Florida's Anti-Cuban Trade Law Is an Insult to Capitalism
Odebrecht, the giant Brazilian company that has a $225 million contract to help build the new runway at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, is suing the state over a histrionic law that Rick Scott signed last month in Miami, banning state and local governments from doing major business with companies with commercial ties to Cuba.
The company is right to sue, and a victory against this ill-conceived law would be a victory not just for a Brazilian multinational but for the all the free-market capitalist principles we demonize Fidel Castro for not supporting.
The law -- obviously cynical pandering to a hardline Cuban-American base -- flies in the face of the conservative, business-friendly environment its Republican champions claim to represent. Promoting state-endorsed ideological positions over the free flow of money to competitive corporations? Sounds like something Cuba would do.
The legislation states that a state or local government agency in Florida may not enter into contracts worth more than $1 million ..more at link
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This is all the ideological defeat the regime needs. It's pumping its state money straight into somebody else's multinational. It's capitalist, whether it likes it or not. And as for calling it a "terrorist regime," as an angry Floridian lawmaker recently did? That's up for debate. But with countries like Syria active on the world stage and paranoia stretched thin, there's no need to halt free trade further when it's going toward civil development in a small, impoverished country whose citizens would probably love an ice-cold Coke.
Shortly after Scott signed the bill into law, he embarrassed his fellow Republicans by saying on a radio talk show that it was unenforceable unless the federal government enacted a similar law. He quickly backtracked to appease his terrorist-hating base, but he was probably right. This kind of issue is a federal one, to be decided by sovereign nations on a diplomatic scale. Maybe Scott should have trusted his gut before he signed the thing.
Especially since we elected the poor fool on the basis of his experience as a businessman. If it was acceptable for Rick Scott to preside over a company that committed hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicare fraud, then brush off questions by pleading the Fifth dozens of times, all in the nature of capitalism? It's OK for a multinational company to take business wherever it can find it. In fact, it's what Scott has been telling us will save our state: Run it like a business.
Free-trade evangelists believe that markets are the best diplomatic tool. No business in its right mind would avoid cash flow because of philosophical disputes or fear-mongering. For hypocrisy of that scale, you have to look to Cuba. Or Florida.
