Cuba, wheat, the US

[Lance]

Saw on the news that Cuba is the 14th largest exporter of US grown Wheat....gotta love the hypocrisy.

You can give us your money, but not a soul in our "free" country can give you theirs.

Sorry, this would aggravate me even if I didnt smoke cigars.

[God]

Your statement is confusing... do you mean "importer"?

With the agreement signed today they are the largest importer of US wheat in the Caribbean.

[Lance]

well, the way I saw it worded on CNN I think it meant countries that export wheat out of the US.

[God]

Gotcha...

I just have to hope that all of these deals will eventually help in normalizing relations with Cuba... and hasten the demise of Fidel

[Lance]

Castro held a moment of silence for the lives lost in the US during hurricane katrina. He cant be all that bad...

The Wheat thing is an all cash deal, up front. No credit or anything like that.

[cmiller]

I agree. My own state recently entered into an agreement to sell agricultural products to Cuba but I can't buy Cuban agricultural products. The hypocrisy of that annoys the heck out of me.

[TideRoll]

Originally Posted by Lance

Castro held a moment of silence for the lives lost in the US during hurricane katrina. He cant be all that bad...

Actually, he is all bad. The sooner that old homcidal megalomaniac assumes room temperature, the better for all concerned. That said, I don't know that the cigar embargo has had any meaningfult impact on the longevity of his regime. The interesting thing to me is that the debate regarding Cuban trade cuts through party and in many cases, ideological lines. There are those that would attempt a semi-China policy across the spectrum, and those who would just as soon shoot the rat turd if they had the chance. It would be nice to cap that dude and save everyone a few more years of misery and otherwise valuable recovery time.

A few more years, hopefully. They will have to deal with several generations worth of communist/socialist indoctrination before Cuba can truly become what it is capable of becoming, but hey, kids graduate all the time from American colleges and still do O.K., so we know it is possible.

Of course, there will be those who say it is none of our business as to the future shape of their form of government (the same ones who think Jimmy Carter was a genius at foreign affairs and Stansfield Turner had it right at the CIA), to which I say .

[Lumpold]

I think the funniest thing, personally, is that Cuba are still your landlords when it comes to Guantanmo Bay...

[TideRoll]

Originally Posted by Lumpold

I think the funniest thing, personally, is that Cuba are still your landlords when it comes to Guantanmo Bay...

I suspect it bothers them a great deal more than it bothers us. As I recall, we are paying them $2,000 per year for a perpetual lease negotiated at the end of the Spanish-American War. Not a bad rental rate, particularly since the information I just Googled indicates that Castro doesn't cash the checks.

[AAlmeter]

Originally Posted by TideRoll

They will have to deal with several generations worth of communist/socialist indoctrination before Cuba can truly become what it is capable of becoming, but hey, kids graduate all the time from American colleges and still do O.K., so we know it is possible.

It is only when under the hands of tyranny and liberalism can one truly appreciate freedom. Counting down the days until graduation....

Start getting used to very one-sided trade policies. We have to slow the decline of manufacturing jobs somehow, and there's no way in hell the left will allow the big corps to save money but lowering the janitor's pay rate to, say, less than $20/hr. Instead, the left constantly wants to jack up minimum wage in the name of buying more votes, I'm sorry, in the name of "living wage", and that is the last thing we could afford to do.

Since we can't compete our only other choice is to exclude other countries. A poor option at best, but our only one...since conservative's in DC are afraid of being called mean or capitalists (and Sean will likely call them racist as well).

Then we will just have to wait it out until China puts themselves under with massive government spending (on behalf of industry) combined with an increasing capitalistic country.

[TideRoll]

Originally Posted by AAlmeter

Then we will just have to wait it out until China puts themselves under with massive government spending (on behalf of industry) combined with an increasing capitalistic country.

No doubt that we will be living in some very interesting times over the next few decades. China is truly going to be (already are?) the lynchpin of geopolitics and American policy. Think of the massive amounts of American debt they already hold. Think about the tricky feat that the West hopes to accomplish with China, which is as much out of self-preservation and self-defense as ideaological impulse. Relationships with China have always been more of a balancing act than with many other nations, and assuming that they can transitition to something different than a tyrannical, closed socialist/communist state, how we will compete and co-exist with them is still an open question. That and the fact that their military has for many years planned their force structure for a conflict with the United States really makes China the world power which worries me the most over the rest of my childrens' lifetimes. Iran and Syria are freaky, and the Middle East is a set of problems all of its own and we will of course have to keep a handle on that. But China is the new Soviet Union, but with a twist, or maybe a few billion twists.

Oh, and best of luck the rest of the way through. It has not been that many years ago, and I still remember walking out of my last class.

[God]

Originally Posted by Lumpold

I think the funniest thing, personally, is that Cuba are still your landlords when it comes to Guantanmo Bay...

Originally Posted by TideRoll

I suspect it bothers them a great deal more than it bothers us. As I recall, we are paying them $2,000 per year for a perpetual lease negotiated at the end of the Spanish-American War. Not a bad rental rate, particularly since the information I just Googled indicates that Castro doesn't cash the checks.

Sounds like a better deal than the one on Hong Kong for only 99 years which allowed it to revert back to China...

[TideRoll]

Originally Posted by God

Sounds like a better deal than the one on Hong Kong for only 99 years which allowed it to revert back to China...

Tell me about it. Some folks only get beat up shopping centers when their land lease reverts!

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by AAlmeter

We have to slow the decline of manufacturing jobs somehow, and there's no way in hell the left will allow the big corps to save money but lowering the janitor's pay rate to, say, less than $20/hr.

Anyone ever consider that the corps could save money by not letting the fat cat execs get million dollar bonuses whether or not the company does well? Or they could stop spending millions per year on PACs and sending politicians on trips to the carribean. Or just accept slightly less profits by keeping a factory here instead of Mexico?

More decent jobs = less use of gov benefits = less taxes on corps (& everyone) = more profit for everyone

If people would think about the long term instead of short term gains, we wouldn't be shipping all our jobs overseas. Allready we are shipping the factories from Mexico to India because labor is becoming too costly even in Mexico.

[croatan]

Originally Posted by cmiller

I agree. My own state recently entered into an agreement to sell agricultural products to Cuba but I can't buy Cuban agricultural products. The hypocrisy of that annoys the heck out of me.

Quoting Havana Club Holding, S.A. v. Galleon S.A: "[w]ith respect to the Cuban embargo, the purpose of Congress could not be more clear. Congress wish to prevent any Cuban national or entity from attracting hard currency..."

It was believed that preventing hard currency from entering Cuba would help accomplish the goals of the embargo, including "assisting the Cuban people in regaining their freedom and prosperity, providing for the continued national security of the United States in the face of continuing threats from the Castro government, encouraging the holding of free and fair democratic elections, and protecting United States nationals against confiscatory takings." (22 USCA § 6022).

Based on that premise, selling products to Cuba is not really hypocritical. If anything, it furthers the agenda of the United States by taking hard currency out of Cuba.

Note: I am not commenting on the viability or wisdom of the U.S. policy, only that it is internally consistent in this respect.