Cuba tries micro capitalism

AP/NY Times:

In a country where almost everyone works for the communist state, dairy farmer Jesus Diaz is his own boss. He likes it that way -- and so does the government.

Living on a plot of land just big enough to graze four dairy cows, Diaz produces enough milk to sell about four quarts a day to the state.

This is independent production on a tiny scale, but it has proved so efficient that Cuba has decided on a major expansion of its program to distribute underused and fallow farmland to private farmers and cooperatives.

''It's a way for the land to end up in the hands of those who want to produce. I see it as a very good thing,'' said Diaz, 45. He received his land and cows from the state in 1996, and now hopes to get access to more property.

The government is preparing for a ''massive distribution of land,'' Orlando Lugo, president of Cuba's national farming association, said last week. Private farmers have begun receiving land for the cash crops of coffee and tobacco, and will soon be able to lease state land for other crops.

The idea is to revolutionize farming, one tiny plot at a time.

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Private property is a "revolutionary" idea. Only in Cuba where communism has only succeeded in making everyone poorer. The purer the form of communism that is tried, the poorer it makes all the people. North Korea is another example of why communism does not work. Control freaks like Hugo Chavez will create another bad example in Venezuela.

It is just a deeply flawed economic system. It has many of the same flaws of slavery. There is no incentive to produce beyond the minimum. That is why it does not surprise me that a guy with a small plot of his own and four cows can out produce government enterprises. It also does not surprise me that he would like to add more land and more cows. But he better be careful. The commies will kill his golden goose if he becomes too successful.