Is Cuba the darling of the left?

[Charles]

the darling of collectivist statists for years,

Judging by comments exchanged over the last few days here in UK, and from newspaper editorials I say Cuba is the current darling. Now my Objectivist inclination would immediately be that they are either a)lying, and having heard it repeated I suspect not, or b.) the Cuban government are getting the money from something undesirable. I wonder what. Anyone know what the deal is with Cuba?

Edited June 15, 2005 by Charles

[gags]

Anyone know what the deal is with Cuba?

Cuba is on a roll. In fact, Castro is passing out rice steamers to every deserving socialist female. Play your cards right and you might even get a pressure cooker.

"Those of you who would like rice steamers, raise your hand," said the 78-year-old president in front of an audience of hundreds of women, sounding a bit like Monty Hall. All the women left with one, and 3 million more are on their way to households across the island. Preliminary distribution of pressure cookers, which, like the rice steamers, come from China, has also begun.

http://search.csmonitor.com/2005/0610/p06s01-woam.htm

Now that's prosperity for you!

[scottkursk]

Now that's prosperity for you!

They just officially doubled the minimum wage as of May 1st to celebrate May day. It was in conjunction with the free campaign to give away the free pressure cookers. I think they doubled from like $1 a day to $2. No, really.

I remember listening to a commentator on the radio that mentioned someting that went like this: that if a country as forcibly economically depressed by economic blocade by the US can double their minimum wage, why is congress fighting over such small increases as .50 an hour.

Hello dear disk jockey, this is the point. I believe you are completely missing it.......

[gags]

Doubling of the minimum wage from $1/day to $2.....well I guess that's socialist progress. I had a funny thought. I wish I'd been a bug on the wall during the negotiations between Cuba and China for the big rice steamer purchase. Do you think the Cubans asked for a unit price discount because they were buying in bulk? I wonder if the Chinese had to compete based on quality, price, on-time delivery and customer service in order to get the contract? Even the parasites become capitalists when their own interests are at stake. And I thought they preach that selfishness is a bad thing.

[Hal]

They just officially doubled the minimum wage as of May 1st to celebrate May day. It was in conjunction with the free campaign to give away the free pressure cookers. I think they doubled from like $1 a day to $2. No, really.

How high is the cost of living in Cuba?

[gags]

Here's some info from the The Associated Press in the Havana Journal regarding Cuban salaries and the costs of various products. The monthly salaries don't seem to work out if the minimum wage is $1 or $2 per day. I can't give an explanation for the discrepancy.

Average salaries, per month:

Teacher: $9.60

Business administrator: $11.35

Engineer: $14.40

Doctor, general practitioner: $27

Doctor, specialist: $31

Taxi Driver: $6, plus tips

Cost of products:

Rice, per pound: 14 cents

Beans, per pound: 35 cents

Bread, per pound: 39 cents

Sugar, per pound: 47 cents

Pork, per pound: 96 cents

Can of soda: 42 cents

Bottle of rum: $2.30

Package of 20 cigarettes: 27 cents

Roll of toilet paper: 19 cents

Milk, per gallon: $4.55 (available at much lower prices for children under 7)

Cheese, per pound: $4-$5 (can be found for half this price on black market)

Cooking oil, per quart: $2.15

Box of cereal: $4-$10 (depending on brand)

Canned soup (Campbell's Cream of Mushroom): $2.50

Transportation:

Buses or fixed-route taxis for Cubans: 1 cent

Taxis for tourists: 96 cents per mile

Entertainment:

Movie theater: 4 cents

Sporting event: 4 cents

Concert: 4 cents to $25

A night at the Tropicana cabaret: $65-$85

Utilities, per month (based on consumption):

Water: 15-20 cents

Gas for stoves: 8-38 cents

Electricity: 38 cents to $11.50

Telephone: 38 cents to $11.50

[softwareNerd]

How high is the cost of living in Cuba?

The cost to live with all the comforts a middle-class American would expect? Or are you asking about "living" where rice takes up such a huge proportion of your budget that you save for a few months or years before you can afford a rice-cooker?

[scottkursk]

Here's some info from the The Associated Press in the Havana Journal regarding Cuban salaries and the costs of various products.  The monthly salaries don't seem to work out if the minimum wage is $1 or $2 per day.  I can't give an explanation for the discrepancy.

I was wrong. I guess my minimum was guess was the per month minimum wage. That would make more sense.

I do remember back during the Elian Gonzalez debate that the left in the US was bragging that his dad was holding the highest paying job in Cuba. No, not physicist or doctor or anything that, but towel boy at a resort for Europeans and that given the system of nepotism, young Elian would "inherit" the job. See, the Fenig here, Mark there the tourists tip for bringing towels to them makes the towels boys in the cabanas the most highly paid job on the island.

So with as little as even the highly educated are paid, you can see why people are willing to sell their children to foreign tourists. Though the government has done a relatively good job keeping the child sex trade down to a minimum, it's still a real problem.

[scottkursk]

The cost to live with all the comforts a middle-class American would expect? Or are you asking about "living" where rice takes up such a huge proportion of your budget that you save for a few months or years before you can afford a rice-cooker?

Middle class in the US is not middle class really anywhere else except parts of Europe. I think if you compared the average life of a person who lives in what would be declared as poverty in the US, I'd say someone who works a minimum wage job full time, no health insurance who uses state provided health services or ER's, etc, your average Cuban would find it not to shabby.

Growing up in Pasadena Texas, a really large number of my friends came from Central America. A large percentage as I've mentioned elsewhere were illegals and they told me many times over stories of what it was like growing up. So when they got here from El Salvador or Guatamala, working a job that paid $50.00 a day doing back braking day labor wasn't bad at all. Because back home they'd be doing the same job and not be paid anything approaching the same.

Frequently large groups of kids would leave school for a while during Christmas to go home. Their parents would work various labor jobs here while they went to school, they'd save every penny they could, and then they'd take a month off in December and go home with gifts and spend money they saved on their home or ranch they owned back home. Sure they faced lots of problems but most of them came from their status as illegal aliens.

I had white friends that were poor that were equally poor but they complained about how bad the conditions were in the Section 8 housing was. My El Salvadorian friends used to laugh at them and say at least there weren't any death squads. No shooting means the apartment was ok. Shooting, then you have to really need to see if they'll work with you on the rent.

[Hal]

The cost to live with all the comforts a middle-class American would expect?

No, because comparing Cuba to America is silly. What about the cost to live with the 'comforts' residents in other South American countries would expect?

[softwareNerd]

... comparing Cuba to America is silly.

Really! Why? You do realize that the U.S. is a mixed economy which would have been far richer if not for various hare-brained socialist schemes.

Nevertheless...

According to the CIA's public "world fact book", the per capita GDP expressed as Purchasing Power Parity is as follows:

* USA: $40 K

* Mexico: $10 K

* Jamaica: $4 K

* Cuba: $ 3 K

Of course, communist nations are notoriously bad about spreading misinformation. It's nothing compared to the fudged figures of governments in countries that are comparatively free. For instance, this report by Authur Andersen says that Cuban officials said that foreign direct investment in Cuba during 1990-95 was over $2,000 million, while outside sources estimate that the real figure is closer to $50 million!

[scottkursk]

Purchasing Power Parity

is actually a pretty good comparison that I wish more people would use but it's a pretty hard way to come up with accurate calcs. You know, .05 for a pound of potatoes is fine and dandy but if you only earn $2.00 a month, it puts it in start contrast.