Posted on 07/18/2010 5:29:35 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
HAVANA — At a state project to refurbish a decaying building in Old Havana, one worker paints a wall white while two others watch. A fourth sleeps in a wheelbarrow positioned in a sliver of shade nearby and two more smoke and chat on the curb.
President Raul Castro has startled the nation lately by saying about one in five Cuban workers may be redundant. At the work site on Obispo street, those numbers run in reverse.
It's a common sight in communist Cuba. Here, nearly everyone works for the state and official unemployment is minuscule, but pay is so low that Cubans like to joke that "the state pretends to pay us and we pretend to work."
Now, facing a severe budget deficit, the government has hinted at restructuring or trimming its bloated work force.
"We know that there are hundreds of thousands of unnecessary workers on the budget and labor books, and some analysts calculate that the excess of jobs has surpassed 1 million," said Castro, who replaced his ailing brother Fidel as president nearly four years ago. Cuba's work force totals 5.1 million, in a population of 11.2 million.
"Without people feeling the need to work to make a living, sheltered by state regulations that are excessively paternalistic and irrational, we will never stimulate a love for work," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
“Without people feeling the need to work to make a living, sheltered by state regulations that are excessively paternalistic and irrational, we will never stimulate a love for work,” he said.
Can we make Raoul an honorary member of the Tea Party?
Hey Raul what happened to “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”.
>> At a state project to refurbish a decaying building in Old Havana, one worker paints a wall white while two others watch. A fourth sleeps in a wheelbarrow positioned in a sliver of shade nearby and two more smoke and chat on the curb.
This is Obama’s vision for America, except that it would read “one white worker paints a wall, while 4 brown workers watch or sleep”.
Even a complete idiot can see that this is the end of the road resulting from Socialism/Communism. They all eventually end up here. Corruption was not mentioned, but you can bet that it also plays a bigger role than they care to admit.
“President Raul Castro has startled the nation lately by saying about one in five Cuban workers may be redundant”
If he was loading a gun when he said it, they will soon achieve full employment...
they only focus on the second part: “to each according to his needs”
kind of like how liberals only recognize half of the establishment clause
There are millions of complete idiots voting for Democrats. How long you think til they can drain every bit of money from the USA and achieve Utopia Cuban style?
Odd how communism produces the same perverse incentives every time... and odder still that liberals never see that pattern.
Or allow another mass exodus.
That's a 20% unemployment rate.
/src on/Hey dude. Real communism has not been attempted yet./src off/
All that shows is that the typical 0bamunist is even more leftist than Raoul Castro.
Yeah - they’re still looking for the “right” place to try it - it’s failed in all human trials...
That sounds like a description of Streets and Sanitation workers in Chicago.
So he’s just going to hand them a check instead of having an implicit demand for work built into their wages?
And it only took three generations of ruined lives, not counting a mountain of corpses, to find it out!
How would an American liberal/socialist respond to that statement? (rhetorical)
“one white worker paints a wall, while 4 brown workers watch or sleep”.
Excellent! I spit my coffee out when I read that line. LOL!
But true. Why am I laughing?
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