Free Talk Live

Mariela Castro, Daughter of Cuban President, Helps Lead Struggle for LGBTQ Rights in Changing Cuba - Mariela Castro was recently granted a visa for a rare trip to the United States. Democracy Now! had a chance to sit down with her last week at the Cuban consulate here in New York City. We talked not only about her work combating homophobia, but also her thoughts on the Cuban Five and what’s happening in Cuba 50 years after the start of the U.S. embargo. She called on the United States to release five Cubans jailed for spying on violent anti-Cuban militants in exchange for U.S.

Fidel Castro no longer believes in communism. "The Cuban [economic] model doesn't even work for us anymore."

One of contenders for the most highly taxed country in the Western world has cut taxes significantly since 2006. Tight fiscal policy has pushed the public sector's share of GDP back down toward 50%. The economy is growing, the budget is balanced, unemployment is declining.
In five years in office, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has repealed Sweden's wealth taxes and inheritance taxes. He has reduced the labor taxes that pushed almost all home repairs into the black market. He has championed a simple powerful idea: Work should pay better than benefits.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus on Saturday criticized U.N. calls for increased "global governance" of the world's economy, saying the world body should leave that role to national governments.

FIFTEEN years ago it seemed that the great debate about the proper size and role of the state had been resolved. In Britain and America alike, Tony Blair and Bill Clinton pronounced the last rites of “the era of big government”. Privatising state-run companies was all the rage. The Washington consensus reigned supreme: persuade governments to put on “the golden straitjacket”, in Tom Friedman’s phrase, and prosperity would follow.

Today big government is back with a vengeance: not just as a brute fact, but as a vigorous ideology.

What we need is a president who is going to come in and say, 'You know what? Most taxes are illegal now. Let’s stop paying taxes for two or three years. Let’s see what the economy does.'"--José Canseco

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that voters overwhelmingly prefer a free market economy to an economy managed by the government and think government economic control helps big businesses at the expense of small ones.

Award-winning journalist, filmmaker, author, professor Saul Landau has made more than 45 films and written 14 books, many about Cuba. His latest film is "Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up," about U.S. support for violent anti-Castro militants. Landau joins us to discuss the history of the Cuban Five and U.S. support for a group of anti-Castro militants who have been behind the bombing of airplanes, the blowing up of hotels and assassinations. Today they are allowed to live freely in the United States. "What did Cuba do to us?," Landau asks.

Did you engage in some contractual responsibility? Don't worry kids, we're from the Government, and we're here to help you get out of that nasty agreement you made. Work for our gang and we'll REALLY help! We won't mention where this money is going to come from - rest assured, it's MAGIC money - we're the Government - we pay your debts with MAGIC and pixiedust (which debt gremlins are allergic to... trust us... we only want a bit of your soul... just kidding... sign here.)