U.S. in Deep Caca is God's Punishment

I just read in a Reuters article that President Ortega said that the current U.S. economic crisis is God punishing the U.S. for imposing its economic policies on the poor. Now, personally, I don't think God was involved—I feel the U.S. government is fully capable of screwing things up for the average citizen without divine intervention. Unfortunately, the article had a lot of filler. So, here is the original article followed by a properly edited version.

MANAGUA (Reuters) - Nicaragua's leftist President Daniel Ortega, a U.S. foe since the Cold War, said God was punishing the United States with the financial crisis for trying to impose its economic principles on poor countries.

"It's incredible that in the most powerful country in the world, which spends billions of dollars on brutal wars ... people do not have enough money to stay in their homes," former Marxist guerrilla Ortega said in a speech late on Thursday.

"God is punishing the United States," for imposing flawed economic policies on developing countries around the world, said Ortega, who first governed Nicaragua in the 1980s when his Sandinista government was locked in a war with U.S.-backed Contra rebels.

The Sandinistas were voted out of office in 1990 but Ortega returned to power in a 2006 election. Since then, the ex-rebel has spoken out against U.S. "tyranny" in Latin America and irked Washington by allying himself with anti-U.S. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Many Latin American countries adopted pro-market economic policies promoted by Washington in the 1990s but they have done little to reduce poverty.

Ortega said the current crisis would hit remittance flows to Nicaragua, as immigrants sending money home to relatives lose their jobs in the United States due to the slowdown.

Nicaraguans abroad send home between $800 million and $1 billion dollars (472 million and 590 million pounds) a year, according to the country's central bank.

Re-edited version follows:

MANAGUA (Reuters and NicaLiving) - Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega said God was punishing the United States with the financial crisis for trying to impose its economic principles on poor countries.

"It's incredible that in the most powerful country in the world, which spends billions of dollars on brutal wars ... people do not have enough money to stay in their homes," President Ortega said in a speech late on Thursday.

"God is punishing the United States," for imposing flawed economic policies on developing countries around the world, said President Ortega, who also governed Nicaragua in the 1980s when the U.S. government was conducting an illegal war against Nicaragua.

His party lost the 1990 election for president against a U.S.-government created coalition but Ortega was re-elected president in 2006. Since then he has spoken out against U.S. "tyranny" in Latin America and irked Washington by allying himself with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

Many Latin American countries were victimized by pro-market economic policies promoted by Washington in the 1990s which did little to reduce poverty. Today, most of those countries are seeking an alternative to U.S.-backed "neo-con" approaches.

Ortega said the current crisis would hit remittance flows to Nicaragua, as immigrants sending money home to relatives lose their jobs in the United States due to the slowdown.

Nicaraguans abroad send home between $800 million and $1 billion dollars (472 million and 590 million pounds) a year, according to the country's central bank, the majority of which come from the United States.