ACarl (@ACarl)

Many immediately blame #socialism alone, but the reality is more complicated. #Cuba has endured decades of economic isolation, #sanctions, fuel shortages, and chronic #underinvestment. None of that excuses #Havana’s policies, yet pretending that American policy has played no role ignores history. Washington has maintained one of the longest #embargo regimes in modern history while successive administrations tightened restrictions on #fuel shipments and financial transactions. The result has been an economy unable to obtain the capital, spare parts, and financing necessary to modernize #infrastructure that was already decades old. Infrastructure does not suddenly collapse overnight. It deteriorates after years of deferred #maintenance, declining #investment, and governments that continually choose short-term politics over long-term planning. Whether the system is socialist or #capitalist makes little difference if there is no capital available to maintain the foundation upon which the economy depends. The sovereign #debt crisis I have discussed for years ultimately produces exactly these types of failures. Governments borrow to fund current consumption while neglecting productive investment. The public notices little at first because the lights still work. Then one day they do not. Cuba simply reached that point sooner than many others because it lacked access to both capital and reliable energy supplies. Every nation that neglects its infrastructure while diverting resources elsewhere eventually discovers that economic decline begins long before the markets recognize it. https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/markets-by-sector/energy/cubas-power-grid-has-collapsed/ #powergrid #electricity #blackout #thermoelectric #Venezuela #powerstation