Heartache as income gap in Cuba will grow

World cries as yet another socialist fantasy dies at the cruel hand of reality

Cuba to abandon salary equality

Cuba is to abolish its system of equal pay for all and allow workers and managers to earn performance bonuses, a senior official has announced.

Vice-Minister for Labour Carlos Mateu said the current system - in place since the communist revolution in 1959 - was no longer "convenient".

He said wage differentiation should improve production and services.

President Raul Castro has introduced a series of reforms since succeeding his ailing brother Fidel in February.

Writing in the communist party newspaper Granma Mr Mateu said workers would receive a minimum 5% bonus for meeting targets but with no ceiling on salaries.

Managers could earn a 30% bonus if the team working under them increased production, he said.

The minister pointed out that the current wage system sapped employees' incentives to excel since everyone earned the same regardless of performance.

"It's harmful to give a worker less than he deserves, it's also harmful to give him what he doesn't deserve," the newspaper article said.

Challenging Marxist orthodoxy

But the impact in terms of purchasing power will be limited, the BBC's Michael Voss in Havana says.

The average wage in Cuba for everyone - from doctors to farm labourers - is about $20 (£10) a month.

Even before the recent sharp rise in oil and food prices Cuba was spending billions of dollars on imports, and that bill is likely to rise sharply, our correspondent says.

So far most of the reforms announced since Raul Castro took over the presidency have involved lifting restrictions such as the bans on mobile phones and computers.

The latest change is a more fundamental challenge to Marxist economic orthodoxy, our correspondent adds.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7449776.stm

I'd kill for a mojito right now.

Everyone was expecting Raul to reform much of Cuba's policies for the better, this is just the start.

So in your eyes, this is beneficial reform?

You mean...liberals AREN'T communists?!

Ace has been quite an apologist for the Castro regime in the past or at least criticized me for being critical of Castro. So it's strange to hear him say such changes are reform when nothing was wrong with Castro.

Stock, please come up with a quote of Ace's that says that there is nothing wrong with Castro.

I wonder if he ever gets tennis elbow painting those broad strokes.

is it possible to get "tennis wrist"?

For the record, my opinion of Fidel and my opinion of Raul.

I'm starving, I could really go for a medianoche sandwich right now...

It will be interesting to see whether the Cuban child mortality rate stays as low as it is now.

Don't worry, it'll still be lower than the US.

Ah, nothing like a little plagiarism to start my day.

And the literacy rate will still be second highest in the world.

*rimshot*

Welcome to "stockula presents All Liberals are Commies," with Broad Generalizations, Sweeping Illogic, and shown in amazing Stocku-Vision!!!

Wait when did you all stop embracing communism?

We got too lazy for it. Welfare is easier.

Isn't there a Communist Canadian in the house? He should be in on this.

Generally speaking, socialism works better in small countries with relatively homogenous populations.

Name one that was actual Communism and not a dictatorship.

That's sort of an oxymoron.