Do embargoes work?

Rush talked about Cuba and the embargo we've had there since the revolution. Which has been, what? 40 years. We've had an embargo against Cuba for 40 years, and what has that accomplished? Nothing.

He recently announced, in fact, that small businesses can now operate and that foreign investors could now buy Cuban real estate. (The joke of this new announcement, of course, is that Americans are not allowed to invest in Cuba, not because of Cuban policy, but because of American policy. In other words, Cuba is beginning to adopt the sort of economic ideas that America has long-demanded it adopt, but Americans are not allowed to participate in this free-market experiment because of our government's hypocritical and stupidly self-defeating embargo policy." This is in the story. This is Mr. Goldberg. So you see what this is really all about. This is all about lifting the embargo, and that's what Castro is aiming for. If there's any doubt here, and if there's any doubt about Mr. Goldberg's article, this is just the latest drumbeat from the left to end the US embargo against Cuba. After all, Castro now says in so many words he's sorry, he tried to have our country destroyed and he realizes communism doesn't work. I mean he must need money badly. That's what this is all about.

Why shouldn't we lift it? Who is hurt by this embargo? Who has ever been hurt by embargos? Only the little people. The governments don't react to such embargoes, because they don't care if their people die!