The hotels bring in U.S. dollars Castro craves. Too bad everyday Cubans can't set foot in the door of these hotels. However, they can hang out and prostitute themselves to visitors to get enough money to buy the "lower-priced processed meats" from the Green Bay meatpacker.
The price of milk (and sex) in Cuba*** What is it about these poor countries? What savor do they offer us? Is it just the perfume of misery that makes us appreciate our own lives?***
"What we believe he wants to do here is to entice the U.S. agricultural community by buying relatively small amounts . . . to entice them with cash purchases so that we open up markets and have, quote, normal trade relationships," Reich said. That would mean allowing Cuba to buy goods on credit. He points to Cuba's billions in unpaid debts to other trading partners, saying the U.S. would be left "holding the bag" like other countries.
Castro's Cuba Bad for Business*** The experience of foreign investors in Cuba is replete with horror stories. In 1995, when the "liberalizing" law was passed, the Cuban government unilaterally canceled Spanish utility company Endesa's investments in hotels. Mexico's Grupo Domos found itself arbitrarily slapped with enormous back-tax penalties, and Canada's First Key Project Technologies' proposal to build a $350 million power plant was stolen by the Cuban government and shopped around elsewhere.
Cuba last year devalued its currency by 18 percent and fell behind in debt payments of $500 million to private banks and firms in France, Spain, Japan, Canada, Chile and Venezuela. (This does not include the repayment of government trade credits to France for the last four years and the principal on foreign debt of $35 billion.) With export prices down in nickel, sugar and tobacco, along with a fall in tourism and remittances from abroad, Cuba will remain an economic basket case. Doing business in countries that violate labor rights is not considered good business practice.
In Cuba, workers in foreign joint ventures are paid $400 to $500 a month, except that the Cuban government contracts the workers and pays them 400 to 500 pesos, or $20 a month, instead. Exploitation of child labor is officially tolerated, and it is commonplace to find children as young as 8 who are working. Finally, liberalizing exports to Cuba will produce a revenue windfall for customs brokerages, wholesale, distribution and retail stores -- all government-operated. This will provide increased money for Mr. Castro's intelligence and security services and neighborhood vigilante organizations, further postponing democracy and economic freedom in Cuba. There are a score of countries in the Caribbean Basin that embrace free markets, political democracy and institutional reforms, thereby offering far greater opportunities than Cuba.***
Sugar and tourism force a bitter pill on Cubans *** Foreign investors keep complaining that the Cuban state partners they must work with are taking their money but do not always want to listen to their advice. The European Union has sent a report on behalf of investors to the Cuban government with a list of complaints and suggested solutions. It says there are too many rules and regulations applied to foreign companies that are often not applied fairly. The investors keep coming because they see a potentially attractive market just a short hop from the US, a market with which Washington prevents its own citizens from doing business. The question is when will they see some return on their investment? Mr Castro has made it clear that they will not see any fundamental changes soon. The 75-year-old has even been trying to ensure that his achievements of the past 43 years remain long after he is gone.***
Don't subsidize a tyrant*** While the embargo restricts most U.S.-Cuba trade, it does not impose a humanitarian burden. Cuba frequently has bought wheat from Canada, rice from Vietnam, and medicine from Europe, Asia and Latin America. Donations of food and clothing and the licensed sale of U.S. medical products are permitted. The real cause of Cuba's hardship is not the embargo but the state's Soviet-style economy. Traditional exports such as sugar cost the regime more to produce than they sell for on the global market. Tourism brings in hard currency but not nearly enough to provide for Cuba's needs. Debt payments are so uncertain that major trade partners often must extend new loans.***
Friends of Fidel*** Louisiana rice and Illinois wheat producers should not assume that selling to Havana is synonymous with getting paid. U.S taxpayers should be wary. Mr. Castro desperately needs credits and subsidies, and Washington is being pressured to provide them. If the United States begins to subsidize trade with Cuba estimated at $100 million a year five years from now, U.S. taxpayers could be holding, or paying off, a $500 million tab. That´s real money.
Before extending Mr. Castro credit, grain growers should visit any street corner in Manhattan and observe a game played there. Called three-card monte, it consists of convincing the player that he knows exactly where the card carrying his money is. Until it disappears. In this game, the gambler takes his own chances. Where trade with Mr. Castro is concerned, the U.S. taxpayer will be left holding the losing card.***
Al Neuharth: Why is China OK, but Cuba 'enemy'?
The old rogue wants a big credit line that he can put off paying forever. These dupes don't care how much the taxpayer gets socked as long as they get paid.