No Free Lunches In Cuba

Last year I commented on the slow but inevitable changes that face Cuba, one of the last of the 'communist' states, now that Fidel Castro is reaching the end. Like all these pseudo socialist states (Vietnam, China, Laos, and North Korea), Cuba has long been chasing the US dollar, in the Cubans case, via "Tourism", in which visitors must use Yankee dollars to pay for everything.

However, as I predicted, the collapse of the system (prompted by the economic collapse worldwide) of supports that gave the majority of Cubans free meals at state-run workplace canteens has been partially cancelled, with the whole system, whereby the state provides about 3.5 million free lunches a day, expected to be ended sometime this year.

Now, as has been found in other states where the state paid for absolute obedience with a certain amount of welfare, notably East Germany, once this support ceases, so does support for the system. However the Cubans have little choice as they are no longer being subsidised by the Soviet Empire.

Perhaps as telling, and maybe a lesson for the leftwings of theWest who are still wedded to State intervention and control, was what President Raul Castro said about subsidies which was that they "are ineffective or, even worse, make some feel that they don't need to work". Read the universal welfare benefit, system for 'subsidies' and you are hitting one of the reasons why, large swathes of our communities, prefer to never work rather than educate and work.