Bad Business
From Capitol Hill Cubans, on proposed legislation to allow the castro regime to stiff US Businesses:
Dorgan Seeks Frustrated Creditor Status
Last week, the Russian Federation's Audit Chamber revealed that the Cuban regime failed on three occasions to pay installments on the US$355 million credit deal it signed with Russia on Sept. 28, 2006.
This is just the latest episode in a saga that, in 2009 alone, includes:
1. Reports by Mexico's La Jornada and Spain's El Pais newspapers that hundreds of foreign companies that transact business with the Cuban regime's authorities, have had their accounts frozen since January 2009 by the regime-owned bank that is solely empowered to conduct commercial banking operations in convertible currencies, Banco Financiero Internacional, S.A. ("BFI").
2. "Cuba has rolled over 200 million euros in bond issues that were due in May, as the country's central bank asked for another year to repay foreign holders of the debt, financial sources in London and Havana said this week." Reuters, June 9, 2009.
As a reminder, in Castro's Cuba, you can only do business with the government, as private business activity severely restricted.
Yet, the National Journal reports this morning:
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., will offer legislation today to change a provision in the 2000 law that allows agriculture trade with Cuba so that the Treasury Department cannot require the government of Cuba to pay for food before it is shipped, Dorgan said Tuesday.
During the Senate Appropriations Committee markup of the FY10 Agriculture appropriations bill, Dorgan said he had considered offering his Cuba amendment to the bill, but that he had been told that some members of the committee "would have an apoplectic seizure" so he will instead offer it today on the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill.
Dorgan noted that the Treasury Department had initially allowed Cuba to follow the normal commercial pattern of making payment before goods arrive in the country, but that in 2005 the Bush administration decided that "cash in advance" meant payment for the goods before they left the country.
Dorgan said he would introduce the measure because he has failed in his attempts to convince Treasury officials to change their position. "Someone down at Treasury apparently still can't hear," Dorgan said. "We've had meeting after meeting after meeting."
EDITOR'S NOTE: The U.S. can also join this ever-growing club of Castro's frustrated creditors by supporting Senator Dorgan's legislation.
30 years of Soviet Subsidies ...... $ 40,000,000,000
Value of the 5,000 businesses Fidel stole ...... $ 5,000,000,000
Having Uncle Sam allow you to "dine and dash" as you import his food and stiff him with the bill ..... PRICELESS
Some things in life are actually free if you're a Marxist, and for everything else there's Mastercard (just don't use it in Cuba, because it prevents Raul from taking his 20 %)
Hasn't anyone learned any lessons about extending easy credit yet? Sheesh, what does it take?
Senator Dorkgan and his Democrat cohorts INTEND to stick US taxpayers with the bill--this is not ignarance of Cuba's deadbeat status, it's criminal intent on their part. Haven't people got this straight yet? This administration means and wants to destroy the American way of life--what better way than to ruin us financially?
The intent is to nickel and dime us to death. These socialist in the Yellow House know how to milk the cow. Its the Party (democrats) way. Give me,give me,give me.
Henry,
Is more like the Red House to me...
[...] Bad business [...]
These politicians are being influenced and manipulated by those Cuban Investment Experts that want the embargo to end without any real change in Cuba's government. They have it all worked out with the Castro Brothers. Their job is to make sure that we continue to loosen sanctions of the embargo, so they can continue and secure deals that they currenlty have and plan for the future. Castro stole from Americans 50 years ago, and now our government is going to be stupid enough to let him do screw Americans again! I can tell you that I know that the Obama and Clinton are friends with these peope and they are mistakenly siding with these Cuban Investment Experts because some of them held high ranking postions with past presidents. They are very cleaver and are getting away with it. They control the fate of the Cuban claims and also what's going on with the embargo.
Get a load of this bit of news...
Joe Garcia, who is forever "hopeful about the future as the White House continues to roll out its policy agenda concerning Cuba and the rest of Latin America." has got himself a brand new job.
"Long-time political mover and shaker Joe Garcia -- who has been the voice a powerful Cuban exile group, chairman of the agency that regulates the state's utilities and an unsuccessful congressional candidate -- has been nominated for a post in the Obama administration.
Garcia, 45, a Democrat from Miami Beach, was named on Tuesday director of the Office of Minority Economic Impact for the Department of Energy. Garcia now needs Senate confirmation."
There goes the neighborhood!!!!