By Owen Paine on Saturday October 17, 2009 09:52 PM
Christ Jesus above, and Karl Marx below, now in their all-seeing glorified state, must know just how much I adore Fidel, but the Comandante's grasp of global capitalist economics is another story.
From his exquisite blog, carried at Monthly Reruns:
"One million of dollars today, when the price of gold — a metal whose value has been the most stable through centuries– exceeds one thousand dollars a troy ounce, is worth about 30 times its value when Nixon suspended the convertibility. Therefore, 200 billion dollars of 1971 amount to 6 trillion dollars of 2009. If this is not taken into account the new generations will not have an idea of the imperialist barbarity."As our spritely Father S is wont to quip -- 'where does one begin?' So I won't -- I'll just give you another passage to smoke on:
"The Treasury bonds and bills continued to circulate as convertible hard currencies. The states’ reserves continued feeding on that paper money that, on the one hand, could be used to buy raw material, properties, goods and services anywhere in the world while on the other favored American exports with respect to the rest of the economies of the world."He even quotes one of Great Satan Sam's master doubletalkers:
"An outstanding professor of Economics at Harvard University, Kenneth Rogoff, has said that the next big financial crisis will be that of the public deficits."Hey, there's even a gold bug moment, El Jefe has become so disoriented by recent earth wide financial gyrations:
"Once again the metal gold is becoming a significant international reserve currency."Cuba locuta, as the good Father might say. There you have it, folks, we're headed back to the gold standard.
One thing is certain: Fidel has provided ample evidence right here in his own blog post of the howling truth of his noble and righteously sweeping lede --
"The Empire has ruled the world through economy and deceit rather than force."If Uncle's "system" can confuse Fidel, of all people, who can't uncle deceive?
PS: Not a topper to his noble lede, but try this on for a final chord. It's apropos the Obama peace prize:
"Many will feel that he has yet to earn the right to receive such an award. Rather than a prize to the President of the United States, we choose to see that decision as a criticism of the genocidal policy pursued by more than a few presidents of that country who took that nation to the crossroads where it is today. That is, as a call for peace and for the pursuit of solutions conducive to the survival of the species."Viva Fidel! Viva Nobel! Viva -- the gold standard!
Comments (8)
You have to wonder if he's always been this addled.
His chutzpah is certainly undiminished, as he publishes his blog while "the revolution" continues to block the internet at home.
Posted by Michael Dawson | October 18, 2009 2:50 PM
Posted on October 18, 2009 14:50
"he publishes his blog while "the revolution" continues to block the internet at home"
now my highly valued correspondent
u cross from the land of v.i. lenin
to the land of john milton
both in their several ways
are dear to me
alas i'll admit
i have no universal devining rod
on this stuff
so i'm not able to judge
the precise correctness
of any circumscribing
of a citizen's right to know
by a state policy
each such move is either
by mind set
guilty till proven innocent
or
innocent till proven guilty
but either way
only really and justly
determinable
ultimately after fairly detailed
examination
of the necessities and contingencies
of the particular socio-political context
how's that for a stiff
careful meaningless
response ??
Posted by op | October 18, 2009 4:26 PM
Posted on October 18, 2009 16:26
The left obviously needs to reinvent itself in short order, if we are to have a crack at Socialism 2.0. Seems to me that one thing we need to do is stay committed to historical materialism, in the sense of a way of thinking.
Lenin wished Czarist Russia was the factory-laden Rhinelend. Che wished he could harangue up a new human nature. Fidel wishes that "special restrictions" won't ultimately backfire.
People, meanwhile, aren't stupid. And they are prone to resentment and voting against their own interests. I can't see how the suppression of basic information and civil rights can wind up not backfiring, if only by its generation of a grass-is-greener presumption.
I think Gandhi was right that how we get there matters, and that losing is sometimes necessary. You can use the internet in Chavista Venezuela. So what's Cuba's excuse, other than knowledge of past guilt?
Posted by Michael Dawson | October 18, 2009 6:14 PM
Posted on October 18, 2009 18:14
"Seems to me that one thing we need to do is stay committed to historical materialism"
"People, meanwhile, aren't stupid. And they are prone to resentment and voting against their own interests."
"You can use the internet in Chavista Venezuela. So what's Cuba's excuse..?"
" the suppression of ... information ...
can wind up generating a grass-is-greener presumption."
"I think Gandhi was right . losing is sometimes necessary"
md
your comment compacted
to squeeze out the consensus truths
Posted by op | October 18, 2009 6:57 PM
Posted on October 18, 2009 18:57
Well, the cat is in his eighties, and he functioned in hyperdrive for a long time. Fidel was always more revolutionary nationalist then he was socialist, so it doesn't surprise me much that he's finishing up the way he has. For almost fifty years, though, he and his compatriots were a genuine thorn in the side of the empire, and that's how I prefer to think of the Granma crew. I've never thought Raul was anywhere near as sharp as his older brother, and it will be interesting to see if Alarcon or any of the "younger" leadership of the Cuban party (they're in their late fifties and sixties if they're a day)will be able to cobble anything of worth together as the old guard dies off.
It looks grim, mon. We can be very sure the postmoderns of Cuba are waiting to step in and fuck everything up just like their tendency has everywhere else. I've no objection to the rejection of marxist method so long as the geniuses among us can come up with something better, but so far, they're batting a big fat fucking zero.
Posted by Michael Hureaux | October 19, 2009 11:59 AM
Posted on October 19, 2009 11:59
Well, the cat is in his eighties, and he functioned in hyperdrive for a long time. Fidel was always more revolutionary nationalist then he was socialist, so it doesn't surprise me much that he's finishing up the way he has. For almost fifty years, though, he and his compatriots were a genuine thorn in the side of the empire, and that's how I prefer to think of the Granma crew. I've never thought Raul was anywhere near as sharp as his older brother, and it will be interesting to see if Alarcon or any of the "younger" leadership of the Cuban party (they're in their late fifties and sixties if they're a day)will be able to cobble anything of worth together as the old guard dies off.
It looks grim, mon. We can be very sure the postmoderns of Cuba are waiting to step in and fuck everything up just like their tendency has everywhere else. I've no objection to the rejection of marxist method so long as the geniuses among us can come up with something better, but so far, they're batting a big fat fucking zero.
Posted by Michael Hureaux | October 19, 2009 12:00 PM
Posted on October 19, 2009 12:00
MH, I was implying that it's been folks like Fidel who have dumped the marxist method, by trying to get their personal willpower to clear away huge material conditions. Having overthrown the initial points of entry, they imagine they can continue forever.
I suppose another way of talking about this is to ask whether one thinks the thesis in the Declaration of Independence is good, hard sociology, or just another piece of theology. Personally, I think the evidence has come down on the former side. Hence, no egalitarian realist has any business sacrificing the principle, even for supposedly greater and temporary reasons. I think this point has been absorbed by folks like Chavez and Evo Morales.
That said, I'm not down with too much Cuba bashing. There have been many redeeming features. I just wonder if the Stalinism might not wind up turning the island into a reactionary force, even in the time of general leftward movement. What do SMBIVistas think would happen if Raul or somebody else permitted an election? (Which they should, asap, IMHO.)
Posted by Michael Dawson | October 19, 2009 2:54 PM
Posted on October 19, 2009 14:54
MD wrote:
Okay, I'll bite. I think Cuba would probably be Batistaland again within a decade.Personally, I approve of elections as long as they produce the desired result. In this respect I resemble the mullahs of Iran and the mandarins of the good ole US of A.
Posted by MJS | October 20, 2009 12:06 AM
Posted on October 20, 2009 00:06