2010/11/14 Julio Huato <juliohuato at gmail.com>:
> Jim Devine wrote:
>
>> can you tell us the main points that stand out as new and different?
>
> Okay, I read it quickly, because I have so much work to do. But,
> here's the story -- in brief.
>
> The party will move to give ample financial independence to public
> enterprises (to be distinguished from the budgeted entities, such as
> administration, hospitals, schools, etc.). No more control figures
> from the planning ministry. None. No more resort to the public
> budget to keep them afloat. No more micromanagement from the central
> organs of the state. No more "meddling" by municipalities and
> provinces (although there's a provision to fund a local/regional
> development fund, which will be manage by those local bodies).
> Enterprises will be legal entities responsible for their own finances,
> hiring/firing choices, contracts with other enterprises, marketing of
> their output; will pay the state taxes and rents. Public enterprises
> will be sharply (legally) separated from the administration of the
> state proper. No word about it, but the presumption is that
> adjudication organs will be strengthened and have some autonomy from
> the administration of the state. The state will use still ample
> regulatory powers, fiscal and monetary policy, control over trade,
> forex, and credit to steer them. There'll be a gradual push to unify
> the monetary system (currently split in a convertible and a
> non-convertible areas) and domestic prices will be allowed to get more
> aligned with the foreign market, although the formal commitment to
> quality health care, education, solidarity with the disadvantaged, and
> international solidarity remains. The push to coordinate and
> integrate regionally will continue. Cooperatives will be treated also
> as fully independent legal entities able to market their stuff freely
> within the regulatory environment. Self employment will be allowed
> (and encouraged). The push to allocate unused public land to farmers
> will continue. Public education and health care will be subject to
> greater financial discipline. With exceptions, many of the freebies
> we enjoyed in schools and workplaces will be dismantled or those
> collectives will have to fund them on their own. The funding of
> education and health care will be more in tune with the overall state
> of the economy. Access to higher education will be restricted.
> Leftists of the Trotskyst tradition will complain that there's not a
> word about workers' control, democracy from below, etc., which doesn't
> mean that the political institutions will not be functioning more
> substantively (although still with a heavy dose of direction by the
> Cuban communists). This is sheer speculation on my part, but the
> emphasis in the party agenda on fostering a civic culture of personal
> responsibility manifest in demanding more from enterprises and their
> managers and setting high expectations that they, the cooperatives,
> and the self employed honor their tax obligations, etc. has to cut
> both ways. Knowing the Cubans, I believe that for that to function as
> intended, the higher ups are entering a de facto "social contract" by
> which they promise less tolerance to corruption, mismanagement, and
> abuse, and *much* more responsiveness to the direct expressions of
> discontent from below. Although that is not included in this project,
> because it corresponds to the political (not economic and "social")
> realm, the administration of the state proper will also have to
> refitted to make the functionaries more personally accountable before
> the law.
>