Apr 14 2012 - 8:46pm
Cuba struggled primarily due to the US & her allies imposed 50+ yr old embargo / strangle-hold [including acts of sabotage] on that small island state just 90-miles of FL's southern tip. In fact it's a testament to the resilience & determination of the Cuban people that under such conditions they are still making it & have an education, health-care system & life-expectancy that rivals or even surpasses the US'- w far less clout & resources!
The only reason capitalism seems / seemed so successful is because it was so successful at ruthlessly Gangstering & Exploiting resources & labor from the so-called 3rd World. The US [as did many of her current allies] became successful due to 2 &1/2 - 4 centuries of Slave-Trade & enslavement of kidnapped Africans & the systematic extermination of Native peoples to seize control of their lands & resources. Throw in the colonial exploitation of Africa, Central & S.America, Asia etc, this is how the Euro-centric capitalist model became so so-called 'successful' [Via ruthless exploitation- including genocide!]! But the 'Chickens are Now Coming Home to Roost' w the power elites of capitalism now openly & blatantly exploiting their own people [as this article notes] in the US & EU! [Note GATT & NAFTA, the Econ melt-down of 2007-2008, the 2008 Wall St Bankster bailout, & the ruthless exploitation of the Greek people, etc.]!
The only reason capitalism seems / seemed so successful is because it was so successful at ruthlessly Gangstering & Exploiting resources & labor from the so-called 3rd World. The US [as did many of her current allies] became successful due to 2 &1/2 - 4 centuries of Slave-Trade & enslavement of kidnapped Africans & the systematic extermination of Native peoples to seize control of their lands & resources. Throw in the colonial exploitation of Africa, Central & S.America, Asia etc, this is how the Euro-centric capitalist model became so so-called 'successful' [Via ruthless exploitation- including genocide!]! But the 'Chickens are Now Coming Home to Roost' w the power elites of capitalism now openly & blatantly exploiting their own people [as this article notes] in the US & EU! [Note GATT & NAFTA, the Econ melt-down of 2007-2008, the 2008 Wall St Bankster bailout, & the ruthless exploitation of the Greek people, etc.]!
PS: NO- I'm NOT a so-called communist.
_____________________________________
Apr 14 2012 - 11:49pm
Many will disagree w you on that point but the power elites are quite clever at finding & exploiting any possible loop-holes to push their hidden agendas. Its one thing to talk about pollution [IE: Toxins] taxes & something else to talk about carbon taxes. But folks are conflating carbon w pollution when they are NOT necessarily the same thing.
They're fully capable of turning things topsy turvy- effectively defining organic carbon based substances as 'pollutants' while absolving [defining as OK] actual industrial toxins & pollution [IE: toxic waste & radiation]!
Again the idea of charging people taxes for breathing may sound facetious NOW -BUT- there was a time, which this author alludes to, when the idea of buying water sounded facetious! But then the corp elites poisoned the water supply w toxic industrial waste, BUT- Instead of being made to actually clean up & stopped from continuing to poison the water supply- They instead sold the idea that the solution to them poisoning the water supply was to buy bottled water- FROM THEM!
And there was a time, not so long ago, that farmers used to save their own seeds. Then Monsanto's 'patented' GMO seeds came along- which forces farmers to buy seeds from them & penalizes farmers who try to save their own seeds!
They're fully capable of turning things topsy turvy- effectively defining organic carbon based substances as 'pollutants' while absolving [defining as OK] actual industrial toxins & pollution [IE: toxic waste & radiation]!
Again the idea of charging people taxes for breathing may sound facetious NOW -BUT- there was a time, which this author alludes to, when the idea of buying water sounded facetious! But then the corp elites poisoned the water supply w toxic industrial waste, BUT- Instead of being made to actually clean up & stopped from continuing to poison the water supply- They instead sold the idea that the solution to them poisoning the water supply was to buy bottled water- FROM THEM!
And there was a time, not so long ago, that farmers used to save their own seeds. Then Monsanto's 'patented' GMO seeds came along- which forces farmers to buy seeds from them & penalizes farmers who try to save their own seeds!
_____________
