Cuba (merged thread)

[goesh]

I hadn't considered the ethanol/biodiesel aspect - seems somewhere South biodiesel is really booming - Brazil? Regarding casinos, it seems really a matter of percentages being put on paper with accountants from both sides insuring contractual harmony. Again a small percentage of the potential GNP but the image issue can be countered with non-casino type resorts, family type places. An 'accidental' overdose for el-Commandante and it's off to Cuban Capitalism for sure and Cuba as a financial "outer collar" is viable. With Fidel in the grave, the Cuban-Americans lose 75% of their clout.

[Watcher In The Middle]

I hadn't considered the ethanol/biodiesel aspect - seems somewhere South biodiesel is really booming - Brazil?

Yes, it is Brazil. But that's just a small part of a bigger story. The whole "Politics of Sugar", in particular in Florida, are going to face radical change once Fidel goes off the scene. Here's a link to the background at opensecrets.org (btw, both political parties are dirty as sin on this one).

Link

An 'accidental' overdose for el-Commandante and it's off to Cuban Capitalism for sure and Cuba as a financial "outer collar" is viable. With Fidel in the grave, the Cuban-Americans lose 75% of their clout.

The funny thing is that the new economics are being held at bay by this really weird symbiotic adversarial relationship (more of a shouting match, actually) of Castro vrs. the Cuban-Americans. Remove one group from the scene, and in all likelihood the other side will just be lost without their old adversary.

The funnest part of the whole deal is that if this comes down where Cuba becomes an economic "Outer Collar" from Miami-Dade, the biggest losers will probably be the Chinese. Right now, Cuba is an open field playpen for them, because there are so few players. But flood the playing field with new players, and the Chinese are ust "wannabes". As is Hugo Chavez.