2 + 2 = 4

Raul Castro talks economic sense:

Cuban President Raul Castro called on Saturday for austerity measures including fewer subsidies for workers and stricter management to pull the country out of an economic morass aggravated this year by three hurricanes and the global financial crisis. …

“The accounts don’t square up,” he said. “You have to act with realism and adjust the dreams to the true possibilities,” said Castro….

“Two plus two always equals four, never five,” he said. …

Before his speech, the assembly voted to raise the age at which workers can retire with a government pension by five years, to 65 for men and 60 for women. Officials said the change was needed because Cuba’s population was aging rapidly due to a declining birth rate and immigration.

Castro said Cuban managers need to demand more from their workers, who receive free education and health care and subsidized food rations but on average earn only $20 a month. …

He expressed dissatisfaction with the system of subsidies for those who can work, but do not, saying government handouts discourage Cubans from being more productive.

It’s sad to say, but there are many in Congress and even some in the administration who could take a lesson from Castro’s realism.

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