to where technology is going. This includes advance urban planning concepts like electrified ligh-trail, prefab houses, alternative energies and e-delivery of governmental services and payment systems.
6	Repatriation and Reconciliation of the Cuban Diaspora
7	Access to Capital Markets
8	Optimization of Agricultural Exports
9	National Historic Places Since Cuba’s infrastructure has not kept pace with the changing standards, it is expected that many of the Cuba’s buildings would qualify for condemnation. The CU will first sponsor the effort to identify and preserve buildings of historical significance. These would have to be restored and preserved.
10	World Heritage Sites As of 2012, there are 9 World Heritage Sites in Cuba. The CU will promote these sites as tourist attractions for the domestic and foreign markets.

The hope for an open free Cuba – Cuba Sera Libre – is not just shared by Cuban people on the island or in the Diaspora abroad. There is also the welcome of the Caribbean neighbors, tourists, trading-partners, and international stakeholders. The manifestation of this hope must come from the Caribbean itself. A new Cuba should be the manifestation of Caribbean people helping Caribbean people. Thus must be our quest!

The Go Lean roadmap for the CU strives to put the Command-and-Control of Caribbean affairs in the hands of Caribbean people, asserting that the Caribbean can no longer be a parasite of the US, but rather must be a protégé.

Cuba – “in the cold” since 1959! Enough already! Remember the 5-L principle; surely we have looked, listened and learned. Now we need to lend-a-hand.

Applying this 5-L principle, that only leaves the final L, Lead. But it is our assertion, that it is only Cuba (Cuban people) who gets to pick its leaders. Raul Castro is fading from the scene; so welcome Mr. Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez. Let’s get to work!

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, Cuba included, to lean-in to this regional roadmap. Now is the time to make this region – all 30 member-states – a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

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