Give That President A Cigar …er… A Great Big Cuban One!

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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Strangely, when President Barack Obama was elected with ease in 2008 and had a comfortable Congressional majority he didn’t really capitalize on his advantage. He may have gotten elected promising ‘change’ but he didn’t make many when he made it into the big seat.

Now, perhaps sensing the end of his term as President, and in spite of the Democrats’ recent crushing defeat, he is becoming ‘Obama the bold’, maker of decisions, changer of things.

Hence his recent decisions to re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba and an amnesty for five million illegal immigrants in the US.

JFK imposed the embargo on Cuba way back in 1962, in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In JFK’s day the embargo was America’s way of thumbing its nose at the Soviet Empire. Cuba was less than 100 miles from the continental US and its defiance of the mighty Uncle Sam was an embarrassment, particularly after the Bay of Pigs fiasco.

Curious therefore that Obama cannot see the similarities with Putin’s stance in the Ukraine, but that’s another story.

However, getting back to the Cuban embargo, it was a decision that has been condemned by almost every nation in the world ever since. I think it smacked too much of the big rich kid in the schoolyard picking on the little poor kid.

But, like a lot of things that are half a century old and more, the Cuban embargo was well past its sell-by date. Not least because it didn’t work!

Neither of course did the Cuban system, which failed mainly due to the disintegration of the Soviet Empire that had kept Cuba financially afloat long after Castro’s communism would have bitten the dust if left to its own devices.

In Cuba today there is a realism and a recognition of that very fact. Fidel Castro himself admitted that their model “….no longer works even for us,” when he was speaking in support of his brother Raúl’s “liberal” reforms announced a few years ago.

For the moment, that ‘liberalization’ in Cuba means allowing employees, most of them former civil servants, to become the owners of the small businesses that employ them.

I call that capitalism. What do you think?

Lots of US corporations are queueing up to develop their business interests in Cuba. Big names, like American Airlines, Hilton Hotels and PepsiCo are already in the starting blocks.

It will be interesting to see what happens when the new US regime sweeps into power.

In the meantime I think I’ll buy a nice big box of cigars.

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Okay America, How long Are You Going To Take This BS?

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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A few days ago I had a bit of a rant against the banksters. You’d have thought that would have done me for a while but there’s more, prompted by yet more procrastination and what can only be called undiluted BS from high government officials.

This time the main culprit is Attorney General Eric Holder, who Wednesday last testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

He told them that he is concerned that some institutions have become so massive and influential that bringing criminal charges against them could imperil the financial system and the broader economy.

Where have we heard that one before?

It’s just his version of the “too big to jail” bollocks that we have been hearing from these gutless government wonders for the past five years.

And unfortunately he isn’t alone in this cowardice. A growing number of lawmakers have effectively suggested the same thing.

Home of the brave? Not as far as these bureaucrats are concerned. They would much rather throw the weight of their bureaucracy against small businesses struggling to stay afloat in the economic storms created by the banksters than tackle the real problem, i.e. the banksters themselves.

On the brighter side, if there is one, Holder’s comments and those of his conspirators should bolster an increasingly vocal group of politicians who argue the nation’s biggest banks have become too large and need to be curbed.

Among this group are Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) who pressed Holder on the issue in a letter sent in February, airing their disappointment that no major criminal charges had been filed against banks or their employees in the wake of the financial crisis.

Also Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) blasted financial regulators during a separate hearing for failing to bring any major financial institutions to trial since the meltdown.

Of course when questioned by Sen. Grassley, Attorney General Holder tried to slither out of answering the issue by saying that, “The concern that you have raised is one that I, frankly, share.”

However, he then quickly added that ultimately the best deterrent would be if they could bring charges against individuals instead of companies, BUT that all of the bad behavior on Wall Street leading up to the crisis may not necessarily have been criminal and that his criminal team has been “as aggressive as they could be.”

In other words, too big to jail yet again. And the government, still afraid to act, continues to pretend to do something while actually doing nothing.

Pathetic!

So over to you America.

You elect these cronies and cowards, or the people who appoint them.

When are you going to demand they act in YOUR best interests and not in the best interests of the banksters?

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