Cuban Currency

This week, we watched a video/had a discussion on communism in Cuba.  One of the main points of both of these that I forgot to mention was the monetary situation.  Cuba has two currencies - the Peso and the CUC.  The CUC is currently 1:1 with the US dollar, but it fluctuates slightly back and forth.  The Peso is considerably less than the dollar or the CUC.  The problem is that there is a double standard, where anybody that works with the government gets paid in Pesos while anybody that works with tourists gets paid in CUC.  So basically, the jobs that would be regarded as crappy here in America are considered some of the best jobs in Cuba.  Another one of the misleading things about Cuba is the free education.  All education is free starting in kindergarden through grad school - meaning that ANYBODY can get a good education.  But the thing is, that education gets you NOWHERE.  Because professors, teachers, scientists, etc. are all paid by the government, they get paid in Pesos.  So basically, people working in cabs or on the street selling things are getting paid close to 100 times more than a professor or some other government worker.  And when people aren't motivated to go to school and become smart people, the whole country loses... intelligence?

This whole situation means that almost all of cuba's economy is based off of tourism - which is fine.  There are lots of places in the world with their main focus on tourism.  But with cuba, their BIGGEST POSSIBLE CUSTOMER is not allowed to go to their country.  Because American's can't go to Cuba, it cuts off a huge possibility for income from tourism.  That and the fact that only recently can people own private businesses specializing in things that they want instead of what the government wants.  Who wants to go to a place where there are no interesting stores or restaurants or fun things to do?  Nobody.  So Cuba is really in kind of a lose-lose situation here.  They don't have an export so they rely on tourism, but they don't have anything worth touring and their largest tourism contendor isn't going.  I think that SOMETHING should be changed in our relationship in order to help not the GOVERNMENT of Cuba but the PEOPLE of Cuba.  Which is hard considering most of the people ARE the government.  Apparently, Obama made a speech regarding the USA's view on Cuba really recently.  I'm going to research that and write another article soon.