Capitalism vs Socialism

Generali

South Korea has GDP of $1,305,000,000,000, North Korea's is $12,380,000,000 despite South Korea having only double the population of her northern neighbour.

If South Korea continues to grow at a rate of 3%, it's economy will grow by more than three times North Korea's total GDP!

At least everyone earns about the same money in North Korea so it's fair.

Southend1

Actually there is a huge difference in living standards between a farmer living in a small village in DPRK and a party official living in Pyongyang. The former is likely to be hungry and cold while the latter is living comfortably in a city apartment.

Generali

Southend1 wrote: »

Actually there is a huge difference in living standards between a farmer living in a small village in DPRK and a party official living in Pyongyang. The former is likely to be hungry and cold while the latter is living comfortably in a city apartment.

I know. I was being sarcastic.

I realise that doesn't always come across in writing.

padington

I was in Laos over the Chinese New Year and my god the Asia tourist tiger is a big cat these days. The Koreans and chinese were out numbering the westerners and outspending them.

Quicker we sort out easy tourist visa's for the Chinese the better, anyway ...

I spent a brilliant evening toasting 'F*ck Kim John-un' with two southern Koreans. Seems to be the first time they ever combined politics with alcohol, the first few times was spoke very meekly, I asked why so quiet ? Some things should be said loudly after all. They said 'scared of nuclear attack'. After 2pm however they got the hang of things nicely, hopefully a new tradition to take home.

Obviously, if third world war does kick off in that region, apologies in advance.

BTW in my mind it's a social market democracy verses fascism but I'm sure we can agree to disagree on that one.

cepheus

Was the average (typical/median) Cuban better of before the revolution or after?

Would Cuba have be better of still without US embargoes and hostility?

The Cuban Revolution, and the instatement of Fidel Castro as President, led to many positive changes for Cuba. Castro transformed the education system, creating a vast number of opportunities for those that had been subject to discrimination on the basis of race and class under the Batista regime. Castro also improved the public health care system, giving all Cubans access to free health care. A comparison of government probity and political liberty under both Batista and Castro reveals that there were faults in the leadership of both. Though it can be seen that political liberty did not improve after the revolution, there was a decrease in corruption. Due to the consequences of the US embargo, the national economy suffered, however, increased social equality meant that the overall standard of living was greatly improved. In weighing up these outcomes for education, health care, governance and the economy it can be seen that the Cuban Revolution resulted in an overall positive change for the great majority of Cubans.

http://cliojournal.wikispaces.com/An+Assessment+of+the+Cuban+Revolution

Generali

cepheus wrote: »

Was the average (typical/median) Cuban better of before the revolution or after?

Would Cuba have be better of still without US embargoes and hostility?



http://cliojournal.wikispaces.com/An+Assessment+of+the+Cuban+Revolution

Dunno.

Would a Cuban living under Batista or Castro be better off living under Capitalism in the US? Hell yeah!

vivatifosi

I have been reading a few books on N Korea as its somewhere I won't go to but find fascinating. After the war and into the 1960s, N Korea had the higher GDP per capita. It's amazing how much misery and despair a despotic family can inflict in just a couple of generations.

antrobus

cepheus wrote: »

Was the average (typical/median) Cuban better of before the revolution or after? ...

Well, I don't know, but an awful lot of Cubans have risked their lives trying to leave Cuba since 1959, now haven't they? What do you think?

Generali wrote: »

...Would a Cuban living under Batista or Castro be better off living under Capitalism in the US? Hell yeah!

The evidence shows that a lot of Cubans agree with you. They have made great efforts to get the opportunity to live under Capitalism in the US, even though they know that their own government will often kill them for trying.

P.S. A good source of info on the real Cuba would be the Generation Y blog https://generacionyen.wordpress.com/

Sample quote;

I never thought I’d get to say this, but Venezuela is worse than Cuba. It is true that the South American country has not surpassed in number nor in intensity the shortages of basic products, the economic collapse, nor the police surveillance that we suffer; but Venezuela is worse than Cuba.

stator

Please remember that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is not actually a communist country any more than it is democratic, both are on paper only.

Generali

antrobus wrote: »

Well, I don't know, but an awful lot of Cubans have risked their lives trying to leave Cuba since 1959, now haven't they? What do you think?

It's a very good point. How many Americans have risked their lives trying to get to Cuba?

I'd put the ROTFL smilie in but it doesn't seem appropriate somehow given that people actually die. In the first 5 days of this year, almost 100 people were caught in open boats trying to cross open seas to Florida:

http://rt.com/usa/220331-cuban-boat-people-captured-increase/

How desperate do you have to be to try to sail this for 500km:



The journey isn't just like popping across the Channel.

Generali

stator wrote: »

Please remember that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is not actually a communist country any more than it is democratic, both are on paper only.

North Korea has ended up the same as pretty much all Communist countries; corrupt and despotic. A bloke called Hayek predicted this and he was correct.