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. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
