« Cuba unveils Disney World in Bayamo | Babalu Blog - Main Page | McCain: Obama is a liar »

LET'S SEND MONEY!!!!!!!!

Wrong Val, let's send some TANKS with Cuban freedom fighters in them! The only way things are going to 'change' in Cuba is by blasting through the walls!

Val, I know you were being sarcastic, but there are many who believe your statement at face value.

Val,

While I - like most folks - see your point regarding the percentage skimmed off the top of remittances to both line Fidel's private bank accounts and fund farcical escapades like this one - there's no way to prevent that from happening. I sent money a week ago to my family following the destruction of their farm plot with no qualms or reservations in my heart. Yes, a 10-percent charge was taken out of that money buy Fidel Castro for his cut. And yes, I can't stand that fact but, I also cannot stand the idea that my loved ones were going hungry.

-AB

What ever happend to the Cuban counter revolutionary groups...All gone?

AB,

Dude, you know I love you but....

If you sent money to your family last week then what's the point of this post? Where do you think the money for these training manuals came from?

Where do you think that money you sent - ALL OF IT and not just 10% - ultimately ends up? in a country where the economy is controlled 100% by the state and there are no such things as free markets, 100% of every dollar that enters Cuba ends up IN the regime's hands.

But, you know, thats ok. We'll just keep doing this in perpetuity.

Next week, after having sent your family some more money this week, you can write about how angry it makes you that castro and co spent who knows how much on some training manuals for the revolutionarty man that were sent to Soweto as a humanitarian gesture from castro and co, while Cuba is still in ruins and how Cubans are all chattel, ladies and gentlemen.

And I will comment, again next week thus:

LET'S SEND MONEY!

Note: the key word in all of the above : PERPETUITY.

per·pe·tu·i·ty
1. the state or character of being perpetual .
2. endless or indefinitely long duration or existence; eternity.
3. something that is perpetual.
4. an annuity paid for life.

Normally the money ends up being pumped into the black market, where cousin Gerar can buy a variety of items stolen from the "government" at bargain prices. The fellow who stole those items from a construction site (as an example) and sold them to Gerar will usually then use the money to buy some more stolen material from another black market profiteer and the cycle continues.

Listen, neither one of us is stupid. The government's taking a cut but in all honesty, I do take heart in the fact that at least the majority of the other 90 percent of the cash is going to purchase material stolen from the government. Of course a small amount will inevitably end up in CUC stores to purchase things like soap or cooking oil but the raw materials they'll be using the money for in order to repair the farm plot will be coming 100 percent from the black market. I'm only speaking from experience. I can tell you where to buy black market meat in Santa Fe, black market building materials in Jaimanitas, black market auto parts in Vedado and black market light bulbs in La Vibora. ALL of those materials were bought by Castro and stolen by average joe-Cuban. The black market economy works against Fidel and Co. and in a certain way, empowers everyday folks, giving them a way (albeit a small one) to extend an indignant middle finger at the Profiteer in Chief.

I'll never begrudge the motivations by anyone who doesn't want to send a single penny to Cuba but, I do feel that sometimes that good intention just ends up hurting our families as well as the "bearded one."

-AB

AB,

Have you ever given thought to the possibility that this ever so ubiquitous "black market" that we keep hearing about ad infinitum is part and parcel of the castro regime?

I mean, in a country where even the color of your farts are monitored and controlled, doesnt it stand to reason that the apparatus in control knows everything that's going on?

Think about it. How would a socialist state needing some kind of economic reform like, say, a "free market" or say, that evil word in Cuba, "capitalism", implement these two evils without any reference to same and thus creating no propaganda issues for said socialist state?

the color of the market dont matter, the money always, ALWAYS, ends up RED.

I don't think the government could afford to allow a 100.00 well pump part (as an example) to be sold for 20.00. Just doesn't add up economically.

It can if it knows it cant get the 100 for it.

Focusing on the well pump analogy - since a great deal of the items available for illegal purchase are construction-type materials . . .

These items aren't always imported to be sold. They're imported for use on government projects - building projects - so they never had any attempt to try to sell the proverbial 100-dollar well pump for, well, anything. It was supposed to be used. So, unless the government is importing items for price "A" with the knowledge that they'll never be able to make that back in a sale and "we'll just sell it on the black market" - it still doesn't add up to me.

Ay ay ay - this ball's going to keep going back and forth over the net! LOL

-AB

Castro, Inc. has shown, ad nauseam, that it can only do certain things well, and those things have always responded to the needs and interests of the regime and never to the welfare of ordinary Cubans. The dictatorship has neither the ability nor the intention to do what's actually good for the people. That has never been its goal or concern. The people are there to be controlled, manipulated and used to suit the system, period. There's no surprise here.

If the proverbial "pump" was purchased for a specific project, and said project was either not begun or not finished, then that pump sitting in a warehouse somewhere became surplus inventory. Im sure the chinese they bought it from aint gong to take it back and refund the cash and Im sure the regime most probably "purchased" that pump on "credit", thus for them, that pump is still money in the bank either way.

So, then, lets say warehouse supervisor dude, a government "employee," knows he's got this pump just sitting there and says "hey, if I let so and so steal said pump, he'll slip me a ten spot." And so and so steals said pump, slips government warehouse supervisor dude a crisp sawbuck and turns around and sells the pump to "I need a pump to irrigate my fields" guy for 20 bucks.

On their way home from work, warehouse supervisor guy and so and so, each with crispy dollars burning holes in the holey pockets, decide to give the family an extra treat tonight for dinner and swing by the local dollar store, where with their crispy American dollars they do a little shopping and purchase a few can of black beans, couple containers of powdered milk maybe a couple of soda cans or two - all of which, of course where donated as humanitarian aid for hurricane victims - with said money for these purchases ending up in the dollar store owners pockets. and of course, we all know who owns those stores.

"I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy" takes said pump home and installs it, thus feeling all good that for a crisp Hialeah 20 he got a nice $100 chinese pump to irrigate hs fields. he turns the thing on, it starts to pump as pumps do. But then "I need a pump to irrigate my fields" guy's neighbor, a sinister CDR dude sees said pump pumping away, irrigating fields and making life all happy for "I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy".

this cant be, of course, because "I need a pump to irrigate my fields" guy's sinister CDR neighbor knows that the orginal pump was kaput and thus heads over to "I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy's" pump shed to find a brand spanking new chinese pump pumping away as pumps do. So "I need a pump to irrigate my fields" guy's sinister CDR neighbor goes to "I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy" and tells him that he knows that pump was stolen from a warehouse and he's going to tell "warehouse supervisor" dude that "I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy" has his stolen pump. Unless, of course, "I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy" slips "I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy's sinister CDR neighbor a crisp 20 to keep his sinister yap shut. So, not wanting to get "warehouse supervisor dude" and so and so pump stealer or himself in trouble, "I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy" slips "I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy's sinister CDR neighbor a crisp twenty.

But "I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy's sinister CDR neighbor knows the routine, so he heads over to pump warehouse place, where he tells so and so pump stealer that he knows, for a fact, that he stole the pump that is now irrigating "I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy's fields and that he will tell warehouse supervisor dude that so and so pump stealer stole the pump that is now irrigating "I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy's fields illegally, unless, of course, so and so pump stealer gives him a cut from his recent pump transaction. So and so pump stealer dude is now screwed because he spent his crisp 20 at the dollar store, so he calls tio Eusebio en Palm vaenue en Hialeah and asks for a few more bucks this week as he's in trouble with "I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy's sinister CDR neighbor. Tio Eusebio in turn rushes out to el Western union en la 4 y la 16 del este en hialeah and wires so and so pump stealer 40 bucks, of which western union gets their cut after giving a cut of their cut to the regime, and the regime as well gets a cut of the 40 tio eusebio just wired.

So and so pump stealer guy get's what now is the 20 left from the original 40, gives "I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy's sinister cdr neighbor a ten spot and pockets the other ten, which, we all know will be used to buy that black market DVD of "Desperate Kill" starring Pacino and de niro.

But, "I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy's sinister CDR neighbor doesnt stop there. he also goes to warehouse supervisor dude and tells him he knows, for a FACT, that "I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy" is irrigating his fields with a pump stolen from warehouse supervisor dude's warehouse and he will tell his superiors about same unless warehouse supervisor dude gives him a cut. warehouse supervisor dude, afraid he might lose his cushy position at the warehouse and also having spent his pump money at the dollar store, calls Tia Cuca in Westchester and asks for for an extra 20 this week. Tia Cuca runs over to Marazul en coral way, and sends warehouse supervisor dude and extra twenty, plus, los pobres, another twenty para el cake del cumpleano del sobrino, via marazul, who get their cut and give a cutto the regime, then the regime gets its cut from to gross original total.

So, warehouse supervisor dude gets the 20 left for what Tia Cuba en westchester sent, gives "I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy's sinister CDR neighbor" his cut, and thinks about pocketing the other ten altogether, but then remebers the damned cake. On his way home he again goes to the dollar store and buys the damned cake for ten bucks, plus another 3 bucks for the damned candles.

"I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy's sinister neighbor, now having made an easy 40 bucks in one day, also decides that he will treat the family, so he takes his $40 bucks and heads over to the dollar store, where he opens the doors for warehouse supervisor guy whose on his way out but cant open the door because warehouse supervisor guy is carrying $13 of cake and candles. In the dollar store, "I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy's sinister CDR neighbor buys another bunch of goods sent to Cuba as humanitarian aid, plus a half pound of ham the dollar store manager got by giving "I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy" twenty for one pound of ham "I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy" just happened to have bartered the last of his crops for.

Add it all up and tell me how much that pump brought in.

oh, and on the way back home with his groceries, "I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy's sinister CDR neighbor" noticed that "I need a pump to irrigate my fields guy" fields werent getting irrigated any longer. the stolen chinese pump, as stolen chinese pumps are wont to do, broke.

It's really very simple, so simple that even the most cretinous member of the Cuban ruling elite could figure it out. What we have here, what we've had for at least a generation (certainly since the Soviet subsidy stopped) is CHANTAJE SENTIMENTAL (emotional blackmail) on a massive scale. It doesn't matter what anybody thinks of it; what matters is that IT WORKS. Castro, Inc. would have to be insane not to use it (especially given the added bonus that it must give Castro, Inc. enormous satisfaction to be financed by those who have fled from it).

This is a no-win situation. There is NO way to materially help folks in Cuba without helping the regime, no matter how legitimate their needs may be. The system is completely rigged to benefit those who completely control it. And of course, everyone in Cuba who can get any help from Cubans abroad is going to go for it. It's not just the path of least resistance, it's also infinitely more likely to pan out than expecting any help from Castro, Inc. On top of that, there's no risk involved. You do the math.

There's little or no point in telling Cubans here what to do about this; they're going to do what they want anyhow. The remittances of cash and goods, the trips, the phone calls, etc. are only going to increase with every new arrival from Cuba. Castro, Inc. knows this perfectly well and is absolutely counting on it (it's certainly more reliable than, say, aid from Hugo Chavez). In other words, if it's not the perfect crime, it's damn close.

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

URL:
Remember me? YesNo

Comments: