An insight into socialist political economy: with government-controlled pricing, human survival is easy... but for imperialism

[Jurriaan Bendien <bendien@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The most coveted jobs in Cuba are now in a tourist sector that is the
country's biggest earner. The dollar became a legal currency in 1993 as
Castro sought to refloat an economy which had been propped up by the old
Soviet Union. It rules supreme, at least in the minds of many Cubans.

Those who live solely with Cuban pesos can make ends meet - but only just.
Those who have dollars live best. The average monthly salary that goes into
a Cuban pocket is 353 pesos, exchangeable for just $14.

A walk up San Lorenzo street gives an idea of how the inequalities function.
At the Ideal corner shop, jam jars of rice, soya and oil are on display on
the almost bare shelves. The Ideal is part of the peso economy, most of its
prices controlled by the state and incredibly cheap. Here a pound of rice
costs the equivalent of less than 1p. That would stretch the average salary
a very long way, if the same goods were not rationed.

Walk into the air-conditioned, dollar-economy Friendship supermarket further
up the street and there is a large array of unsubsidised goods, from
cornflakes and pots of baby food to olive oil and port wine, all priced in
dollars. Ordinary Cubans queue to spend up to $20 a go on food. A brand new
fridge here costs $1,000.

Who can afford that? And if they can, how? Have they earned the money
themselves, working in the tourist sector or the black market? Or has it
been sent to them by relatives in Miami? One estimate is that 60% of Cuba's
11 million people have access to the dollar. But for those with empty
pockets staring through the windows of the dollar economy, where all
tourists are obliged to live and many - if not most - Cubans would like to
be, envy is an easy feeling.

Full story:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cuba/story/0,11983,1003138,00.html