Cuba ought to take drastic steps to resolve its rapidly deterioriting economy

Anyone who has visited this blog since I started it back in December 2005, knows that I am one Cuban émigré who constantly comes to a quick defense of the current Cuban government. The capitalists in the United States and especially in Miami, which has a whole industry dedicated to constantly attacking the island's government, would like to go back to the times before 1959, when foreigners exploited Cubans on a daily basis. It was a paradise they say! Yes, it was paradise for the American Ambassador and the American Mafia.

This week I was surfing the Internet and I came across a website that is dedicated to sports, not politics. One recent Cuban-born visitor had a long report about his recent visit to the island. His tone was one of sadness. He didn't attack the government for violating anyone's human rights. That is a red herring promoted by Yankee imperialists and European colonialists. The story that he told about the current state of the Cuban economy was not pretty. He came across as being extremely sad and disappointed.

Hardly a week goes by that I don't get an email or an attempted blog comment that does not call me a communist or a Castro agent. I laugh it off.

I have said it in the past, and I will say it one more time: Cuba's centrally planned economy is not planned very well, because it does not work very well. Why is it that the same effort that is put in place to have a good health-care and educational system can not be put in place to make sure that Cuba is able to produce enough food or have enough toilet paper for its citizens?

You can not fill people's stomachs with never ending ideology and speeches. If the People's Republic of China can have a growing and expanding economy, why is it that Cuba can't? Too many bureaucrats? Too much corruption?

I am not an expert in economics, but something has got to give. The Cuban government ought to declare another special period to tackle the huge economic problems that it faces. If everyone wants to leave the island, that is not a good sign.