Dictators can say anything they like
Castro's Retraction
Socialism: Dictator Fidel Castro's frantic bid to walk back his statement about the failure of communism in Cuba was laughable, given the state of his worker's para dise. What will show it best now are the big layoffs ahead.
In a remark that stunned everyone, Cuba's aging despot last week admitted to a writer from the Atlantic that "The Cuban model doesn't even work for Cuba anymore."
Such words would be unimaginable from an authentic leader, such as Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore or Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, who really did transform their countries for the better.
But for Castro, the truth slipped out. Never one to stand by his word, Castro now claims he was quoted out of context, and it was capitalism that didn't work. That's about par for a leader who's ruined his country. Dictators, after all, can say anything they like.
In concrete terms, the failure of "the Cuban model" is getting pretty obvious. On Monday, the Cuban government announced it would lay off 500,000 government workers by March, an implicit admission that it was deadweight all along.
Out of Cuba's work force of 5.1 million, 83% work directly for the state. That means 12% of Cuban workers will be out of a job in two years. Unlike in the U.S., they'll get no unemployment benefits.
It sounds like a necessary bow to fiscal reality in a state that produces nothing of value. But the incredible thing is, the cutbacks will barely begin to address the government's issues.
Sixty percent of the Cuban work force is completely unproductive, according to a U.S. State Department report.
So a 12% layoff of the work force would leave about half of the state's remaining work force still standing around on work sites with nothing to do but collect paychecks.
The Castro brothers are trying to sugarcoat these layoffs as "reforms" to the system — offering to increase private business licenses for tiny outfits such as nail salons, taxis and auto mechanics, as if they would willingly permit a small window of capitalism.
But even that's unlikely. Only 200,000 extra permits will be issued, leaving most laid-off workers out in the cold. Getting a business permit will soon be a major source of corruption in an already-corrupt state.
What's more, once these new businesses get profitable, the state will step in to confiscate their "excessive" earnings, negating the entire point of private enterprise — as they did a decade ago.
All this shows is how the ruling Castro oligarchy works. It's a master at creating a crisis, mitigating it for a time, consolidating its power, then cracking down anew. If that's not failure, what is?
Much like the old adage "in vino veritas" (in wine there is truth), with senility come these little tidbits of truth and clarity, making their way out of the forest of wilted neurons from time-to-time. I saw this occur with my very own grandmother. I don't see Fidel's little slip any different. He knows it failed. He has always known the system was a failure. That said, he was much too proud - or vain - to admit that he destroyed an entire nation. Imagine that? Holding an entire nation and culture hostage, just so you don't have to go through the embarrassment of admitting you were completely and totally wrong.
"The Cuban model doesn't work?" No shit. Thanks for clearing that up and screwing my family - and yours - for the last 50 years.
Jackass.
No, you know what, there isn't even a word.
The "Cuban model" has worked perfectly. Whether or not it wound up being any good for Cuba and its people was always beside the point. It only really had one "must do" purpose or prime directive: absolute power for life, celebrity and aggrandizement (however hollow) for Fidel Castro, period. Everything else was peripheral and secondary. If anything else was gained, it was a bonus; if not, it made no real difference, at least not to the model's reason for being: the megalomaniacal ego, narcissism and perversity of Mr. Maximum.
[...] a more sobering perspective on what is going on in Cuba read Investor’s Business Daily (via Babalu Blog): It sounds like a necessary bow to fiscal reality in a state that produces nothing of value. But [...]