: : : That Kerela receives subsidies should be no surprise. EVERY State in India (as in the U.S.) receives subsidies from the central government.: : Don: Yet as long as it recieves subsidies, it can't be called a true success. It must be able to support itself to prove that its system works.
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: Does that mean no State in the US can be considered a "true success"?
Don: Kerela has been held up as an example of successful communism by some people on this board. The fact that it receives external funding means it can't be classified as a "success", unless it can be shown that the funding is insignificant. No one is using individual US states as examples of capitalist success.
: Guess all those corporations are "unsuccessful".
Don: I have to wonder about corporations that require government help. Corporations that make it on their own can be considered successes.
: : : A more important source of funding - to give you some free ammunition - is from remittances from around half a million working overseas - in the Gulf States for example.
: : Don: Free ammunition indeed. If it doesn't support itself it can hardly be called a success.
: Apparently your definition of success is geographical self-sufficiency. If I were employed abroad and sent income home to my family, that would be an example of a country's dependancy, and therefore "lack of success". Interesting.
Don: The people sending money home are working under another system. Their success is not due to their system at home. If a sizable percentage of the country's "income" is due to this type of worker, you have to think there is something wrong with the country.
: "Success" can be measured in a number of different ways. Literacy and level of education, level of infant mortality, general level of health and life expectancy, percentage of homeless, etc.
Don: These may be due to the funding provided by outside sources. In which case, we should credit the outside sources for these "successes".
: : : But the importance of kerela is in where it started from some 40 years ago in comparison with other states in India, and how it compares with those same states today in a number of categories. The difference is striking.
: : Don: Is it now the equal of those other states? Keep in mind, it is much easier to improve something that is real bad than something that is fairly good. Also, it wasn't communist for all those 40 years, according to your post.
: From the bottom it now exceeds most other India States in some of the catagories listed above.
Don: Which catagories?
: One of the main points - that I'm sure MOST rankles the brainwashed capitalist ideologues - is that a communist governance was freely chosen by the people in a democratic process!
Don: It doesn't rankle this brainwashed capitalist.
