I have a question for the President.

[deltex1]

Are you on your ventilator now.? If so...I'll see you tomorrow ...

 

[Flopper]

You say that our policy toward Cuba over the last fifty years has failed. My question for you is: if that policy had worked what would Cuba look like today? Are the goals of your new policy exactly the same as the old policy? If so when will you tell us what steps you will take to reach these goals? Have those steps been defined? How are you going to break it to Raul and Fidel that our main goal is to remove them from power? Will you be as effective in Cuba as you have been in Syria?

If youre too busy to answer maybe the people on this board can fill in the blanks.

If that policy had worked, the Castro's would be history and we would have a puppet government 90 miles off our shore with McDonald's on ever street corner of Havana and thousands of condos and resort hotels on the beaches. However, it didn't work.

Obama's goal is the same but the method is much different. Normalize relations and open Cuba to US businesses and American products. Cuba has been moving toward more private ownership, more foreign investments and free markets. They are desperate for US dollars and American investments. This move couldn't have come at a better time.

 

[deltex1]

You say that our policy toward Cuba over the last fifty years has failed. My question for you is: if that policy had worked what would Cuba look like today? Are the goals of your new policy exactly the same as the old policy? If so when will you tell us what steps you will take to reach these goals? Have those steps been defined? How are you going to break it to Raul and Fidel that our main goal is to remove them from power? Will you be as effective in Cuba as you have been in Syria?

If youre too busy to answer maybe the people on this board can fill in the blanks.

If that policy had worked, the Castro's would be history and we would have a puppet government 90 miles off our shore with McDonald's on ever street corner of Havana and thousands of condos and resort hotels on the beaches. However, it didn't work.

Obama's goal is the same but the method is much different. Normalize relations and open Cuba to US businesses and American products. Cuba has been moving toward more private ownership, more foreign investments and free markets. They are desperate for US dollars and American investments. This move couldn't have come at a better time.

How will the Cuban government be persuaded to loosen their control over private enterprise and allow more income to flow to the ordinary worker? Will communism be allowed to wither and die and be replaced by socialism...or better yet, unfettered democracy?

 

[deltex1]

I guess that settles that.

 

[Flopper]

You say that our policy toward Cuba over the last fifty years has failed. My question for you is: if that policy had worked what would Cuba look like today? Are the goals of your new policy exactly the same as the old policy? If so when will you tell us what steps you will take to reach these goals? Have those steps been defined? How are you going to break it to Raul and Fidel that our main goal is to remove them from power? Will you be as effective in Cuba as you have been in Syria?

If youre too busy to answer maybe the people on this board can fill in the blanks.

If that policy had worked, the Castro's would be history and we would have a puppet government 90 miles off our shore with McDonald's on ever street corner of Havana and thousands of condos and resort hotels on the beaches. However, it didn't work.

Obama's goal is the same but the method is much different. Normalize relations and open Cuba to US businesses and American products. Cuba has been moving toward more private ownership, more foreign investments and free markets. They are desperate for US dollars and American investments. This move couldn't have come at a better time.

How will the Cuban government be persuaded to loosen their control over private enterprise and allow more income to flow to the ordinary worker? Will communism be allowed to wither and die and be replaced by socialism...or better yet, unfettered democracy?

Cuba has already begun loosening their controls.

In Sept 2014, they began the transfer 9,000 restaurants owned and operated by the government to private enterprise. The government will still own the land but the businesses will be privately owned and operated.

In May 2014, the Cuban General Assembly approved a tax reduction on profits on private investments from 30% to 15%.

In 2011, the law was changed to allow homeowners to sell their homes at their price creating free market for home sales. The law was also changed to allow foreigners to buy property from other foreigners who were allowed to buy property in the 1990's.

Government partnerships between the Cuba government and foreign businesses have been around a long time. The government would require Cuban employees and limited foreign management. That's been changing over the years. The government is taking a much less active part in the businesses and allowing their business partners to make essentially all decisions needed to generate a profit..

 

[deltex1]

Thanks for that response. It sounds like another opportunity for our President to use one of his favorite lines, "we've come a long way but there is still much more work to be done". And then everyone claps and walks away from the work that needs to be done.

But it's Christmas and I will try to be positive.​