Pants-of-dog wrote:I disagree.
Capitalism is much worse than socialism when it comes to actual needs like health care, food security, defence, transport, electricity, and many other things.
The only reason a country “needs” to be capitalist is if they want trade globally.
Every country needs to trade globally if it wants to prosper economically. You need to buy goods from outside you can't make and sell goods to others, as well as needing people to invest in your businesses.
Most universal healthcare programs have the government pay the costs of insurance but the medical providers are privately owned and operated. Food security is a joke, China and USSR starved their citizens to death due to administrative blunders. There's lots of electricity/utility providers that are run privately.
Competition fuels efficiency and innovation. It may not fuel equality of outcome, nor should it, but that's where the government can help out by providing things like universal healthcare, social housing, etc so that nobody goes without needs. This was proven throughout the 20th century, the proof is in the pudding. The most successful country in the world in terms of economic and social indicators are mixed capitalist with elements of democratic socialism. Not a communist country anywhere to be seen, never has and never will.
According to that webpage, Cuba has a higher GDP than most countries in the region.
Huh? If you read the list you'd see there's over twice as many latin american/carribean countries that have a higher GDP per capita than Cuba compared to the # of countries with lower GDP/capita.
I disagree that it is a dictatorship. While the Cuban government has had to target certain people and groups, this is due to outside influences trying to usurp the government.
LOL you're kidding right? Political opposition of any kind that's a threat to the Castros is repressed in Cuba, people thrown in jail without trial. That's how dictatorships hold onto power, there's no freedom of speech, rule of law, or legal due process. It claims to be communist but the Castros live in mansions on private islands away from the poor masses with money they stole from the people.
That only makes sense if your only goal is growth.
China has lifted many hundreds of millions out of subsistence poverty because of "growth"