Posted on 06/16/2008 7:01:45 PM PDT by Graybeard58
Slowly, the yoke of communism is being lifted in Cuba. Since taking over from brother Fidel, President Raul Castro has made it easier for people to own homes and has overhauled the collectivist agriculture bureaucracy to make farms more productive and profitable.
He also is allowing people to own cell phones, rent cars, stay in luxury hotels, and buy computers and other electronics, which is something of a cruel joke because though most Cubans get a lot of "free" stuff and government subsidies, their average monthly pay is 408 pesos — $19.50.
But Cuba's latest retreat from Stalinism is more significant and promising. A top bureaucrat in the Labor Ministry, Carlos Mateu, told the Communist Party newspaper Granma that government-run businesses, which make up 90 percent of what passes for an economy in Cuba, are abandoning egalitarian wages for merit-based pay.
The new system, which he expects will be implemented fully by August, is in keeping with Mr. Castro's new mantra: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his work." It is unclear whether Cubans would earn higher wages or bonuses for better performance, but either or both would be much better than having everyone paid the same, regardless of their qualifications, abilities or performance.
The old system is "unfair because if it's harmful to give a worker less than he deserves, it's also harmful to give him what he doesn't deserve," the Granma article said. (That quote is worth reading again.) Mr. Mateu also "underscored that there has been a tendency for everyone to get the same, and that egalitarianism is not convenient" because it removes incentives to excel, undermines productivity, and breeds corruption and waste.
They come late to the free-market dance, but after 50 years of communist indoctrination and oppression, the Cubans finally figured out competition and incentives increase performance, productivity and pay. And if that awakening can happen in Cuba, perhaps it will dawn one day on America's public-sector work force.
Ping to a Republican-American Editorial.
If you want on or off this list, let me know.
----
Send treats to the troops...
Great because you did it!
www.AnySoldier.com
Allowing average Cubans to “own” electronic luxuries is a joke when the average Cuban can hardly afford food. Even though they might be chrome plated, shackles are still shackles.
Looks like they’re making good decisions.
Then, of course the brave Cuban community of South Florida will get out of the US and help their own glorious nation......oh, wait!
How can change be necessary in the paradise of free health care for all? Paging Michael Moore.
The Cuban People have done nothing. They are content to continue their pitiful existence with or without DVD’s, cell phones whatever.. They’ve had 50 some odd years to throw off the communist system...but have done very, very little to do so. Sure it’s a good thing for them to be able to have the freedom to buy certain things with permission of the Communist Party government...but when you accept and participate in an economic and political system were all the common people are kept poor in the name of equality......I have no sympathy for those participates.
The Cuban community of South Florida has moved on and has been helping its new glorious nation since the year Barack Obama was still in diapers.
Bay of Pigs Veterans Commissioned in the U.S. Armed Forces 1963
Very interesting.
Wouldn't it be the case, though, that those Cubans who are left never had anything to begin with?
Didn't everybody in Cuba that had anything to speak of get the hell out of Dodge? Or was shot?
Those Cubans that are left have only poverty as a frame of reference. Their state hasn't changed at all. But they're probably aware that all the rich people have gone away.
And, if you asked them, they'd likely be OK with that...
Sad.
Isnt it funny to see the Cubans finally getting away from it, while Barack Hussein runs head over heels towards it..
The Cuban people have done plenty but those, like my grandfather that fought the Communist system, lost, rotted away in prison for 20 years and then died, don't seem to count.
My two uncles that fought at the Bay of Pigs don't seem to count either.
After the Bay of Pigs, my family no longer physically fought for Cuba. We were too busy serving in the U.S. Armed Forces fighting for the U.S.
The results not withstanding, Barack prefers this result of totalitarianism to what we have. Only if he plays god, he would oppose if hillary was playing god over us and him. I oppose both!
How can change be necessary in the paradise of free health care for all? Paging Michael Moore.
well all in all all that enslavement was worth it .....look how healthy all the peons are...what do the people need opportunity and life liberty and the right to persue happiness for...as long as the state is happy thats what counts...face you cant make an omlette w/out breakn some eggs....look it up its in marx’s mannifesto....woo hoo
if only the enslaved cubans could treat fidel to an upside down benito mussolini farewell party....i’d pay a peso to see that...
My in-laws are from Cuba. They came here, after a brief stop in Spain where Franco took them in, and proceeded to work very hard. My wife is very succesful and her brother is a Penn and Wharton grad. The Cubans and Koreans must be the most succesful immigrants to come here since the 60's. To downplay their contribution is just ignorance on some FReepers part. Oh yeah, and the Cuban ex-pats saved the 2000 election.
Viva Cuba libre
I really wanna know why the communist party usa has a website, arent computers a bourgeois luxury
They are content to continue their pitiful existence with or without DVD’s, cell phones whatever.. They’ve had 50 some odd years to throw off the communist system...but have done very, very little to do so.
Nonsense. Tens of thousands of Cubans have died fighting against Castro and his henchmen. Thousands today suffer in prison for even just speaking out against the government. I suspect you have had very little contact with people who have lived under Communist tyranny. Try to find the opportunity to talk to someone who has escaped a place like Communist Cuba, North Korea, Romania, Ukraine, etc. and you'll appreciate how little people can do except try to escape.
Then, of course the brave Cuban community of South Florida will get out of the US and help their own glorious nation......oh, wait!
I presume you are a Native American. Otherwise why haven't you headed out to wherever your family is from to "help your own glorious nation"?
The Cuban Americans I know who live in this country put it first in their minds. That's why they vote for conservative candidates, oppose bone-headed liberal ideas, and make tremendous contributions to the economy of our nation.
“The Cuban People have done nothing.”
The ones who tried are either dead or in prison. What’s your plan for rebellion when your heaviest weapon is a machete and you have no communications except a coconut telegraph?
you don't have a clue, sir.
My dad trained some of those Cubans in a base near the Ft. Myers area and I met some Americans of Cuban families..... they HATE Castro and are waiting for the second he goes nipples up to get back there.
The payback is going to be unreal.
If you want to see some of the most patriotic, anti-Communist, 2nd Amendment-defending citizens ..... meet a Cuban FROM Cuba.
I was in Florida when the Clinton's came around and there was talk about limiting sales of AR-15's. An acquaintance who worked in the same building had me over for soda-pop, and showed me his collection of 20-30 long arms and half that many pistols, his reloading equipment and I asked him if he was a Texan.
I was joking, of course, but he told me that he would never give up his guns after what happened to his grandfather, father and uncles in Cuba. They hate the communists, cause they got to see up close and personal how they really...."help the little people".
I have a business in Illinois, and the business next store to me is owned by a Ukrainian family.. At first they were not at all happy that we were opening next door to them although we are not competing in the same type of business.(they have a health care store and we a restaurant).
We have since become friends and the stories they tell me of their lives under Communism are frightful and they are scared to death of Obama because they do not want a repeat of what they just left some 14 years ago.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.