(08-30-2012, 03:45 PM)eppie Wrote: Cuba does much better than most other countries in the region, and they don't even benefit from tourism and US support.
No, it doesn't do better. It's not even above average anymore.
Cuba before the revolution was far richer than any of its neighbours, with a GDP/capita about on level with southern Europe. Now it's poorer than Peru, Colombia, Equador, or a half-dozen other poor Latin American places. Without the USSR to backstop its deficits, the economy collapsed. It's recovered somewhat recently (if you believe the 10% annual growth rates they've been posting for 2000-2010) but is still kept afloat mostly by foreign tourism money and cheap Venezuelan oil.
Now, in its defense, inequality is low(er) than some places in the region, although I suspect much of that is disguised, and health and education are prioritized. And many of the countries we compare it to are also tourism economies. But the overall picture is of a country that used to be (relatively) well-off, and is now (relatively) poor.
-Jester
Afterthought: As for China, not only is it not the world's superpower (that's still the US by any metric), but its turnaround dates almost exactly from 1978 - the year Deng Xiaoping decided he'd rather catch mice than have a Marxist cat.