A report by Mary Murray in msnbc.com about "underground entrepreneurs" in Cuba shines some light into the perversions that go on under a socialist economy. "Orlando," one of the entrepreneurs, has been operating for years with the Cuban government's gun hanging over his head. What warrants this? Excerpt:

"He grows and sells food.

[H]e feeds people - and provides an honest day's work to dozens of farmhands who, in turn, feed their families

However, under the nation's constitution, individuals are banned from employing others, an act judged as "exploitation." Violators face heavy fines and the confiscation of their property."

Another underground entrepreneur, "Carlos," says something that captures the whole perversion of Cuban communism: "Honestly, I'll be happy if I could continue making money without breaking the law..."

It is no surprise then that Murray reports that "[w]ealth sticks out like a sore thumb in Cuba." As I said in my article in The Objective Standard:

"Prosperity is the result of production, and because communism destroys those who produce by stealing what they produce, communism is at odds with prosperity. Communism denies man's right to live for himself and profit from his own labor. It severs him from what keeps him alive. And when a man's right to live for himself is denied, only slavery or death can follow."

The criminalization of free enterprise means the criminalization of freedom itself. And only under freedom can life-enhancing wealth be created.


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