Retirement – Go Lean…Caribbean

Tag: Retirement

Counter-culture: Monetizing the Change

Posted on May 11, 2018 in Ethos, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

“Put your money where your mouth is” – Popular Challenge

It is appropriate to look back 50 years at the height of the counter-culture – Hippie movement – and ask the question:

Were the counter-culturists willing to pay for the change they were demanding?

As asserted in the last submission of this series of commentaries on the counter-culture of the 1960’s/1970’s, the counter-culturists didn’t just go away, they won! They had some relative victory and transformed the mainstream values of society.

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. There was a subsequent shift in the Social Contract deliveries after this counter revolution.

But how did the advocates pay for the change?

In the height of the 1960’s counter-culture movement, this question was asked – by the Number 1 English-speaking band, The Beatles – and the answers didn’t emerge for years, decades and generations.

The question was in the form of a song – You say you want a Revolution – see here (and the lyrics in Appendix A below):

VIDEO – The Beatles: Revolution (1968) – https://youtu.be/BGLGzRXY5Bw

The Beatles

Published on Oct 20, 2015 – The Beatles 1 Video Collection is Out Now. Get your copy here: http://thebeatles1.lnk.to/DeluxeBluRay

“When you talk about destruction, don’t you know that you can count me out”

“I did the slow version and I wanted it out as a single: as a statement of The Beatles’ position on Vietnam and The Beatles’ position on revolution. For years, on The Beatles’ tours, Brian Epstein had stopped us from saying anything about Vietnam or the war.” – John Lennon.

“Plugging directly into the Abbey Road desk and pushing the needles into the red achieved the fuzz-guitar sound. According to George Martin “We got into distortion on that, which we had a lot of complaints from the technical people about. But that was the idea: it was John’s song and the idea was to push it right to the limit. Well, we went to the limit and beyond.”

“Revolution” was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, and filmed on the 4th September 1968 at Twickenham Film Studios. “Don’t you know it’s gonna be all right”

Music video by The Beatles performing Revolution. (C) 2015 Calderstone Productions Limited (a division of Universal Music Group) / Apple Films Ltd.

Category: Music

License: Standard YouTube License

Music: “Revolution” by The Beatles Listen ad-free with YouTube Red

Only now, 50 years later, are we able to look (back), listen and learn the lessons from those times. (This exercise is part-and-parcel of the popular 5 L’s methodology: Look, Listen, Learn, Lend-a-hand and Lead). Monetizing the change is easier said than done!

The Beatles stated:

“But if you want money for people with minds that hate … All I can tell is brother you have to wait”

What did the counter-culture movement do so as to monetize the change that they were protesting for? As these groups assimilated their victories into mainstream society, they forced changes to the financial-economic systems as well. For example, one innovation that emerged in the US was moving away from institutional pensions to a new scheme of Individual Retirement Accounts or the 401(k). See more here on the US program, though this term 401K has been used in many other countries as a generic term for Individual Retirement Accounts:

Reference Title: 401(k)
In the United States, a 401(k) plan is the tax-qualified, defined-contribution pension account defined in subsection 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code.^[1] Under the plan, retirement savings contributions are provided (and sometimes proportionately matched) by an employer, deducted from the employee’s paycheck before taxation (therefore tax-deferred until withdrawn after retirement or as otherwise permitted by applicable law), and limited to a maximum pre-tax annual contribution of $18,500 (as of 2018).^[2][3]

Other employer-provided defined-contribution plans include 403(b) plans for nonprofit institutions, 457(b) plans for governmental employers, and 401(a) plans. These plans may provide total annual addition of $55,000 (as of 2018) per plan participant, including both employee and employer contributions.

History
In the early 1970s a group of high earning individuals from Kodak approached Congress to allow a part of their salary to be invested in the stock market and thus be exempt from income taxes.^[4] This resulted in section 401(k) being inserted in the then taxation regulations that allowed this to be done. The section of the Internal Revenue Code that made such 401(k) plans possible was enacted into law in 1978.^[5] It was intended to allow taxpayers a break on taxes on deferred income. In 1980, a benefits consultant and attorney named Ted Benna took note of the previously obscure provision and figured out that it could be used to create a simple, tax-advantaged way to save for retirement. The client for whom he was working at the time chose not to create a 401(k) plan.^[6] He later went on to install the first 401(k) plan at his own employer, the Johnson Companies^[7] (today doing business as Johnson Kendall & Johnson).^[8] At the time, employees could contribute 25% of their salary, up to $30,000 per year, to their employer’s 401(k) plan.^[9]

Taxation
Income taxes on pre-tax contributions and investment earnings in the form of interest and dividends are tax deferred. The ability to defer income taxes to a period where one’s tax rates may be lower is a potential benefit of the 401(k) plan. The ability to defer income taxes has no benefit when the participant is subject to the same tax rates in retirement as when the original contributions were made or interest and dividends earned. Earnings from investments in a 401(k) account in the form of capital gains are not subject to capital gains taxes. This ability to avoid this second level of tax is a primary benefit of the 401(k) plan. Relative to investing outside of 401(k) plans, more income tax is paid but less taxes are paid overall with the 401(k) due to the ability to avoid taxes on capital gains.

For pre-tax contributions, the employee does not pay federal income tax on the amount of current income he or she defers to a 401(k) account, but does still pay the total 7.65% payroll taxes (social security and medicare).
…
Source: Retrieved May 10, 2018 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/401(k)

This commentary continues the series on the counter-culture of the 1960’s/1970’s. This series from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean considers the experiences of how people deviated from the mainstream society to forge change in their communities. 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’ abatement
Counter-culture: Monetizing the Change – Education, Healthcare & Retirement Mandates
Counter-culture: Pushing for Change – Is Ganja here to stay?

All of these commentaries convey “how” the stewards for a new Caribbean can forge a change culture when established institutions are dysfunctional and defective; the status quo must be protested. This entry – 3 of 4 – considers the financial and economic changes that emerged as a result of the 1960’s counter-culture movement; subsequently a more independent spirit emerged for planning retirement, education and healthcare. Today there are solutions that deviated from the previous broken institutional offering.

The affected countries – United States, Canada and Western Europe – are in better financial dispositions now than they were in the 1960’s. There are lessons for us to learn and apply here in the Caribbean.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free – serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs. The deficient delivery of Caribbean Jobs is a sore subject regionally; this is responsible for so much abandonment.
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.

As the foregoing details, 401(k) Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) brought a revolutionary shift in American society for Middle Class economic values. No longer where citizens dependent on broken institutions to deliver their financial solutions late in life. This spirit was also manifested in other areas of American financial life:

Education / College Planning – A 529 plan is a tax-advantaged savings plan designed to encourage saving for future college costs. 529 plans, legally known as “qualified tuition plans,” are sponsored by states, state agencies, or educational institutions and are authorized by Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code – Source: SEC.gov.
Health Savings Accounts – HSA‘s are tax-advantaged medical savings accounts available to taxpayers in the United States who are enrolled in a high-deductible health plan (HDHP).^[1][2] The funds contributed to an account are not subject to federal income tax at the time of deposit. HSA funds may currently be used to pay for qualified medical expenses at any time without federal tax liability or penalty. Beginning in early 2011 over-the-counter medications cannot be paid with an HSA without a doctor’s prescription.^[3] Withdrawals for non-medical expenses are treated very similarly to those in an individual retirement account (IRA) in that they may provide tax advantages if taken after retirement age, and they incur penalties if taken earlier. The accounts are a component of consumer-driven health care. Source: Wikipedia.

All of these financial-economic empowerments enhanced the Middle Class eco-system for young men … and women. The counter-culture brought a lot of opportunities for women … finally. Women in the workplace! It was real thing!

So society changed upwards … for the better by ushering in dual income households (DINC = Double Income No Children). Imagine all the additional capital added to the securities markets (Wall Street) because the Middle Class was now participating in deferred savings and investments schemes. Consider the Economic Study in Appendix B.

Household Budget Before the 1960’s Revolution.

Household Budget After the 1960’s Revolution; a Bigger Pie.

Society also changed downward … because less and less women were fulltime homemakers. Family harmony suffered!

Lessons abound by studying the pro’s and con’s of the after-effect of the counter-culture on Middle Class American life.

The Go Lean book stresses that quest to reform and transform Caribbean societal engines can benefit by looking, listening, learning about the American Middle Class experience; then the goal would be to lend-a-hand and lead with a regional focus. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):

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

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

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society. Just “how” can the Caribbean region pay for our revolution, the empowerments to elevate our regional society. This is the actual title of one advocacy in the Go Lean book. Consider the specific plans, excerpts and headlines here from Page 101, entitled: “10 Ways to Pay for Change“. Consider the specific plans, excerpts and headlines here:

10 Ways to Pay for Change

1	Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market The [CU] treaty allows for the unification of the region into one market, expanding to an economy of 30 member-states of 42 million people, to impact a GDP of over $800 Billion. In order for the CU to reboot the economic engines of the region, the political entity of the unified Caribbean must be rebooted first. That entity is the CariCom. In a commissioned 159-page study, the Turning Around CariCom report published one recommendation after another, all with the same pre-amble: “the budget must be substantially increased”. The analysis of that report is a chicken-and-egg conundrum, the CariCom construct can effectively increase the economics of the region, IF the region increases the funding of the CariCom. The CU Trade Federation implodes that quandary, as the CU will generate its own initial funding, as listed here, below.
2	Spectrum Auctions The CU will function as a government-owned multinational corporation to deliver services for an integrated Caribbean administration. Having the regional authority, the CU will hold auctions for the radio spectrum in the region. This will generate the CU’s own initial revenue stream, as only rights are being awarded; there is no performance – no fabrication of products or rendering of services. With this strategy, there will be revenues to return back to CU share-holders, member-states, even in the 1st year. (See Appendix IB – Page 279 – for samples/examples).
3	SGE Licenses
4	GPO Logistic Fees An important CU mission is the Group Purchasing Organization (GPO), an extension of the current Office of Trade Negotiations; but the CU will make purchases and fulfill delivery to member-states, for a handling fee.
5	Regional Lottery
6	EEZ Exploration Rights
7	Homeland Security – Private Protection Licensing
8	Homeland Security – *Hurricane Insurance Fund*
9	Warrants Paying for Change first optimizes the payment terms. All CU payments to member-states will be in the form of warrants attached to bonds; this allows the CU to pay lower interest rates. These warrants make the bonds sellable to the public.
10	Foreign Aid & Grants *including Non-Government Organizations (NGOs)*

There have been a number of blog-commentaries by the Go Lean movement that highlighted the regional economic revolution; this is part-and-parcel to rebooting the Caribbean eco-system. See a sample list of those previous blogs-commentaries here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13744	Caribbean Economics: The Quest for a ‘Single Currency’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13677	Economics of a Beach City: ‘South Beach’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10585	Two Pies: Economic Plan for a New Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6269	Education & Economics – Michigan Model
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=599	Ailing Puerto Rico open to radical economic fixes
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=242	The Erosion of the Middle Class

In summary, it is only logical that the stewards for a new Caribbean consider the practicalities of how to pay for or monetize “their revolution”. If we want to be serious about effecting change in our society – we do – then we must have a formidable strategic, tactical and operational plan. This is the modus operandi of the Go Lean roadmap: a plan that is conceivable, believable and achievable for making the Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play.

We urge all Caribbean stakeholders to lean-in to this 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.

————

Appendix A – Song Lyrics: Revolution (1968) by The Beatles

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it’s evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world

But when you talk about destruction
Don’t you know that you can count me out
Don’t you know it’s gonna be
All right, all right, all right

You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We’d all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We’re doing what we can

But if you want money for people with minds that hate
All I can tell is brother you have to wait
Don’t you know it’s gonna be
All right, all right, all right

You say you’ll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it’s the institution
Well, you know
You better free you mind instead

But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
You ain’t going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don’t you know it’s gonna be
All right, all right, all right
All right, all right, all right
All right, all right, all right
All right, all right

Songwriters: John Lennon / Paul Mccartney

Source: Retrieved May 10, 2018 from: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/beatles/revolution+1_10026331.html

————

Appendix B – The Effects of Pension Funds on Markets Performance: A Review

Abstract – The worldwide reforming process of pension systems triggered by the demographic transition and globalization has led several countries to implement multi‐pillar pension systems and enhance pension funds. For this reason the studies on the effects that pension funds exert on markets performance have been flourishing in the last decades. In this paper, we provide an updated review of the empirical advances in this field of study, with particular focus on the effects that pension funds produce on labour markets, financial markets and economic growth.

Read the full report at: https://doi.org/10.1111/joes.12085

Source: Posted August 22, 2014; retrieved May 10, 2018 Wiley Online Library

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College, Health, Model, Retirement

‘I Want You Back’: Caribbean to the Diaspora

Posted on November 22, 2017 in Ethos, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

If only all the islands and coastal states of the Caribbean region were integrated into a Single Market …

… then our economy would be big. There would be 42 million people in this integrated Caribbean, counting all 30 member-states that caucus with the region.

If only there were even more …

This is a basic premise in the field of Economics, as reported in this prior blog-commentary from the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean:

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

Many Caribbean natives love their homeland, but live abroad in the Diaspora – estimated at 10 to 25 million. Over the past decades, they had moved away looking for better opportunities or safe haven. The stakeholders of the Caribbean now need to declare to these people:

I Want You Back
(See the VIDEO of the Jackson 5 singing the song I Want You Back” and the Lyrics in the Appendix below.)

Yes, the Caribbean needs its Diaspora back. But being pragmatic, the young people who have left … are probably NOT coming back. 🙁

The opportunities they sought are still not available in our homelands, and the refuge they needed is still elusive here.

It is what it is!

Unfortunately, our best bet is hold out for their …

Retirement.

This brings forth some economic opportunities. Can we better prepare for our aging Diaspora to come home to enjoy their retirement?

Yes, we can.

This also includes the Diaspora that left 50, 40, 30 years ago. These ones are now primed to contribute now as retirees.

This was an original motivation for the book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free. It serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean societal engines – economic, security and governance for all member-states. It surveyed the world and assessed that the Caribbean was being impact by Agents of Change. The book states (Page 57):

Assuming a role to “understand the market and plan the business” requires looking at the business landscape today and planning the strategic, tactical, and operational changes to keep pace with the market and ahead of competitors. Strategic changes that must be accounted for now, includes: Technology, Aging Diaspora, Globalization and Climate Change.
…
Aging Diaspora
The demographics of the world we inhabit were shaped by the events in the aftermath of World War II. Many members of the Diaspora avail themselves of opportunities in Europe and North America during their rebuilding effort. So those that repatriated in the 1950’s and 1960’s now comprise an aging Diaspora – with the desire to return to the “town of their boyhood”. They should be welcomed back and incentivized to repatriate.

The “Welcome Mat” comes with challenges; of which the CU is prepared to accommodate: health care, disabilities, elder-care, entitlements, etc. These are all missions for the CU.

Yes, to all of those of Caribbean heritage: We want you back!

The Go Lean book asserts that the region must work together – in a formal regional integration – to hold on to its populations, to invite the Diaspora back and to better prepare for their repatriation. To accomplish this objective, this CU/Go Lean roadmap presents 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. There are limited economic (job creation and entrepreneurial) opportunities today, but a regional reboot can create a new industrial landscape with long-sought opportunities.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines. This includes the proactive and reactive empowerments to better prepare and respond to natural and man-made threats.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines, including regional integration with a separation-of-powers between each state and CU There is also a plan to engage NGO’s/foundations for advocacies for aging seniors. This stewardship will also aid-assist repatriates to fully consume their entitlement benefits from foreign countries.

We are hereby presenting ourselves to do the heavy-lifting of preparing our society to better accommodate these repatriates, in all phases of life, young, mature adults and senior citizens. The Go Lean book therefore 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 the region’s societal engines. Consider the details and headlines here on how the region can better prepare to accommodate the repatriation of the Diaspora to the Caribbean (Page 118):

10 Reasons to Repatriate to the Caribbean

1	Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market This treaty allows for the unification of the region into one market, hereby expanding to an economy of 30 countries, 42 million people and a GDP of over $800 Billion (according to 2010 figures). This accedence creates a “new” land of opportunity for so many ventures, and so many protections – the Caribbean will be a better place to live, work and play. The economic engines of the CU should therefore “flash the signs of opportunity” to come back home. The CU will not ignore the reasons why a lot of people emigrated in the first place, in some cases there were political and human rights refugees. Therefore, integral to the repatriation plan is a mission for formal Reconciliation Commissions that will allow many issues to be settled and set aside – punishing the past short circuits the future.
2	“New Guards” for Public Safety The CU implements the anti-crime measures and provides special protections for classes of repatriates and retirees. Crimes against these special classes are marshaled by the CU, superseding local police. Since the CU will also install a penal system, with probation and parole, the region can institute prisoner exchange programs and in-source detention for foreign governments, especially for detainees of Caribbean heritage.
3	“New Guards” for Economic Stability A Single Market and currency union, with non-political, technocratic Caribbean Central Bank leadership, will allow for the long-term adoption of monetary and economic best practices. Plus, with a strong currency, viable capital markets, and consumer finance options, a prosperous life for the middle class would be easily sustainable.
4	Citizenship at the CU/Federal Level Over the decades, many Caribbean expatriates renounced their indigenous citizenship. The CU would extend new citizenship rights to this group, and their children (legacies) which will entitle them to infinite residency, equal civil rights but conditional employment, requiring labor certification or self-owned businesses. They would be issued CU passports.
5	Gerontology Initiatives The Diaspora is aging! They therefore have special needs germane to senior citizens. The CU will facilitate the needs of the aging repatriates and ensure that the proper institutions are in place and appropriately managed. This includes medical, housing, economic and social areas of responsibility. This issue will be coupled with the CU’s efforts for the host countries to extend entitlement benefits to this region, including medical and Social/National Insurance pensions.
6	US, Canada and EU Closing Doors
7	“No Child Left Behind” Lessons
8	Quick Recovery from Natural Disasters
9	Educational Inducements in the Region The CU will facilitate e-Learning schemes for institution in the US, Canada and the EU. The repatriates will have an array of educational choices for themselves and their offspring (legacies). This will counter the previous bad experience of students emigrating for advanced educational opportunities and then never returning, resulting in a brain drain.
10	Import US, Canada and EU Cultural Institutions

There have been a number of blog-commentaries by the Go Lean promoters that have detailed the prospects for Caribbean repatriation. See a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11314	Forging Change: Home Addiction
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10566	Funding the Caribbean Security Pact to Better Protect Repatriates
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9214	Time to Go: Spot-on for Protest
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9219	Time to Go: Logic of Senior Immigration
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9646	Time to Go: American Vices; Don’t Follow
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7151	The Caribbean is Looking for Heroes … ‘to Return’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5695	Repenting, Forgiving and Reconciling the Past
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=665	Real Estate Investment Trusts explained for Repatriates Housing

More and more people have fled the Caribbean homeland. While the expansion of the Caribbean Diaspora is a real tragedy, it is not so improbable. Our region has societal defects and dysfunctions that have to be assuaged. We are not alarmed when people choose to leave. We are not surprised when/if they turn their back on any interest to help their former homelands. The Go Lean movement has consistently urged regional leaders not to invest valuable resources in trying to solicit investment from the Diaspora.

History shows that the Diaspora usually do not bite on most investment offers; all efforts to outreach the Diaspora are usually futile. It is a losing cause to try and fight for young ones to return.

But come retirement, it’s a different story! All of the Caribbean needs to double-down on the effort to invite the Diaspora back for retirement.

The Caribbean in general is a great place to retire … for the Diaspora or just anyone else – retirement and/or snowbird tourism. See this magazine article here citing great destinations in the region to consider for retirement options. Our region makes the Best Places list and the Worst Places list – stressing the work that still needs to be done: See the related news article here:

Title: 5 Best Caribbean Islands to Live On… and 2 to Avoid
By: International Living Magazine

Mention the word “Caribbean” and most people think of places like Aruba, the Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, and other tourist-rich dollops of sand. The region conjures well-deserved images of crystal-clear waters and white-sand beaches.

And there’s no question: If you like sun and sand, these islands are great for a vacation. But move there? Most folks assume it’s just too expensive and don’t give it another thought.

But that’s too bad. Because the Caribbean is bigger than many people realize. And when you look beyond the mass-market shores the tourist brochures describe, you’ll find a variety of sun-splashed islands well worth your attention. They’re not only beautiful… but a lot more affordable than most people realize.

Belize, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Mexico all offer islands off their Caribbean coasts – islands that share the same turquoise-blue waters and powder-white beaches you expect when you hear “Caribbean” – only you won’t pay a fortune to live on any of them.

Read on to find out more about five Caribbean islands that won’t break the bank…and two that just might…

Ambergris Caye, Belize
…

Roatán, Honduras
…

Isla Mujeres, Mexico
…

Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
…

Corn Islands, Nicaragua
…

Two to Avoid…Because Costs Are High

The beauty and tropical appeal of St. Thomas and Grand Bahama are impossible to deny. An expat traveling with unlimited funds might well choose either for his island getaway. But for anybody who’s a budget-conscious, these Caribbean retreats will prove hard on the wallet…

Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

Located in the Caribbean, the U.S. Virgin Islandsis made up of over 60 islands…most of them uninhabited. The three most populated, and most visited, are St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix. The U.S. Virgin Islands are an organized, unincorporated United States territory and their people are U.S. citizens.
..
The appeal of these tropical islands is the mixture of the exotic and the recognizable—an island paradise with modern comforts and a balance of Caribbean culture and American practicality.
..
St. Thomas is the island on which most of the population of the U.S. Virgin Island lives. It is also the most commercialized of the islands and a regular stopping off point for Caribbean cruise ships. This 30-square-mile island has jungle cliffs that soar high into the sky and the turquoise sea is dotted with yachts of all shapes and sizes. St. Thomas, and in particular the capital of Charlotte Amalie, can get overrun by tourists.
..
While St. Thomas may be a nice place to live, we say “avoid” due to the high cost of living. Apartments rent for about $2,000 a month and to buy a two-bedroom house in a good neighborhood will cost about $225,000-plus.

Grand Bahama Island, The Bahamas

What do Nicolas Cage, Johnny Depp, Oprah Winfrey, Sean Connery, Bill Gates, and Tiger Woods have in common? Apart from being celebrities, they’re among thousands of North Americans and Europeans who own second homes in the Bahamas.
..
Like other expats who live there for all or part of the year, these stars often think of the Bahamas as a paradise—an upscale group of islands with some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. The Bahamas are friendly to newcomers, there’s no foreign language to cope with, crime is relatively low, and the islands are positioned just off the Florida coast.
..
That’s the good news. The bad news is that property on the islands usually isn’t cheap. Medium-size residences in exclusive gated communities with ocean views often cost more than $2 million.
..
Even though Grand Bahama is the closest major Bahamian island to the U.S. (about 55 miles off the Florida coast), it was one of the least developed until only a few decades ago. In the middle of the last century, the population was about 500.
..
Today Grand Bahama is the second most populous island, with more than 50,000 residents. Its major city, Freeport, has a population of about 27,000, making it the second-largest metropolitan area in the country, far eclipsing West End, the former capital of Grand Bahama.Grand Bahama Island has become a haven for beach-lovers as well as divers, fishermen, golfers, and sports enthusiasts of all kinds. It’s also a prime destination for people who enjoy world-class shopping. But living here costs a premium as it’s between 30% and 50% more expensive than in the U.S..
Source: Posted July 18, 2016; retrieved November 21, 2017 from: https://internationalliving.com/5-affordable-caribbean-islands-to-live-on-and-2-to-avoid/

Planners of a new Caribbean are now saying to their Diaspora: We Want You Back!

We will do the work necessary to improve our prospects. As related in the song lyrics in the Appendix below:

Give me one more chance
(To show you that I love you)
Won’t you please let me back in your heart
Oh darlin’, I was blind to let you go
…
Trying to live without your love is one long sleepless night
Let me show you, girl, that I know wrong from right

In the Caribbean, we now need to do the heavy-lifting to reform and transform our societal engines to allow our people to prosper where planted here at home. If only we can get more and more of our Diaspora back. The Go Lean book made this urging in its conclusion … on Page 252:

Valediction – Bidding Farewell

To the Caribbean Resident: Count your blessings, while you work for improvement.

To the Caribbean Diaspora: Come in from the cold.

…
To the Caribbean Emigrant: Get yours, come home.

…
To the Caribbean Children, living at home: Help is on the way.

To the Caribbean Children, living aboard: You’re always welcome home.

To the Legacy Children of Caribbean parents: Come home, discover why your parents are so proud.

The Go Lean roadmap asserts that the Caribbean can assuage its defects and dysfunctions. The vision first calls for an interdependence among the 30 member-states in the region. This was the motivation for the CU/Go Lean roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13) of the book:

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, domestic and foreign. …

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.

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

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

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 Caribbean is now begging for one more chance to prove that we love our citizens and can serve and protect them.

We want you back.

But what we want even more is to ensure that our young people do not have to leave in the first place.

Any policy that double-downs on the Diaspora is actually doubling-down on failure. We should never want our people to have to leave then hope they remember us for their retirement. No, we want and need them here at home at all times: in their youth, as young adults, middle age and senior citizens. We want and need them to “plant” … and prosper where planted.

We strongly urge Caribbean stakeholders – governmental leaders and citizens alike – to lean-in to this roadmap to make our homeland, all 30 member-states, better places to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

————

Appendix VIDEO – I Want You Back – The Jackson 5 – https://youtu.be/s3Q80mk7bxE

Published on Jan 10, 2010 – The Jackson 5 perform “I Want You Back” on their “Goin Back To Indiana” TV special in 1971. HQ sound.

Category: Music
License: Standard YouTube License

————

Appendix – I Want You Back – Lyrics
Sung by: The Jackson 5

When I had you to myself, I didn’t want you around
Those pretty faces always make you stand out in a crowd
But someone picked you from the bunch, one glance is all it took
Now it’s much too late for me to take a second look

Oh baby, give me one more chance
(To show you that I love you)
Won’t you please let me back in your heart
Oh darlin’, I was blind to let you go
(Let you go, baby)
But now since I’ve seen you it is on
(I want you back)
Oh I do now
(I want you back)
Ooh ooh baby
(I want you back)
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
(I want you back)
Na na na na

Trying to live without your love is one long sleepless night
Let me show you, girl, that I know wrong from right
Every street you walk on, I leave tear stains on the ground
Following the girl I didn’t even want around

Let me tell ya now
Oh baby, all I need is one more chance
(To show you that I love you)
Won’t you please let me back in your heart
Oh darlin’, I was blind to let you go
(Let you go, baby)
But now since I’ve seen you it is on

All I want
All I need
All I want!
All I need!

Oh, just one more chance
To show you that I love you
Baby baby baby baby baby baby!
(I want you back)
Forget what happened then
(I want you back)
And let me live again!

Oh baby, I was blind to let you go
But now since I’ve seen you it is on
(I want you back)
Spare me of this cost
(I want you back)
Give me back what I lost!

Oh baby, I need one more chance, hah
I’d show you that I love you
Baby, oh! Baby, oh! Baby, oh!
I want you back!
I want you back!

Songwriters: Freddie Perren / Alphonso Mizell / Deke Richards / Berry Gordy Jr

I Want You Back lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Lesson from Japan: Aging Populations

Posted on August 27, 2015 in Economics, Ethos, Planning, Social, Tactical

Go Lean Commentary

The Bible says “to honor your father and mother so that your days may be long” – Exodus 20:12. This is presented in one of the 10 Commandments as a law and a promise. This is best explained at Ephesians 6: 1-3 (New International Version or NIV):

¹ Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER (which is the first commandment with a promise), ³ SO THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH YOU, AND THAT YOU MAY LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH …

So caring for aging parents brings honor to them and to us. Some places do a better job of this than others. One such example is Japan.

There are around 55,000 centenarians in Japan

This purpose of this commentary is to highlight the currency of this serious issue. The book Go Lean … Caribbean calls for the elevation of the economic, security and governing engines in the Caribbean region. The end-result is not just on societal engines, but also on people; in this case, the elderly. This Go Lean book is not a public health guide for gerontology, to enjoy optimum treatment towards our seniors, but rather a roadmap for impacting change in our community. This news article on the experiences in Japan is presented here; also consider a related story in the AUDIO podcast below:

Title: Japan is home to the world’s oldest population — and the world’s oldest man
By: Daniel Gross, Audrey Adam

The world’s oldest man lives in the country with the world’s oldest population. Yasutaro Koide is 112 years old and was just recognized by Guiness World Records as oldest man on Earth.

Japan’s remarkable longevity is cause for celebration. But it’s also creating challenges for a government dealing with a population that keeps getting older.

According to Naoko Muramatsu, a scientist who studies Japan’s aging population at the University of Illinois, Chicago, one-quarter of the country’s residents are already above 65.

There are many costs associated with an aging population, starting with the familiar challenges of social security and health care. But there’s also the cost of an odd Japanese tradition: giving a silver sake dish to centenarians, or people who reach 100 years of age.

Thanks to a new decision by the Japanese government, that practice — which is currently government-funded — may end soon. They say the total cost of the dishes, which are about $60 each, is simply too high. There are around 55,000 centenarians in Japan, according to 2013 statistics.

Muramatsu says there are several reasons that help explain the age of Japan’s population. “Life expectancy in Japan is the highest in the world,” she points out. “People try to eat well, try to do exercise well.”

Another reason is that ever since a brief postwar baby boom, Japan’s birth rate has remained extremely low. A aging baby from that baby boom will turn 65 soon, and many haven’t had very many children, or any at all — leaving more seniors living alone or in nursing homes.

Japan has started to respond to the challenge. In 2000, Japan started long-term care insurance. “You start paying into the system at the age of 40,” says Muramatsu. “And at the age of 65, you’re entitled to receive long-term care, homecare or nursing home care.”

Muramatsu has a personal connection to the study of aging. She remembers that during her childhood, her mother looked after both the older and younger generations. But the tradition of caregiving has been transformed by Japan’s new demographics.

When Muramatsu’s father died a few years ago, she saw first-hand some of the challenges of growing old in Japan. “In Japan, cremation is the custom,” she explains. But cremation has become difficult in cities whose populations spiked in the postwar years. Many elderly people haven’t left urban areas, which means the death rate has risen. “I couldn’t reserve a cremation facility for my father, in the city that we live in.”

Those sorts of challenges may take decades to overcome. But with them come the fact that in Japan, women can expect to live almost 90 years. And Men live well past 80, on average.

And if they’re like Yasutaro Koide, they might even live to 112.

Source: “The World” by Public Radio International; posted August 21, 2015; retrieved 08-23-2015 from: http://kosu.org/post/japan-home-worlds-oldest-population-and-worlds-oldest-man#stream/0

———

AUDIO – “The Challenges Posed by an Aging Global Population” – http://n.pr/1IqdCHV

Uploaded on June 22, 2015 – One-fifth of the U.S. population will be 65 or older in 15 years. NPR’s Ina Jaffe talks with NPR’s Scott Simon about the aging of the population worldwide and the challenges it presents.

The book and previous blog/commentaries posit that socio- economic factors must be accounted for in the roadmap to optimize and improve this society. In fact, the book lists 144 missions for the imminent Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU); one of them is an advocacy for improved Elder-Care. This is identified on Page 225 under the title:

10 Ways to Improve Elder-Care … in the Caribbean Region

The Go Lean book posits that there is a deficiency in the regional institutions for caring, supporting and planning for the elderly. How do we go about improving on the Social Contract for the senior citizens in our community? What happens if/when we are successful for elevating life for our seniors?

The Go Lean book answers the “how”; it serves as a roadmap for introducing and implementing the CU. In its scope, it features the curative measures for the exact societal deficiencies, highlighted by the CU’s prime directives, as follows:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines and mitigate challenges/threats to ensure public safety for the region’s stakeholders, including the elderly.
Improvement of Caribbean governance, including a separation-of-powers with member-states, to support these economic/security engines.

Where as the book addresses the “how”, this commentary features the “when” for succeeding in the improvement of the lives and longevity of the elderly population of the Caribbean. When people live longer, there is a dramatic effect on the socio-economics of a community. This is the lesson from Japan.

In Japan, the improvements in the societal engines (economics, security and governance) have resulted in improved livelihood and longevity for their people. This has resulted in demographic shifts: there are more senior citizens, more centenarians, compared to the rest of the population.

The problem:

Seniors do not work; nor contribute to the public “pools”; they only draw from it. Too many “takers”, compared to the “givers” is bad economics. So while we love our elderly, we must also prepare for the reality of their longevity.

From the Caribbean perspective there is another reality: societal abandonment of the younger generations – this Go Lean movement has fully defined the excessive abandonment rates in the 70% to 90% range for the college-educated populations in the region. This has the same negative effects on the public “pools”: the numbers of the “givers” shrink, while the proportion of the “takers” remains static, or worse, increase.

It is what it is!

This is a matter of heavy-lifting. Serious solutions must be sought to mitigate the risks of communities getting this challenge wrong. In a previous commentary, the socio-economic issues associated with the rising number of seniors in society were fully explored; the dread of elderly suicides was detailed.

The Go Lean roadmap does not ignore the needs of the elderly, nor the actuarial realities being contended in the region. Rather, the roadmap calls for mitigations to dissuade further emigration and also the inducements for the Caribbean Diaspora to return – back to the homeland – and bring their hard-earned entitlements with them. The CU organization structure features the establishment of regional sentinels and advocacy groups to intervene on behalf of local seniors to optimize their benefits from any foreign programs they may have previously participated in. These SME’s will work for the CU’s Special Liaison Group at the CU’s Headquarters or in Trade Mission Offices.

This Win-Win scenario is a prominent feature in the US, with lawyers advocating for Social Security benefits for their clients, for a fee; see this sample Advertisement from a Detroit-area law firm. For stakeholders of the CU, there is no need to pay this fee – normally extracted from future benefits – as the CU Subject Matter Experts (SME) will advocate for the Aging Diaspora returning to the Caribbean. (The Go Lean roadmap calls for funding law degrees for students but binding their services for a few years to impact their communities, as in working for this advocacy).

This is a classic example of the field of socio-economics. The goal of any socio-economic study is generally to bring about socio-economic development, usually by improvements in metrics such as GDP, life expectancy, literacy, levels of employment, etc. In many cases, socio-economists focus on the social impact of some sort of economic change. But this is about more than just numbers, this is about people.

The Go Lean … Caribbean roadmap constitutes a change for the region, a plan to consolidate 30 member-states into a Trade Federation with the tools/techniques to bring immediate change to the region to benefit many stakeholders. The book details the community ethos that must be adopted plus the executions of the following strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to prepare for an aging society … in the Caribbean; see a sample list here:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Repatriating Caribbean Diaspora & Entitlements	Page 47
Strategy – Non-Government Organizations	Page 48
Strategy – Agents of Change – Aging Diaspora	Page 57
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Growing the Economy – Lessons from Japan	Page 69
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Department of State – Special Liaison Groups	Page 80
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Department of Health	Page 86
Implementation – Assemble all Member-States	Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Trade Mission Office Objectives	Page 117
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate	Page 118
Planning – Lessons Learned from 2008	Page 136
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 133
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Healthcare	Page 156
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Entitlements	Page 158
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Education – Brain Drain Case	Page 159
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Student Loans – Forgive-able	Page 160
Advocacy – Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Impact the Diaspora	Page 217
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Retirement	Page 221
Advocacy – Ways to Help the Middle Class	Page 223
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Elder-Care	Page 225
Appendix – Disease Management – Healthways Model	Page 300

This Go Lean book asserts that there is a direct correlation of population growth/contraction with the economy. This viewpoint has been previously detailed in Go Lean blog/commentaries, as sampled here:

Bad Model: Pressed by Debt Crisis, Doctors Leave Greece in Droves

Demographic Trend: Immigrants account for 1 in 11 Blacks in USA

Businesses Try to Stave-off Brain Drain as Boomers Retire

Retirement Planning – Getting Rich Slowly … in the Caribbean

Book Review: ‘Chasing Youth Culture and Getting It Right’

Having Less Babies is Bad for the Economy

10 Things We Don’t Want from the US: # 8 Senior Abandonment

As this commentary opened with a Biblical quotation, it is even more fitting to conclude with one, a Proverb, as follows:

The glory of young men is their strength, [but] gray hair [is] the splendor of the old. – Proverbs 20:29 NIV.

Without a doubt, there is value to keeping senior citizens around in our communities; their “grey hair” – poetic for wisdom – is greatly valued … and needed. As a society, we have made too many mistakes, that with some far-sighted wisdom and best-practice adherence, we could have done better and been better.

We must turn-around, reboot and prepare!

We must listen to the wisdom of the experienced/wise ones. They can help us to make our homelands better places to live, work, and play – for all: young and old. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean…Caribbean now!

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Businesses Try to Stave-off Brain Drain as Boomers Retire

Posted on February 20, 2015 in Economics, Social

Go Lean Commentary

A consistent theme in the book Go Lean…Caribbean is that communities need their economic engines optimized, otherwise their citizens would simply leave. The book, and subsequent blog/commentaries, posit that the reality of the recent global financial crisis has resulted in an even higher abandonment rate among Caribbean communities. Another dynamic have now become prominent: families are having less babies.

This means, from a strictly supply-and-demand basis, older workers will be pressured to retire later and stay on with their employers longer.

This point was highlighted in the Go Lean book with the acknowledgement that the Aging Diaspora is a new Agent-of-Change for the Caribbean to contend with (Page 57). The book specifically identified that the demographics of the Caribbean was altered in the decades following World War II. Many members of the Caribbean Diaspora availed themselves of opportunities in Europe and North America during the rebuilding efforts for those nations. So those that emigrated in the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s now comprise an aging Diaspora – with the strong desire to return to their native homelands for their “golden years”. They should be welcomed back and incentivized to repatriate, and Caribbean communities should prepare – and profit – from this eventuality. The Go Lean book describes the effort as a figurative “Welcome Mat” that must be administered, with details like: health care, security, disability support, elder-care, entitlements, etc.

There are economic concerns … and benefits from this execution.

But now, according to this story and AUDIO podcast, there may be more pressure for these ones to remain in the work place longer:

Podcast from National Public Radio (NPR) – January 15, 2015
By: Yuki Noguchi

AUDIO Podcast: – http://www.npr.org/2015/01/15/377201540/businesses-try-to-stave-off-brain-drain-as-boomers-retire

(See transcript in Appendix below)

These same issues, though presented from the perspective of the US, have the same application in the Caribbean. Our population is trending older as more and more young people abandon Caribbean communities for Diaspora life in foreign lands. We must also stave-off brain drain in the Caribbean region.

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This CU is proffered to provide economic, security and economic security solutions for the 30 member-states and their 42 million people. It is our quest to be prepared for this changing landscape. This mandate is pronounced early on in the book’s Declaration of Interdependence with the following statements (Page 11 – 13):

ix.    Whereas the realities of healthcare and an aging population cannot be ignored and cannot be afforded without some advanced mitigation, the Federation must arrange for health plans to consolidate premiums of both healthy and sickly people across the wider base of the entire Caribbean population. The mitigation should extend further to disease management, wellness, mental health, obesity and smoking cessation programs. The Federation must proactively anticipate the demand and supply of organ transplantation as developing countries are often exploited by richer neighbors for illicit organ trade.

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

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

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

Modern societies are based on the assumption that there will always be more young people in a community than the older population; this is a basic principle in “actuarial science”. There are many social safety nets that depend on this actuarial fact: the Caribbean needs population growth not population contraction. Already the repercussions of so many people abandoning their communities have created devastating consequences. For example, retirement plans-funds are strained in many Caribbean countries. Yes, the Caribbean, as a region, is at the precipice of failed-state status.

The Go Lean book posits that this is a “crisis, but that this crisis is a terrible thing to waste”; (Page 8). As such the roadmap structures the CU to impact the region with the execution of the prime directives defined as these 3 goals:

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

According to the foregoing article, America needs to keep their older workers working longer; they cannot afford the brain drain. But this fact is conflicting for Caribbean pursuits. We need our aging Diaspora to come back home, sooner, rather than later…and to bring their wealth, benefits and entitlements with them; Go Lean describes it as their “time, talent and treasuries”. This creates a seller’s market for the foreign workers with demand in the US and also in the homeland. It is hoped that “love for the Caribbean homeland” would be the primary motivator.

It is hoped!

Though the needs of the Caribbean youth are identified as priority for the Go Lean movement (book and blogs), the needs of the elderly population are not ignored. In fact, the Go Lean roadmap details missions like retirement planning, increased retirement age, pension re-financing, heightened public safety and optimized healthcare. The following details from the book Go Lean … Caribbean are the community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocates prescribed to manifest the commitment to the Caribbean elderly populations:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Repatriating Caribbean Diaspora	Page 47
Strategy – Non-Government Organizations – Senior Aid Groups	Page 48
Strategy – Agents of Change – Aging Diaspora	Page 57
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Implementation – Assemble all Member-States	Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Better Manage Debt – Re-work Pensions	Page 114
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate	Page 118
Planning – 10 Big Ideas … in the Caribbean Region	Page 127
Planning – Lessons Learned from 2008	Page 136
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Reforms for Banking Regulations – Central Bank	Page 199
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Wall Street	Page 200
Advocacy – Impact the Diaspora	Page 217
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Retirement	Page 221
Advocacy – Ways to Help the Middle Class	Page 223
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Elder-Care	Page 225

The Baby Boom generation has come full circle now as senior citizens. This large population group (born between years 1946 and 1964) is bringing a boon to the industries that cater to their care and preferences. There is an estimated 78.3 million Americans who were born during this demographic period, encompassing a quarter of the US population.

The Caribbean cannot be far behind. Unfortunately though, many of these Caribbean boomers live in foreign countries like the US, Canada, UK, France, the Netherlands and other European countries. This is a “Big Idea” to incentivize these ones to make a return to their Caribbean ancestral homelands. The Go Lean book describes this big effort as heavy-lifting, a task too big for any one member-state alone. But rather, there is the need for the technocracy of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation. The purpose of this Go Lean/CU roadmap is to deliver, to do the heavy-lifting to make the Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play.

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

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———

APPENDIX – Podcast Transcript: Businesses Try to Stave Off Brain Drain as Boomers Retire

In the U.S., roughly 10,000 people reach retirement age every day. And though not everyone who turns 62 or 65 retires right away, enough do that some companies are trying to head off the problem.

Dave Tobelmann, who for 33 years developed new products for General Mills, retired five years ago at age 57 — around the same time as a number of other colleagues. “Yeah, I went to a lot of retirement parties,” Tobelmann says.

Losing veteran workers is a challenge, even for big companies like General Mills.

“Let’s say you have 30 people retire in a year and the average years of experience is 30 years. So you just had 1,000 years walk away. That’s hard to lose,” Tobelmann says.

The need is not across the board; not all retirees are in demand. But the older-worker brain drain is a big concern for industries like mining and health care. They are trying to retain older employees because demand is increasing and fewer younger workers are rising through the ranks.

In a survey out this week, the Society for Human Resource Management reports that a third of employers expect staffing problems in coming years.

“When you have large numbers that are leaving and a pipeline that is not entirely as wide as the exit pipeline, you will have temporary gaps,” says Mark Schmit, executive director of the association’s foundation.

Take, for example, the insurance business.

“The average age is in the late 50s in this industry,” says Sharon Emek, who sold an insurance business five years ago after three of the four partners reached retirement age. She then started Work at Home Vintage Employees, a company that contracts insurance-industry retirees.

“It’s a big crisis within the industry where they’re trying to recruit young talent and keep young talent, and the industry is constantly writing about the problem,” Emek says.

Employers are trying to hang onto older talent by offering flexible work hours, more attractive health care benefits or having retirees return to mentor younger workers. And more people are, in fact, working later — either because they want to, or they have to. According to AARP, nearly 19 percent of workers over age 65 work (about 1 in 5), compared with about 11 percent (1 in 10) three decades ago.

Soon after retiring, Tobelmann returned to General Mills. He works through YourEncore, a staffing firm specializing in retiree placement. Procter & Gamble, Boeing and other companies started YourEncore to prepare for baby boomers retiring. Tobelmann says the benefits for the company are obvious.

“I already know how to speak the language, I know how the company operates, I know how the businesses operate, I know how they make money, I know how projects proceed, I know all the processes,” he says.

At Michelin North America, more than 40 percent of the workforce is approaching retirement age. Retirees have, on average, 2 1/2 decades of experience. Dave Stafford, who heads human resources for the company, says last year, it had to plan around losing most of a lab team made up entirely of older workers.

“If we’re doing our job well, we’ll know that there’s risk; we’ll start to staff to compensate for the fact that that risk may come to fruition,” he says.

Michelin encourages retirees to stick around part-time, especially those in technical maintenance, where talent is chronically scarce. But it’s not always easy to accommodate.

“Sometimes they have a very limited number of hours that they want to work, and to try to work around their schedule sometimes can be a bit of a challenge,” says Dale Sweere of Stanley Consultants, an engineering consulting firm based in Muscatine, Iowa.

But Sweere says the company has always offered phased retirement because experienced workers have relationships with clients that are valuable to hang onto. “It’s kind of a running joke around here that we have their retirement party on a Friday and they show up for work again on Monday,” Sweere says.

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Getting Rich Slowly … in the Caribbean

Posted on February 12, 2015 in Economics, Ethos, Social

Go Lean Commentary

The old practice was for couples to have a lot of children so that there would be assurances for their old age; the many children would be able to leverage caregiving roles among themselves. With a high infant-mortality rate, there was the need to hedge the risk with a few more children – an “heir and a spare” many times over.

(This writer is the youngest of 6 children).

Then “the road turned”… change came.

After World War II, modern medicine improved (i.e. childhood vaccines), more family planning options were introduced, governments adopted social safety-net strategies (Social Security, National Insurance and other pensions) and a consumer culture took hold. It was no longer necessary, in the First World (North American and Western Europe), to have so many children. Couples in these countries, during the decades of the 1970’s to 1990’s, averaged only 2.1 children; today that figure is down to 1.8.

(This writer has 3 children).

This standard is now universal, even in the Third World Caribbean.

Here is where the “rubber meets the road”; without those old-world family planning strategies, care for aging parents now becomes an issue, a cause and an advocacy.

Not everyone is prepared for change.

The book Go Lean … Caribbean addresses this issue head-on. It first declares that the Caribbean is in crisis, that most Caribbean citizens, residents in the homeland or the Diaspora, are not prepared for retirement and their “golden years”. Then with the propensity for societal abandonment, so many Caribbean citizens live abroad, away from their aging parents, so there is no practicality normally associated with a close proximity; (children cannot just simply cohabitate with their parents). To make matters worse, many Caribbean member-state governments have failing economic structures, so fulfilling their Social Contract responsibilities have been strained; consider currency devaluations, unchecked inflation, dependency on foreign imports and higher taxation with import Customs duties.

Alas, the book also declares that “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste”.

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This CU is proffered to provide economic, security and economic security solutions for the 30 member Caribbean states and their 42 million people. It is our quest to be prepared for the changed landscape. This mandate is detailed early on in the book’s Declaration of Interdependence with the following statements (Page 11 – 13):

viii.    Whereas the population size is too small to foster good negotiations for products and commodities from international vendors, the Federation must allow the unification of the region as one purchasing agent, thereby garnering better terms and discounts.

ix.    Whereas the realities of healthcare and an aging population cannot be ignored and cannot be afforded without some advanced mitigation, the Federation must arrange for health plans to consolidate premiums of both healthy and sickly people across the wider base of the entire Caribbean population. The mitigation should extend further to disease management, wellness, mental health, obesity and smoking cessation programs. The Federation must proactively anticipate the demand and supply of organ transplantation as developing countries are often exploited by richer neighbors for illicit organ trade.

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.

While the Caribbean may be in crisis today, conditions would get even worse tomorrow (near future) if left unchecked; if there is no remediation and mitigation for retirement. The Go Lean roadmap posits that retirement is a community issue, and that the mandate for the CU is to manage economic security issues – strong messages and incentives – to encompass retirement planning as well.

It should be duly noted that this issue is not one that the US shows leadership with. Far too many American citizens have not fully developed solutions for their retirement, despite the myriad of financial products available in that advanced economy. This is not a community choice issue; this is a community ethos issue. The Go Lean book (Page 21) defines community ethos as the “fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society”. The ethos associated with retirement planning is that of “deferred gratification”, setting aside immediate benefits for more long-term benefits.

“A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous”. – The Bible; Proverbs 13:22 – New International Version

While Americans need to adopt this ethos – Social Security benefits alone are grossly insufficient to satisfy retirees’ needs – Caribbean citizens need to “double-down” on this spirit all the more so. In either case, there must be supplemental retirement income. With a patient, future-focused attitude, the stage is set for individuals to glean the benefits of the time value of money. This concept is fundamental in finance – it allows for greater future rewards of monies invested today. The very approach for retirement is to glean returns tomorrow (after a person retires) on the investments made today (while the person is still working).

Compliance in this regards, does not require intellectual genius, just financial discipline. Consider here, the example of a simple man, a “blue-collar” worker in the US State of Vermont. He is a role model for us all for “how to get rich slowly”:

Title: Janitor bequeaths millions to library, hospital
(Retrieved from CNBC.com – Consumer News & Business Channel site – http://www.cnbc.com/id/102404530)

Reuters; Friday, 6 Feb 2015 – Perhaps the only clue that Ronald Read, a Vermont gas station attendant and janitor who died last year at age 92, had been quietly amassing an $8 million fortune was his habit of reading the Wall Street Journal, his friends and family say.

It was not until last week that the residents of Brattleboro would discover Read’s little secret. That’s when the local library and hospital received the bulk of his estate, built up over the years with savvy stock picks. “Investing and cutting wood, he was good at both of them,” his lawyer Laurie Rowell said on Wednesday, noting that he read the Journal every day.

Most of those who knew Read, described as a frugal and extremely private person, were aware that he could handle an axe. But next to no one knew how well he was handling his financial portfolio.

Read, the first person in his family to graduate from high school, dressed in worn flannel shirts and spent his free time scavenging for fallen branches for his home wood stove. He drove a second-hand Toyota Yaris.

“You’d never know the man was a millionaire,” Rowell said. “The last time he came here, he parked far away in a spot where there were no meters so he could save the coins.”

Read graduated from Brattleboro High School in 1940 and during World War II served in North Africa, Italy and the Pacific theater. Returning home, he worked at Haviland’s service station and then as a janitor at a JCPenney store, marrying a woman with two children.

Before his death on June 2, 2014, Read’s only indulgence was eating breakfast at the local coffee shop, where he once tried to pay his bill only to find that someone had already covered it under the assumption he did not have the means, Rowell said.

Last week, Brooks Memorial Library and Brattleboro Memorial Hospital each received their largest bequests ever. Read left $1.2 million to the library, founded in 1886, and $4.8 million to the hospital, founded in 1904.

“It was a thunderbolt from the sky,” said the library’s executive director, Jerry Carbone. While a surprise, he said the gift made sense once he learned more about the quiet, shy library patron appropriately named Read.

“Being a self-made man with his investments, he recognized the transformative nature of a library, what it can do for people,” Carbone said.

Read’s stepchildren survive him but were not immediately available for comment.

VIDEO 1: – Investing like Vermont’s secret millionaire stock-picker – http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000353159

VIDEO 2: – Janitor’s $8 million fortune – http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000353167

In a previous blog/commentary, it was reported that the US does not make a good role model for its administration of the elderly. The American standard is to delegate elderly family care to professionals, rather than to family, and that this is not an example we want in our region; the referenced quotation was entitled 10 Things We Do Not Want from the US:

# 7: Family Abandonment – Senior Living Facilities are a big industry in the US. This is due to the family habit of abandoning elderly parents to the care of professional strangers. The Caribbean way traditionally is to house their Senior Citizens with families, whether the economics apply or not.

On the other hand, we do admire the US capital markets, as the Go Lean book reports that Wall Street is the most liquid in the world (Page 200). So among the 10 Things We Want from the US, American capital is prominent:

# 3: Capital – There are many Financial Centers around the world (London, Zurich, Hong Kong, etc.) but none with the liquidity like Wall Street. They have the capital the Caribbean needs for Direct Foreign Investments. After the 2008 Financial Crisis, the US Federal Reserve Banks have maintained a policy of flooding the money supply to keep the cost of capital (borrowing) low.

The roadmap uses the model of Wall Street to structure more robust investment vehicles in the regional Caribbean securities markets – the book identifies 9 exchanges. Imagine this one great US product that a Caribbean Diaspora member, a CPA, Clifton Rodriquez, strongly campaigns for: Dividend Re-Investment Plans or DRIPs. His blog entry is attached in the Appendix with his strong urging.

The Go Lean book describes this heavy-lifting to empower Caribbean society to prepare for change and challenges that confront modern financial management, for the macro (national economy) and the micro (individuals and families). There is no “get rich quick” scheme in the roadmap, but rather a comprehensive plan for all Caribbean stakeholders to “get rich slowly” and ensure economic success at home, “prospering where they are planted”. The book describes the turn-by-turn directions for all the community stakeholders to follow to reach the 3 goals defined as the CU/Go Lean prime directives:

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

The Go Lean roadmap calls for the emergence of the Caribbean Dollar (C$) managed by a regional technocratic Caribbean Central Bank. This structure allows for more liquidity in the existing stock exchanges in the regions. Products like DRIPs can be successfully promoted and regulated under the Go Lean’s vision for a more robust regional capital/securities market using Caribbean Dollars (C$).

The CU also embarks on a mission to encourage repatriation of the Diaspora back to the Caribbean homeland and assuage societal abandonment. The book asserts that, senior citizens should avoid the cold climates of North American and EU, especially in the winter months:

“Come in from the cold” – Song title of Caribbean Music Icon Bob Marley from 1980 Album Uprising.

The Go Lean/CU roadmap portrays the need for public messaging to encourage savings/investments, describing deferred gratification as a community ethos that is required to forge permanent change in the Caribbean homeland. In addition, these additional ethos, strategies, tactics and advocacies are trumpeted in the book to optimize financial/retirement planning:

Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Ethos – People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways	Page 21
Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Ways to Better Manage Debt	Page 114
Reasons to Repatriate	Page 118
Ways to Control Inflation	Page 153
Lessons from New York City – Wall Street Power	Page 137
Ways to Improve Communications – Messaging	Page 186
Reforms for Banking Regulations – Central Banking	Page 199
Ways to Impact Wall Street	Page 200
Ways to Impact Retirement	Page 231
Ways to Improve Elder-Care	Page 225

There are many Go Lean blog commentaries that previously stressed the dynamics of technocratic management of regional finances, at the micro level and at the macro level for the Greater Good of Caribbean communities. See sample here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2930	‘Too Big To Fail’ – Caribbean Version
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2830	Jamaica’s Public Pension Under-funded
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1433	Caribbean loses more than 70 percent of tertiary educated to brain drain
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=949	Inflation Matters
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=665	Great Investment Vehicle – Real Estate Investment Trusts explained
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=510	Canadian Retirees – Florida’s Snowbirds Chilly Welcome
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=467	Barbados Central Bank records $3.7m loss in 2013
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=372	Dominica Government raises EC$20 million on regional capital market
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=364	Time Value of Money – The basis for retirement planning
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=360	How to Create Money from Thin Air
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273	10 Things We Want from the US: #3 – American Investment Options

The book Go Lean…Caribbean posits that many problems of the region are too big for any one member-state to solve alone, that there is the need for the technocracy of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation. The purpose of this Go Lean/CU roadmap is to make the Caribbean homeland, a better place to live, work, learn and play. This effort is more than academic; this involves many practical mitigations and heavy-lifting. While this charter is not easy, it is worth all effort.

The roadmap posits that to succeed as a society, the Caribbean region must arrange for economic, security and governance solutions. Any failure in this regard results in immediate abandonment – people leave – this undermines any empowerment efforts. We need to keep our people at home: the older retirees and the younger workers; they are all important for pension plans and actuarial tables.

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to lean-in for the changes/empowerments described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. We must all be able to prosper where we are planted at home.

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———-

APPENDIX – Successful Retirement Investment in the Caribbean – DRIPs

Title: Drip-a Proven Approach to Wealth Building
(Retrieved from: http://cliftonhrodriquez.hubpages.com/hub/DRIP-A-PROVEN-APPROACH-TO-WEALTH-BUILDING)
By: Clifton H. Rodriquez

What Are DRIPS?
Direct stock and dividend reinvestment plans, or to use the acronym, DRIP’s have been around for some eighty (80) years. As the name suggests, they permit investors to directly invest in any a significant number of public companies without going through a stock broker. Investors are able to buy stocks directly from the companies, or via a transfer agent. In general, the purchase would entail a modest down payment coupled with automatic monthly payments. The term “IRM 72’s” is also used to describe DRIPs. The two names are one in the same and should not be viewed as different investment vehicles.

WEALTH BUILDING OVER TIME
As aforementioned, DRIP’s maybe referred to as IRM 72’s as well. They are an efficient and effective mechanism for building substantial financial nest-eggs over time. They are efficient investment vehicles because they allow investors to pay a small investment fee, usually for administrative purposes, while investing substantially more of their money in a particular stock. In some cases, a number of companies will cover some of the administrative fees, especially ones involving reinvestment of dividends, associated with DRIP investing. It is a fact that even discount brokers cannot match the low costs associated with DRIP investing. Furthermore, greater efficiency is realized with DRIPs due to “dollar cost average” associated with purchasing risk assets (stocks) over time. In a nutshell, investors are able to acquire more of a particular stock when the market price declines, but less when the price increases. However, over the extended period of time, the actual costs averages out.

It is an effective mechanism because unlike investing lump sums of money and taking greater risk, DRIPs allow for gradual investing over time and investors tend not to feel the pain of the volatility that often arises from time to time in the market. Thus, DRIP investors are less likely to panic and pull money out of their DRIP portfolios whenever bad news hits the market and causes chaos and panic (i.e., the root cause of volatility in the stock market). DRIP investors tend to appreciate market dips because they view them as opportunities to pick up their stocks at bargained prices. Picking up the stocks at these bargained prices tend to add to DRIP investors capital appreciation whenever other investors return to the stock market and chase stocks to higher prices. This is merely one way in which DRIP investors make money on their investments, and the other way is in effect “icing on the cake”.

DRIP investors experience icing on their investment cakes from the high dividend yields that they get from their investments. It is not inconceivable for DRIP stocks to give dividend yields as high sixteen (16%) percent. The yield is determined by taking the annual dividend and dividing it by current market price. Of course the higher the annual dividend, and the lower the current stock price, the greater the dividend yield. The opposite also is true. Most DRIP stock pay quarterly dividends, but several also pay monthly dividends which provide a higher effective yield to investors. Even if a DRIP stock does not increase in market price, if it has a high single or double digit yield that maybe enough for investors to maintain their positions in the stocks. Thus, it is a rarity to see many of these stocks decline in value. Investors tend to chase them for their dividend yields.

Investors chase these stocks for their dividend yields because these yields tend to fuel geometric growth in DRIP accounts, especially when an investor re-invests their dividends (i.e., use their dividends to buy additional shares of stocks). The re-investment of the dividends coupled with automatic monthly investment tend to bring about a profound compounding effect in the DRIP accounts. This effect can only be described as geometric in nature, and the value of the account tend to quickly double in most cases over a short period of time. Thus, the dividend yield of any DRIP stock is very important. The higher the yield the less time it takes for the DRIP account to grow geometrically.

DRIPs are the only investment vehicle that can create a greater wealth effect. No other investment (i.e., real estate or anything else) is more effective at creating wealth than investing in stocks. However, only forty nine (49%) of Americans are actively trading stocks (December 2014 Issue of “DRIP Investor”). Thus, 51% of Americans have their money tied up in other investment vehicles like real estate, or in most cases, institutions (i.e., banks or insurance companies). Thus, the wealth gap will continue to widen as long as a minority of Americans is invested in the stock market. Why? Again, the US Stock Market creates more millionaires and billionaires than any other investment institution. The stock market, in effect, provides an effective way in which US and other investors can not only stay abreast of inflation, but soundly beat inflation.

Unfortunately, the majority of Americans will not beat inflation. They will continue to receive negative real returns on their investments because many of them simply do not understand “time value of money”. They are convinced that banks and insurance companies are the safest places for their money, despite the fact that banks in general pay as little as a 1/2 of one percent return on passbook savings, while insurance companies will pay about two point five (2.5) percent on their best financial vehicles (annuities). Treasury bonds yields are somewhere in between what a bank will pay on its passbook savings and certificate of deposit (COD) account. The dividend yield pickings are slight to none whenever investors look at alternative investments to the stock market. According to time value of money (future value of a lump sum and future value of an annuity), money will not grow well whenever simple interest is paid. Thus, banks and insurance companies are simply middlemen which must be cut out of the equation if an investor wants to realize geometric growth (compounding effect).

In most cases, the banks and insurance companies simply take the very dollars that investors entrust to them, and lend them out to other customers (in form of secured loans) at much higher rates. The banks in particular cannot directly invest depositors dollars into the US Stock Market, and they do have to maintain certain reserve balances in accordance with the Feds’ guidelines and regulations. Nevertheless, these banks and insurance companies, collectively known as institutional investors, do move the Markets with the huge amount of dollars that they invest in stocks. They realize tremendous returns, but continue to pay nominal returns on their passbook savings and CODs. They get away with it because 51% of American investors fear investing their money in the stock market. They believe that their money is “safe” in a bank because the banks will claim that they are “FDIC” insured up to $250,000.00 per bank account. This insurance actually comes from the American Taxpayer who ultimately foots the bill for any failed commercial depository, or savings and loans. This was the case in 1989-1991 when the U.S. taxpayers bailed out the savings and loans industry. What the banks do not tell their customers is that they are actually getting negative real returns on their passbook savings and COD accounts. Why is that? If inflation is running at 2.5% in the U.S.,and the banks are merely paying a half (1/2) of one (1) percent, then it stands to reasons that most investors are losing purchasing power by keeping their money in a passbook savings or COD account.

A bank customer will not experience any degree of wealth by simply putting money in a passbook savings or COD account. As a matter of fact, given time value of money concepts, it would be better for a bank customer to keep their money under their mattress, given the negative returns that they experience by putting it in a passbook saving or COD account. The only real way to build any meaningful wealth over time is by investing directly into stocks. Stocks are risk assets, but given the fact that the US Stock Market is down roughly 20% to 25% of the time and up 75% to 80% of the time, it is a “no-brainer” for investors to stay in the stock market, especially if their investment time horizon is long-term (1-30 years). It is a fact that substantial wealth in the stock market can be built over time with consistent investing and reinvesting of dividends and capital gains. Unfortunately for the 51% of Americans who look to bank and insurance companies, the stock market is the only profitable game in town.

Anyone, even workers on minimum wages, can invest in the stock market via DRIP investing. This author started a DRIP portfolio back on November 1, 2012 with four stocks, AGNC, COP, COST, and TM (see below for details). The initial investment over the one year period amounted to $6,500.00. As of October 31, 2013, the DRIP Portfolio grew by five (5) additional stocks and had an accumulated market value of $13,078. The estimated return during the first year of investment was roughly 52.6%, most of the return came from the performance of Toyota Motor Corporation (TM), ConocoPhillips Corporation (COP) and JP Morgan Chase Bank (JPM) Over the next one year period that it grew to 15 stocks (AFLAC is not clearly shown in the depiction). Additional capital investment totaled $15,000, but most of the growth resulted from re-investment of dividends and capital gains. As of the close of the stock market on December 19th, 2014 the value of the author’s DRIP Portfolio is $50,700 plus. By this time next year (i.e., December 20, 2015), the projected value of the Portfolio will be around $80,000 to $85,000, given that the same investment strategy will be maintained, and additional capital investment of $15,000 to 20,000 will be made in American Capital Agency Corporation (AGNC), which has an effective dividend yield of 11.5%, a net book value of $25.25.

Investing in the U.S. Stock Market, or any of the capital markets entails considerable risk. Any potential investor exposing their capital to these markets need to do their homework prior to buying risk assets. This homework may entail in depth consultation with financial and investment advisers prior to any funds being committed to risk assets. An investor should never under any circumstances expose capital to the markets if they cannot afford to lose said capital. A potential investor should never rely solely upon anything that is written in this article, or any other article as the only source of prudent investment advice and basis for any decision making. Again, a proper research and consultation coupled with professional investment advice from reliable source should govern any investment decisions, regardless of the amount of capital involved, or the investment strategy employed.

My DRIP Portfolio

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Inflation Matters

Posted on May 21, 2014 in Economics

Go Lean Commentary

Money matters in modern life.

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

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

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

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

Encyclopedia Definition

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

Consumer Price Index

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

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

Is the CPI a cost-of-living index?

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

What goods and services does the CPI cover?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chained CPI in the United States

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

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

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

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

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

Citation References:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Having Less Babies is Bad for the Economy

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

Go Lean Commentary

More fallout from the year 2008…

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

“A crisis is a terrible thing to waste”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

___

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Real Estate Investment Trusts explained

Posted on April 23, 2014 in Economics, Ethos, Industries

Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are one way you can invest in real estate while enjoying a level of liquidity synonymous with the stock market^[a]. Learn more here, from this VIDEO:

VIDEO – Real Estate Investment Trust REIT Definition Investopedia – https://youtu.be/UnKqUKZ1K1A

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). One prime directive of the roadmap is facilitating the return of the far-flung Diaspora to their Caribbean homelands. This does not mean returning to the same houses they may have abandoned decades ago. Thusly, there is the need for new housing solutions; and new housing financing schemes. The CU is proffered to provide economic optimizations to better manage the region’s basic needs: food, clothing, energy and shelter.

REITs are prominent in the Go Lean roadmap to satisfy the shelter mandate for Caribbean repatriates; (Page 217).

This mandate is detailed early on in the book’s Declaration of Interdependence (DOI), as follows (Page 13):

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

The roadmap posits that there are no capital/security markets in the Caribbean that offer the liquidity options of Wall Street – Page 200. (Wall Street is #1 globally). However the book describes an optimization of the existing financial markets that can still take place with the introduction of the Caribbean Dollar – managed by a technocratic Caribbean Central Bank – and elevation of the current 9 Stock Exchanges.

The “dominoes” thusly begin to fall. So with the liquidity of a vibrant capitals market, comes funding, with funding comes housing “starts”, followed by construction activity. All of this creates market kinetics.

So facilitating this eco-system of the CU/CCB will ultimately create … jobs. This is the rallying cry in the US for the National Association of Realtors®. They estimate that one job is generated for every two home sales. Using that ratio, 1,000 home sales generate 500 jobs ^[b]. So after the basic need of food, clothing, energy and shelter, the next mandate is … jobs, (DOI – Page 14).

xxvi. Whereas the Caribbean region must have new jobs to empower the engines of the economy and create the income sources for prosperity, and encourage the next generation to forge their dreams right at home, the Federation must therefore foster the development of new industries, like that of ship-building, automobile manufacturing, pre-fabricated housing, frozen foods, pipelines, call centers, and the prison industrial complex. In addition, the Federation must invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries like tourism, fisheries and lotteries – impacting the region with more jobs.

The Go Lean roadmap portrays the community ethos to encourage savings/investments. The roadmap also calls for stronger oversight from an institutional perspective, with economic principles in place to increase the money multiplier; (Page 21 & 22).

This constitutes change for the Caribbean: a new plan, new products, services, opportunities oversight. In truth, a new future!

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

————

References

a. Investopedia – http://www.investopedia.com/video/play/real-estate-investment-trust/

b. National Association of Realtors: http://www.realtor.org/topics/home-ownership-matters/jobs-impact-of-an-existing-home-purchase

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Time Value of Money

Posted on March 25, 2014 in Economics, Planning

The time value of money is a fundamental concept in finance – and it influences every financial decision a person makes, whether they realize it or not. Learn the basics here, from this video:

The book Go Lean … Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This CU is proffered to provide economic, security and economic security solutions for the 30 member Caribbean states. This mandate is detailed early on in the book’s Declaration of Interdependence, as follows (Page 13):

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

The roadmap posits that retirement is a community issue, and that the mandate for the CU to manage economic security issues must encompass retirement planning as well.

Currently in the region there are no Capital/Security markets that offer the liquidity options of Wall Street. However the book describes an optimization of the existing financial markets that can still take place with the introduction of the Caribbean Dollar – managed by a technocratic Caribbean Central Bank – and elevation of the current 9 Stock Exchanges.

Further the Go Lean roadmap portrays the need for public messaging to encourage savings/investments, describing deferred gratification as a community ethos that is required to forge permanent change in the Caribbean homeland. (Of course, administratively, failed policies like hyper-inflation and currency devaluation can undermine any positive savings habits; and thus the Go Lean roadmap starts first with rebooting the governing engines).

Investopedia Online Magazine (Retrieved 03/06/2014) –

http://www.investopedia.com/video/play/understanding-time-value-of-money/

The following advocacies in the book speak towards this Go Lean mission of optimizing financial/retirement planning:

10 Ways to Impact Retirement- Page 231

10 Ways to Impact the Future- Page 26

10 Ways to Impact Wall Street- Page 200

10 Ways to Control Inflation- Page 153

10 Ways to Better Manage Foreign Exchange- Page 154

10 Reforms for Banking Regulations- Page 199

10 Ways to Better Manage Debt- Page 114

10 Reasons to Repatriate- Page 118

10 Lessons from 2008- Page 136

10 Ways to Improve Elder-Care- Page 225

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