Document charts Cuba's path to economic reform

Associated Press ^ | September 14, 2010 | PAUL HAVEN and ANDREA RODRIGUEZ

[reaganaut1]

HAVANA – An internal Communist Party document envisions a radically revamped Cuban economy, with a new tax code, freshly legalized private cooperatives and a state payroll no longer shackled by the need to support at least a half-million idle or unproductive workers.

The document — obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press — also offers a cold dose of reality for those who think reforming one of the last bastions of Soviet-style communism will be easy: It warns that many of the new businesses will be shuttered within a year.

The 26-page document fleshes out some of the details of sweeping layoffs of 500,000 workers by March 2011 that Cuba announced Monday in the most dramatic reform instituted since President Raul Castro took over from his ailing brother, Fidel, in 2008.

...

The document obtained by AP — which is dated Aug. 24 and laid out like a PowerPoint presentation with bullet points and large headlines — said many laid-off workers will be urged to form private cooperatives. Others will be pushed into jobs at foreign-run companies and joint ventures. Still more will need to set up small business — particularly in the areas of transportation, food and house rental.

It even explained what to look for when deciding whom to lay off. Those whose pay is not in line with their low productivity and those who lack discipline or are not interested in work will go first. It said some dismissed workers should be offered jobs in the public sector.

The plan hints at higher wages for the best workers — something Raul Castro has been promising for years — but said, "It is not possible to reform salaries in the current situation."

[reaganaut1]

The Cuban government may be more serious about cutting government spending than the Obama administration. Firing unproductive workers and paying the best workers more -- the teachers' unions won't stand for that here!

[for-q-clinton]

What will Hugo Chavez say?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Fidel Castro himself said the greatest threat to the Cuban revolution was the ordinary cuban who would use his state-supplied farm tools to grow his own food.

[JPG]

Not very fast learners, it only took them 51 years to figure out that communism doesn't work.

[Para-Ord.45]

bm

[razorback-bert]

Still faster than the Russians.