Oops! Sorry little guy, Obama screws you again.

Discussion in 'Politics' started by ChkitOut, Sep 30, 2010.

  1. No kidding. Large % of the population doesn't even have electricity there. They can't bitch about it either because for fear of the government... lol and he tries to defend the standard of "living" in Cuba.

     
    #31     Sep 30, 2010
  2. Hello

    Hello

    Just when you seem like you can not possibly get any stupider you come out with this gem. Look at all that growth that communism has provided for cuba!!!

    [​IMG]
     
    #32     Sep 30, 2010
  3. Quality of life measures don't measure electricity penetration, but your information is likely out of date. Anecdotally I can tell you that I didn't see any areas of Cuba that were without electricity (and yes, I traveled outside of Havana well into the country.)

    Cuba is producing oil and went through a decade or so of severe electrical restructuring, perhaps that improved things. They also implemented a tiered charge per kilowatt for the richest and heaviest users.
     
    #33     Sep 30, 2010
  4. Cuba's growth has been terrible (and economically it's a mess), but again, that's not factored in quality of life measures. And nobody's claiming that they're numero uno, just that they compare favorably to most other Latin countries for HDI measures.

    If you're an infant, you're much better off living in Cuba than in Nicaragua.
     
    #34     Sep 30, 2010
  5. Hello

    Hello

    Fidel Castro disagrees with you.

    Fidel Castro Admits Cuban-Style Communism 'Doesn't Even Work For Us Anymore'

    Now, in a new interview just published online, Fidel seems to flat out admit that the fruits of his revolution aren't exactly flowering in full these days. "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore," he says to The Atlantic Magazine's Jeffrey Goldberg. Say WHA?!!

    First, a little back story. Both extraordinary Fidel stories come from Goldberg, who incredibly was called out of the blue a few weeks ago from the Cuban Interests Section in Washington with a simple and shocking message: Fidel read your last article and wants to meet you in Havana in a few days.

    Goldberg -- presumably after picking his jaw up off the kitchen table -- hopped a flight out of Miami and was dining with el commandante en jefe a few hours later.

    The results of Goldberg's Cuban trip -- a pair of blogs published today and yesterday -- reveal a very odd turn for the dictator-in-chief. Castro wasn't exactly in top physical shape, Goldberg writes, needing two bodyguards who "appeared to have been recruited from the Cuban national wrestling team" to prop him up at the elbows.

    But Fidel also ate vigorously, drank red wine, and talked at length with a seemingly strong mind. He proposed last-minute trips to watch dolphin shows and joked about fighting with Khrushchev back in the day.

    In Goldberg's most recent post, Castro seems to admit that his vision of Cuban Socialism isn't working on the island nation anymore. Goldberg, as you might expect, had to make sure he'd heard el jefe correctly.

    Julia Sweig, his friend from the Council on Foreign Relations, gave this take on the admission:"He wasn't rejecting the ideas of the Revolution. I took it to be an acknowledgment that under 'the Cuban model' the state has much too big a role in the economic life of the country."

    And yet, at the same time Castro seems to be slowly taking back the power he ceded to younger bro Raul a few years ago after his devastating stomach illness. Just last weekend, he spoke to a huge crowd while wearing military fatigues for the first time in years.

    So, we ask again: What the hell is going on in La Habana? This much is certain -- Fidel is less dead than ever.

     
    #35     Sep 30, 2010
  6. Funny how you just like to ignore all the false statements you made about HDI and standard of living measures.


    LOL!!! Then you continue by claiming that having electricity and running water have nothing to do with standard of living... ROFLMAO!!!!

    See how far people have to twist and turn in order to create a defense for socialism??? I'll bet that's what the commie intimidation thugs tell people in Cuba "quit bitching!!! electricity and running water don't make for a better life!!" LOLOLOL!!!

    Because you don't like the information I posted you claim it's "likely out of date" LOL!! Sorry but that's reality in Cuba. If you traveled outside of Havana maybe you didn't see "areas" without electricity but you certainly saw lots of homes without electricity. In fact the majority of homes in rural areas have no electricity.

    The fact is laissez faire nations fare better by far. There's no rational denial of this fact. You can try to argue against laissez faire policy on some philosophical ground if you like, but there's no getting around the fact that it produces the highest standard of living and best societal outcomes.


     
    #36     Sep 30, 2010
  7. Please be specific. What false statements? That Cuba ranks well in HDI measures? It does. That it ranks higher than the Latin American "Laissez faire" countries? Mostly it does -- in fact the countries cited as evidence of the greatness of laissez faire are not at all Laissez-faire.

    Nope. I like capitalism as much as anyone, but there is no arguing that a mixed economy produces the best outcomes. That's why Scandinavia beats the US, which is more lassez faire and why Cuba under an embargo, incompetent leadership, and economy in chaos still beats most countries in Latin America.
     
    #37     Sep 30, 2010
  8. Certainly they do, but they're not factored into HDI to my knowledge. Other standard of living measures do include them and Cuba still comes out ahead of most Latin American countries. If you've ever been to Belize you'll see what I mean, and that place is absolutely laissez-faire.

    But let's compare Cuba to Cuba. Before the revolution in Cuba under what can only be described as wildly laissez faire, 85% of city dwellers had electricity but only 10% of rural dwellings had it.

    What do you think the ratio is now?
     
    #38     Sep 30, 2010
  9. No they are not figured into HDI. Thank you for proving my argument that HDI has little to do with actual standard of living.

    You are an ideologue. Any place who outranks cuba you claim is "not actually laissez faire". Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina are some of the most laissez faire nations in Latin America. They all beat Cuba in terms of HDI, not that HDI is an accurate standard of living indicator... It is not, as you have already confirmed.

    You are confusing banana republic cronyism for laissez faire economics. I know that fits your narrative, but it doesn't fit reality. You aren't interested in facts, you are interested in finding a way to support your narrative. You are so desperate to advance your argument that you tried to compare belize to cuba which is rich in natural resources and has what? 30-40x the population.... Belize has almost zero natural resources and is myopic. Belize is a crony republic, not a laissez faire nation. You seem to have the false belief that the two are interchangeable...
     
    #39     Sep 30, 2010
  10. Then pick the standard of living measure you'd like to use. It doesn't matter. Nobody's arguing that Cuba is the best country ever, just that it is at the very least right in the races against the laissez-faire countries.

    No, they're not the "most laissez faire nations in Latin America" and it's just ignorant for you to write that. All of them have public health care systems, for example. Try Belize, which is highly laissez-faire -- a real wild west, or Bolivia which requires private pension plans. The only thing that is really laissez-faire about Chile is their private pension plans (which have pretty much failed according to the US government).

    Plus if I was an ideologue I wouldn't be advocating mixed-markets, I'd advocate for an extreme position.

    Great, then compare Cuba under a laissez faire system to Cuba under a failed socialist system.

    You haven't answered the question -- what do you suppose the percentage of rural electrical penetration is now versus what it was then?
     
    #40     Sep 30, 2010