The government is utterly incompetent, but it generally seems to have the best interests of the people at heart (despite their absolutely awful propaganda). They're liberalizing under Raul, imho, but they still have a way to go. But then I compare it to other areas of Latin America that I've been to which are dictatorships, corrupt, utterly wild-west and laissez faire, and by comparison Cuba is doing alright. Not great, but alright. If I was an infant I'd have better odds of surviving in Cuba than in many US states.
Just try it when you travel there next, in 2050. Cuban women are very assertive and they don't put up with nonsense. On the bright side you'll get to see what the inside of a testicle looks like.
Bullshit. PPP is the adjustment for currency exchange rate. Cuba doesn't have have an income tax, they just have an average monthly salary of about 15 dollars (which is set by the government). And yes, they get to keep ALL 15 dollars!!! In fact, as you can see, as per PPP Scandinavia have some of the most expensive prices for goods in the world! Even then PPP only tells part of the story... Also, PPP was based on the following false belief: "The concept is founded on the law of one price; the idea that in absence of transaction costs, identical goods will have the same price in different markets." Of course NOW we know that this isn't the case. But we still use PPP to normalize for exchange rates. No one, except maybe you, thinks that PPP normalizes for the cost of living and cost of goods. Per capita GNI is the best measure of material standard of living in my opinion. You said pick any you like, so I did. Besides like I said, it doesn't factor in income taxes or cost of living. There was a per capita GNI which did normalize for those variables, that would be a more accurate standard of living. You don't need to be trading at all. You don't even know what PPP means or how per capita GNI relates to per capita GDP. You need to be saving your money for marriage counseling. Norway beats the US if you don't take cost of living and income taxes into account. If you do, it doesn't beat the usa by a long shot. Norwegians live fairly modest lives compared to Americans, on average of course. They do seem better off than Swedes though. What does Norway have to do with this conversation? This is the first time you have mentioned it (after I posted the chart ) LOL!! "How good people live" is very subjective. How good people live materially is easier to measure. You just contradicted yourself. You said friedman didn't talk to Chilean govt personnel, but to private individuals. Then you said he didn't criticize Pinochet. How could he if he didn't talk to government personnel? LOL!!! It's funny to watch you squirm and flop about desperately trying to defend your argument. Of course he spoke with numerous government personnel. Pinochet included. They invited him to advise them. He accepted and spent some time there advising them on how to restructure their economy. It has since blossomed into the the most robust economy of latin america. He didn't criticize Pino's social liberty infractions because he wasn't asked to come as a social commentator, he was asked to come as an economic advisor. That's what he did. I never said it was it was "pretty important". I just offered it as one example of how communist nations are almost always shit holes. In fact, I haven't seen any evidence that electricity penetration is any better now that it was then! Cuba never had a laissez faire system, it had a bannana republic cronyism system. I'd hope that it's residential electricity penetration is better than it was in the 60s. Technology has developed quite a bit and become ALOT cheaper since then, and most of them still don't have it... ROFLMAO!!! They sure haven't developed at the pace of the laissez faire nations though, not even close. All the laissez faire nations have run laps around them as far as technological development goes. Even the people in Cuba who DO have electricity have it going out constantly for 12 hrs at a time. Cuba is a shit hole. People live in squalor, and in fear of the government. People aren't free to speak out against the government without fear of going to jail. I know that it would wet your panties to have that be the condition in America, but as of yet, it is not... Anyhow, Cuba hasn't developed technologically anywhere near the rate of the rest of the world.... Thanks for once again confirming my point that Cuba is underdeveloped compared to nations with laissez faire policies. You check the definition. You are the one who has consistently demonstrated the informational deficiency, so the fact that you don't know that laissez faire economies are mixed economies shouldn't surprise us...
He's very delirious. He's under lots of stress from his unhealthy marriage. Sometimes he makes comments that are incoherent.
Another demonstration of your ignorance. A nation can not be "wild west" and laissez faire. They are fundamentally opposites. They are liberalizing now that castro and co have admitted that socialism doesn't work (just like russia did, and china is admitting by defacto).
Why should the US embargo be of much consequence to them? They can still trade with the entire rest of the world. The US embargo should be almost inconsequential to them if they actually produced much of any value. Even if they did, it wouldn't matter given that they have a parasitic communist government. How many examples of socialism/communism failing do people need to see before they figure out that it doesn't work?
And you're... wrong again. And the hits just keep on coming. PPP is an adjustment for pricing (if you've ever heard of the Big Mac index you'll understand how PPP works.) The only difference with PPP is that it's usually the pricing of a basket of goods. GNI is not a measure of the standard of living, it's a monetary measure. For example -- a country with 50% infant mortality, where nobody can afford any products, not unlike Alabama, might have a good GNI, but a lousy standard of living. My wife would kick you in the balls for that. And me. And everybody else. I think you need to understand the meaning of the words "self-deprecating humor." You brought it up as an example of a Scandinavian country which beats the US (which is more laissez-faire) despite the fact that it's economy is more mixed socialist/private than the US. If laissez-faire systems were always superior, as you contend, this would not happen. And GNI doesn't do that. Now you're really going off the rails. Why would he need to talk to Pinochet to criticize a brutal dictatorship? You understand they had things called "newspapers" and Pinochet's human rights abuses were widely known. Well if repetition is an argument you've got a sure winner there. You already suggested that rural penetration is about 50% (which is much higher than the 10% pre-revolution). In fact, it's about 85% penetration. www.conae.gob.mx/work/sites/CONAE/resources/LocalContent/1829/1/images/presen1.pdf I bet it never had a true Scotsman, either. (Yes, that was a joke, a joke that you're not going to understand but others will. Rest assured that this joke is very funny and many people are snorting in laughter at you right now.) I won't bother responding to the rest of your post because it's just too confused.
For a person who can't admit defeat when you are very obviously proven wrong, it shouldn't come as any surprise that your marriage is troubled. Infant mortality rate is 50%?? I'll add that to your list of gems. I'm sorry to hear that your wife is abusive. However, having to deal with you on a daily basis, I can't say I don't sympathize with her... She probably feels stuck with you, because you knocked her up, and she now has your children, or some such thing... Of course she kicks you around... You are a beta male, it's nature... No I didn't bring up Norway. I posted a chart which had norway above the US in pre-tax per capita GNI, without being normalized for cost of living. After that, you started talking about Norway. Yes, self depreciating humor is your coping mechanism for your low self esteem.