Cuban Cigars for Everyone

I've always found America's 50-year old policy regarding travel and trade with Cuba to be a little, I don't know...stupid? But that's a can of worms you don't want to open around a very small, albeit powerful group of Cuban ex-pats who decry the vicious tactics used by Castro to crush any opposition to his power. I get that, but there he sits, still mocking us, still in power. I think a little taste of American tourism and an influx of dollars would have a powerful and positive effect on the country that might eventually be too powerful to avoid, sort of like happened in Eastern Europe. But what do I know? Let me stick to what I do best: being silly in a middle school way.

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Stuffed Shirt

I Don't Understand World Trade

This shirt has an MSRP of $40. I got it for $7. While I feel good about finding a durable all-cotton shirt at that price, I can't help but feel someone is getting screwed in the deal. Is it the 90% female labor force in Bangladesh that made it and then carefully packaged it with all this fancy trash? It can't be the shipper who got it here on a slow boat with a skeleton crew. Is it Izod, a company with enough money to secure naming rights on an arena in New Jersey? Is it the retailer, marking this down to make room for more? Someone is losing money here and I need a course in business economics.

click for ridiculous size

Whatever. What do I care? Bangladesh's #1 crop is cotton, their #1 export is garments and the US is their #1 customer. Everybody's happy.

And the merchants of the earth will weep
when no one’s buying their cargo anymore

Cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls
Fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet cloth
PC, PDA, HDTV
and everything down at the Dollar Store

Yeah.