How Communism has Crippled Cuba
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The failure of communism in Cuba has been a long, tragic journey. One can even say that it began with Karl Marx. His doctrine is full of illogical ideals, loopholes, and other unsolved problems. He based his idea of economics on the labor theory of value, a grave oversimplification of the market.
The failure of communism in Cuba has been a long, tragic journey. One can even say that it began with Karl Marx. His doctrine is full of illogical ideals, loopholes, and other unsolved problems. He based his idea of economics on the labor theory of value, a grave oversimplification of the market.
Since Fidel Castro assumed power in 1959, he immediately began implementing communist ideals. He began seizing private industry and simultaneously nationalizing companies. The United States, in turn, had enforced trade restrictions against the country, crippling Cuba’s economy and dooming the nation in to eternal stagnation. However, communism does not work regardless on which country wants to trade them.
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Roots of the Economic Plague
With the Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961, the United States planned to make use of Cuban exiles and certain insiders to initiate a coup and ultimately take the power from the communist regime. Cuban support, however, was disastrously underestimated and the United States invasion team of Cuban fighters surrendered within 24 hours. American President John F. Kennedy later decided on a more targeted strike. Operation Mongoose, the US governments’ failed covert attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro.
After that, the United States decided to hit Cuba financially, in a last ditch attempt to topple the Cuban government. The first embargo was in 1962, in response to the nationalization of all US assets in Cuba. This had effectively removed all private business ventures within the country.
At this point, Cuba started to rely heavily on the Soviet Union, which turned out to be another blow to Cuba’s future as the Soviet Union disintegrated because of the fantastic President Ronald Reagan’s pressure that the Soviet Union could not match.
Harsh Times
Soon after the end of Cold War tensions, in 1992, the Cuban Democracy Act became law. The main goal of the act was to convince Cuba to convert to democracy. In fact, the act served as a justification for the US to use embargoes as a form of economic warfare. The subsequent Helms-Burton Act, enforced by the US, was the final nail in the coffin, banning Cuba from participating in international trade agreements, financial institutions, and any sort of foreign trade.
As a result, potential investors are extremely skeptical of investing in Cuba. And because the Helms-Burton Act placed sanctions on those who do business with Cuba, it became unfavorable for any other countries to do business with Cuba. Why do business with a government that violates the rights of its own citizens? This economic punishment formed in the hope that Cubans eventually would revolt and support a transition towards democracy.
This never happened. The best Cuban baseball players did risk their lives floating across open seas to play Major League Baseball. Again, Communism represented a losing system.
The Future of the Cuban Economy
The effectiveness of the embargoes levied by the US is up for debate. These sanctions hurt some Americans because of lost trade for American businesses. But it has hurt Cuba much more. Recently, President Obama normalized trade relations with Cuba despite not receiving any approval from Congress. Again, according to economic insiders, the President has rewarded evil (the President has allowed the Syrian president to live despite chemically attacking his own people and has allowed Iran to pursue nuclear weapons) but at the same time he is hammering Russia over its violation of Ukrainian rights. Russia is the new Cuba for America.
Even if America trades with Cuba, how can this significantly affect Cubans? The Cuban government heavily taxes all Cuban businesses. Why would anyone work that hard if they lose so much? If America were not willing to take out Cuba’s leadership itself, why would a bunch of unarmed and helpless people do that for themselves? Cuba’s economy is going nowhere fast and will remain so for years to come according to anyone who understands geopolitics and as long as the Castro brothers remain steadfast communist leaders!
