The Paradyne Shift

The Paradyne Shift

A Paradyne shift occurs when a tipping point of information is reached concerning a long held misconception. “Spontaneous Regeneration,” as a theory, was destroyed simply by placing a glass over the raw meat demonstrating that maggots would not grow there but interestingly did grow on the meat right next door with no glass covering it from the flies.

So here we go now approaching 48 years of Cuban socialism. Socialism has not made Cuba wealthy and it never will. Here is why. Wealth is merely the stuff humans’ value that makes modern living possible and pleasurable. Remember that wealth doesn’t grow on trees unless a person harvests it like apples then lugs them to market for sale. Wealth isn’t money or credit. These are conveyances of wealth. Realizing that wealth only happens when humans mix their labor with the land, the question is, how most efficiently can society create wealth?

In societies with freer markets everybody is busy producing wealth. They are free agents responsible for their own work assignments. But in socialist societies workers wait constantly either due to necessity or opportunity. If my son working at Safeway tries to see how slowly or how few tasks he can complete he will be replaced. If he has a doctor appointment he will either schedule it on his day off or take paid vacation which is limited. Socialist workers might blow the whole day seeking medical care because it must be rationed - which means meted out by taking a number and waiting for the severely limited supply of doctors and medicine. Socialism tries to make wealth using the “dog-team method” while almost every other nation uses “free range workers.” A “free range worker” roams freely about his job site but has responsibility for completing his task the most efficient way he can. If it costs less to train a new worker to replace a deficient worker he is fired. But if he works hard he is free to accept another job elsewhere for more pay. He has been called a “cog” in the wheel of the machinery of production and this is apt enough a description. Conversely, the socialist dog-team method of producing wealth is very inefficient. Having one guy at the top cracking the whip to demand more work output works fine with dogs doing a simple task like pulling a sled. But doing this with complex, high-strung beings like humans is doomed to failure. Humans won’t do a boring task forever just for a pat on the head like a dog. In America if suddenly millions of people found my singing voice irresistible or my fastball was so fast it couldn’t be hit by most major leaguers I could sell this labor to the highest bidder and make a tidy sum. In Cuba this is against the law. So if I take my limited time on earth and figure out a revolutionary way to harvest tomatoes all I get is a pat on the head from the guy cracking the whip in Cuba?

I’m hoping that somebody down on the island realizes that Cuba will continue to sink economically until it collapses into chaos. Leaders on the island may find this depressing news but it is as much reality as any scientific law or mathematical formula. Let us show you how to implement an economic model that will produce more wealth than you could imagine in your wildest dreams. But the catch is you don’t get to keep it – the Cuban people do. But the good news is you won’t have to continue to crack the whip or pat workers on the head because they will have no reason to bite the hand that feeds them. Cubans will be feeding themselves.

Tomás Estrada-Palma