"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
— Benjamin Disraeli, British statesman
In the past couple of days, no one has proven Disraeli more correct than the temporary dictatorship of Cuba's Raúl Castro.
First, Economy and Planning Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez reported that the Cuban economy in 2006 grew by 12.5 percent, “the highest figure in our revolutionary history... and also the highest in the region.”
The United Nations and others are still quibbling with how Havana calculates economic growth — for example, the government includes the value of subsidized social services, which inflates the figure — but that didn't stop the government from cranking up the propaganda machine to tout its "achievement."
A day later, however, Raúl Castro pissed on the party, complaining of inefficiencies in transportation, food production and other parts of the economy that have been hallmarks of the communist regime for more than 40 years.
Apparently — and not surprisingly, for anyone familiar with how the dictatorship has screwed up the economy — the benefits of whatever recent growth have not been shared equally or at least efficiently throughout Cuban society.
"In this revolution we are tired of excuses," Castro said.
OK, Raúl, you have come to the right place. You fill find no excuses here, just an explanation:
Your system — a command economy where the dictatorship makes all the decisions about where you can work and what you can buy, and the money used by most of the people is worthless — does not work. The surest evidence is that you cannot even guarantee that your people can get to where they are going or buy the food they need to survive.
But you are caught in a trap. If you unleash market forces so that the economy would run, and grow as it will, you put at risk your very hold on power. The richer people get, the more freedom they will want, and while you may want to emulate your friends in China, who have maintained their dictatorship as the nation's wealth grows, there are no guarantees.
None of your lies, damned lies and statistics can change that.
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