Cuba Now More Capitalist Than USA
While the United States, under local, state and federal leadership that could collectively be described as Bloomschwartzenbama, can't seem to stop the growth of government employment, the Castro Brothers -- who directly employ most of Cuba's population -- plan to lay off half a million government employees by March and expand the issuing of "licenses for self-employment." From MSNBC:
More than 85 percent of the Cuban labor force, or over 5 million people, worked for the state at the close of 2009, according to the government.
"Our state cannot and should not continue maintaining companies, productive entities, services and budgeted sectors with bloated payrolls (and) losses that hurt the economy," the statement said.
"Job options will be increased and broadened with new forms of non-state employment, among them leasing land, cooperatives and self-employment, absorbing hundreds of thousands of workers in the coming years," it said.
Fraternal puppet Raul Castro asserts, "We have to erase forever the notion that Cuba is the only country in the world in which people can live without working."
Another recent liberalization in the workers' paradise.
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He's destroying Paradise! So does this mean that all those socialism-loving Hollywood idiots are going to hit the street in protest?
Nah, they still have the best healthcare in the world.
The freedom of cuba brought to you without a single death... thanks Fidel
Clearly the sanctions worked.
What? Socialism doesn't work? Who knew?
I sure as hell didn't.
Bloomschwartzenbama
I like it.
I love comic overstatement in headings as much as the next guy, but...
The US is far more capitalist than Cuba, it's just heading away from capitalism. Cuba is much further away, it's just that it's heading in the right direction.
position =/= velocity
IT'S A JOKE
HEY!
IT'S A JOKE
HEY!
I love comic overstatement in headings as much as the next guy, but...
According to Moynahan Hyperbole is the more evil then Hitler.
No, this isn't true, the US is actually a libertarian paradise. Just check out this excerpt from a speech given by President Obama in Parma, OH last week:
See, I've never believed that government has all the answers to our problems. I've never believed that government's role is to create jobs or prosperity. I believe it's the drive and the ingenuity of our entrepreneurs, our small businesses; the skill and dedication of our workers -- (applause) -- that's made us the wealthiest nation on Earth. (Applause.) I believe it's the private sector that must be the main engine for our recovery.
I believe government should be lean; government should be efficient. I believe government should leave people free to make the choices they think are best for themselves and their families, so long as those choices don't hurt others. (Applause.)
Kid you not.
Now and then I hear a friend make a comment to the effect that Bush destroyed all the regulations; I've never yet had a satisfactory answer when I comment in turn that if that's so, we should be suing all the government (non)regulators, who have been drawing nice paychecks to do nothing.
Words don't have to make sense, dude. All that matters is who you're talking to at this moment.
This just in: Politicians lie about the unpopular ideological beliefs they truly hold.
I don't know, maybe the teleprompter decided to have some fun and started feeding him "opposite day" lines to see what would happen.
When are they going to upgrade his firmware? You'd think that with all the conflicts between Reality 2.0 and Mendacity 2010, he'd have nothing but kernel panics all the time.
Of course Obama and the left want government to be lean and efficient -- Just like some morbidly obese guy might want to be a baseball player. Just not enough to, you know, stop eating.
You leave John Kruk out of this.
Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.
Let me finish that quote:
FAIL.
How DARE you put that quote in context?
The US no longer are "far more capitalist than Cuba". The US now are "less socialist than Cuba". What percentage of the US GDP runs through government (Feds, states, cities, etc.), through companies and organizations partially owned by US government (GM, AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac etc.), or is the result of some government regulation, such as various regulations on accounting and reporting results?
I didn't actually compute it (difficult given that official US GDP numbers are fake), but looks like more than 50% to me.
When I was in China in '97, I found it to be RAMPANTLY capitalist. Competition & greed (for lack of a better word?) are human nature and ain't no gubmint devised yet that can keep them from bubbling to the surface. Thank gods.
Did you just sneakily trademark "for lack of a better word"?
She could be acknowledging the trademarked word greed. Everybody knows that Standard Oil owned the trademark on 'greed', which was later passed down to Exxon during the anti-trust breakup. At different times other industries were allowed to purchase limited exclusive right of use before Goldman-Sachs finally bought the trademark outright at a discount during the early '80s oil bust.
WTF? I thought liberals owned that word...
*sigh* Didn't any of you see Wall Street? Kids these days...
Fuck that, just watch my sequel...in theaters Friday!
Laid-off state workers will be offered alternative jobs, and if they do not accept one, will have unemployment benefits equal to 70 percent of their wages for no more than three months, depending on their seniority, sources said.
They will not be totally out in the cold because all Cubans receive free health care and education, subsidized utilities, a subsidized food ration and automatic adjustment of mortgages to 10 percent of the top breadwinner's income.
Oh, thank Michael Moore. For a minute there, I thought they were going to go all Republican agenda on them. That would just be savagery.
@see, freedom, Without any deaths? In case you're not being sarcastic, In what universe?
Ghandi's
This whole scenario was done in an issue of National Lampoon in the early 80s.
*Everything* that's happening now was a satire in the '80s.
Or in The Onion.
Raul Castro must be a paid puppet of the Koch empire.
Koch, you magnificent bastard!
Oh, also relevant is this episode of The Simpsons:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trouble_with_Trillions
Fav quote:
Mr. Burns: Oh, so the island's not for sale, eh? Well, will you at least permit us to live in your socialist paradise?
Fidel Castro: You talking about Cuba?
...all we've ascertained from satellite photos is that it's not on the roof.
"Es Carne de Burro."
"Here Trilly Trilly Trilly..."
Food for thought: If government spending boosts the economy, then how do you boost the economy when the government is the only sector? And what does a recession look like?
Pretty sure the difference between recession and just another day in paradise is pretty imperceptible in communist countries.
Well, we could always add some more levels of government to the boring old Federal, state, county, city ones.
So, when do the casinos reopen?
Socialismo o Muerte!
Fidel is relevant again. How nice.
BLOOMSCHWARTZENBAMA IST GRUNDIG FUR DIE LEDERHOSEN--mach schnell, Raul, oder das '57 Chevy bekommt Windenergiewieniemobilen
Fraternal puppet Raul Castro asserts, "We have to erase forever the notion that Cuba is the only country in the world in which people can live without working."
Yes! That distinction belongs to the USA.
That's not Capitalism. Capitalism is where the proletariat work for a boss, and say you work for 8 hours, for 8$ an hour, 64$ a day, and you make a 20$ jakcet once an hour, so in one day you've made 160$, but your employer sells it, gives you your wages (64$) and keeps the rest (96$), socialism is where that extra money goes to the state to fund everyone.