Hope for Entrepreneurship in Cuba

Hopeful news is coming out of Cuba. Bloomberg's Business Week reports that recent changes in Cuba's economic system is sparking the beginnings of entrepreneurial activity. Even though the move toward a market is small and there are still huge obstacles for business, "including high taxes, a lack of raw materials, an uncertain customer base, labyrinthine bureaucratic rules and limited access to startup capital," since Jan. 7 over 75,000 citizens have been granted licenses to operate private firms. That there are that many willing to bear the risk of production in the face of such challenges says a lot for the spirit of enterprise. For the sake of the people of Cuba, we can only hope that these men and women will be successful. Who knows what could be accomplished if the state would really get out of the way?