liveonearth (liveonearth) wrote,
liveonearth
liveonearth

Castro to Cut Cuba's Healthcare Spending

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32254224/ns/world_news-americas/
I don't see how this should be such a big problem. All they need to do is cut the $$ spent on placebos and send people back to their grandmothers. Cuba is going to be just fine. =-]

HAVANA - Raul Castro announced Saturday that Cuba will cut spending on education and health care, potentially weakening the building blocks of its communist system in a bid to revive a floundering economy.

The former defense minister who took over the presidency last year called state spending "simply unsustainable" and said the cash-strapped government would reorganize rural schools and scrutinize its free health care system in search of ways to save money.

But he vowed that the island will not see fundamental change even after he and his older brother and predecessor Fidel Castro are gone.

"I wasn't elected president to return capitalism to Cuba," Castro said, "or to surrender the revolution" — the armed uprising that toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista a half-century ago.

"I was elected to defend, build and perfect socialism, not destroy it," he said to a standing ovation from lawmakers in Parliament.

He framed those remarks as a response to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has said Washington wants to see economic and social reforms in Cuba before doing more to improve bilateral relations.

Castro also reiterated his willingness to negotiate improved relations with the United States and acknowledged a "decline in the aggressiveness and anti-Cuban rhetoric" during the Obama administration.
Tags: cuba, economics, healthcare, socialism, the long emergency
Subscribe

  • QOTD: WW4

    “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” — Albert Einstein

  • QotD: can't stop the Waves

    You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf. --Joseph Goldstein

  • TSA on the way from Blue Bubble to Red Supermajority

    I'm leaving my home in Portland, Oregon to visit family in eastern Tennessee. My family needs help. I'm in the airport now, waiting for my first…

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    Comments allowed for friends only

    Anonymous comments are disabled in this journal

    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

  • 0 comments