Have You Ever Noticed That "Planned Economies" Are A Plan to Fail?

"Planned economy" is geek-speak for "government run economy," meaning some sort of socialism. Cuba has one of these.

The wikipedia article on the Cuban economy says:

"In the year 2000, the public sector employment was 76% and the private sector at 23% compared to the 1981 ratio of 91% to 8%. Capital investment is restricted and requires approval by the government. The Cuban government sets most prices and rations goods to citizens."

Now this is fairly telling. The best employment rate -- the public sector -- had in 2000 a 76% employment rate. Sounds great right? Wow, look at all those employed people.

There's just one problem. Do you recall that snag we hit in the U.S. a few years back called the "Great Depression?" At the worst part of it, when people in this country were actually dying of starvation here and there, the unemployment rate was 23-24%, the same as Cuba's "normal" economic status. In other words, they live in a state of constant "Depression," and they think that's normal because Uncle Fidel says so.

They only export a few crops in Cuba, and few manufactured goods in any bulk worth noting. Hurricanes regularly trash their sugar cane fields, and they have no way to compensate for the loss to their GNP. This is the typical fruit of socialism.

China has final caught on to the fairly obvious fact now that capitalism -- the free market strain -- really brings home the bacon. If the Chinese were really smart, they would note that this sort of capitalism is the biblical economy of choice, and start importing Christian missionaries who really know their Bibles for a little advice.

But governments just don't seem to catch to what works and what doesn't. You can show em, show em what you showed em, and tell em why it works. Why does Calvinism produce countries with economies the size of Great Britain and the U.S.A.? And Roman Catholicism economies like those of Mexico and Cuba? Why are all the Islamic countries dirt poor -- minus the ones lucky enough to have huge oil fields and help to drill and cap them from the West?

People simply do not ask questions when they come with answers likely to be unpopular -- even if it means that they have -- year after year -- utterly Depressing economic figures.

Got a planned economy? Plan on having a lot of very skinny, and very poor people in your country. Got free market capitalism with biblically established limits and regulations? Then you have traded your planned economy for national wealth.

By the way, the figures that tell how many people are employed only tell half the story. There is always a group called the "underemployed" in any economy. These have jobs, but do not earn enough at them to make a living for their families. They are, as we say, barely treading water.

So add this number to Cuba's stated economic figure (which I do not have handy) and you would get an ever worse picture of the actual state of their national economy. But who cares about prosperity, when you can sell the best cigars.

They export cancer, and reap unemployment (and underemployment). Go socialism.