The Equal Sharing of Misery
Michael C. Moynihan | July 12, 2007, 2:45pm
The
AP reports that
El Jefe Convaleciente, Fidel Castro, is denouncing the growing gap between poor and poorer in his island fiefdom. No, he isn't turning back on five year plans and revolutionary
sugar harvests, simply threatening those who accept money from relatives living abroad. As always, it's the Miami mafia that's buggering up the economy:
Fidel Castro said Wednesday the island's communist system has become plagued by "irritating inequalities and privileges" that have left the poor bitter and angry.
Turning a more critical eye on Cuban life than he has since falling ill and giving up power almost a year ago, the 80-year-old Castro said in an essay published in state-run newspapers "we are not a consumer society."
But he bemoaned that some Cubans use foreign currency sent from relatives abroad or brought to the island by tourists to set up illegal sources of profit. This while they continue to enjoy ration cards, free housing and health care and other social services.
My Spanish is too rusty to confirm that that last line is cribbed from Granma, but it's good to see that ordinary Cubans continue "to enjoy" rationing (20 oz. of beans per month, incidentally), health care and free housing (Photo: Luxurious rent-controlled apartment in Havana)
As is often the case, Castro has plenty of other things on his mind:
Castro singled out "the juicy profits" some Cubans earn running unlicensed taxi services, which include fleets of classic American vehicles.
Cuban officials concede the island's decrepit and overcrowded transportation system is on the point of collapse. Few Cubans are allowed to buy new or used cars, but can own hulking U.S. jalopies built before Castro's 1959 revolution.
Using scarce gasoline for profit "can compromise the independence and life of Cuba. We cannot fool around with that!" Castro wrote.
Full AP article.
reason Contributing Editor Glenn Garvin on the New York Times' Castrophilia here.
Wanderer | July 12, 2007, 4:23pm | #
Joe,
OK, call them comparative raw numbers, then, and they show Cuba losing ground, not gaining.
Sorry, but the Cubans themselves are smart, they've seen all this stuff up close and personal, and they find ways to learn more. As one of them told me, "For 18 years my teachers taught me to think; then, when I became a man, the govt ordered me not to." His words, Joe, not mine.
Why do you think Castro has to run the island like a prison, entrapping the people there and censoring outside communication?
The real reason he gets outside support, IMHO, is that there are always those, like yourself, who fear a meritocracy and long for a a stable hierarchy where their relative position is enshrined, regardless of the absolute misery. So we hear calls for status and laws based on immutable characteristics (sex, race etc) rather than ability, as well as support for those like Castro who would put everyone together at the bottom.
One by one, the authoritarian philosophies copme, then go: Fascism, Communism, now Islamism. When one fails, there's always another, cuz there are always a few, like you, who lack faith in themselves.
Wanderer | July 12, 2007, 4:34pm | #
Hey Joe,
Know what else strikes you about Havana when you're there? The collapsing buildings, that's what, 500 per year or so just in the central district.
And the buses, which are literally semi-trailers with cattle cars for the people. Hot, hot, hot, and they only come by every hour or so in most places, when they run on time that is.
And the sidewalks, with huge holes in them wherever there had been a grate, because folks have to steal those to get metal.
And all the clandestine little biz's because the peoples' food rations are not enough to survive on, literally, so they have to break the law and make money some other way.
And the cars, Joe, only the tourists ride in new cars. Oh, and the govt officials, too.
And the soldiers with their machine guns in hand everywhere guarding the city. From what? Bermuda shorts? Man, they looked so hot and so bored.
And the regular people,sitting around with nothing to do while the building, on whose stoop they sat, crumbled around them. They weren't lazy, tho; those with a task were quite industrious.
And the gorgeous music everywhere. But I suppose Castro invented that, too. What a guy!
JorgXMcKie | July 12, 2007, 6:30pm | #
Ah, joe is one of those trolls who doesn't really care to debate. He's just interested in confusing the issues.
For instance, neither infant mortality rates or life expectancy is a good comparisons of health systems or wealth or anything else. Why? Because they aren't measured the same way in every country (and since the data are reported by the countries in question, some of the data is highly suspicious, to say the least). In the US, just about any fetus delivered with a heartbeat (the most obvious example of an exception is in some cases of abortion) is included in the infant mortality rates. In Cuba (as I remember) only babies born after 6 months of gestation, weighing more than 1000g and breathing on their own count. If they measured the way we do, their infant mortality rate would be much, much higher.
Life expectancy when figured from birth to death is distorted not only by choice of infant mortality measures but by cultural factors. For instance, the US has a very large car culture, and as a rate we have a very high (comparatively) automobile death rate. (I don't know how many Cubans die in car wrecks each year, but I'll bet it's low.) Those factors don't really relate to health care.
If you want a better measure of health care, try to find life expectancy from age 50 or so, when most bad health problems kick in. The evidence seems to show that with reasonably adequate food, fairly clean water, and soem reasonable sewage practices just about anyone can live to be 75 or so. How much you enjoy those last 20 years or so is a different kettle of fish.
Joe will no doubt try again, on this thread or in the future to cloud the waters, but any realistic comparison of Cuba to just about any other country except Haiti would show that Cuba sucks, big time.
Of course, one way to settle this would be for Joe to say whether or not he would be in favor of having the Cuban system instituted in the US and run by George W Bush instead of Castro. If not, then he's an even more obvious fraud and hypocrite.
Mark | July 13, 2007, 1:27am | #
Joe, you are an idiot who knows absolutely nothing about the health care system in the United States. You proved that with your comment concerning emergent care. Furthermore, I can't rebut your data concerning the Cuban healthcare system because you haven't provided any. And if your comment about the level of care provided in the ER was not enough to disqualify you from serious debate, you are actually gullible enough to believe the literacy and health care data provided by the Cuban government. And anyone who can actually claim, without a hint of sarcasm, that there is no wait time in a socialized system is too stupid to debate seriously. Sorry, but I don't usually expend a whole lot of energy arguing with people who have to wear a helmet to the dinner table. But, perhaps I am being too hard on you. Evidently you have a masters degree and as we all know, that is roughly equivalent to being infallible.
But, I do love reading crap from people who think they know more about the health care system than people who actually make a living from that system. Why, exactly do you feel you are an expert on the health care system? Is it because you read some polemic on the internet? Give me a break. I would be willing to bet your experience with, and knowledge of, the day-to-day workings of the healthcare system of the United States is next to nil. Evidently the mere act of pointing this out makes one arrogant. So be it.
Maybe we are being unfair to you. After all you claim it is wrong to compare data from industrialized nations to the workers' paradise that is Cuba. What a convenient way for you to discount legitimate criticisms of Castro's regime while at the same time rigging the debate so you can't lose. Evidently the only people who can fairly criticize the Cuban system are other dictators. And, of course, geniuses with masters degrees.
However, in an effort to be fair, I believe everyone on this message board should give you the opportunity to tell us why exactly you feel Cuba is so great. I will listen with an open mind to the reasons why you feel we are unfairly maligning Castro with our "anti-Castro talking points" (as if it's possible to condense a record of 50 years of brutality into a couple of sentences). I am dying to read why you think, after 50 years of oppression, Castro is so cute and cuddly.
P.S. It takes an IQ of about 12 to get a masters degree. Please don't break your arm patting yourself on the back. I would hate for you to have to go to Canada and then fly to Cuba to have that fixed
Mark | July 13, 2007, 12:08pm | #
"If you did, the observation that surgeons overestimate their understanding of health-access issues would make a lot more sense to you. Writing "I know about the access poor people have to health care, because I'm an oral surgeon" is roughly equivalent to writing "I know about the availability of low-income housing, because I'm a roofer."
I never claimed I was an expert on the healthcare system. I simply stated my position within that system gave me more expertise in relation to you. Of course given your statement concerning access to care in an ER, which is a huge part of the health care debate, I think the guy that delivers the "Highlights for kids" magazine to my office has more knowledge of the healthcare system than you. And your analogy is so inapt it serves as a further reflection of your total ignorance concerning the healthcare system in this country.
First, you foolishly made the statement that my knowledge of the system is inadequate because I am a specialist and not a general practictioner. Evidently, reading the term specialist made you think all of my patients have wealth roughly equivalent to the GDP of Lichtenstein and pay with bags of cash, thus I don't have to deal with insurance companies, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. It doesn't take a masters to realize you are an absolute idiot. Second, I have news for you, wise one, specialists see patients based upon the problems present, not the size of the bank account. I have seen plenty of indigent patients in my career. I will reiterate, since you evidently weren't bright enough to catch it the first ten times it was written by various people: in a hospital setting, I am required by law to see patients, even indigent ones, if they come to the ER. I am thus well-acquainted, certainly moreso than you, with the health access issues involved in providing care to individuals who can't or won't pay. And unlike roofers, it's kind of necessary for me to actually meet the individual to whom the medical care is being provided. Maybe Cuba's health care system is advanced to the point that the presence of the patient is unnecessary, I don't know. Since you seem to fancy yourself both an expert on health care and Cuba perhaps you can comment of that for us.
But what I find most amazing of all about the debate to this point is how frequently you seem to insult people about a lack of credentials, yet you have failed to provide yours. I think I speak for everyone you have insulted by asking exactly why you are an expert on the topics being discussed. You have provided no rationale at all as to why we should reject the arguments of people who have an intimate knowledge of the health care system and except your word instead. The same is true of your pathetically shoddy 'arguments" concerning Cuba. Evidently reading partisan talking points, which seems to be the extent of your knowledge, is vastly superior to the experience of individuals who have been dealing with the system most of their adult lives. Forgive me for being unimpressed with you and your laughable believe that having a masters degree makes you an unimpeachable expert in anything.
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