Castro

I bought my first house in 1959 and that was the year that Fidel Castro came to power so I remember many of the details. American businesses built up the sugar industry in Cuba and by the 1950’s Cuba was the world’s largest exported of sugar producing 20% of the world’s supply. After Castro came to power and nationalized the sugar industry things started to go downhill. The management left and the profit motive left with them. Cuba lost the US as its main customer and began shipping to Russia and other European countries. In the 70’s Cuba tried to increase production but failed. The more they tried to salvage the sugar business the worse things got and the country declined as sugar declined. This has happened many times throughout history. A political leader will take over a country promising the poor people new hope and when the dust settles a few elite remain in power and the poor end up worse off. I recall when Fidel’s brother took over about five years ago he allowed small private businesses to develop and following the Chinese model things are starting to improve. Give people the freedom to take a business risk and let them keep the rewards and good things happen.