Hey! Neo-New Left! Socialism fails everytime!

A woman leaves after buying a pressure cooker in a store in Havana, Tuesday, April 1, 2008.

Here’s some new life lessons provided by real world examples.

The socialist paradise of Cuba has succumbed to consumerism. After decades of having the evils of capitalism shoved down their throats during every waking moment, the Cubans have chosen the decadent life. Nevermind that a pressure cooker probably costs several months wages and is still out of the reach of the average, practical Cuban. (Yahoo/AP link)

Shoppers snapped up DVD players, motorbikes and pressure cookers Tuesday as a slew of consumer products went on sale to all Cuban citizens for the first time. Possibly more significant, Cuba announced it will lend unproductive state land to private farmers to boost agricultural production.

Combined with other reforms announced in recent days, the measures suggested that substantial changes are being driven by new President Raul Castro, who vowed when he took over from his brother Fidel to remove some of the more irksome limitations on the daily lives of Cubans.

Monica at Babalu Blog is a bit skeptical about the neo-Castro regime’s intentions;

[W]e all know that Cubans’ low wages render them unable to purchase a cell phone, computer or hotel stay without foreign assistance. Therefore, any time a documented purchase of these items occurs, the government has a better grasp of who’s getting money from exiled relatives. Also, the Cuban desire for these items will prompt a cash infusion from said exiled relatives as Val just wrote about.

To me, the story isn’t about what the Castros have allowed Cubans to do – because it’s all window dressing. The real story is what Cubans have chosen.

Just like in Zimbabwe where Zimbabweans have chosen to dump their big socialist land reformer Robert Mugabe. Something about 100,000% inflation turns the voters against a politician for some reason. (AP/Yahoo link)

Morgan Tsvangirai told his first news conference since Saturday’s elections that he was waiting for an official announcement of election results before he would enter any discussions.

“Our country is on a precipice, on a cliff edge,” he said.

A businessman close to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, or ZEC, and a lawyer close to the opposition said earlier that aides of Mugabe and Tsvangirai were discussing how Mugabe could relinquish power.

The rivals’ advisers were discussing a “transitional arrangement,” the lawyer said. Both sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

I know, I know, the only reason that Cuba’s communist economy has failed is because one nation out of all of the other nations in the world won’t trade with them. That’s what you have to believe to be a socialist these days. And Mugabe failed because the EU shunned him after decades of his abuse of Zimbabweans and destroying an agricultural system that at one time fed most of Africa.

So while the rest of the world moves towards more capitalism, while even third world people who’ve never tasted freedom get the whole concept, we’re discussing more government regulation here in the United States.

Category: Foreign Policy, Politics