: : http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/infonation/e_infonation.htm: I went to this site and it didn't take but a few minutes to find a few points where Cuba lags behind the U.S. For example, Cuba has 3.2 telephones per 100 inhabitants, while the U.S. has 62.6. There are apparently no stats available on how many Cubas have motor vehicles. And sure, education expenditure is higher in Cuba (6.1% of GDP compared to U.S.'s 4.8% ... but, of course, the U.S.'s GDP is significantly greater!), but while primary and secondary school enrollment per 100 EXCEEDS 100 in the U.S., it's only 88 of males and 92 of females in Cuba. And I said America's GDP is greater, I wasn't joking. In US$, Cuba's GDP Per Capita in 1995 was 1985, compared to 26037 in America! I think those numbers can speak for themselves!
**Wow! You really knocked the stuffing out of that strawman! I bet he doesn't show his face around here anymore.
So professor, how does a nice capitalist paradise like Haiti stack up against the US? How about the Dominican Republic? Take a look at the poorest nations in the world... the bottom twenty or so are all capitalist ----holes. So what does that prove?
If you're going to compare Cuba in any meaningful way, compare it with its neighbors. Compare it with other Latin American nations or with its neighbors in the Carribean. With your current approach, you're only showing us all why the rest of the world from 'Bangledesh' to 'Zaire' should consider revolution since these all compare poorly to the US too.** --K
: :Given the choice between a life of hardship and deprivation in a nation embargoed by the most powerful nation in the world and one in a First World nation, I'm surprised there aren't a whole lot more Cuban refugees. The solution? Lift the embargo and let Cuba find its own way politically, socially, culturally - without duress]
: Aren't you defeating the purpose of your argument by describing Cuban life as a life of "hardship and deprivation"? Perhaps the U.S. would lift the embargo and let Cuba find its own way if Communist leaders weren't so bent on conquering the world.
**Take it easy McCarthy! I give you my solemn oath that Cuba will not conquer the world, ok? Where does China fit into the picture then? Face it. It's about power, not (imagined) morality.
As for the 'defeating the purpose of my argument' bit, I can honestly say that I am not going about this in an openly propagandistic way. Life *is* hard in Cuba when compared to the US. Refugees *are* given automatic citizenship when they reach our shores (unlike Haitians and Dominicans who have also risked their lives trying to escape poverty and oppression. In fact, ask yourself what would happen if tomorrow we gave citizenship to every Mexican who was able to cross over into the US. That's a powerful allure. And we send millions of $$'s in aid and no embargo on Mexico.). What is unclear is the degree to which conditions within Cuba are mainly a result of poor leadership, economics, or the 39 year old embargo (Let's not forget invasion, assassination attempts, sabotage - all courtesy of the Heroes in the White Hats at Langley and the Academy of the Americas).
Where a patriot like yourself and I diverge is not on the facts, but on the conclusions and lessons drawn. The Cuban people deserve credit for all they have achieved despite the efforts of rightwing loons in positions of influence and power in the US.
Now be fair... let's see you do an honest comparison of Haiti, an island nation with which the US trades and sends aid, with the US. Two strawmen for the price of one.** --K
