Cuban Rum, Beer and Cigar: Live a Stress Free Life!

We traveled in Cuba for four weeks and visited nine cities. You go to any store, restaurants, mercado, or gas station; and notice shelves stocked with Cuban rum, local beers, and cheap cigarettes. A bottled drinking water, however, is hard to find! Rum costs from $6 for a good export quality Havana Club 750 ml bottle to a $2 bottle for cheap but drinkable rum used by locals. Smoking is a wide spread and it seems everybody smokes - man, women and young adults.  There are few places, if any, where a person cannot smoke or drink. Cheapest 10-pack cigarette goes for $0.40 or four cents a cigarette. A cigar, sold for $0.50 to $1.00 each, is expensive for most locals, whose monthly income is barely $20. Most tourists purchase cigars for taking back home and occasionally enjoying it in Cuba. Beers (Crystal or Bucanero) cost $1 per can. Another cheap local, but strong, beer called Hyuti goes for $0.40 a can. Why rum and cigarettes so cheap and widely available in Cuba? I wonder if that keeps people happy and accept socialism and a very low income in stride! Young working age men sitting around and playing board games on weekdays, husbands of female Casa owners always appear to be at home. Most are very well educated like medical doctors, dentists, engineers, economists, etc. They make more money in renting one room in their homes in a day than their monthly income from government jobs! 

Cubans average life expectancy is better than the USA! Is it because they live happy and stress free life under heavily subsidized communist political system? Cubans have told us being happy and stress free is in their genes! They love music, dancing, rum, and cheap cigarettes! Life is slow in this hot and humid island, but who cares when your basic needs are met at no cost or low cost by Government ration cards. It, however, comes at a high cost. No incentive to work, lack of productivity, no entrepreneurship and total absence of innovation! A society can't elevate standard of living off remitted dollars coming from over two million Cubans living in the USA, or basic food ration cards or by free medical care in clinic or hospitals (one still has to pay for subsidized medicine cost) or a free college education (which is worthless if you don't have private sector good paying job) or by drinking cheap local rum or sitting on porch middle of the day and simply doing nothing!

It seems ethics of hard work and American entrepreneurship are missing in the Cuban society. In my opinion, Cuban political system and economical model must change. Tourist dollars or foreign remittances from expat Cubans can only go so far!