November 23, 2005
castro's got problems
Classic monetary inflation is the first of it. Low wages. And now in the island hellhole, it's 'each according to his ability, each according to his work' - obviously 'need' is the one thing castro cannot fill.
Decades of destroying the work ethic and rewarding the worst and punishing the best has created the situation the dictator's up against. Now he's railing against corruption without understanding that if you set corruption as the example, the people will follow. Corruption is structural, in any case - rotten structures create lots of opportunities and incentives.
Agencia EFE has a superb story (with a couple glitches - no, EFE, wages are not low because prices are low - they're low because no value is being created, the hallmark of castrodom) about the utterly wretched conditions in Cuba that are showing signs of alarming even castro, who created the baby.
The story is here.
Castro hikes wages, pensions and electricity rates
Havana, Nov 23 (EFE).- A week after announcing a government campaign against stealing and "skimming" by workers in the state-run economy, Cuban leader fidel castro decreed hikes in wages, pensions and electricity rates.
The wage hike - the third this year - will bring the average worker's monthly salary to about 16 dollars, up two dollars from the previous rate.
Wages are extremely low in Cuba, with the average worker earning in a month what a plumber in the United States makes in a half-hour, partly because citizens' expenses also are very low. (Mora note: WRONG-O!) Food, housing, education, transportation and other goods and services are heavily subsidized by the government.
"A wage system has been established based on the principle of socialist distribution," said a note from the Labor Ministry accompanying the decree.
The note described that system as: "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his work," which is a modification of the classic Marxist paradigm of "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his need." The ministry note said the system was "aimed at making the salary the main material stimulus that the worker receives for his contribution to society." The raise in pensions for some 1.2 million retirees brings their monthly stipend to about $6.80 from the previous $6. (Mora note: You got a long way to go, Bucko, if $6.80 is all you can come up with in making salary the main stimulus of society.)
The electricity rate hikes principally affect those domestic consumers who use more power.
Those who consume less than 100 kilowatt/hours per month will continue paying 9 cents of the Cuban peso, or about a half of a U.S.
cent, per hour. Rates will increase by increments up to 1.30 Cuban pesos, or almost 7 U.S. cents, per kilowatt/hour for those who consume more than 300 of those units per month.
The order includes a warning that meter-tampering will be punished by the cutting off of power. Last Thursday, castro declared that he is leading a merciless assault on corruption and "parasites" to prevent the undermining of the revolution.
In a speech that lasted more than five hours, the 79-year-old leader said "this revolution can be destroyed," but not by the United States. He said Cubans themselves would be the culprits.
"We can destroy it and it would be our fault," he said. "Either we root out the problem or we die. This is serious and all of the people will come to realize it."
Observers of Cuban society have described an environment in which the average citizen is so hard-pressed to make ends meet that many employees, most of whom depend for their livelihood on the state, engage in small-scale pilfering. castro acknowledged that "mistakes" (Mora note: Yeah, right) have been made during the course of the revolution and alluded to a broad packet measures to create a "new society," one he said would be more just and with fewer imbalances. (Mora note: You've been talking about that for 46 years and have yet to get it right, cabron.)
castro also called for eliminating the ration book, ending "abuses" and once again re-evaluating the Cuban currency.
"The ration book is tending to disappear, (Mora note: So you're not going to give anyone anything at all now, eh?.) those who work and produce will receive more, those who worked for decades will receive more and will have more things," he said, previewing Wednesday's announced hikes.
castro invited all Cuban people to take part in a battle against theft in all its forms and wherever it appears, referring to the need to crack down on "parasites who don't produce anything." During his speech, castro praised thousands of young social workers who for several weeks replaced attendants at gas stations, saying that their work enabled authorities to uncover a multi-million-dollar fraud in this sector.
The investigation began in the western province of Pinar del Rio before being extended to Havana and other areas of the country and "soon it was discovered that the amount that was stolen was as much as people were saying. Almost half (of the gasoline) was stolen and sometimes more than half," castro said.
"The revolution is going to fix this, and how!" said castro. He added that Cuban society cannot "go soft" and must, therefore, employ the necessary "weapons" to tackle corruption. EFE mar/dgm
Mora last note: Oh man you suck, castro. Die a lonely death.
Posted by Mora at November 23, 2005 10:46 AM
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Comments
Mora - very good post. Your "wrong-O" comment is on the mark, and in fact EFE's "conclusion" of the reasons for low wages in Cuba is also immediately contradicted in their own report, thus:
"Wages are extremely low in Cuba, with the average worker earning in a month what a plumber in the United States makes in a half-hour, partly because citizens' expenses also are very low. (Mora note: WRONG-O!) Food, housing, education, transportation and other goods and services are heavily subsidized by the government."-my emphasis.
IF food, housing, education, transportation and other goods and services have to be heavily subsidized by a government, that means the wages of workers are worth less than the real value of the work being produced-and the "guvamint" makes up the artificial shortfall via subsidies. In this case, a subsidy of the aforementioned items is nothing more than robbing Peter to pay Paul, because the value of the subsidy represents the value substracted from the workers' wages. The subject "guvamint" is not producing anything of value. On the contrary. So, this "guvamint" is simply returning some of the STOLEN value to the people via subsidies. Meantime, kagaSStroficus keeps stuffing its bank account with the unpaid fruit of the Cubans' labor. I ain't an economist, but the game being played by the bearded poison-bozo should be obvious to all but the most brain-dead chimp troll of-the-left.
Posted by: Alberto Quiroga at November 23, 2005 11:12 AM
The one problem that Castro does not have is that the Bush Administration, just like all previous Democrat and Republican Administrations, is persecuting and prosecuting his most militant Cuban exile enemies.
Posted by: delaCova at November 23, 2005 11:40 AM
"those who work and produce will receive more,"
He's just now figuring out that people might actually be motivated by MONEY! Imagine that. That's creeping capitalism, baby. Watch out!
Posted by: j.scott at November 23, 2005 12:06 PM
remember animal farm? rememebr how they started with 10 commandments and ended up with 1 : all animals are equal but some more equal than others? man its like deja vu all over again.. "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his work" each according to his work?? almost sounds capitalist to me.. for the sake of argument (this is gonna be tough), toss it all aside, and just look at it from an economic standpoint.. command economies dont work, i think thats been proven and reproven the world over.. even if there was no oppression or bloodshed, what they do economically DOES NOT WORK
Posted by: daniel at November 23, 2005 01:00 PM
"..."this revolution can be destroyed," but not by the United States. He said Cubans themselves would be the culprits."
Echoes of Hitler in his bunker, ranting that the German people had betrayed him and were no longer worthy. I wonder if this means they'll be joining each other in Hell sooner rather than later?
Posted by: Dave J at November 23, 2005 06:41 PM
Castro will probably have the same fate in hell as Hitler, as depicted in the movie "Little Nicky." Every day at four o'clock Hitler gets. . . You'll have to see the film.
Posted by: delaCova at November 23, 2005 11:43 PM
delacova, my memory is failing me a bit.. it involved a french maids outifit didnt it?
Posted by: daniel at November 24, 2005 12:57 PM
Daniel,
Yeah, Hitler was wearing a French maid's outfit and was about to receive a pineapple supository.
Posted by: delaCova at November 24, 2005 02:37 PM
He won't die alone. People love him. he has seen several US presidents die though... nice little angels as Richard Nixon, for instance... or real patriots a Reagan...
Posted by: anonymouse at November 24, 2005 05:49 PM
delacova,
I remember that in the movie- it was funny!! too bad I don't believe in hell...it would be nice ...I can even think of a couple more things that could be done to them (smiling evilishly)
and rata: only those as bad as castro love him - those who have no pride and love to lick their master's boots- include yourself in that category-
Posted by: nurian at November 28, 2005 10:10 AM
