Marlon wrote: I thought they tried it out in the Great Leap in China and apparently folks in N.Korea are still perfecting this model, without much success. You may be shocked to know that even not taking into account currency/PPP factors, much of the basic necessities such as food and clothing are cheaper in absolute terms in N.America and it is in India.
Soter wrote: Why does everyone shy away from citing the greatest miracle of Cuba that managed to survive the economic blockade imposed on it just through revival of agriculture and that too totally organic? Traditional means of tilling the land were recommissioned to cope with lack of fuel for the machines. We have capitalist champions talking about freeing the controls. Now see what has happened to petrol prices in India. One cannot expect an urbanised mindset to understand anything except be slaves of an economy and porocure their food from food chains. RESPONSE: There is merit and de-merit in both the rampant capitalist and the suppressive socialist systems. I am not sure if Soter has personally visited Cuba or even had significant interaction with residents of that beautiful isle. There are many points in Soter's post that are accurate e.g. blockade, innovations in the face of financial & technical adversity, organic products, low infant mortality, good health care. However, he may wish to ask himself: Have these been achieved by force? Are those in psychiatric hospitals really insane before they get there? Do the elite really live like the masses? Is there a reason why so many young men and women have resorted to prostitution? Are the people happy? Why do so many risk their lives trying to escape? (The same questions would be relevant to the wealthy but hapless Guyana under that commie Forbes Burnham (and even Jagan); Things appear to be turning around slowly under the progressive thinking Bharat Jagdeo). He may then wish to review the same points wrt the USA and Canada (the unnecessary accessibility to assault weapons in the US having been noted). I wonder if Soter (and others) were able to watch BBC and the reconstruction work of Eusebio Leal. (Might even benefit Goans who are trying to vandalize (and deny) Heritage. Leal notes quite pertinently: “If a nation loses its memory, it loses everything. Countries and peoples who have forgotten their past no longer exist, or they have become an amalgam of things and are no longer nations.” http://www.heritageheroes.org/series/series1/australia-bahrain-cuba/readmore?PHPSESSID=ecbfba8f5b82d4b9cd34c7c10a62fae5 Finally, I suggest that to actually gauge which systems are the best achievable ones, it might be worth ascertaining which countries have the happiest people. We may find that these are countries which are not in the extremes of either Greed or Suppression. jc
