Groucho Marx that is.
It seems Raul Castro can't tell the difference.
Castro has been lauded as a "reformer" by the international media and Cuba "experts" for appearing to recognize that private farmers should be able to produce more food, more efficiently, than the regime's large state-owned farms.
Therefore, in July 2008, he authorized putting limited portions of fallow farmland in private hands.
But as the Examiner's Sylvia Longmire points out in her article, "Private Farms in Cuba Great on Paper, Not in Practice," the "reform" is economically impractical:
"While some farmers may be happy to till away for la patria, there is little (if any) profit to be made from a private farm in Cuba. Farmers are required to sell the majority of what they reap to the government at their prices, which are usually half of the market value. Private farmers also lack direct access to equipment and tools, as well as fertilizer and pesticides, because they are controlled by the state."
Raul's Grouchonomics.
