Fidel Castro dies at the age of 90

Cuba has changed very little from 1960, it is the same poor country it was a half a century ago.
In 1960 Spain and Cuba were more or less equally wealthy, second world countries.
Today Spain is a first world country, Cuba a third world country.
No war would destroy Cuba like Castro's rule. This is much worse than the destroyed by the WW1 and WW2 Poland.

Below Cuba and Spain compared:



View attachment 25247

 

What is the y axis? Where's it from?

 

The guy is dead, can we not just enjoy the moment?

 

It's gross domestic product per capita in Geary–Khamis dollars.
It was generated from the estimates calculated by the Maddison Project at the University of Groningen.

 

I see that they are being patriotic to the last. They are pushing the Rooskie supplied jeep knock-off to conserve gas. Fearless leader would be proud.

 

From a a Dodge Custom Royal in 1959 to a worn-out UAZ today, what a failure...

 

FCA Group probably aren't real happy about all the news stories about the "Jeep" breaking down.
(Although the ones they make are pretty unreliable too)

 

1,200 captured out of 1,500 who invaded isn't a bad record.

 

A very nebulous and questionable assessment and not at all clear how it relates to the topic at hand.

 

#68 - (unsure, if that is a Bay of Pigs reference)
Although, 1.5 million Cubans leaving (because of castro) is a horrible record...Wonder how many Cubans castro killed
That castro could ever be regarded as anything other than the brute he was, is a mystery. He lived in luxury while the people lived in poverty.
A good metric would be, how many people flee vs how many immigrate. Also the above comparison between Spain and Cuba is telling.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_exile

edit- wiki

 

both mentions would actually fare poorly as metrics. dissidents, even if they top 1.5 million, will always represent a very small percentage of the total population. a lot of people leave the US in disgust, you know. as to relative comparison between those coming in and those leaving, it will hold if everything inside and out were fairly constant. but no, either action will have its very own exclusive factors so it's hard to relate the two.

 

Please define 'a lot of people'

Other than 'click bait' web site's there seems to be little data to support this assertion and official government estimates still hover in the one percent area of total population going on for decades, well short of those immigrating into the US. A better indicator is the number of those who surrender their US citizenship. There has been a dramatic rise here......from a few hundred per year to something over a thousand per year. This due primarily to stronger efforts to enforce Federal income tax laws.

Hey I hate paying taxes too, but that's hardly a political statement.

There are multiple reasons for Americans abroad. For some their retirement dollar goes much further in many places abroad. Others are wealthy enough to spend considerable time overseas for the cultural experience, much like wealthy Europeans did 100 years ago. The US is not a conventional empire, but economically in some ways we are and this has cause for many to work overseas for parent countries based in the US or those with corporate HQ's now overseas. Parts of our workforce is highly skilled, making them valuable (high paying) to foreign companies.

Funny every Presidential election cycle half the celebutaunts of the country cry they will have to move to Canada (for some reason never Mexico) if this person or that gets elected. Of course they seem to forget that promise within minutes after a election is called.

America has had, for her, a tough decade economically and it has had a very small effect on immigration out of the US. Even so we remain a net plus in this regard, more people are moving to the US and birth rates are causing a continuing rise in our population consistent with our modern history.

 

a whole lot of ex-servicemen come to the philippines, marry filipinas, and settle here permanently. they remain US persons. none i know are disgusted with the US, based on their anonymous posts. they hate the philippines besides the cheap beer and even cheaper brides but seem to have few options, given the size of their pension.

many filipinos and filipinas do come back, many never actually renounced their filipino citizenships. academicians hate the "student-driven" curricula. service-oriented professionals despise customers' sense of entitlement and harsh policies on "political correctness." just plain folks hate the way "plain" americans automatically zero in on things like smoky mountain and loose women the moment they find out they're from the philippines.

my sister, for instance, got her PhD, a permanent tenure in the university, and then married her american boyfriend. things seemed rosy but she had a knack for getting into debates that usually start with how crappy the philippines is, and always ending with a whole crowd telling her off for criticizing anything american. her lawyer-husband spent much of his free time calling or e-mailing those people, threatening them with lawsuits. she divorced him, went back to the phils and is now teaching at the university, getting $400 a month.

 

Do they? Why?

I'd certainly like to see some support for this. As a counter point the population of Cuba in 2012 was 11.1 million that means if there were over 1.5 million dissidents they represented ~15% of the population hardly a "very small percentage". Another even more extreme example would be Venezuela where current evidence indicates the majority could be so classified. Even if they were a very small percentage though it could still be a very useful metric. For instance one reason politicians and businesses pay so much attention to letters is that the rule of thumb for a long time was that for every one who wrote a letter at least 10 more felt the same way but just didn't get around to writing the letter.

I'm not exactly sure what you are trying to say here but my impression is it's not very well founded.

 

Howdy T_D...Appreciate your contribution...Was disheartened to read that, maybe, Philipina women are considered loose.
My gf is the hardest working person i know. Am grateful i met her. Not the other way around. ..The Philippines are heavily Catholic-no?

PS...Maybe you could comment on Duterte- is he making things right, or causing more grief?...(gf and her family all like the guy-even though one of her -hundreds of cousins- was called out of his house, shot and killed)...She also had a nephew who died from a mosquito bite.

 

The Phillipinos here were all taught English by Americans and they learn it off American TV shows too...so they all talk with an American accent!
Interesting comments by Belasar...Does America have a population policy? Does it have an upper number? (Australia doesn't want to exceed 50 Million for example - and most think this "big Australia" is too much) We are the driest Continent on Earth so we have to start thinking about population now...

 

Not the ones i know, they only watch Philippine TV, and speak Togalo when they gather. ..i know what it feels like to be on the outside, looking in.
When stressed, she goes into a high/low speech, and talks over me. ..No noticeable US accent. lol.

 

just a confused heap of answers to all the comments directed on me since this will be my last post here:
1. the 1.5 million - they'll be a big percentage of the cuban population only if all of them left within a year. i had the idea that's the total number that made its way to florida over several years {decades?)
2. balance of movement - ok, you guys win. more leaving against those getting in is valid argument regardless of certain conditions.
3. filipinas aren't loose as a rule, no worse than any westernized woman. they just have this thing for foreigners expressedly looking for a wife. but this topic deserves a few comments. they say that if you marry a filipina, you marry her entire clan. this might be true for those in the lower income group {which forms a majority here.} if you don't want her entire clan knocking on your door asking for dole outs, be a little more discriminating.
4. duterte? he's a gangster from the south. only the forever disenfranchised will look to someone like him for hope and positive change. now look, he's killing off his voters one by one.

 

In regards to your first point:
It's a big percentage of the population no matter how long it's taken that's simple mathematics. Even if you look at the yearly average it's not going to be all that small a percentage.

In regards to your 4th (and somewhat off topic, indeed it deserves a topic of its own):
Calling Duterte a "gangster" seams to me rather questionable. That still leaves a lot of rather negative appellations that might well fit. I'm wondering just how many parallels there are compared to our newly elected president (although he's a bit more restrained by law enforcement).