Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

CUBA AND THE NEW FRU

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by

James A. Bacon
in

MainStream Media reports that President-Elect Obama will support a Change in relations with Cuba. It is about time.

And just in time. Every region will need to import some Cubans, not for cheap labor as in the past but for their ingenuity in converting Mass OverConsumptive Technology to sustainable levels.

With the New Fru, every place that hopes to evolve to become a Balanced Community will need a Cuban New Fru Guru.

Cubans have demonstrated how humans can be (relatively) happy in spite of:

• Having to rely on pre-1957 Large, Private Vehicles,

• A demented dictator, and

• Oppressive foreign intervention.

These are all things that will be important to every citizen of the US of A due to the past 35 years of Growth-is-Good-but-More-Growth-is-Better driven Supercapitalism and Mass OverConsumption that underlies the New Fru.

Now Cubans have focused on saving money in communications. See today’s WaPo Page 1 “In Cuba, Cellphone Calls Go Unanswered.”

This new technique should make driving safer for those who will still be able to afford to drive Large, Private Vehicles.

(By the way Peter, WordPerfect tells EMR that WaPo has just invented a new word and saved space – they dropped the space between ‘cell’ and ‘phone.’)

EMR

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19 responses to “CUBA AND THE NEW FRU”

  1. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    EMR,
    I should send you the graphic novel I bought about Che. He seems to be making a cultural comeback.

    Peter Galuszka

  2. Larry G Avatar
    Larry G

    geeze EMR – do you really think Cubans are going to CONVERT Americans to their way of life?

    I swear.. my little pea brain would have thought that it would probably work the other way around… and we’d see an explosion of F-150 and Chevy Tahoes zooming through the countryside to cater to the new Americano touristias.

  3. E M Risse Avatar
    E M Risse

    Peter: Che is exactly the sort of idol that becomes popular when citizens fail to do what is necessary to preserve democracy with a market economy.

    Larry: The New Fru can best be lead by the Cubans who have leared to do with far less consumption.

    EMR

  4. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    EMR:

    When was the last time you talked to a happy Cuban – who didn’t live in Miami?

    RH

  5. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS)is now warning California’s cities that they may have to cough up more money to cover the retirement and other benefits the fund provides for 1.6 million state workers, reports the Wall Street Journal. Some communities are already cutting municipal services and they are blaming CalPERS, not Proposition 13. Dan Cort, mayor of Pacific Grove, has been quoted as saying, “CalPERS could bankrupt us faster than anything else.”

    According to the Journal, CalPERS has lost almost a quarter of the $239 billion in assets it held in June of this year. Stock market losses are an obvious cause of the fund’s distress, but less well known is that CalPERS makes extensive investments in real estate — investments that have been largely financed by borrowing. Some deals involved as much as 80 percent of borrowed money. While this worked well in a rising market, now that real estate has tanked CalPERS expects to report paper losses of 103 percent on its housing investments for the fiscal year ending in June.

  6. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Closer to Virginia, we were told by a client that the PA state retirement fund had a number of deals with Toll Brothers.

    Toll Brothers is one of the worst McMansion scatteres and they were buying up land with PA retirees money in the early 00’s.

    We told the client (who was trying to get Toll Brothers to honor its promises) to take 50 cents on the dollar because they would not be around for long.

    It has taken longer than we thought.

    That is what a bubble does.

  7. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Looks like those happy Cubans we met while bird watching in Cuba will be MUCH happier than the state and municipal workers in Pacific Grove or Scranton.

  8. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    EMR,
    Not sure your suppositions hold water. For example, I visited The USSR in the 1970s as a student and reported from there in the 1980s when it was still Communist.
    Many of Moscow’s broad boulevards were mostly empty because no one could afford cars and few were available. Importing them was out of the question because the ruble was not a hard currency and the goernment wouldn’t allow it.
    I went back in the 1990s for another tour. Communism had fallen. Streets were jam-packed. Russian punks flew down crowded sidewalks at 40 nph, not cool when you have children aged 2 and 4. Then, the Humvees arrived.
    You get the picture. People denied mass consumption probably haven’t learned anything that you posit. My guess is that when Castro goes, Cuba will turn into a mini-Moscow

    Peter Galuszka

  9. Larry G Avatar
    Larry G

    Cuba will turn into what it was before Castro –

    an offshore version of Las Vegas….

    and a huge economic threat to other offshore tourist destinations….

    I can see it now… American tourists being spirited to and fro in exhaust-belching 57 Chevy’s….

    how EMR can look at a oil and lead spewing vehicles as a step a step forward to a more sustainable future is beyond me….

    Now.. if Cuba was going to power modern plug-in electric vehicles powered by the sun, tides and wind… then that would be another story.

    but converting 57 Chevy’s to plug-in electrics would be the ultimate in Luddite Lunacy.

  10. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    “Looks like those happy Cubans we met while bird watching in Cuba will be MUCH happier than the state and municipal workers in Pacific Grove or Scranton.”

    Anonymous

    ————————–

    “The Cuban Assets Control Regulations are enforced by the U.S. Treasury Department and affect all U.S. citizens and permanent residents wherever they are located, all people and organizations physically located in the United States, and all branches and subsidiaries of U.S. organizations throughout the world. The regulations require that persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction be licensed in order to engage in any travel-related transactions pursuant to travel to, from, and within Cuba. Transactions related to tourist travel are not licensable. This restriction includes tourist travel to Cuba from or through a third country such as Mexico or Canada. U.S. law enforcement authorities have increased enforcement of these regulations at U.S. airports and pre-clearance facilities in third countries. Travelers who fail to comply with Department of Treasury regulations could face civil penalties and criminal prosecution upon return to the United States. “

    U.S. department of State

    —————————

    So, you got to Cuba for birdwatching, how, exactly?

    RH

  11. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    Cuba is a totalitarian police state which relies on repressive methods to maintain control. These methods, including intense physical and electronic surveillance of Cubans, are also extended to foreign travelers. Americans visiting Cuba should be aware that any encounter with a Cuban could be subject to surreptitious scrutiny by the Castro regime’s secret police, the General Directorate for State “Security (DGSE). Also, any interactions with average Cubans, regardless of how well intentioned the American may be, can subject that Cuban to harassment and/or detention, and other forms of repressive actions, by state security elements. The regime is strongly anti-American, yet desperate for U.S. dollars to prop itself up.”

    U.S. Department of State

    Bird watching must be a lot of fun there. You can watch birds while the DGSE watches you.

    Probably not much else to do anyway.

    RH

  12. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    I’d say that one point to be made from the posts on Calpers and Toll Brothers is that the money has to go somewhere.

    Some of that money is ours, so maybe we shouldn’t be to thrilled to kill every investment (speculation) opportunity.

    RH

  13. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    “These days it seems like it is our patriotic duty to consume more. And if we don’t choose to spend more money ourselves, the government will do it for us.

    But wait a minute. Isn’t it excessive spending that got us into this mess in the first place? … Despite this apparent paradox, there is some logic to providing a dose of economic stimulus. …

    In the … U.S. economy…, consumers … sensibly … want to consume less and save more. In an ideal world, an increase in savings would automatically lead to an increase in investment. …

    Unfortunately, savings are currently not getting translated into investment… The net result is that money is piling up in ultrasafe assets like Treasury bills, without being invested in ways that would build a more productive economy. …”

    …….

    “That brings us to private investment, which hasn’t been getting nearly as much attention as it deserves. This is unfortunate, since private investment is what makes possible future increases in production and consumption. Investment tax credits or other subsidies for private-sector investment are not as politically appealing as tax cuts for consumers or increases in government expenditure. But if private investment doesn’t increase, where will the extra consumption come from in the future? “

    http://economistsview.typepad.com/

    ———————————

    You need a good economy in order to pay for a good environment.

    RH

  14. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    ” “It is time,” the Havana barber said, perhaps unwittingly repeating the Obama slogan, “for a change.”

    The world has numerous expectations of the incoming president, but many Cubans, who live on state salaries that average $20 a month, seem to possess an outsized hope that Obama will somehow transform their lives. “

    From today’s WAPO. Gotta love that MSM.

    RH

  15. E M Risse Avatar
    E M Risse

    Peter G. said:

    “Not sure your suppositions hold water.”

    That may be true but it will be decades before we know for sure. In the mean time…

    “For example, I visited The USSR in the 1970s as a student and reported from there in the 1980s when it was still Communist.

    “Many of Moscow’s broad boulevards were mostly empty because no one could afford cars and few were available. Importing them was out of the question because the ruble was not a hard currency and the government wouldn’t allow it.

    “I went back in the 1990s for another tour. Communism had fallen. Streets were jam-packed. Russian punks flew down crowded sidewalks at 40 nph, not cool when you have children aged 2 and 4. Then, the Humvees arrived.

    “You get the picture.”

    Peter, we all know you worked in Russia and I suspect your impressions have merit. How does that relate to Cuba?

    Russia is a huge land mass with vast resources. What happens to Russia is an open question. The last time EMR noted their stock market was down 75% and they were fighting with the Ukraine and the EU over gas again….

    “People denied mass consumption probably haven’t learned anything that you posit. My guess is that when Castro goes, Cuba will turn into a mini-Moscow.”

    There are two issues:

    “Cuba” is an island nation-state of about 11 million with an area of around 42k sq miles. Moscow is a major New Urban Region that includes the Capitol of a nation-state of 142 million and 6.9 mil sq. miles. Even if one gets the geography and terminology correct, due to the lack of resources in Cuba, your guess is a stretch but we will all just have to wait and see…

    The larger point is that we said NOTHING about what would happen in Cuba. We were talking about importing Cubans to the US of A to help the citizens of every place that aspires to become an Alpha Community adapt to far lower levels of consumption.

    Larry G. said:

    “Cuba will turn into what it was before Castro.”

    There is no place that will be “like it was before…” The world has changed.

    “an offshore version of Las Vegas….”

    How could it compete with Mexico, Aruba, the tribal cassinos, the Slots and Horses at Charlestown…?

    But you are missing the point. EMR may not be right but if he is only half right there will be no Las Vegas, much less revived off shore versions.

    “and a huge economic threat to other offshore tourist destinations….”

    Not if these offshore tourist destinations have already converted to subsistence agriculture because there are few with money to spend on casinos and tourism.

    EMR’s guess: All those who can afford to travel to gamble and cavort will not fill the old cassino at Monte Carlo.

    “I can see it now… American tourists being spirited to and fro in exhaust-belching 57 Chevy’s….”

    EMR must not have been clear, there was nothing in this post that was intended to suggest what might happen in Cuba.

    But while we are at it, as noted above there will be few “American tourists” anywhere except those visiting the next Community.

    “how EMR can look at a oil and lead spewing vehicles as a step a step forward to a more sustainable future is beyond me….”

    A lot seems to be beyond you. Have you compared the CO2 per capita in Cuba (over ten times the area and about three times the population) with Puerto Rico where they have more nice new cars?

    “Now.. if Cuba was going to power modern plug-in electric vehicles powered by the sun, tides and wind… then that would be another story.”

    Perhaps if they build on their strengths they can but that has nothing to do with the original post.

    “but converting 57 Chevy’s to plug-in electrics would be the ultimate in Luddite Lunacy.”

    So why do you suggest it?

    EMR

  16. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    We still don’t know how you went birdwatching and avoided criminal prosecution.

  17. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    “Not if these offshore tourist destinations have already converted to subsistence agriculture because there are few with money to spend on casinos and tourism.

    EMR’s guess: All those who can afford to travel to gamble and cavort will not fill the old cassino at Monte Carlo.”

    What are you telling us? That subsistence agriculture is the only business with a future? surely those vibrant, efficient, balanced, urban areas you propose will produce some money.

    You think none of us will earn enough money to travel more than to the next community? that our horizons will be 40 miles or so? Even the Romans and Elizabethans traveled more than that.

    What has any of this to do with your original contention that a) Cubans have learned to be happy with less conumption, and b) they may be able to teach us something.

    It seems to me that they have more to teach us abut being poor than they have about being happy.

    However, they do have universal health care. They just don’t have band-aids.

    RH

  18. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    If the Atlanta Price data wasn"t enough for you to digest (See Montana Post):

    "Manhattan apartment sales fell for the fourth straight quarter and office rents declined the most in at least two decades as the recession hit New York City.

    Fourth-quarter apartment transactions dropped 9.4 percent from a year earlier as prices for the most expensive units declined, appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and broker Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate said in a report today. Office rents for the period slid 4.8 percent to $69.44 a square foot from the third quarter, commercial broker Cushman & Wakefield Inc. said….

    “This quarter was like no other quarter we’ve ever seen before,” said Joseph Harbert, chief operating officer of Cushman’s New York metro region, in an interview. “It’s as if someone let the helium out of the balloon. "

    ——————————–

    Who knows, maybe subsistence farming is coming back after all.

    Yu can bet that when those former high-rent apratment dwellers show up on my dooryard, I'm going to demand that they pay their full locational costs.

    RH

  19. Kesha Tickets Avatar
    Kesha Tickets

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