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Re: Say it aint so, Fidel. You're saying the Communist economic model doesnt work?

mwalsh — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:50:09 GMT

Seems Fidel Castro is changing what he said:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/world/americas/11briefs-CASTROEXPLAI_BRF.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=fidel%20castro&st=cse

ir at least how it was interpereted.

Re: Say it aint so, Fidel. You're saying the Communist economic model doesnt work?

Peter Sidor — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 09:20:30 GMT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/sep/10/fidel-castro-cuba-communist

Just thought Id throw that out there

Nice find! So it can be still socialism, just turned into a highly regulatory state with some nominal freedoms for the people. Where did we see such a model again...

Re: Say it aint so, Fidel. You're saying the Communist economic model doesnt work?

Laotzu del Zinn — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 04:35:51 GMT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/sep/10/fidel-castro-cuba-communist

Just thought Id throw that out there

Re: Say it aint so, Fidel. You're saying the Communist economic model doesnt work?

Naevius — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 00:24:08 GMT

I'm pretty sure he is laughing at having a net worth over $50m.

This statement by Castro doesn't mean much. He is criticizing the model that they have in particular. Every communist criticizes all past models and claims that the next one will be the messiah.

Heh, true enough. Just a silly attempt at a joke on my part, really.

Re: Say it aint so, Fidel. You're saying the Communist economic model doesnt work?

Caley McKibbin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 20:26:49 GMT

Michael Moore is crying into his Big-Mac as we speak.

I'm pretty sure he is laughing at having a net worth over $50m.

This statement by Castro doesn't mean much. He is criticizing the model that they have in particular. Every communist criticizes all past models and claims that the next one will be the messiah.

Re: Say it aint so, Fidel. You're saying the Communist economic model doesnt work?

Conza88 — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:47:34 GMT

"This is capitalist propaganda! The Revolution will triumph!"

lmao..

Re: Say it aint so, Fidel. You're saying the Communist economic model doesnt work?

Naevius — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 10:46:05 GMT

Michael Moore is crying into his Big-Mac as we speak.

Re: Say it aint so, Fidel. You're saying the Communist economic model doesnt work?

Jackson — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 10:36:11 GMT

castro is a capitalist sabatour.

ignore this, people, continue to live the revolution.

Re: Say it aint so, Fidel. You're saying the Communist economic model doesnt work?

BrianAnderson — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:48:16 GMT

This is nearly as good as when England decided they're going to decentralize healthcare.

Re: Say it aint so, Fidel. You're saying the Communist economic model doesnt work?

Kakugo — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 07:29:20 GMT

Ironic to think that the world's foremost and longest serving Communist is saying exactly the opposite of what the "leaders of the Free World" are saying.

And I bet good old Fidel hasn't even prepared a stimulus plan or ordered the Cuban central bank to fire up the (Soviet vintage) printing presses. Strange world we live in...

Re: Say it aint so, Fidel. You're saying the Communist economic model doesnt work?

hugolp — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:29:57 GMT

This is capitalist propaganda! The Revolution will triumph!

Re: Say it aint so, Fidel. You're saying the Communist economic model doesnt work?

Vitor — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:49:54 GMT

I like to think that Fidel actually said "fuck that shit".

Say it aint so, Fidel. You're saying the Communist economic model doesnt work?

Gipper — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:35:40 GMT

Report: Castro says Cuban model doesn't work

By PAUL HAVEN, Associated Press Writer Paul Haven, Associated Press Writer – Wed Sep 8, 3:18 pm ET

HAVANA – Fidel Castro told a visiting American journalist that Cuba's communist economic model doesn't work, a rare comment on domestic affairs from a man who has conspicuously steered clear of local issues since stepping down four years ago.

The fact that things are not working efficiently on this cash-strapped Caribbean island is hardly news. Fidel's brother Raul, the country's president, has said the same thing repeatedly. But the blunt assessment by the father of Cuba's 1959 revolution is sure to raise eyebrows.

Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent for The Atlantic magazine, asked if Cuba's economic system was still worth exporting to other countries, and Castro replied: "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore" Goldberg wrote Wednesday in a post on his Atlantic blog.

He said Castro made the comment casually over lunch following a long talk about the Middle East, and did not elaborate. The Cuban government had no immediate comment on Goldberg's account.

Since stepping down from power in 2006, the ex-president has focused almost entirely on international affairs and said very little about Cuba and its politics, perhaps to limit the perception he is stepping on his brother's toes.

Goldberg, who traveled to Cuba at Castro's invitation last week to discuss a recent Atlantic article he wrote about Iran's nuclear program, also reported on Tuesday that Castro questioned his own actions during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, including his recommendation to Soviet leaders that they use nuclear weapons against the United States.

Even after the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba has clung to its communist system.

The state controls well over 90 percent of the economy, paying workers salaries of about $20 a month in return for free health care and education, and nearly free transportation and housing. At least a portion of every citizen's food needs are sold to them through ration books at heavily subsidized prices.

President Raul Castro and others have instituted a series of limited economic reforms, and have warned Cubans that they need to start working harder and expecting less from the government. But the president has also made it clear he has no desire to depart from Cuba's socialist system or embrace capitalism.

Fidel Castro stepped down temporarily in July 2006 due to a serious illness that nearly killed him.

He resigned permanently two years later, but remains head of the Communist Party. After staying almost entirely out of the spotlight for four years, he re-emerged in July and now speaks frequently about international affairs. He has been warning for weeks of the threat of a nuclear war over Iran.

Castro's interview with Goldberg is the only one he has given to an American journalist since he left office.