From our Marvels of Socialism Bureau with some assistance from our Bureau of Socialist Social Justice
While the oligarchs of Castro, Inc. proudly flaunt their gigantic bellies and their obese children go abroad to enjoy all the benefits of capitalism, ordinary Cubans on the communist island have to scrounge for food.
The scrounging is a triple whammy: food shortages, unaffordable prices, and stagnant salaries. Socialism at work. Socialist social justice on full display for the world to see (and ignore).
The vast majority of working Cubans only earn 3830 CUP/Month | 149 USD/Month. Cuba’s 1,600,000 Retired workers receive pensions of 1,528 CUP / 64 USD, widows and widowers of retired workers receive only 1,070 CUP / 45 USD for widows and widowers of pensioners.
See fish prices in image above. The cheapest fish available sells for 230 CUP / 9.58 USD per pound. The most expensive fish available sells for 430 CUP / 17.92 USD per pound. In between these two extremes, you can choose fish that sell for 245 CUP /10.21 or 340 CUP / 14.17 per pound.
Bonus game. Pretend your a Cuban living in Cuba. Calculate the percentage of your monthly income you have to spend if you want a measly pound of fish.
Loosely translated from Diario de Cuba
Food in Cuba cost 75% more in March than in the same month of the previous year, in a sign that inflation continues unstoppable and that the regime’s policy to curb it is not working. The data is collected by the Consumer Price Index for the month of March, published by the state National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI).
For Cuban economist Pedro Monreal, “the acceleration of food inflation in March 2023 is worrisome.”
“The 75% year-on-year increase doubled the year-on-year variation of March 2022. It inevitably causes massive impoverishment in Cuba and the current economic policy is ineffective,” Monreal said on Twitter.
The products that rose the most in price were rice, with a monthly effect of 36.37%; pork, with 7.78; white cheese, 4.85; poultry, 1.58%, and liquid milk, 1.38%.
On the other hand, the analyst wondered if the increase in wages would be an anti-poverty alternative on the Island.
“A provocation: In Cuba there is no ‘wage-inflation spiral.’ the same social network.
For Monreal, “the option to increase wages is an issue that deserves attention that it has not received and that is related to the redistributive dimension of inflation.”
Continue reading HERE in Spanish
I’m glad the products, unlike Cubans, have been liberated. Or something.
But really, no need to worry. Since average Cubans obviously cannot pay such prices, the “diaspora” will simply have to come up with the money. That is, after all, their function.