• Submitted by: admin
• national
• Business and Economy
• 04 / 16 / 2010

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Excerpts from an editorial in the Los Angeles Times dealing with the unannounced liberalization of some retail services. For background, read our April 12 blog item "Barbershops, beauty shops can be leased by employees..."

Since the 1959 revolution, Cuba has privatized most of its economy, with about 90 percent of legal activity now concentrated in government hands.

President Raúl Castro appears committed to the basic model, at least as long as his big brother is alive. But the latest shift is driven by necessity. In addition to the U.S. trade embargo, Cuba is suffering the same hardships as most other countries in the global recession.

The cautious measures appear designed to relieve some of the pressure on the state without risking political challenge or creating significant private wealth.

Furthermore, they are meant to limit opportunities for corruption, to encourage people to work harder and to draw some cash from the illegal, underground economy into government coffers .

The changes are less ambitious than we'd wish and aren't irreversible. The government legalized self-employment in several retail services in 1993, then strictly limited the number of licenses available. But for Cubans, who deserve a better standard of living, these are positive steps – profit-making jobs and free-market pedicures.

Source: //miamiherald.typepad.com/cuban_colada/