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Is Castro Already Dead?

BPSCG said:
From what? He's run the economy for fifty years; it should be a socialist workers' paradise by now.AKA Hugo Chavez, who seems intent on driving his own country into the same ditch Castro drove his country into.
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Which takes us back to the problems that the punitive US embargo must have caused......
 
Architect said:
Which takes us back to the problems that the punitive US embargo must have caused......
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Which takes us back to my earlier observation that communist apologists will point to anything and everything as an excuse for a country's poverty except for communism. Bad weather, crop failures, subversion by "reactionaries," embargoes, "the sun got in my eyes..." Too bad Cuba has a mild climate and fertile land conducive to growing sugar and the best tobacco in the world and hundreds of miles of beautiful beaches, otherwise you could blame the harsh climate and the rocky soil, too.

South Africa was subjected to sanctions and divestment, not just from the U.S., but from much of the world. And yet,
By UN classification South Africa is a middle-income country with an abundant supply of resources, well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors, a stock exchange (the JSE Securities Exchange), that ranks among the top twenty in the world, and a modern infrastructure supporting an efficient distribution of goods to major urban centres throughout the region. South Africa's per capita GDP, corrected for purchasing power parity, positions the country as one of the fifty wealthiest in the world.
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Architect said:
Which takes us back to the problems that the punitive US embargo must have caused......
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Part of governing a country is diplomacy. If your economic model won't work without the support of the U.S. (or in the presence of a U.S. embargo), then

(A) perhaps your economic model is not a good one, or

(2) perhaps you should find a way to get on friendly terms with the U.S.
 
 
dann said:
Which only goes to show that your fondness of GDP tends to mislead you.
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You're right. I should instead put my faith in some map of the world that some semi-anonymous guy has created and colored Cuba green, to indicate... well, it doesn't say, does it?
South Africa has a stock exchange. So what?!!
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Yes, I understand why a communist would fail to comprehend the value of a stock exchange.
Raising capital for businesses
The Stock Exchange provides companies with the facility to raise capital for expansion through selling shares to the investing public.

Mobilizing savings for investment
When people draw their savings and invest in shares, it leads to a more rational allocation of resources because funds, which could have been consumed, or kept in idle deposits with banks, are mobilized and redirected to promote business activity with benefits for several economic sectors such as agriculture, commerce and industry, resulting in a stronger economic growth and higher productivity levels.

Facilitating company growth
Companies view acquisitions as an opportunity to expand product lines, increase distribution channels, hedge against volatility, increase its market share, or acquire other necessary business assets. A takeover bid or a merger agreement through the stock market is one of the simplest and most common ways for a company to grow by acquisition or fusion.

Redistribution of wealth
By giving a wide spectrum of people a chance to buy shares and therefore become part-owners (shareholders) of profitable enterprises, the stock market may help to reduce large income inequalities. However, capital losses may also happen. Both casual and professional stock investors through stock price increases and dividends get a chance to share in the profits of promising business that were set up by other people.

Corporate governance
By having a wide and varied scope of owners, companies generally tend to improve on their management standards and efficiency in order to satisfy the demands of these shareholders and the more stringent rules for public corporations imposed by public stock exchanges and the government. Consequently, it is alleged that public companies (companies that are owned by shareholders who are members of the general public and trade shares on public exchanges) tend to have better management records than privately-held companies (those companies where shares are not publicly traded, often owned by the company founders and/or their families and heirs, or otherwise by a small group of investors). However, some well-documented cases are known where it is alleged that there has been considerable slippage in corporate governance on the part of some public companies (e.g. Enron Corporation, MCI WorldCom, Pets.com, Webvan, or Parmalat).

Creates investment opportunities for small investors
As opposed to other businesses that require huge capital outlay, investing in shares is open to both the large and small stock investors because a person buys the number of shares they can afford. Therefore the Stock Exchange provides the opportunity for small investors to own shares of the same companies as large investors, and to enjoy similar rates of return.

Government raises capital for development projects
Governments at various levels may decide to borrow money in order to finance infrastructure projects such as sewage and water treatment works or housing estates by selling another category of securities known as bonds. These bonds can be raised through the Stock Exchange whereby members of the public buy them, thus loaning money to the government. The issuance of such municipal bonds can obviate the need to directly tax the citizens in order to finance development, although by securing such bonds with the full faith and credit of the government instead of with collateral, the result is that the government must tax the citizens or otherwise raise additional funds to make any regular coupon payments and refund the principal when the bonds mature.

Barometer of the economy
At the stock exchange, share prices rise and fall depending, largely, on market forces. Share prices tend to rise or remain stable when companies and the economy in general show signs of stability and growth. An economic recession, depression, or financial crisis could eventually lead to a stock market crash. Therefore the movement of share prices and in general of the stock indexes can be an indicator of the general trend in the economy.
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A stock exchange is a place where people buy and sell their private ownership interests in companies. Obviously, in a communist state, where individuals can not have any ownership interest in the means of production, a stock market is useless, even meaningless; you can't buy and sell private property if you don't own private property.

But dann thinks that's a good thing. Let's grant, for the sake of the argument, that it is. dann, please list, in support of your argument:
  • the ten wealthiest countries that have no stock exchange, regardless of economic system;
  • the ten wealthiest communist countries (since communist countries have no stock exchanges);
  • the ten wealthiest countries with stock exchanges;
  • the ten wealthiest capitalist countries
And please state by what financial measure(s) you calculate their wealth. Be consistent.
 
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No, no, you're right, BPSCG. If we didn't have stock exchanges, poor people wouldn't know what to do with all the money they don't have!
 
dann said:
No, no, you're right, BPSCG. If we didn't have stock exchanges, poor people wouldn't know what to do with all the money they don't have!
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Answer my question above, then we can talk.

I'll be here, waiting.
 
dann said:
No, no, you're right, BPSCG. If we didn't have stock exchanges, poor people wouldn't know what to do with all the money they don't have!
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True enough, they'd just wait around for the ration card, or the Dole, to be dispensed into their grateful little hands. Meanwhile, back at the Dacha, party members have a delightful dinner and compare notes on their new fur hats.

DR
 
Darth Rotor said:
True enough, they'd just wait around for the ration card, or the Dole, to be dispensed into their grateful little hands. Meanwhile, back at the Dacha, party members have a delightful dinner and compare notes on their new fur hats.
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Which is extremely different from the way US politicians enjoy their oatmeal porridge while they are comparing notes on their plans to help poor people, because they just can't live with the thought of people eating out of dumpsters, right?
 
dann said:
Which is extremely different from the way US politicians enjoy their oatmeal porridge while they are comparing notes on their plans to help poor people, because they just can't live with the thought of people eating out of dumpsters, right?
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No ration cards.

The poor will always be with you, the questino is, how is your social tier shape: pear, hourglass, or pyramid? We had a pear, but it seems to be changing toward an hourglass, which means we'll be like the Mexicans very soon. How nice, to experience societal devolution in practice.

The Pyramid is the model you continue to advocate, comrade dann.

DR
 
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ZirconBlue said:
Part of governing a country is diplomacy. If your economic model won't work without the support of the U.S. (or in the presence of a U.S. embargo), then

(A) perhaps your economic model is not a good one, or

(2) perhaps you should find a way to get on friendly terms with the U.S.
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But the US legislation not only sought to outlaw American trade with Cuba, but that of nationals in other sovereign nations (whether or not in the US at the time).

(A) It doesn't matter how good it is if the US is trying to stop ANYONE trading with you

(2) If you can't see what's wrong with that statement, then I fear for you.
 
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