Go Lean…Caribbean

Go Lean Commentary

Advice: When people tell you who they are, listen to them.

The new American President, Donald Trump, has announced, proclaimed and repeated that he is “for America First”. Yet the rest of the world seems to be surprised when he promotes policies that ignores, disregards and denigrates foreign people and countries; i.e. banning travel from 7 Muslim countries.

Come on people, the man said who he was and what is important to him. Why are we now surprised with stories like this, it is like he “yawns” at previous American empowerments that affected us in the Caribbean and Latin America – see the following article:

Title: Trump’s Big F-U To The Caribbean, Latin American
By:NAN Editorial Team

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Mar. 17, 2017: Donald Trump released his first “budget blueprint” Thursday morning, providing the clearest glimpse yet at his administration’s war on the so-called “administrative state.” He once again proved his administration cares nothing about the Americas – Latin America or the Caribbean – or the world for that matter. Here are a few big F-U’s from Trump that will see drastic cuts if this budget ever gets green lighted.

1: Cuts to fighting drug trafficking in Latin America & the Caribbean

The administration’s budget proposal calls for some US $1.3 billion in cuts to the US Coast Guard to eliminate its top counter-terrorism unit, the Maritime Security Response Team, and all of its regional Maritime Safety and Security Teams. This means fewer assets to interdict all suspected smuggling boats and to disrupt drug trafficking at sea in the Caribbean, especially.

2: The Inter-American Foundation

Donald Trump has sliced away US $22 million from The Inter-American Foundation which funds grass-roots groups and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Latin America and the Caribbean.

3: The U.S. Trade and Development Agency

Some $60 million is being cut from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, which works atpromoting U.S. exports in the Americas and the world and works to do things such as improve transportation infrastructure and otherwise facilitate trade in dozens of countries.

4: The Overseas Private Investment Corporation

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation promotes U.S. economic investment in the Americas and other developing nations by working with private partners but its budget of $83 million has been swiped away.

5: The Global Climate Change Initiative

The Global Climate Change Initiative that was aimed at supporting climate change fight globally per the Paris climate agreement has been wiped away.

6: The Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund

Gone in the wind will be the US $70 million that allows the US President to “provide humanitarian assistance for unexpected and urgent refugee and migration needs worldwide.”

7: Cuts To The State Department’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs

There is a 50 percent cut to the U.S. funding for the State Department’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs, which pays U.S. dues to the United Nations, the OAS and other international and regional groups, according to news reports disclosed by Foreign Policy magazine. The United States currently contributes $50 million a year to the OAS budget which will now mean a drastic cut to that organization’s budget.

Source: News America Now – posted-retrieved March 17, 2017 from: http://www.newsamericasnow.com/trumps-big-f-u-to-the-caribbean-latin-american/

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About News America Now

News Americas Now is a daily newswire covering the Americas  – the Caribbean and Latin America and its Diasporas – whose content is syndicated across 21 plus news sites including on the Caribbean Today in Florida and on Irie Jam radio in New York City – the media company’s headquarters.

It is owned by Hard Beat Communications, a global media company with over a decade of experience on the Caribbean, Caribbean Diaspora and Latin American markets.

News Americas Now  and its 20 affiliated sites is the largest dedicated Caribbean news network covering the Caribbean, Caribbean Diaspora and Latin America news, business, travel, politics and executive interviews.

So Donald Trump’s America has it’s own priorities, and its not the Caribbean.

Charity begins at home – Old Adage

The policies of Donald Trump is consistent in being nonchalant towards other causes, not just Caribbean issues. He “yawns” at more than just our priorities. Consider this headline:

Trump To Planet: Drop Dead – see excerpt in the Appendix below.

The days of a Good Neighbor policy emanating from Washington towards Latin America and the Caribbean appears to be over, at least for this administration.

This foregoing article relates to the ongoing theme from the publishers of the book Go Lean…Caribbean, that of America’s War on the Caribbean. Our goal and aspiration is for Caribbean people to take the lead ourselves for Caribbean elevation.

America has problems and challenges. It is only understandable that political leaders may be focusing on empowerments to help the American homeland first. This commentary had previously detailed some of the societal  threats; see this list that corresponds with Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign platform:

In addition, the Go Lean movement has previously detailed the American societal defects – institutional racism and Crony-Capitalism. Donald Trump, had previously been known to instigate racial hatred and business-wise, to be an abusive capitalist himself.

Therefore his first budget proposal, laying out his priorities, should be no surprise.

Expecting a liberal immigration policy for Caribbean people into the US?

Don’t count on it!

Really don’t! The US should not be the panacea for Caribbean ills. We have our own issues, problems and challenges that we need to deal with. This has been a consistent theme for the Go Lean book, which posits that one of the greatest threats to Caribbean society is the atrocious emigration rates. We have a high abandonment rate of our citizens to countries in North America (US & Canada) and Western Europe – especially among our professional classes.

Unfortunately, the leanings of Caribbean people to emigrate is still acute. The reasons why our people leave are identified as “Push” and “Pull”; they are fleeing from “home” and seeking “refuge” in countries like the US. “Refuge” is a good word; because of the many societal defects – the issues, problems and challenges referred above – many in the Caribbean must leave as refugees – think LGBT, Disability, Domestic-abuse, Medically-challenged – for their life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. On the other hand, the lure of a more prosperous life in foreign countries, drive the “pull” side of the equation; these ones “pulled” are to be considered economic refugees.

See the VIDEO in the Appendix below regarding Caribbean expectations for immigration to the American mainland.

What parasites we are in the Caribbean!

The book Go Lean…Caribbean aspires to economic principles that dictate that “consequences of choices lie in the future”. America has to deal with the consequences of its electoral choice; and we in the Caribbean have to deal with ours – we must have our own vision … and values. This book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The goal is to confederate the 30 member-states in the region to form a federal government and effect a turn-around in our  region. We should not leave it up to our colonial masters – or the American Super Power – to assuage our problems. We need our own expression of governance, to “formulate efficient and effective systems to steer our own destiny” (Page 10).

The Go Lean roadmap seeks to optimize the Caribbean governance. This vision is defined early in the book (Page 12) in the following pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence:

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

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

The purpose of the Go Lean roadmap is to turn-around the Caribbean in general; we have our own threats and societal defects. The CU thusly has these 3 prime directives, proclaimed as follows:

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

Yes, empowerments in the security and governing spheres are equally important as economic ones. This focus is wise in the era of Donald Trump as he has expressed – and so far followed through on – an intent to deport our emigrants more readily that run afoul of “the law”. We now have to be prepared “for some bad hombres” coming back home involuntarily.

We repeat the opening “Advice”: When people tell you who they are, listen to them. Prepare accordingly!

The Go Lean book details the community ethos to adopt, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute to empower all the factions in the Caribbean region. Consider this sample:

Caribbean people do not have a voice nor a vote in Washington. We are only spectators!

The Go Lean/CU goal is to reform and transform our own society, not America. We no longer want to be considered parasites of the American eco-system, we want to be protégés. In fact, we want to be better than America. Yes, we can.

We hereby urge everyone in the Caribbean – people, institutions and governments – to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap. It is time now to reboot our society. We must do the heavy-lifting ourselves, and not leave it up to any American decision-maker. This is what we all want: a new Caribbean that is a better homeland to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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

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Appendix – Climate Schmimate – Trump To Planet: Drop Dead 😀

By: Doktor Zoom –  November 10, 2016

Donald Trump has big plans for America. He’s going to make all of us who are already rich even richer and more prosperous, and the only price we have to pay is four to eight more years of delay in doing something about global warming, which isn’t merely a Chinese plot to keep America from competing, but is also a complete hoax perpetrated by scientists for nefarious motives. What, you never heard of evil scientists who want to rule the world? There’s one bit of good news in all this: The rest of the nations who have signed on to the Paris Climate Agreement still plan to go ahead with reducing their carbon outputs, even as the nation that supposedly leads the world in science turns itself over to leadership by a party that doesn’t believe in science anymore — at least, not in science that you can’t drop from fighter jets on some “ay-rabs”. …

Read more at https://wonkette.com/608451/trump-to-planet-drop-dead-d#rXqky6KLulRg7UiG.99

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Appendix VIDEO – In-Depth Trump and Caribbean Immigration – https://youtu.be/tKvfVQFkY30

Published on Jan 31, 2017 – CEEN Caribbean News discusses with Immigration Attorney, Wayne Golding on US President Donald’s Trumps Policy and its impact on Caribbean Immigration

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