Carnival of Flowers: An Economic, Not Political Factor

I have zero problem with the Carnival of Flowers currently going on in Port-au-Prince. In fact, I support it 100%. I’m not a politician, so I leave the politics surrounding the necessity of holding it to those who want to make it a political matter.

In my opinion, we need to push this event even harder. So I propose that we hold next year a week long of festivities, rather. That means, in a Summer Break spirit, along with the Carnival of Flowers, let’s hold a series of events to be ended with a big time international music festival (possibly on one of our beautiful beaches). And the promotion for this package of events for next year needs to start right away, right after this one.

These represent opportunities for the private sector to make money. The government should not have to spend a dime to organize them -other than providing security/logistical support to the private sector. That should be the extent of the government’s involvement.

These types of festivities could be organized on a larger scale and promoted on the global stage as our traditional cultural landmarks to encourage people all over the world to come and experience them.

Of course, this first time around is not going to be as successful as expected. But for the subsequent times to be, there has got to be this first time, which many are very critical and hostile to.

If many tend to look at this Carnival of Flowers as a waste, I see it as a business investment with great economic potentials . The product seems to look good to my standard; like any business investment, its success will depend on how hard and smart we are willing to work in order to market it around the world to attract potential buyers (the national and foreign tourists).

Yes, the country is facing one of the worst economic moments in its history, but nothing is wrong with holding the Carnival of Flowers to try to attract potential tourists; we only need to change our approach to organizing and marketing it. So let’s put politics aside and stop wasting our time criticizing the administration for something our shortsightedness has not allowed us to grasp.

Towards A Renascent Haiti: It’s SECURITY, Stupid!

The sine qua non condition for the Haitian Diaspora to return home, foreign investors to come invest in our economy, and tourists to visit the country is to secure the nation. This is something most of us agree upon. We disagree, however, on the steps to be taken to get to that.

We talk a lot about what is needed for Haiti to start being a working country again, but not so much about how to make it possible. Restoring a sense of security inside the country is not complicated, and that could become a reality in a year if we are serious about it. We simply have got to take these three bold steps:

1. The institution of the Haitian military (a professional military) with a clear and well defined mission, which is to defend, serve and protect the nation at any cost against foreign invaders and domestic and foreign terrorists. We do not need to start in full strength. We could start small (500 to 1000 well trained and equipped troops) and expand as we go and as our means allows.
2. The institution of a structured and professional intelligence agency to be the eyes and ears of the government on matters pertaining to our national security. We must get these domestic terrorists terrorizing the population at their points of planning before they could carry out their missions or hit their next high-value targets (HVTs).
3. The institution of capital punishment by means of “Pe Lebren” to punish these terrorists is paramount.

These terrorists are not to be played with; rather, they ought to be captured and brought to justice. And we can only be effective in our engagement when these three instances –the police force, the military and the intelligence agency –could operate in unison towards accomplishing one clear and well defined mission.

We need to take “Pe Lebren” off the streets and turn it into a punishment to be administered by the judges in the justice system. No one citizen will have the right to “Pe Lebrenize” another citizen. In other words, self-procurement of justice will automatically place the citizen in violation of the law. And anyone who does that will be dealt with in accordance with the legal treatment your case necessitates.

We need to “Pe Lebrenize” these terrorists in broad daylight so we could send a clear message to those who are contemplating on ways to hit their next HVTs. Such deterring measure will tell the next or aspiring terrorists that if they do not stop, if they persist in their mischievous operations, they are destined to face the same fate.

We are not the ones to believe in the rhetoric that poverty breeds crimes. Being poor cannot be a justification to commit crimes as one can be poor in dignity. So the notion that these terrorists cling to their criminal activities because of their socioeconomic situation is preposterous and does not resonate too well with us.

We are not aiming at seeing the emergence of a crime-free Haiti. That is not what we are aiming at. We have got to be realistic. What we want to achieve, however, is to put these terrorists out of their nuisance state. So we have a choice to make in this situation: either we regain control of the country so the Diaspora could return home, foreign investors could invest in the economy, and tourists could vacation in Haiti again as it used to be back then or let these terrorists have their way and turn the place into a crime state.

A renascent Haiti is possible if we all believe it is and accept to do what is necessary to make it happen. Everything starts with securing the country. So the security steps we will be undertaking in the days, weeks and months to come will determine the type of Haiti we want to have. Make no mistake that we have to work hard, diligently and intelligently to strengthen our economy through a job creation strategy. But that will not happen if we cannot secure the country and protect the people’s lives, investments and properties.

A Haitian Hospitality Call To All Millionaires And Billionaires Of The World

Sean Penn & Prime Minister Lamothe of Haiti

As the saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. While my home country Haiti is gasping for investments from people with capital to help jump-start its economy, other countries are giving them hell. When it comes to wealth creation, I go by one simple rule: if you amass your fortune legally, you deserve to live with it in peace.

So I am making this hospitality call to all you millionaires and billionaires in the US and other parts of the world, those of you who are running for your lives because the media is out to destroy and bring you down. I want to let you know that Haiti is waiting to welcome you and your money with open arms. Move there with your money and live in peace. Like Sean Penn, make Haiti your place of retreat, your paradise on earth, your home away from home. Say enough with the trips to the mental rehabilitation institutions because of the level of stress you are under. You did not become wealthy for that wealth to become a matter of torment for you and your loved ones.

Once you move to Haiti, and I am encouraging you to do so, you will never want to return home. You will have everything you need at your disposal -a variety of succulent and delicious tropical fruits and foods, the nice and pleasant tropical weather (it is summer all year long in Haiti), our beautiful beaches, the culture, the music, the people, and most importantly your peace of mind.

Because I am Haitian, you may think, rightly so, that I am selling you something not worthy of the bargain. If you do think so, I am urging you to ask Sean Penn who is not Haitian. He will tell you from experience because he has been living in Haiti since after the earthquake of January 12, 2010. And there are many like him over there -who are not in the spotlight like he is.

I am about to make a bold statement, which some may find disagreeable; I will understand if they do: I guarantee you if Michael Jackson had moved to Haiti, away from all the stress the media was bringing into his life, he could have still been alive today. Being wealthy does not mean that you and your loved ones have to be tormented and harassed by a media watching your every move. And the more they report on your private life, the more money they make. Move to Haiti with your fortune -away from all the paparazzi -and live in peace. So Haiti is waiting with open arms to welcome you and your money.

MY LITTLE TALK WITH PRES. MARTELLY ON TAXES

President Martelly of Haiti

Mr. President, before you purchase new weapons for your military to fight a war, I believe you would first order that a thorough assessment on the state of your arsenal be conducted to make the determination as to which ones of your weapons need repair and which to buy more of. That is what is called a commonsense approach to spending.

I say all that to make one point, Mr. President: I read this Haiti Libre article entitled Nouvelles measures 2012 du Président Martelly, where the online newspaper reported that new taxes will be levied on the state lottery and the “borlette” to finance the big government projects in the domain of education; Mr. President, with all due respect, I feel as though you are putting the cart before the horse. Before you get to that, I think the following measures need to be undertaken:

1. Fix our broken tax system by restructuring the tax collection agency and introducing the latest technologies to render it more effective in collecting the revenues that must be going to our treasury. We have a terrible revenue problem causing us to be running on a fiscal deficit every year and forcing us to borrow money abroad to balance our national budget. That can be very well fixed.
2. Institute a tax watchdog agency or police to publicly expose and go after those choosing to evade taxes. If money is not coming in, how can you possibly be self-sufficient and self-reliant to execute the big social programs you set to implement during your term in office for the betterment of the people?

Mr. President, why am I feeling as though some people are still milking the system and are given a free pass? Before we proceed with the addition of more taxes, which I am not opposed to at all, we have got to make certain that those in the system not paying taxes pay their dues. Not paying taxes to the state should be a crime, and no one should be placed above the law.

Everybody must pay their fair share; everybody must carry a portion of the burden’s weight on their shoulders. I am sure, Mr. President, you are aware of all the frustrations the fee added on us in the Diaspora for our transfers of money and phone calls to Haiti has caused. Personally, I do not have an issue with the measure as I do strongly believe that “se grès kochon an ki pou kwit kochon an.” But me not having an issue with it does not imply that all of us living abroad feel comfortable about it. These people who are infuriated over the measure argue that it could have been done the right way. By that, they mean more transparency could have been brought to the system and everyone’s money, including that of the well-to-do folks who have been evading paying taxes for years, should have contributed in sapping the child illiteracy rate you are determined to bring under control.

Finally, Mr. President, while I do commend your political goodwill to turn things around, I don’t think the fiscal approach you have used thus far are encouraging. In my opinion, it should not be this way: one group is carrying the entire burden while the well connected are just getting a free pass. We ALL must pay in the form of taxes whatever is due to the state. Failure to do so should be treated as a crime. To guarantee that everybody pays their fair share, we have got to restructure the agency that is there to collect our dues, introduce the latest technologies into the system, and institute a tax watchdog agency or police to publicly expose and crack down on these people milking the system and refusing to pay their dues to the state. Doing so will eventually solve the revenue problem that we have; we will no longer have to rely heavily on the international donors to finance our social projects. Mr. President, I am certain I am not telling you anything you did not already know. So let’s make it happen. As always, keep doing the good job. I wish you success in your leadership.

HAITI MUST NOT BECOME A CRIME STATE

The only way for our laws to be respected is by forcing the prospective violators to respect them against their will. The question is, how can you do that? You do that by instilling in them fear of violating them. Again, how can you instill such a fear in the violators? Simple. You achieve that by punishing them SEVERELY when they do violate these laws. In other words, you make an example out of anyone who is brave enough to violate them.

Lawlessness and impunity are prescriptions for chaos and disaster. How can you possibly build a society of humans where people can do whatever they want, however and whenever? How can you possibly build a society in this 21st century where life holds no value? I don’t see how that can be possible. Well, those of you believing otherwise, maybe you know something I don’t know; I would love know it, too.

We cannot let these terrorists in Haiti have their way. Yes, criminals do have rights that must be respected and protected; however, so do the law-abiding citizens they are kidnapping, raping and murdering. Yes, these terrorists do have rights, except that the right to kidnap, rape and murder innocent citizens is not one of them.

How can you inspire safety and security in the investors (foreign and national) to come to invest in your economy when there is a high possibility for their kids and even them to be kidnapped, raped and even killed? Let’s not be dreaming; it will not happen. Business people are like migratory birds. They build their nets and lay their eggs wherever they can find their peace of mind. So if you want to attract them, you create the environment suitable for that.

Poverty is not an excuse to commit crimes. You don’t be going out there raping our women, kidnapping and murdering our innocent citizens to take away from them what they have worked so hard to accumulate over the years because you are poor. Haiti should not become a crime state. Therefore, all this nonsense going on over there MUST stop.

We cannot and must not be playing games with these terrorists terrorizing the population. When we do capture them, we have to make sure they get a fair trial because everybody, at the very least, deserves that. In the event that they are found guilty of the crime they are accused of, they must pay for it with their lives. We need to take them to a public place reserved just for that and set them ablaze or set their bodies on fire in broad daylight. Now we have a choice to make.

What impact is that going to have on the next person contemplating ways to rape another one of our women, kidnap and murder another one of our decent citizens? It is going to have a tremendous psychological impact: it is going to instill in the rest of the terrorists fear of carrying the next deviant and criminal act because they will forever know that the probability for them to get caught and receive the same treatment is highly likely.

MARIJUANA: IT MAKES SENSE TO LEGALIZE IT

This debate over whether or not marijuana should be legalized has been waged for years. Some believe that the cost to society of legalizing it outweigh the benefit. Therefore, it should not be made legal. And I wholeheartedly oppose to that argument from two important parameters: economic and social.

From an economic perspective of supply and demand, the one best way to control, suppress or discourage demand is to increase supply. This same rationale could be used in the case of marijuana. The best way to discourage its consumption is to decriminalize it. Doing so will automatically increase supply, which, in turn, will bring demand down.

The argument that most of the people who are against the idea of legalizing cannabis are presenting is that such measure will turn more people into addicts than ever before, which will have a negative toll on society’s welfare and well-being. Such argument is to me baseless and preposterous; I refuse to be bought into it.

Alcohol, a more potent of a drug than marijuana by most researchers’ accounts, is legal, is it not? I believe it is. Does that make everybody an alcoholic? Absolutely not!!! So do not tell me that legalizing marijuana will turn more people into addicts. That argument is refutable.

Go on this website http://bit.ly/a7VLRG to access 25 scientific research studies published on the facts about marijuana and why legalizing it will not cause any more health-related harms than most of these legal drugs out there, such as alcohol and tobacco.

Marijuana has become a lucrative crop because of its limited supply on the market to meet the demand. Hence, now you have people making a living out of selling it; they are even willing to kill over it. If you legalize it, supply will increase and more structured points of access will be made available to the consumers, meaning all the violence that surrounds the distribution and sale of the product will cease.

Also, what seems to be funny, though, is that people are making a living out of the sale of the substance, yet the government is not getting its share of the pie. How stupid is that! If we legalize it, the government will tax it, meaning more tax revenue to go into our treasury. And the more money we have coming in, the better off we will be economically and socially speaking.

Criminalizing marijuana is to some extent destructive to the foundation of our society. People are getting years behind bars just because of a small possession of marijuana. And when they do get out, because of their criminal record, it is hard for them to find jobs and be reintegrated into society. What impact you think that is going to have on these people? Of course, they are going to go back in jail because they are left to commit illegal acts to survive. That’s the vicious circle of the American penitentiary system.

Those are my motives for being an advocate for the legalization of marijuana, though I have never smoked it in my life. I believe it is causing more harms to the people and the economy by keeping it illegal. Legalizing/ regulating the production, sale and consumption of it is the way to go and the right thing to do.

My REFLECTION OF THE DAY 07/15/2011

The Republicans want to solve the deficit equation solely by cutting spending. They believe that doing so will keep more money in the treasury, which will eventually balance the equation.

The Democrats, on the other hand, believe otherwise. They finally agree to cut spending, which will negatively affect medicare and medicaid, but opt to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

Raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans is not something the Republicans would support; it goes against their core ideological value. They argue that these people are job creators in the economy; therefore, taxing them will undermine their ability to create jobs, which will slow down the economy.

But we have a problem, though. The republicans’ argument for not wanting to raise taxes on the rich does not seem to make much sense to me; I refuse to buy it. We had tried this trickle-down economic philosophy during the Bush administration; unfortunately, it failed to solve the equation; the economy had gotten worse.

These wealthiest Americans were not creating jobs when they were getting tax cuts after tax cuts under Bush. Instead of seeing jobs being created in the economy, we witnessed the opposite -jobs fleeing the economy to go overseas, causing the recession in the first place.

So I wholeheartedly am in agreement with the approach proposed by the democrats to solve the deficit equation. We had tried the Republican way before; unfortunately, it worsened the situation. We have got to be really stupid to be wanting to keep doing the same ineffective thing expecting different results. It is time that we try something else.

WAGING WAR ON DOMESTIC TERRORISM IN HAITI

Kidnapping and planned homicide in any country are acts of specialized terrorism. In Haiti, such acts have become common practice. Almost every single day you wake up, you hear on the news that someone gets executed point-blank or kidnapped, creating a situation of constant fear in the population. Something must be done and must be done NOW to secure the nation so that investments (foreign and national) can start pouring in the country.

These criminals -kidnappers and murderers -in Haiti are domestic terrorists; we need to call them what they are. Therefore, dealing with them requires bold actions which must be part of a national security strategy apparatus.

Let us be clear on one thing: President Martelly campaigned on the urgency to revamp our agonizing economy by encouraging investments and creating jobs, which is awesome. But, sorry to say it, that will not happen if we cannot secure the country. Investments and criminal activities do not mingle or cohabit. Whenever crimes become a matter of normalcy within any territorial space, investments flee. That is just the way it is. So to attract and keep investments within our borders, we have got to win the war on crimes.

President Martelly must develop a comprehensive strategy to fight domestic terrorism and attract and prevent investments from fleeing to other countries competing against us for cheap labor. What must he do to address this national security issue which is poised to be one of the most pressing challenges of his administration?

To address this national security issue, President Martelly must:

1. ask the help of the international community to train a National Security Force (NSF) with the objective to dismantle the criminal cells and capture the criminals dead or alive.

a. Such specialized elite force will be composed of 500 or 1000 well trained and equipped military personnel.

b. The force will have an Intelligence Unit to infiltrate the criminal cells and collect pertinent intel in terms of their locations and their activities so they can be stopped before they hit their high value targets.

c. To lower the cost of training this force, they could proceed with the recruitment of Haitian citizens who had served in foreign militaries.

2. restructure the Interior Ministry and refocus its mission  to respond to all threats with the potency to compromise or endanger our national security -fighting drug trafficking, kidnapping, organized crimes and secure the nation.

a. The National Security Force should fall under this agency, which should be run by people with expertise in intelligence and national security. These people will constitute the team to advice the president on issues pertaining to national security.

In conclusion, candidate Martelly promised during the campaign to revamp our economy by encouraging investments (foreign and national) and creating jobs. There is no way such promise could become a matter of reality if he does not develop and implement a national security strategy to dismantle the terrorist cells, capture these terrorists dead or alive and secure the country. We cannot let these terrorists control the country and terrorize the population. Fighting terrorist activities is not the job of a police force, especially not of one as limited, ill-trained and ill-equipped as the one we have. Stopping or killing these terrorists requires that we place ourselves ahead of them, and such must be the president’s biggest national security priority. You do not play with terrorists; you capture them either dead or alive.

KONPA MUSIC COULD BE THE IMPETUS FOR AN ECONOMIC RENAISSANCE IN HAITI

All these large scale Konpa events -Konpa on Broadway, LNDJ, Konpafest, etc… with potential economic development -need to take place at home, in Haiti. Our Haitian economy is in a desperate need for a money transfusion to keep it alive.

If the promoters of these events refuse to make the transition, which will inject into the economy all these dollars being spent, we need to boycott them by holding in Haiti a similar event on the same day -in front of each and every single one of them.

I do believe that now is the time for us do start selling a new image of Haiti to the world; it is our responsibility, not that of the foreigners, to make it Happen. So if it is about large scale Konpa events or Haitian cultural manifestations, it should take place at home -unless it is about benefiting some people’s selfish personal gains.

I don’t see the American Music Award, BET Music Award, the Oscars, Spring Break, etc… being held on foreign lands. I don’t see all the big-time Reggae events being held outside Jamaica. It is because these people have always tried to keep the money in their economies by any means necessary, which is the way to go. Why can’t we do the same thing?

You have something called Konpafest, which is held in Miami every year around our Flag Day, on May18, where Haitians all over the world fly to Miami to show their solidarity and spend money. Imagine if we could channel all these people -Haitians and foreigners with money in their hands to spend -to come home every year to spend in our economy. It would be the start of an economic renaissance or rebirth for the Haitian people.

I know what the excuses are going to be to justify the ridiculousness of holding these events abroad, away from home.

Excuse #1: You are going to argue that Haiti does not have the logistics (hotel rooms, restaurants, transportation, electricity, etc…) to cater to the needs of the people that will be traveling over there for the events. Nonsense!!! There may not be the need to invest in more upscale restaurants and hotels now because the demand is not there. And the demand is not going to create itself; we the people of Haiti must generate it.

Business people are opportunists, meaning wherever there is a potential demand, you can expect to see heavy investments being poured into that sector of the economy.  Why the demand is not there? The demand is not there because we refuse to create it. We rather keep our butts abroad awaiting the foreigners to come do it for us while the country is dying of a severe economic anemia.

Excuse #2: The insecurity makes it impossible to encourage people to travel to Haiti. Here is another nonsensical argument. I am not trying to dismiss the insecurity plague. It would be very dishonest on my part to argue that it is not an issue. However, in terms of crime/murder per capita, according to the nationmaster.com, Haiti is safer than Jamaica, a country with a booming tourism industry. Yet, that is not preventing the foreigners, you Haitians included, from traveling over there to spend money.

Most of the crimes committed in Haiti are what I would call “necessity crimes,” crimes perpetuated by people because they want to survive or feed their families. That’s basic human behavior when it comes to securing one’s survival. And, for the most part, they take place in Port-au-Prince, the capital city. But if money was being poured into the economy, more jobs would be created for them to make a living, meaning less of these crimes would occur.

The international media has done a tremendous job destroying our image abroad. But it is all our responsibility to prove them wrong by showing and selling a different Haiti, which must start with OUR efforts and involvement.

In conclusion, my advocacy is not to destroy or endanger anybody’s business; it is, rather, a way for us to start caring for ourselves again as we used to in the 1960′s and 70′s, which is the only way we can challenge the destructive campaign being waged against us by the international media.

They can tell us all the lies in the book about our home, but it is our choice to believe in them or not. Our home is our home. The way we care for it is exactly what is going to get the foreigners to come visit us in there. And when they do come, they come with goodies and gifts in their hands for us.

Let us stop all the baseless justifications for not investing into our economy. These big-time cultural events being held in the Diaspora are somewhat hurting the economy back home, because they are not being held there to help the economy moving forward. If we are willing to travel from all over the world to the US to attend some Konpa event, we can do the same if it is happening at home, in Haiti.

Source:

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita

A LITTLE SOMETHNG FOR MY HAITIAN PROMOTERS

As Haitian migrants living in America, English is NOT our language. We are only using our audacity to speak it as though it is ours; we are not doing too bad to adapt thus far.

I have a big complex, and I do believe others do as well. I am not too demanding, but I demand some degree of standard. If you are in the promotion business trying to convince me to buy whatever it is you are selling, if you cannot write, hire someone who can to handle the promotion literatures for you.

My complex is this: if upon opening the promotion literature to read about whatever it is you are promoting, I realize that you cannot even write to express yourself clearly (from the very first word to the very last, you make typographic or intentional mistakes), I move on; I don’t even finish reading. I cannot take you seriously, regardless how great of a product or service it is. So you just lost one prospective client/buyer/consumer.

Marketing, which promotion is a pillar of, is all about playing in the psychology of the buyer. So as a seller or promoter, you must do the best you can to inspire trust and confidence in the buyer. The buyer will not just trust or believe your word that this service or good you want him or her to buy is not a fraud just because you say it is not. So if through your promotion literatures you cannot inspire that level of trust and confidence, you will soon be out of the door. In other words, you will not get far.

The only remedy to that is to acknowledge the fact that you need help in that department and bring on board someone who masters the writing aspect of the business to help you out. Don’t assume that you can do everything on your own. It is okay to have limitations. We all have limitations. There is nothing wrong with that. That’s why you need a highly qualified and up-to-speed staff to help you to achieve the level of success you are aiming at. It is all about making a positive impression. If you can do that, assuming that your service or product is up to or beyond par, you will get far.

ALL successful business entrepreneurs surround themselves with a team of experts to help them bring a vision to completion, why not you? Well, then again, not all entrepreneurs are in business to be successful, though that to me is a little odd.

Well, I hope you promoters and sellers out there get the point I am making and are not trying to resist. You don’t have to listen to me; I am a nobody. BUT if you are smart enough, and I want to believe that you are, you will stop being judgmental and listen to the logic embedded in these words. I am a nobody who just wants to help; hopefully, you will find these words of advice helpful.

Oh, by the way, since someone on Facebook, who could very well be reading this and find it helfpful as well, allegedly called me a plagiarizer, I want to earn your trust by telling you that I did not plagiarize this opinion online. It is MINE; so you are given the green light to make it your own.