Now, Cubans will be allowed to buy and sell used cars. The changes headline President Raúl Castro’s efforts to remodel Cuba’s hobbled economy and spur the private sector, reports NYT. “The state has no business getting involved in a matter between two individuals,” Castro told the National Assembly last December, criticizing complex rules and “irrational prohibitions” that he said bred corruption.
“If I have a little car,” he added, “I have the right to sell it to whomever I want.”
Cuban's are becoming more free by the day.
There's still, however, an elitist segment to the Cuban auto market. Elitism tends to develop in socialist and communist countries. Socialist and communist advocates deny it, nevertheless, it is there. In the case of the automobile market, NYT reports that "the right to buy a new car is still limited to a narrow group of Cubans who earn some foreign currency, including doctors, artists, musicians, members of airline flight crews and the handful of Cubans who work at the American naval base at Guantánamo Bay."
I wonder if Cuba is allowing these folks to buy/sell their used cars in cash transactions? If so, this makes Cuba freer than Louisiana, where the state legislature has banned cash transactions in the sale of secondhand goods.
ReplyDeleteGreat observation, Anon. Free country my ass.
ReplyDeleteIt is so odd that all the Cubans have to do is kill a few political terrorists and then they can live and associate however they want. Why do human beings allow terrorists to own them?
ReplyDeleteAmazing news. Between this and the ability to buy and sell houses it seems like Cuba is really opening up! I almost wish I was Cuban-American, there will be great fortunes to be in Cuba by the earliest and the most adventurous. At some point down the road, they will even sell some state companies I bet at knockdown prices (Russia did this in the 90s by the way), and that will be a great investment opportunity and good for Cuba too.
ReplyDeleteOh, one other thing. About a year ago, maybe more, Obama Administration actually created an exception to the blockade that allows US companies to offer telecom services to Cuba and I believe also sell telecom equipment. I bet you some enterprising Cuban-Americans in FL have already started doing this by satellite or wireless. Once the internet starts to spread there, its bye-bye Castros!
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