Perhaps the worst decision I've made this year is choosing to take a class surrounding the relation of Globalization and Global Warming. The name should be changed. "We're all gonna die" is better. Obviously, the class is filled with discussions of less food and water, massive warfare and bloodshed, environmental destruction, etc. This week we specifically talked about the option of localized economy once the world inevitably comes to an end. The poster child for local economy: Cuba. That's right, the country with citizens raring to swim across an ocean to join retirees in Miami, is the most likely candidate to survive the impacts of global warming. After Russia, their only trade partner, endured a catastrophic economic breakdown in the eighties, Cuba decided they had enough with trade altogether. From then on, the country relies on their own towns to produce food and not other countries. The island is over 80% independent. And nutritionists love it! Protein from fish and chickens instead of cattle. Vegetables. Fruits. So not only are Cubans going to survive a potential Apocalypse but they'll do it in great shape. I envy that idea. I can only imagine what America would be like if we relied on only ourselves. Who am I kidding? The grain belt can't make enough pancakes for frequenters of the IHOP.
4 comments:
Pardon me but you don't believe that bullshit, really? The U.S. is currently Cuba's largest food supplier. Selling Cuba half a billion dollars worth of food an ag products annually on a cash up front basis.
Cuba has also rationed food for its citizens for 45 years.
Cuba has the worst credit record possible and owes foreign countries that have sold it all kinds of goods billions of dollars.
Cuba is highly subsidized by Hugo Chavez and the Venezuelan petrodollars he controls.
Cuba receives $1 billion annually in remittances from Cuban-Americans living in exile who send the money to their families.
Cuba receives about 2.5 million tourists annually (that's trade isn't it?).
Yeah Cuba is a "self-sufficient" model for the rest of the world if we find another planet to mooch off of. Cuba can't survive on its own.
I'd ask for a tuition refund and slap the instructor in the face.
The discussion was on 'If entertainment journalism could be considered as mainstream journalism.
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adolfo
Internet Marketing
Cuba needs help - true but will not sacrifice its future for it. The poor of USA who include the overwhelming majority of the population of Washington DC. Maybe US trades its construction materials to Cuba, and Cuba provide selfless doctors to the majority of Washington DC. Unlike Yanqui doctors Cuban doctors are prepared to work for intrinsic rewards only.
Cuba has all the oil it needs (but it is only just beginning to flow from under the waves). With Venezuela's support it soon will have more than enough for itself.
Unlike its northern neighbour, Cuba provides free education and health care for everyone.
Cuba survived on its own from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 to 1998 with the election of the Chavez government.
USA economy is propped up by trillons of dollars by foreign creditors, especially the governments of the Peoples Republic of China, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Interesting how the United States is now imitating Ecuador and Venezuela by buying back the banks!
A good discussion has started. I like that.
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