>Cuba is not without its problems, but much of what you describe is not unique to a third world country.
>I'm not claiming socialism is great or anything - there was a potato shortage while I was there
But the point is that the countries that were third world a half century ago but have since raised themselves up to developed status did so through free market economics, while the socialist dictatorship countries like Cuba failed.
Apparently, the methods used for planning economies known until ~1990, executed with the computers and communication systems of the time, in countries that were relatively poor to begin with, ruled as dictatorships, did not work well enough while the USA and its allies actively fought "communism". That tells us nothing.
Guess which country is the richest in the Caribbean? Okay, it's the USA. It may hardly be a democracy anymore, it doesn't particularly respect human rights, but it hasn't regressed to developing status yet and it has free market economics up the wazoo. The richest independent country (as in, its mainland is in the Caribbean) is of course Cuba.
Only if you believe in the Cuban government’s numbers. Do you really believe that a country whose population lives on rations and $30/month salaries is a rich one?
If the discussion isn't proceeding in a thoughtful, constructive fashion then don't proceed. Downvotes are fine—flags if a comment or submission breaks the guidelines.
Hi sctb, I’m given to understand that you’re one of the moderators here. I’ve tried to contact you twice in two weeks through email without a response, so I’m concerned that it’s hitting your spam folder. Is there a better way to contact you? I don’t feel good about inserting my comment in an unrelated post like this, but I’m unsure what else to do.
> What it always comes to is liberals being ignorant.
The ad-hominem also always follows.
> beat many market economies
You call me ignorant and follow with this? Whichmarket economy is Cuba beating specifically? I’ve asked many times and you failed to name one country.
Yet you persist with the notion that a country whose population lives on rations; who has no freedom, be it political, of speech, of the press, or even the freedom to leave their country; whose main city is a crumbling town; who has no access to quality medicine (yes, despite the memes you hear from its apologists)... I could go on... you think this country is beating anyone?
Do you think an economy who survives on aid from other totalitarian states such as Venezuela or in corruption money from political friends from other countries like Brazil is beating anyone?
> You probably think that Somalia doesn't have a free market, because if something doesn't work, it's not a free market.
Your mind-reading abilities are terrible. You never stopped moving the goalposts in this conversation, and now you’re trying to frame me as an anarchist?
“Totalitarianism is a political concept of a mode of government that prohibits opposition parties, restricts individual opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high degree of control over public and private life. It is regarded as the most extreme and complete form of authoritarianism.”
>I'm not claiming socialism is great or anything - there was a potato shortage while I was there
But the point is that the countries that were third world a half century ago but have since raised themselves up to developed status did so through free market economics, while the socialist dictatorship countries like Cuba failed.