"For almost 50 years the United States has had a trade embargo on Cuba. It hasn´t changed Cuba, it has been totally unsuccessful."
However, the sanctions have cost the United States investment opportunities in the island. Those investments would have generated revenues and jobs. With the US economy "in sharp decline" according to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, those are revenues and jobs that the United States sorely needs.
President Bush, for his part, has narrowed his vision and puts all the blame on the slump in the housing market.
"For certain it is a challenging time for our economy," he said with disarming understatement, "You know that, I know that, a lot of Americans understand that. In the short run the strains on the economy have been caused by the turmoil in the housing market which required focused and decisive action. And that is exactly what the Federal Government is doing."
Dialogue, they say, could well have prevented the muddle headed decision to attack and occupy Iraq, five years ago this month.
"There are some economists like Stiglitz who are talking about the ultimate cost of the war in trillions of dollars," Foote told PressTV News, "The supporters of the administration try to say this is an inexpensive war and the real problem [with the economy] has been the mortgage market. In any case, Americans need to be smart enough to understand that the war benefits only a small number of defense contractors and vested interests and is hurting the livelihoods, the income and jobs of everyone else. This war needs to cease."
Foote doesn´t lay the blame for the current economic crisis solely on the war in Iraq, but did put it at the top of his list.
"The US economy has had problems now for many years and for many reasons. The war is a reason. The breakdowns in control of corporations, the bad lending in the financial markets are others. There are a lot of reasons," he said.
But his recipe for averting financial meltdown also began with the war.
"What needs to be done is ending the war in Iraq and spending that money on infrastructure, investing in new kinds of industries," he said, "That will lead to long term competitive jobs for people in America."
George Bush inherited a budget and current account surplus when he came into office. The next tenant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue will inherit at least two ongoing wars, a mind boggling national debt, and an economy in an utter shambles.
And unfortunately, Foote expressed no confidence anything will change for the better next January.
"Well the problem is that if the next one elected is a Democrat, they´re going to want bigger spending and even more deficits," he said, "And if John McCain is elected, he wants endless wars and occupation of countries for the next hundred years. We don´t have a good scenario with any of the current leading candidates for President."
For more on Paul Sheldon Foote: http://www.opednews.com/author/author912.html
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