The first turn of the screw
The first turn of the screw
A reporter´s blog
By Manuel Alberto Ramy
May 17 2011 (12:55 pm)
Last night, the National TV newsreel informed about a Council of Ministers´ expanded meeting carried out on Saturday past. Today, the national radio and press are echoing the reunion. I´ll go over the note published by the official Granma diary as I share with you some of its main points as well as my own readings of it.
The budget augmented in its incomes due to two main factors: the selling of products out of the rationing card (which means they are not subsidized) and the favorable impact of independent entrepreneurial activity in terms of tax payments and other contributions. Such figure could be translated as a sign of functionality in both measures.
The note from Granma devotes several paragraphs to comment on autonomous professional activities while pointing out some deficiencies in the “initial preparation at the basis” (which I understand as a reference to administrative bodies), in the demanding of “documents not required by the legislation” and “excessive delay in procedures to obtain sanitary permits”. For many with whom I`ve had the chance to discuss the topic, and who have been attending the corresponding municipal offices, the lack of preparation was, and still is, blatant; they even consider that excessive delay and other bureaucratic maneuvers may be due to the presence of unethical functionaries. I would add to this that at this level, though not exclusively there, bureaucrats wage their own petty battles to preserve their share of power.
And now, the time has come for a very important issue we have been commenting about during the last few years: the lease of commercial spots which has been, until now, limited to barber shops and beauty parlors.
“At the same time, there are private workers who in their street activities affect the common space while there are low-productivity state venues which could be of better use if rented for such purposes,” according to Granma. As clear as water. We are about to witness the transit of cafeterias and snack-bars to the hands of private leasers or renters who could run these spots in several forms, including cooperative ones.
The transition towards one or several other fashions of property and management seems imminent and the first turn of the screw has been, seemingly, the economic vision partaken in this comprehensive meeting of the Council of Ministers: “low levels of activity” or, to put it in straight English, they haven´t been profitable.
