Fresh on the heels of Fidel Castro stating the Cuban Economic system isn’t working, even though he claimed he really meant capitalism, comes the news that his brother Raul is now going to cut government jobs by 500,000 and issue reforms to allow more private sector jobs and self employment.

Associated Press at Yahoo News

Cuba announced Monday it will cast off at least half a million state employees by mid-2011 and reduce restrictions on private enterprise to help them find new jobs — the most dramatic step yet in President Raul Castro’s push to radically remake employment on the communist-run island.
Castro suggested during a nationally televised address on Easter Sunday that as many 1 million Cuban workers — about one in five — may be redundant. But the government had not previously laid out specific plans to reduce the work force.
The layoffs will start immediately and continue through the first half of next year, according to the nearly 3 million-strong Cuban Workers Confederation — the only labor union allowed by the government.
To soften the blow, it said the government would increase private-sector job opportunities, including allowing more Cubans to become self-employed, forming cooperatives run by employees rather than government administrators and increasing private control of state land, businesses and infrastructure through long-term leases.

If Communist Cuba can get it, why can’t Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid or Barack Obama?