Cuba embraces 2 surprising free-market reforms

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Cuba embraces 2 surprising free-market reforms
By WILL WEISSERT (AP) – 58 minutes ago

HAVANA — Cuba has issued a pair of surprising free-market decrees, allowing foreign investors to lease government land for up to 99 years — potentially touching off a golf-course building boom — and loosening state controls on commerce to let islanders grow and sell their own fruit and vegetables.

The moves, published into law in the Official Gazette on Thursday and Friday and effective immediately, are significant steps as President Raul Castro promises to scale back the communist state's control of the economy while attempting to generate new revenue for a government short on cash.

"These are part of the opening that the government wants to make given the country's situation," said Oscar Espinosa Chepe, a state-trained economist who is now an anti-communist dissident.

Cuba said it was modifying its property laws "with the aim of amplifying and facilitating" foreign investment in tourism, and that doing so would provide "better security and guarantees to the foreign investor."

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gG8qLd4ozL5rvaQHbiJPOHvtnRpQD9HS34FO0

[dipsydoodle]

1. A small army of investors in Canada, Europe and Asia

Great stuff.

Notable absense in that little list. :rofl:

[Imajika]

2. Excellent news...

Looks like Cuba is beginning the move away from its command and control economy. Their communist system has been a complete failure and it is about time Cuba finally begins to dump it. I've read they are talking about laying off around 20% of the government workforce, appear to be allowing more private enterprise, recognize they are uncompetitive and making moves to attract foreign investment, etc.

Very good news indeed.

[provis99]

5. failure? There's no homeless people in Cuba.

They get better health care, have lower unemployment, and higher high school graduation rates than the US. How is this a failure?

[Imajika]

6. Yes, so did East Germany...

...which was also an utter failure. Cuba's model is to provide the minimum to everyone relatively equally, and it is reasonably successful at that - at the expense of individual freedoms, a good economy, material wealth, etc, etc.

Why do you think the Cuban government is instituting these reforms? The answer is pretty clearly that their economy is an absolute basket case - uncompetitive, inefficient and generally circling the drain.

[quaker bill]

7. Which of course has nothing to do

with 50 year the economic embargo. It is just the socialism.

Face it, they would be easily the most prosperous country in the caribbean, were it not for the embargo. As it is, they are far more prosperous than a great many of the islands fully taken with the free market.

[rayofreason]

22. Were it not for the embargo...

...Cuba would as rich as the richest, most economically successful and technologically innovative socialist state.

Now, which one might that be?

[quaker bill]

54. Depends on where you draw the line

Sweeden does pretty well and is substantially socialist. Haiti and Nicaragua do rather poorly and are clearly free-market.

I do not think the manner of economic organization is nearly as large a factor as most people posit. Most of the truly and deeply poor places on the planet have all the free market stuff any right-winger could ever ask for. They are vastly less regulated and vastly less taxed. There are no minimum wages, child labor laws, workplace safety rules, pension plans, social safety nets, or environmental protections. Curiously, despite all that they remain desperately poor for decade upon decade.

Actually, I tend to think that because of all that, they remain desperately poor and exploited. The evidence is out there, go look.

[rayofreason]

57. Indeed...

...culture matters enormously.

For example, a culture that accepts corruption as a normal mode of doing business, or that dismisses education for females will always have serious problems securing economic wellbeing, regardless of tax or regulation policy. That is why the experience of Germany and Korea is so clear. Same culture and people, two systems, same outcome. Sweden's social-democracy is a far cry from the government-run economies of the Soviet bloc or Cuba. Sweden is a market economy and is moving more in that direction.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575453163101960890.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_world

So yes, the evidence is clear. Socialism (USSR, Cuba, DPRK, premarket. Maoist China) doesn't deliver the goods, but many (especially on the DU) sing the praises of Cuba, just as they or their older co-religionists sang the praises of Democratic Kampuchea, Maoist China, or the early USSR. But that is the problem with religion, of which Socialism (by which I mean the implementation of the Marxist vision) is one and only one indigenous to Europe. Reality doesn't matter. Faith does. No matter that NO socialist state, Cuba included, has ever delivered the goods. And in every socialist state that has transitioned to a market-economy society (even if still highly authoritarian) we find that things were not so rosy as the believers had once made out. I bet once the Castros are gone, once Cuba really opens up, we will discover that the vaunted "free medical care" was highly stratified, with the best care going to those who merited it because of politics. There are plenty of pictures floating around, purportedly smuggled out of Cuba, showing filthy conditions clinics far away from where non-Cubans venture. Are they real? Probably, given human nature. Are they tiny, isolated incidents? Who knows, though I am sure that the true believers will dismiss any such evidence of bad behavior on the part of the anointed ones. Just remember all those in the West like Walter Duranty who in the 1930's dismissed reports of famine in the Ukraine as lies and the fevered imagination of enemies, or Chomsky's defense of the Khmer Rouge and his denial of the democide as the evidence became clear.

That is the trouble with religion - when facts and belief collide, facts must go.

And this is especially true when it comes to the governmental management of the economy. Economies, even in poor, underdeveloped places, are incredibly complex things. Any information that a bureaucrat is by definition partial and outdated. So centrally managed economic decisions will be at odds, or at best out of phase, with the real world. This results in poor allocation of resources, which are used unproductively, so the economy suffers. Moreover, when politicians and bureaucrats make the economic decisions, they pick winners and losers based on political, bureaucrat, or personal (corrupt) reasons - not reasons that make any economic sense, even if an economically sensible decision is possible in the first place. More waste and poor economic performance. And here is where the culture thing you mentioned comes into play. What was the richest Soviet-style economy? - East Germany, because they were Germans.

So stories like the OP just make me laugh. "Reforms" (a.k.a "market economics") are introduced because the underlying system doesn't deliver the goods! It is like saying that we are going to "Reform" Judaism by doing the opposite of what Deuteronomy says and institute the worship of Asherah as the consort of Yahweh - a heresy that had been previously expunged!

If you simply leave people alone to do what they want, produce what they want, soon enough winners and losers will emerge. The person who doesn't weed the garden won't get much out of it. The person who gets up early, works hard to weed a little plot of land, will produce more and better quality vegetables. Selling them in the market, that person will have more money, buy more land or tools to produce more efficiently, maybe hire someone to help - OMM!! A KULAK!!! Quick! Deal with the class enemy! (OMMarx not OMGod).

That is why socialist states must be authoritarian. If you leave people alone market economies and capitalism naturally evolve. The state needs to "build socialism." So in economic terms, socialists are creationists and anti-evolution, just like one might expect of religious fundamentalists.

[quaker bill]

60. False equivalencies do not help your argument

The experience of which you speak is stilted. During the development of these socialist economies, one place in the world was the engine of industry. Specifically the USA. This I am afraid had less to do with our market system, and far more to do with WWII bombing the industrial capacity of our potential rivals out of existence. We traded and loaned money to the economic systems we favored, and embargoed, made cold wars, and occasionally, hot wars against the rest. The experiment of which you speak was not controlled for this variable.

BTW We and our lovely free markets don't fare all that well anymore, in case you missed it.

In fact, among serious analysts, there are considerable concerns about state run capitalism, like China, which is pretty well kicking our backside. Free markets are a form of religion as well, Friedman certainly believed in them well beyond the level a serious analysis of facts would support.

[rayofreason]

64. Right after WW2...

..it is true that 50% of the world's GDP was produced in the US because the other major industrial powers had experienced major damage, like Germany that was reduced to almost a preindustrial error.

But things changed. The gap between the USSR and the US got WIDER! In the 50's the top technology of the USSR was equal to the top technology in the US. If the world had remained mid-20th century industrial the USSR would not have collapsed. But the growth of technology, the innovation made possible by market economies was completely unmatched by the socialist world. After all, how can a bureaucrat imagine a PC or an iPod? And even if they did, the idea would be crushed by the bureaucracy. So the gap grew wider. I remember shopping in GUM in Moscow in 1990. Abacus, not a cash register. Empty shelves with only winter furs hats - in June. But life was better than it had been at the end of the war. Just not good enough. And the gap grew wider and wider. People lost faith, and the system collapsed.

Face it. The experiment has been done. South Korea is rich not because we loaned them money - they are rich because they had a market economy and a favorable culture. This allowed them to develop, trade and become rich. Socialist economies could have done they same - if they could, but they can't, and not because "we would not trade with them" since in a market economy no one controls that on the large scale. You only don't trade with people who have nothing of value to offer. And the fact that socialist East Germany was richer than ostensibly free-market Haiti only goes to show the influence of culture.

The belief that market economies are much more productive and efficient than socialist ones is a conclusion than comes out of empiricism, not a presupposed quasi-religeous belief in markets. But it takes real FAITH to believe that a socialist economy like that of the USSR, or Cuba, can deliver what people want. It is a faith that has been disappointed time and time again, and if the adherents of socialism were scientific about it they would abandon socialism as a theory that has any merit about the organization of human society or an explanation for history. But adherents of socialism don't abandon it in the teeth of evidence because it is not about evidence - it is about faith.

But not everyone is faithful, especially when their own wellbeing is at stake. You need an authoritarian government to stop people from what they would do if just left alone. So a "reform" is to allow people to be left alone - a little bit - because by allowing a market to function you are able to better provide for what people need. A startling admission for a socialist state to make. On the other hand, nobody needs to force the US economy to be market-based.

Worse yet, the hardcore true believers, when in power and confronted with the evidence right in front of them, choose to imagine "enemies" and act accordingly. Hence the killing fields, and the famines, and the gulag. That is what happens when religion rules.

And regarding our market economy - sure we have a crisis. A crisis that I suspect is rooted in demographics more than anything else. In any case, the 1930's were also a crisis, and attempts to deal with than crisis by state control (communism, fascism) did not work out so well. So the current problems will not lead to an end of market economies (the way the USSR ended) any more than the Depression did.

[grantcart]

56. Singapore

The ruling party in Singapore is technically a socialist party and won originally in a coalition with communists.

While it has embraced markets and private capital in the markets there is very little private property. Everyone is automatically entered into a public social security type scheme to be able to buy goverment housing leases. Friedman loved Singapore because of its success but hated it because there was so much governmental control of personal property.

[rayofreason]

59. Singapore...

...is absolutely not a socialist economy. Not even close. It is a center for capitalism, and of international market trade. I love the place. One of my favorite places to eat is down on Boat Quay across from the Parliament and the Asian Museum (well worth a visit). As you walk along, the hawkers offer free beer, etc., and prices on crab that just keep on coming down the more you walk and the later it gets. Nope, not socialism - a full throated market economy, as all of the surrounding bank towers make clear. And regarding the HDB flats, there is a still a fully-operational market in private housing, which can be quite expensive. Also, I note that by "private property" it seems you mean "housing", not "private property" in the Marxist sense.

[grantcart]

65. Everything that you have said applies equally to Shanghai as well

Althought the percent of Singapore that is owned by private property would be much lower than Shanghai. 100% of Singaporean citizens are enrolled into the government housing system and over 80% of the country lives in government housing. Most Singaporeans also use government transportation and so on.

If you were to do a comparison of government services by sector you would find it difficult to decide between Singapore and Shanghai which was Communist.

Obviously Singapore's free market commercial policies make it difficult to classify and The Economist calls it a hybrid.

But again TECHNICALLY Singapore remains a socialist country, The PAP is TECHNICALLY called 'Democratic Socialist'.

As stated in my reply the PAP was heavily socialistic when it ran, as a part of a coalition that included communists.

You can learn more about PAP's socialist past here
:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Action_Party


The party is deeply suspicious of communist political ideologies, despite a brief joint alliance (with the the pro-labour co-founders of the PAP who were falsely accused of being communists) against colonialism in Singapore during the party's early years. It has since considered itself a social democratic party, though in recent decades it has moved towards neoliberal and free-market economy reforms.

In 1976 the PAP resigned from the Socialist International after the Dutch Labour Party had proposed to expel the party,<12> accusing it of suppressing freedom of speech.

Organization
Initially adopting a traditionalist Leninist party organization together with a vanguard cadre from its labour-leaning faction in 1958, the PAP Executive later expelled the leftist faction, bringing the ideological basis of the party into the centre, and later in the 1960s, moving further to the right. In the beginning, there were about 500 so-called "temporary cadre" appointed<6> but the current number of cadres is unknown and the register of cadres is kept confidential. In 1988, Wong Kan Seng revealed that there were more than 1,000 cadres. Cadre members have the right to attend party conferences and to vote for and elect and to be elected to the Central Executive Committee (CEC), the pinnacle of party leaders.

[rayofreason]

67. You are right about Shanghai...

...it is one of the most market/capitalist oriented places anywhere. About 7 years ago I was sitting in a Shanghai bar with a colleague, smoking a fine cigar and sipping a Suntory Yamazaki single malt, when I struck up a conversation with with a couple of Chinese businessmen who sat down at the table next to us. The talked at length how everyone comes to Shanghai planning to start a business and get rich, but of course only a few reach the dream. They also talked about how cutthroat business was, as they ordered some high-end cognac.

Across the Pudong river from the Bund used to be a swamp, but in a decade it was transformed by high-rises and towers, including the iconic television tower (just google shangai television tower). The businessmen I met were well aware of what had changed and in how short a time, and that there were fortunes to be made.

I have not been back to Shanghai since, and I wonder how it has changed. But I bet the pursuit of money is still the vibe that one can't but help to feel when in that city.

[Judi Lynn]

31. I've heard that from people who've been to Cuba and other islands,

and people who've been to Central America have indicated it's true concerning the Central American countries, as well.

[Ken Burch]

27. Cuba has problems...but American-style conservatism like you're calling for isn't the answer

It goes without saying that there'd be nothing a progressive person could support in a capitalist Cuba.

Market values are always the enemy of humane values.

[Yeahyeah]

36. Damn.Glad we have such a good economy.That circling the drain stuff must really suck.

[Fearless]

8. Is there data to back up those three statements?

[Judi Lynn]

10. You haven't read much on Cuba, then? Don't advertise.

Here's an interesting statement a lot of people read years ago concerning how the World Bank President viewed Cuba:

Learn from Cuba, Says World Bank
By Jim Lobe, IPS, 1 May 2001

WASHINGTON, Apr 30 (IPS) - World Bank President James Wolfensohn Monday extolled the Communist government of President Fidel Castro for doing "a great job" in providing for the social welfare of the Cuban people.

~snip~
Some senior Bank officers, however, go so far as to suggest that other developing countries should take a very close look at Cuba's performance. "It is in some sense almost an anti-model," according to Eric Swanson, the programme manager for the Bank's Development Data Group, which compiled the WDI, a tome of almost 400 pages covering scores of economic, social, and environmental indicators.

~snip~
It has reduced its infant mortality rate from 11 per 1,000 births in 1990 to seven in 1999, which places it firmly in the ranks of the western industrialised nations. It now stands at six, according to Jo Ritzen, the Bank's Vice President for Development Policy who visited Cuba privately several months ago to see for himself.

By comparison, the infant mortality rate for Argentina stood at 18 in 1999; Chile's was down to ten; and Costa Rica, 12. For the entire Latin American and Caribbean region as a whole, the average was 30 in 1999. Similarly, the mortality rate for children under five in Cuba has fallen from 13 to eight per thousand over the decade. That figure is 50 percent lower than the rate in Chile, the Latin American country closest to Cuba's achievement. For the region as a whole, the average was 38 in 1999.

"Six for every 1,000 in infant mortality - the same level as Spain - is just unbelievable," according to Ritzen, a former education minister in the Netherlands. "You observe it, and so you see that Cuba has done exceedingly well in the human development area."

Indeed, in Ritzen's own field the figures tell much the same story. Net primary enrolment for both girls and boys reached 100 percent in 1997, up from 92 percent in 1990. That was as high as most developed nations, higher even than the US rate and well above 80-90 percent rates achieved by the most advanced Latin American countries. "Even in education performance, Cuba's is very much in tune with the developed world, and much higher than schools in, say, Argentina, Brazil, or Chile."

It is no wonder, in some ways. Public spending on education in Cuba amounts to about 6.7 percent of gross national income, twice the proportion in other Latin America and Caribbean countries and even Singapore. There were 12 primary pupils for every Cuban teacher in 1997, a ratio that ranked with Sweden, rather than any other developing country. The Latin American and East Asian average was twice as high at 25 to one.

The average youth (ages 15-24) illiteracy rate in Latin America and the Caribbean stands at seven percent. In Cuba, the rate is zero. In Latin America, where the average is seven percent, only Uruguay approaches that achievement, with one percent youth illiteracy. "Cuba managed to reduce illiteracy from 40 percent to zero within ten years," said Ritzen. "If Cuba shows that it is possible, it shifts the burden of proof to those who say it's not possible."

Similarly, Cuba devoted 9.1 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) during the 1990s to health care, roughly equivalent to Canada's rate. Its ratio of 5.3 doctors per 1,000 people was the highest in the world.

More:
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43b/185.html

[Fearless]

12. I'm well within my rights to ask for data.

Thank you for your article. Incidentally the article says nothing about high school graduation, rather it talks about primary school enrollment. It doesn't say anything about homelessness either. So my request for data remains. The reason I had asked is because I have never seen that data. It wasn't meant as a slight to the OP. I asked out of curiosity.

[rabs]

13. Info on primary and secondary education

School Education

School children in HavanaSchool attendance is compulsory from ages 6 to 15 or 16 (end of basic secondary education) and all students, regardless of age or sex, wear school uniforms with the color denoting grade level. Primary education lasts for six years. Secondary education is divided into basic secondary education and pre-university secondary education. The curriculum in primary and secondary schools is based upon principles of "hard work, self-discipline and love of country".<21> At the end of basic secondary education, pupils can choose between pre-university education and technical and professional education. Those who complete pre-university education are awarded the Bachillerato. Technical training leads to two levels of qualification - skilled worker and middle-level technician. Successful completion of this cycle gives access to the technological institutes.

quick wiki search yielded plenty more


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Cuba


-------------------


Billboard in Havana

200 million children in the world

today sleep in the streets.

Not one is Cuban.

[Fearless]

14. Thanks!

Although, it still doesn't talk about high school graduation and honestly, a billboard doesn't constitute data. There are plenty of billboards in the US and I wouldn't trust almost any of them.


I'm not saying that Cuba has a bad educational system. I'm just looking for data on two statements made that being a 100% high school graduation rate and zero homelessness. It would be the first incidence of either in the history of the world, and I'd like to know how one would go about that.

[mbperrin]

15. Literacy rate is 99.8%

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cu.html


Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.8%
male: 99.8%
female: 99.8% (2002 census)

[mbperrin]

16. 99% for the US, according to the CIA.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html

Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99%
male: 99%
female: 99% (2003 est.)

[dflprincess]

20. As Mark Twain said, "There's lies, damn lies & statistics"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_the_United_States

Rates of literacy in the United States depend on which of the various definitions of literacy is used. Governments may label individuals who can read a couple of thousand simple words they learned by sight in the first four grades in school as literate. Other sources may term such individuals functionally illiterate if they are unable to use basic sources of written information like warning labels and driving directions. The World Factbook prepared by the CIA defines literacy in the United States as "age 15 and over can read and write." <1>

A five-year, $14 million study of U.S. adult literacy involving lengthy interviews of U.S. adults, the most comprehensive study of literacy ever commissioned by the U.S. government,<2> was released in September 1993. It involved lengthy interviews of over 26,700 adults statistically balanced for age, gender, ethnicity, education level, and location (urban, suburban, or rural) in 12 states across the U.S. and was designed to represent the U.S. population as a whole. This government study showed that 21% to 23% of adult Americans were not "able to locate information in text", could not "make low-level inferences using printed materials", and were unable to "integrate easily identifiable pieces of information."<2>

A follow-up study by the same group of researchers using a smaller database (19,714 interviewees) was released in 2006 that showed no statistically significant improvement in U.S. adult literacy.<6> These studies assert that 46% to 51% of U.S. adults read so poorly that they earn "significantly" below the threshold poverty level for an individual.

[rabs]

18. You beat me by a few minutes to the CIA Factbook stats

did not see your post until posted mine. :-)

[rabs]

17. Here is a little more info from the CIA Factbook on education in Cuba

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cu.html
Current stats

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.8%
male: 99.8%
female: 99.8% (2002 census)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):
total: 16 years
male: 15 years
female: 17 years (2006)

Education expenditures:
9.1% of GDP (2006)
country comparison to the world: 9

-----------------------

I assume that high school graduation rate is not completely perfect; there are bound to be malcontents and rebellious drop-outs as in other societies. But far fewer than other countries in the region. That almost 100 percent literacy rate indicates that the system works just fine.

As for any homeless, I would think there are people who prefer to live in the streets but that may be because they have chosen that lifestyle.

As for the billboard, I have never seen anything to approximates that claim here in the States.

[Fearless]

23. The literacy rate is of course remarkable.

And generally that means that the educational system is good. I too assume the graduation rate isn't perfect, but I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. If such data exists, I'd definitely like to see it. And as for homelessness, I don't think there are people anywhere who would prefer to live in the streets. I'm sorry. I don't think it's a lifestyle choice. I also don't know the homelessness rates in Cuba, which is why I asked. I have to doubt, based on my existing knowledge of the rest of the world, and through my BA in History-- the fact that no society has ever produced a 0% homelessness rate, the validity of the claim made further up this thread stating that Cuba had 0% homelessness.

And in regards to the billboard, whether or not such a sign exists in the United States, does not change the fact that it isn't a reliable source of data. To be honest it seems to carry the tone of US WWII and Cold War propaganda posters.

[Judi Lynn]

Yikes! Double post. Accidental. Sorry. n/t

We already know it works wonderfully well. Other countries have implemented some of Cuba's orignal methods.

It's good to see that familiar saying about children in Cuba.

If the U.S. dropped the travel ban, U.S. Americans could go there and find out for themselves. As it is, all they have to go on is what the U.S. right-wing propagandists tell them about Cuba!

Good reason to drop the travel ban.

[Judi Lynn]

30. Thanks for posting the education link. So well thought out, progressive!

We already know it works wonderfully well. Other countries have implemented some of Cuba's orignal methods.

It's good to see that familiar saying about children in Cuba.

If the U.S. dropped the travel ban, U.S. Americans could go there and find out for themselves. As it is, all they have to go on is what the U.S. right-wing propagandists tell them about Cuba!

Good reason to drop the travel ban.

[Judi Lynn]

19. Cubans are proud that there is housing for everyone. The older ones remember the way it was before

the revolution, when the vast majority of Cubans were very poor, living on seasonal work alone, and having to live in shanty towns with no electricity, no running water, no plumbing, and raw, open sewers, and the grotesque health problems that creates for a massive poor population with NO resources, no access to medical treatment.

It would make so much more sense if you did your own research rather than asking others if they would go get the information and give it to you. They are busy, as well. Once you start doing your own work, you will become driven to find out more for yourself, and that hunger to learn more will become permanent.

Here's a quick search grab:

Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Cuba: Not Perfect But Worth a Look
By Doug Morris
College of Education, Eastern New Mexico University

Positive comments about Cuba must be prefaced with a reservation: "Cuba is not perfect."
"Imperfection" is often used to denounce the ongoing Cuban experiment in people-first politics and economics, as though the un-attainability of "utopia" renders struggle for a more decent society useless. This is a gross misrepresentation of what social struggle for a good society oriented toward the development of fulfilled and flourishing human beings is all about.

The socialist goal, in Cuba and elsewhere, is not utopian perfection, but to understand history humanity and society as complex and interacting processes and relations into which we can intervene as informed and involved agents capable of producing decent societies and more fulfilling lives grounded in substantive forms of equality, freedom, justice and democracy.

Having recently returned from an eighth visit to Cuba researching Cuba's profoundly successful "ethic of care" based education system, I'd like to share perceptions that challenge assumed misperceptions about Cuba in order to reveal something important about our own lives and saving rather than losing the future.

~snip~
Visitors from poor countries note the absence of beggars and homeless; no hungry, emaciated children languishing in gutters; safe streets, low crime, vibrant people; free health care for all, a deep commitment to children as the most important social members — they are the future — and a level of grass-roots political participation and social intelligence unseen in most places.

In my view, Cuba is, in crucial ways, "living in the future," while struggling to overcome serious present problems — the harsh and illegal U.S. blockade that also punishes third countries for Cuba dealings; a conflicted economy; internal paternalism; creeping commercialism and increasing class stratification from insidiously creeping capitalism's presence, etc. Defense includes a battle of ideas that works to maintain people-first socialist commitments and values while Cuba is forced to interface with global capitalism's emphasis on greed, exploitation, individualism, alienation and violence.

~snip~
The World Wildlife Fund designated Cuba the only sustainable society on the planet.

Cubans are proud of their continuing commitments to free health care for all, the best elementary education in the hemisphere — Cuban students score "off the charts" on international tests; equitable distribution of resources; an ecological pathway of development; more teachers and doctors per-capita — and books per household — than anywhere; full, and now meaningful, employment along with free university education for all as long-term projects; collectively controlled, government supported and knowledge-intensive urban organic gardens growing food and medicinals (roughly 10,000 gardens in Havana); successes in gender and racial equality; the expansion of participatory and representative democracy; and an "ethic of care" value system experienced as both a right and duty.

http://www.abqjournal.com/opinion/guest_columns/14213728614opinionguestcolumns07-14-10.htm

~~~~~
From the Sports Medicine Doctor:

Volunteer Work - Shoulder Arthroscopy in Cuba
Building Bridges with Shoulder Arthroscopy
William B. Stetson, MD

I traveled to Cuba in September 2004 and was so moved by what I found that I wanted to share my experience with my medical community. I went to Cuba for a medical humanitarian trip that started with the SICOT/SIROT Annual International Conference and ended with two arthroscopic shoulder surgery courses. In the midst of all of these projects we had the privilege of discovering a beautiful country and wonderful people.

The people of Cuba have all the basic necessities of life; food, clothing, medical care and housing. There were no homeless people, gangs, graffiti or malnourished people and crime appears to be low. Once you move away from the basic necessities of life we found even the smallest of luxuries, like toilet paper, to be scarce. Most people live with multiple generations of family within a small house since it is virtually impossible to buy a home.

While the countryside is lush and the beaches are beautiful, it is the people of Cuba that are the most amazing jewel of this large island. Given the strained relationship between the USA and Cuba, it would not be unreasonable for the people of Cuba to be angry or unwelcoming towards us. However, from the moment we walked off the plane we encountered nothing but smiles, friendship and open arms. The people were generous, kind, friendly and curious about us and our country.

It seemed that wherever we went the heritage of music could be found. Whenever a group of musicians started playing, the Cubans would blossom and sing and dance with joy in their hearts and a love for life. It was beautiful and inspiring. Every moment was a reminder that we are all the same, we are just people and we all want the same things from life; healthy friends and family, peace, friendship, love, joy and laughter with the hope that we can give our children a better world. Race, gender, nationality and skin color mean nothing.

More:
http://www.sportsmedicinedr.com/volunteer/cuba.htm

~~~~~

Learning from Cuba's Footprint

~snip~
Cuba's Footprint
When we look closely at Cuba’s footprint we find it arises from a unique set of circumstances: Socialist ideology (putting people before profits); a comprehensive national security system which ensures essential needs are met; capacity for state regulation; the impact of 50 years US blockade/sanctions; and Cuba’s response to the Special Period when the USSR collapsed in the early 90’s.
I think it important to note that Cuba hasn’t consciously chosen to live within its global footprint, circumstance forced them to adapt rapidly to find ways to survive and meet the challenges of living with a severely restricted resource base on a small island, and to do so without the debilitating poverty and inequity usually associated with other so-called ‘Third World’ nations.
Cuba’s footprint history also needs to be taken into account. Following the revolution in 1959, Cuba’s quality of life was steadily improving until the impact of the 1970’s fuel crisis when there was a sudden dip, but by the late ‘80’s was heading towards a 2-earth footprint when the USSR collapsed and we see the big crash of the initial years of the special period, followed by long road to recovery resulting in attaining close to a one earth footprint by 2007.

So how does Cuba do it?

The key factors I have identified and will briefly explore in this presentation are
• Security for essential needs: heath, food, housing, education
• De-centralisation of essential services
• Transport solutions – surviving with limited fuel supplies
• Simple lifestyle, frugality
• Dual currency and consumption restraints
• “Energy Revolution” and
• Generosity of Spirit - from the government sharing resources with poor nations (40,000 Cuban doctors & health workers in the third world), down to individuals helping out their neighbours.

Security of essential needs:

Health Security • Free national health care system with a focus on preventative medicine, pharmaceuticals are subsidised and prices capped. Cuba enjoys one of the worlds Highest doctor to population ratio and Ist-World levels of life expectancy & infant mortality rates
Food Security • all Cubans receive monthly rations for staple foods, fresh produce markets provide organic fruit and vegetables, food prices are capped, and Cuba is now considered a global leader in urban food production (NB Cuba still depends on food imports)
Housing • Cuba boasts 85% home ownership • Rent is capped @ 10% of income • Realty speculation is illegal –it’s interesting to see a country with no real estate agents—houses can be swapped/exchanged but not sold for profit • while housing is crowded, there’s no homelessness in Cuba and one frequently finds 3-4 generations living in a house
Education • Education is free for all Cubans, from pre-school to tertiary, with over 97% literacy. Cuba has produced more scientists than any other Latin American nation.

More:
http://permaculture.com.au/online/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=150:learning-from-cubas-footprint&catid=27:articles&Itemid=55

~~~~~

The Costs of the Embargo
The 47-year-old blockade now costs the United States far more than it costs Cuba.
By Margot Pepper

On January 1, Cuba celebrated the 50th anniversary of the revolution against the U.S.-backed Batista regime. For 47 of those years, Cuba has suffered under what U.S. officials call an “embargo” against the Caribbean nation. Cubans’ name for the embargo—el bloqueo (the blockade)—is arguably more apt, given that the U.S. policy also aims to restrict other countries from engaging in business with Cuba.

What’s surprising is that while the blockade continues to take a considerable toll on the Cuban people, it costs the United States far more, and the gap is widening. Given the economic meltdown, it is only fitting that a growing chorus of diverse voices is calling for an end to the costly vendetta.

The original justification for the embargo was Cuba’s expropriation of “some $1.8 billion worth of U.S.-owned property,” according to the U.S. Foreign Claims Settlement Commission. In turn, Cubans argue that early in the century, the United States had seized control of 70% of Cuban land and three-quarters of Cuba’s primary industry. By the 1950s, as a result of U.S. colonialism and preceding Spanish rule, five out of six Cubans lived in shacks or were homeless, 80% of Havana suffered from hunger and unemployment, and two out of three Cuban children didn’t attend school. Cubans say such conditions left them no recourse but to expel the Yanquis, just as the Yankees had expelled the British in 1776.

Today, U.S. public opinion is turning against the embargo. A majority—52%—wants the embargo to be lifted, with 67% favoring an immediate end to the travel restrictions, according to the Cuba Policy Foundation (CPF), a nonprofit run by a former U.S. ambassador. Recent polls have even shown that a majority of Miami Cubans now support lifting the embargo.

~snip~
Regardless of all these obstacles, the socialist island has managed to provide its inhabitants with what the United States, one of the most affluent countries in the world, so far has not: free top-notch health care, free university and graduate school education, and subsidized food and utilities. Meanwhile, 36.2 million people go hungry in the United States and 47 million lack health coverage. Indeed, Cuba compares favorably to the United States on a number of basic social factors:

•Housing: There is virtually no homelessness in Cuba. Thanks to the 1960 Urban Reform law, 85% of Cubans own their own homes and pay no property taxes or interest on their mortgages. Mortgage payments can’t exceed 10% of the combined household income.
•Employment: Cuba’s unemployment rate is only 1.8% according to CIA data, compared with 7.6% (and rising) in the United States. One factor contributing to Cuba’s low unemployment is undoubtedly the 350,000 jobs that have been recently created by the burgeoning sustainable urban agriculture program, one of the most successful in the world, according to U.S.-based economist Sinan Koont.
•Literacy: The adult literacy rate in Cuba (99.8%) is higher than the United States’ rate (97%), according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
•Infant mortality: Cuba has a lower infant mortality rate (4.7 per 1000 live births) than the United States’ (6.0).
•Prisons: Cuba even does better on prisons. Its rate of incarceration—estimated at around 487 per 100,000 by the UNDP—is among the highest in the world, yet it is considerably lower than the U.S. rate of 738 per 100,000. Now that the number of political prisoners Cuba locks up is in decline, according to a February Associated Press news release, there is even less justification for the blockade.

More:
http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2009/0309pepper.html

[Fearless]

24. Thanks.

The only thing I take issue with is your suggestion that I do my own research for other people's claims. The onus is on the speaker not the listener, if indeed the speaker wishes to. It was a personal request, not a demand. But I digress, thank you for the information. It was, for the most part what I was looking for.

:hi:

[boppers]

66. Toilet paper is a "luxury" in Cuba?

"we found even the smallest of luxuries, like toilet paper, to be scarce."

FAIL.

[Ken Burch]

28. A capitalist Cuba would be a bad place for LGBT people.

The former Warsaw Pact states are places where gay people have no rights.
A capitalist Cuba would end up like present-day Poland, where the gay rights movement is permanently defeated.

They need more democratic management, they don't need market values. None of the good things in Cuba(such as the free educatio and healthcare)would survive a privatization regime.

Don't believe me? Look at this country.

The post-1980 market values trend has led to almost nothing but a backlash against gays. Nobody in corporate boardooms wears rainbow pins or genuinely believes in LGBT rights.

You're backing the wrong horse here.

[Fearless]

32. Except that I'm not backing any horse.

I don't really care what Cuba does or doesn't do any more than any other nation. As I said, I was curious for data on to rather unlikely statements.

[Billy Burnett]

33. Fail! Cuba isn't a Warsaw pact nation.

The old canard that Cuba is officially biased against LGBTs is no longer valid. Wasted breath.

NOW, Cuba is light years ahead of the USA.

President Castro's daughter is the lead advocate of the Cuban LGBT community.

http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=47372

HAVANA, Jun 25 , 2009 (IPS) - Renowned for her work for the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transvestite and transgender people, Mariela Castro advocates a fairer, more inclusive, and above all more participatory socialism in Cuba.

Castro is head of the National Sex Education Centre (CENESEX) and the main sponsor of a mid-2008 resolution that approved sex change operations within the Cuban state health system.

That's her, on the right,



---

Cuba started recognizing gay marriages in 1997.


NOW, Cuba is light years ahead of the USA.

The only hard core opposition to gay rights in Cuba now are the US gov paid and organized mercenary dissidents.

NOW, Cuba is light years ahead of the USA.

[Ken Burch]

39. I wasn't saying that Cuba was a bad place for gays now.

What I was saying is that it would clearly get worse for them if it went capitalist.

[flamingdem]

21. The Cost to Cuba of the US Embargo - $685 million per year

The
Today, U.S. public opinion is turning against the embargo. ... The Cuban government estimates the loss to Cuba at about $685 million annually. ...
www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2009/0309pepper.html

[Psephos]

9. Plus, they have warmer weather, and can smoke Cuban cigars.

As Guns N Roses might say, Paradise City!

[Freetradesucks]

44. Have you been to Cuba?

I have, and I have spoken at great length with Cubans in Cuba. The do not have better health care than we do. There are no real jobs, everyone is equally poor. They live basically one step above squalor. They eat shitty food, and drink shitty rum that burns like gasoline going down. They are not even allowed into a lot of the bars and restaurants that server good food and drink, not that they could afford it.

I will say that they are happy, but just because they don't know any better.

[Judi Lynn]

45. There are people here who have been to Cuba repeatedly, spanning decades,

people here who have gone there to teach, to meet with educators, doctors, students, workers, people who have gone there to do volunteer work, people here who have gone repeatedly with U.S. groups, people here who have LIVED there, people here who have loved ones there, people here who married someone in Cuba, people here with godchildren in Cuba, and people here who have traveled from one end of the island on bicycle, by car, several people here who have been there during election season.

Oddly, not one of them would identify with your claim.

We also have someone here who's going there soon, from Europe, whose family members have already been there. Apparently they didn't pass on the same kind of crap to him you have spewed here.

[Freetradesucks]

53. That's what I thought.

Go there and see for yourself, and then come back and talk to me.

It's really pretty easy, just buy a ticket to Mexico City, and then buy a ticket to Cuba.

[Mika]

58. Bullshit.

"Go there and see for yourself, and then come back and talk to me."

OK. I'll bite.

I've lived in Cuba and have family there. Been back and forth many dozens of times since my teenage years.

Apparently, you've not been around the Latin Americas or Caribbean much. Some of the worst squalor I've ever seen has been in several L.A. countries I've been to. I have never ever seen squalor and abject poverty conditions that I've seen elsewhere in Cuba.

Poor? Yes. But doing OK. Better off than the abjectly poor in America, for sure.

---

[Freetradesucks]

61. To quote,

"Poor? Yes. But doing OK. Better off than the abjectly
poor in America, for sure."


If you read back to my original post, I stated the same. They
are happy, but very poor. They are happy because they don't
know any different.

I'm not sure how "they are better off than the abjectly
poor in America, for sure" is a positive endorsement for
the Cuban system though....

[Judi Lynn]

62. You are addressing someone who has been there many, MANY times,

married someone there, has taught there, etc., there, has worked there, has been from one end of it to the other, and has loved ones there still.

I don't think he'll buy what you're trying to sell.

[Freetradesucks]

63. I don't care if they buy what I am saying or not,

I am relaying my experience in Cuba. I stayed with locals who took me to local hang outs where I spoke with locals in Spanish. That is what I saw and experienced.

I actually stayed with an eye surgeon who told me that sometimes when they are performing surgery and it is raining, the rain drips down onto the operating table and they have to put a tarp over it.

I was told this by an actual Cuban surgeon, in her home, in Havana over dinner. You can take your second hand stories and stick them where the sun don't shine.

[Mika]

68. Well, to DUers, your story is second hand also.

[rabs]

69. Perhaps the poster missed the point

of what the eye surgeon was telling her/him.

She/he says the doctor said there was an eye operation under way, it started raining and the roof leaked, so they put a tarp over the operating table.

But did the doctor say the operation continued and was a success? That point conveniently is left out. Suspect that it was, rain or no rain.

[Mika]

70. Point is, its bullshit.

Poster's dark fantasy depicts Cuban eye centers functioning like jungle battlefield triage units. :rofl:

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Over 1, 6 Million People Benefited by Free Eye Surgery Program since 2004
http://www.cubanow.net/includes/mostrar.php?imagen=img_shrt2&type=img_shrt2_type&table=articulo&id=7002

I'm a dental surgeon, so I can't attest to all of the Cuban eye surgical suites, but the Cuban hospital dental operatories I've been to are top notch, and the eye centers I've seen are stunning.

Of course, this is second hand info (direct, from me, from actual surgical exchange experience in Cuba), but, I'm only a DDS. :shrug:

---

[Ken Burch]

26. Capitalism is doing just as badly these days...no liberal should engage in Cold War gloating

The answer is democratic socialism, not Stalinism OR capitalism.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

47. I find myself in agreement with that. -nt

[DCKit]

3. I'd bet Chavez had something to do with this.

Good on them.

[harun]

52. I think so as well.

[metapunditedgy]

4. I clicked on this expecting to read that Cuba was giving a trillion dollars to its bankers. n/t

[robcon]

11. The utter failure of their economy could be tolerated only in a police state like Cuba.

Any other place the government would be voted out.

I think they'll be "China-like" in their adoption of capitalism with a totalitarian government pretty soon.

China is the model for Cuba.

[Billy Burnett]

25. No. It is tolerated right here in the USofA.

Millions have been wiped out due to the utter failure of government here. Millions hungry, with children topping the list due to the utter failure of government here. Millions out in the streets due to the utter failure of government here. Bankers get the bailouts workers and families get the shaft due to the utter failure of government here.

Absolutely none of the above happened in Cuba. Not one Cuban family was foreclosed on and thrown onto the street. Not one Cuban child had their school shuttered or had mass layoffs of their teachers. Not one Cuban lost their access to world class health care. Not one.

As they have during seriously hard times before, the Cuban people will get by. They won't panic. They'll get to work. They've done it before, and they'll do it again.

They will use their ingenuity combined with solidarity to marshal their resources and assure that no one goes hungry or homeless. Community farms are being quickly rebuilt after any storms, and more will continue to develop. Just as always, even during the hardest of times, Cubans will build more schools, train more teachers, and will be continually improving their community social infrastructure. The exact same is true for their universal health care system. More clinics will be built, more doctors and auxiliaries will be trained, and Cubans will have even more access to health care. As always in Cuba, children and their wellbeing will come first.

They do this because they are seriously dedicated to their human values. No matter how poor their small country, they will work shoulder to shoulder to ensure their security and sovereignty.

Next year, as a result of the globalization collapse and the utter failure of government here, many more will be forced into homelessness in the US, have no access to routine health care, and be lucky if they can secure nutrition and an education for their children. This just will not happen in Cuba! Sure, there's work to do, but they will share their burden so that no one falls through the cracks, and you can be sure that Cubans and Venezuelans and Bolivians and Brazilians and the entire ALBA group will work together to mitigate the impact of the downturn.

Cuba's good works, both domestic and internationally are admired the world over (except by the USA), Cuba has friends ready and willing and forming cooperative works to improve the lot of the downtrodden.

Sadly, the US is a growing global pariah, spreading weapons, war, fear, environmental destruction and economic exploitation - due to the utter failure of government here.



Viva Cuba!

[Judi Lynn]

29. Bravo, Billy Burnett. Absolutely viva Cuba. Wonderful, truthful comments. n/t

[Starry Messenger]

38. Thank you Billy.

:thumbsup:

[jpak]

34. Cuban farmer's markets willl soon be oveflowing in produce

:thumbsup:

[davepc]

42. Are you suggesting socialist workers markets are not already overflowing?

[MellowDem]

35. So this is pretty much an admission that communism doesn't work...

Of course, we all knew that command economies don't work. Wonder what Castro has to say about this? Oh yeah, he never seems to talk about his country's movement towards a mixed economy. Only how Osama is a US agent. What a joke.

[Billy Burnett]

37. No. It is proof that the Revolution continues.

Cuba: 100% literacy. 100% access to universal health care. Full access to universal higher education. Housing, food, education, medicine, are all constitutional rights.

What a joke?

ok :eyes:

[MellowDem]

48. If it is so perfect, why the shift to a mixed economy?

Adding elements of capitalism? Castro is the joke. You would think with all those wonderful social programs a society would have some more wealth than Cuba does. But obviously the command economy puts some limits on that. You still don't address how the Revolution continues by adding more elements of capitalism. You think that would be a bad thing, perhaps starting a seed that will destroy the Revolution. Nobody here wants to explain why Cuba is doing this. They just put their fingers in their ears.

[Billy Burnett]

50. Project much?

Show me the post/s stating that the Cuban revolution is perfect? I see none.

Pointing out the fact that Cubans have worked to create a good social infrastructure isn't stating that Cuba is perfect any more than pointing out that Germany has good infrastructure isn't stating that Germany is perfect.

What is worthy of pointing out is that Cuba has done remarkably well in creating such social infrastructure with so little, and without massive exploitation of child labor or the destruction of the environment, etc etc, to support it.

Cuba is the leading nation of sustainable development according the the WWF.

I don't have to address how or why the Cubans are experimenting with their economy, and I certainly am not going to condemn them for trying different approaches. They've survived quite well under great duress compared to other Latin American and Caribbean countries that have no US extraterritorial sanctions placed upon them.


Viva Cuba.

[MellowDem]

51. You don't have to, but it's obvious why you won't address the OP...

Generally, when commenting, you talk about the OP, and don't try to change the subject or ignore the subject completely. When your only response is "Viva Cuba!", then it shows your bias and also shows you are not willing to discuss the OP.

I never said that others said the Revolution was perfect, it was rather to make the point that moving towards a mixed economy is actually against the ideas of the original Revolution in many ways, or at least quite a departure from them. Few seem to want to address that point, which is pretty telling in and of itself. You would think that would be an interesting point of discussion, no matter your views, if you're at all interested in history and international politics.

So when I point out that Castro ignores what is actually quite a big domestic development to keep ranting about the US, and you respond with some non-sequiter about Cuba's social programs, it's pretty clear that you want to close your eyes and plug your ears. The whole point is that these shifts will change Cuba's economy and could indeed impact those social programs eventually.

[Billy Burnett]

55. No. It is proof that the Revolution continues.

It is not set in stone. Cubans have experimented with mixed economic endeavors before, and they will continue.

Not closing my eyes ... Having been to Cuba many times I've actually seen the place and people.

Not plugging my ears ... I want to hear the discourse IN Cuba, if anyone knows how to create and preserve their social programs it is the Cubans.


Cheers

[jxnmsdemguy65]

40. Good news...

Cuba needs to move towards a system like Denmark-style social democracy.... that would be great for Cuba and good for the US... to have that model operating 90 miles off our shores!

[hack89]

43. So you are advocating a market economy based on privately owned corporations? nt

[jxnmsdemguy65]

46. Nope

A 'social democratic' one, with a high degree of regulation and social security, but one that allows the market to operate where it is beneficial. Kinda like the western European countries (Denmark comes to mind).

[hack89]

49. But all of those countries depend on capitalism and private ownership

of property and business. They are home to some of the largest corporations in the world. I think that kind of economy is what Cuba needs - do you agree?

[Name removed]

41. Deleted message

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