Cuba has the right idea, for now
By Valerie Steffl
From University Chronicle, August 30, 2009
Around the first of the month, I was reading the global news and stumbled upon what was a highly blogged and criticized article titled, “Cuba turns off air conditioners, shuts factories, shortens workdays to save money in recession.”
I read a bit into the article to find that workers went without their government-subsidized lunches, were forced to give up their hours and comfort of air conditioning, spare tires, and cups of yogurt, all in the name of saving energy.
Official Cuban newspapers said that the reason for this extreme energy conservation was to battle the “very serious” energy crisis on the island with hints that there may be more sacrifices on the way.
Reading the article, I picked up on the bias against the Communist Party and Cuba as the author stressed that the government is conserving this energy even though they receive free oil services from Venezuela. This sparked rumors that Cuba is selling President Hugo Chavez’s crude oil on the side to raise money.
At first, I thought, “Oh that sucks a lot, having to give up work, dairy products and electricity to save electricity for the government who could just be taking the savings for themselves.” But then I stepped back and thought that there could be another side to these cuts.
First of all, Cuba is currently experiencing the effects of the global recession on top of the fact that Cuba is also dealing with their own struggling economy as they are still rebuilding from last year’s hurricanes.
I’m going to take team Cuba on this one. Yes, I know realistically all of these government restrictions would suck. I have thought about the inconveniencies that would lead to conservation of oil and energy. On the other hand, wouldn’t stiffer restrictions other than paying a dollar more for a gallon of gas just make sense?
While both countries are battling to rebuild after natural disasters and stay afloat during the global recession, the United States keeps spending money that we don’t have while Cuba is conserving money and oil that they do have.
One point for Cuba
Even if Cuba is selling their free oil from Venezuela for extra cash – granted it is spent on the country – it is one of the best times to do so, as opposed to the United States trying to refuel their economy by keeping gas prices unrealistically low and spending pretend money on the Cash for Clunkers program.
Point two for Cuba
Cuba could be seen as the tortoise and the United States, the hare. While the United States looks to create more money at a faster rate, which also could run out faster and lead us to more national debt, Cuba conserves to control their national debt and actually find a way out of it while saving unused oil while prices are still relatively low.
Even though the United States may be a much bigger force than the little island of Cuba, like the slow tortoise, Cuba has the potential to pull ahead in the race out of the recession.
I’m not saying the US government is stupid, just unrealistic.
I know Cuba has gained wisdom from their recent times of depression. These cuts that Cuba recently made are small in comparison to when Cubans were nearly starved after subsidies dried up with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the blackouts they experienced in 2004 when they experienced technical problems at power plants which left the island dark for hours on end.
This translated into idled fans and water pumps and electrical surges that damaged refrigerators and spoiled food and milk.
Even though Cuba isn’t in dire need of conserving this very moment, they should not be criticized for it because it is better to be safe than sorry.
I’m thinking that the restrictions Cuba is placing on their citizens, even though they may seem totalitarian and extreme, may provide a lesson to the United States.
Hopefully, the United States can acknowledge the wisdom of Aesop’s Fables and emulate more of the tortoise’s humble strategies.
Valeries Steffl is assistant news editor for University Chronicle, the twice weekly newspaper of St. Cloud State University in Minnesota.