Cuba liberalises barber shops and beauty salons

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8616858.stm

Cuba is turning over hundreds of state-run barber shops and beauty salons to employees in what may be the start of a long-expected privatisation drive.
All barbers and hairdressers in shops with three seats or fewer will be allowed to rent the space and pay taxes instead of getting a monthly wage.
The retail sector has long been derided for poor service and rampant theft.
The country's former President, Fidel Castro, nationalised all small businesses in 1968.
'Slow and cautious'
Now his younger brother and successor Raul Castro is trying to modernise the system without jumping to full-scale capitalism.
Other communist countries such as China and Vietnam have long since pushed through market reforms while maintaining political control.
President Castro's first economic reforms involved giving unproductive state-owned land to private farmers.
Some taxi drivers are allowed to work for themselves.
This is his first attempt to deal with shops in the retail and service sector.
It is likely to be a gradual process, though.
These beauty salon changes have not been officially announced or mentioned in the state-controlled press.
In a recent speech to the Young Communist League, Raul Castro acknowledged that people were impatient for change but warned that he planned to move slowly and cautiously.
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It starts...
 

little curly alan ball said:
Party , I believe , at Leader's house .
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communism%20party.jpg
 

The process had started earlier anyway with farming, there have been previously ran government farms that are now ran privately by Cubans, this was to help production though as the country was in need of more food production due to some bad luck, namely the world economy and it getting battered by three major hurricanes in 2008, hence the crop damage.

There were some other changes previously which allowed Cubans to rent a hotel room or hire a car, and own a mobile phone which was the real sign of progression. All small steps but huge in their impact.

I'm expecting more of these moves coming up in the near future.

If you haven't been, go, it's a superb place.
 
chicoazul said:
The process had started earlier anyway with farming, there have been previously ran government farms that are now ran privately by Cubans, this was to help production though as the country was in need of more food production due to some bad luck, namely the world economy and it getting battered by three major hurricanes in 2008, hence the crop damage.

There were some other changes previously which allowed Cubans to rent a hotel room or hire a car, and own a mobile phone which was the real sign of progression. All small steps but huge in their impact.

I'm expecting more of these moves coming up in the near future.

If you haven't been, go, it's a superb place.
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THIS is why he is the ONLY man ALIVE whom can carry off the dual roles on here of , Fuhrer / Leader / Duce , etc , and also that of G.O.T. Judith Chalmers .
HE IS LEGEND .

He is also right , on this as with all other occasions .
 

A combination of socialism and small privately run businesses sounds good to me.



Sees Bruce Wayne, TX Bill and Matt Damon coming. Gives it legs
 
chicoazul said:
I think that too, but initially it will be bogged down by restrictions. Some great opportunities there though, unless you're heavily reliant on import for your product.
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Hardly the case with Cuba though. Thanks to that illegal embargo some of our more enlightened goverments put in place
 
chicoazul said:
http://www.theatlantic.com/internat...o-ahmadinejad-stop-slandering-the-jews/62566/

http://www.theatlantic.com/national...-model-doesnt-even-work-for-us-anymore/62602/

Interesting interview from the great man there.
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Very interesting. His re-thinking on the Missile Crisis is noteworthy. Looks like major overtures to the US - especially his condemnation of the Iranian regime's stance on things.

The economy - the Cuban Communist Party must look on at what the Chinese achieved: retaining political control by transfoming itself into a huge State Capitalist enterprise.

Generally speaking, we're in a state of flux at the moment: the free market is discredited and socialism - or old fashioned command economies - are off the table. You get hybrid forms like this getting a good press. This is where the rise of Soverign Wealth Funds fits in: a vehicle used by usually non-liberal, undemocratic countries looking to reinvest their money gained from energy supply (usually) in the market to copperbottom economic stability and retain political control at home. Stuff like that is what Castro's successors will have their eye on - not capitulation to the West.
 
davek said:
Very interesting. His re-thinking on the Missile Crisis is noteworthy. Looks like major overtures to the US - especially his condemnation of the Iranian regime's stance on things.

The economy - the Cuban Communist Party must look on at what the Chinese achieved: retaining political control by transfoming itself into a huge State Capitalist enterprise.

Generally speaking, we're in a state of flux at the moment: the free market is discredited and socialism - or old fashioned command economies - are off the table. You get hybrid forms like this getting a good press. This is where the rise of Soverign Wealth Funds fits in: a vehicle used by usually non-liberal, undemocratic countries looking to reinvest their money gained from energy supply (usually) in the market to copperbottom economic stability and retain political control at home. Stuff like that is what Castro's successors will have their eye on - not capitulation to the West.
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Fantastic points and right, right on the money.

The concessions to the US have been going on for a couple of years now, most low key and in the form of gestures that wouldn't register but each acknowledged over the water.

The Chinese model is something which would appeal massively to the masses and the government itself but it simply has to allow some degree of major foreign investment without restrictions/clauses. I'd loathe to see it spoilt by tacky tourist neon lights and commercial advertising like.
 

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