Holy shit. You're still going 60 mph out of your ass.

>Wealth is not a resource and cannot be scarce. There is no limit to wealth. Wealth is directly tied to how productive a country is. And there is no limit to productivity. Beyond what is possible within the laws of physics.

Wealth as measured by what? Wealth is not some abstract or undefined variable. Wealth is typically measured by money among other factors. Money is not infinite otherwise we could print more whenever we wanted. You're conflating ideas as to obscure your point. This isn't good debate, it's obfuscation and charlatanism.

>Capitalism PREVENTS scarcity automatically. Prices go up when a resource is scarce. And down when a resource is abundant.

Ok what does price going up have to do with making something less scarce? Once again, you're obfuscating without a point. Price reflects scarcity (as you point out), but it does not control scarcity. Literally quite the opposite. Diamonds are a great example of how capitalism creates artificial scarcity and flies in the face of your point. Diamonds are expensive but are not in fact scarce. The perceived scarcity of diamonds is quite literally an invention of a capitalist market.

https://priceonomics.com/post/45768546804/diamonds-are-bullshit

​

>Scarcity happens in socialist countries FAR more often. For one reason. Price controls.

Haha, ok buddy. You're just swinging in the dark now. You're going to need to start defining your terms.

1. How are you defining scarcity in "socialist countries"? What measures or quantification of scarcity are you applying to your argument? Money is no longer an adequate measure of wealth in socialist countries, what other parameters are you considering? Cubans, for example, have less money than any other Caribbean nation, but better education, health care, and infrastructure than any of those as well.
   
2. How are you defining "socialist" countries? There's actually a world of difference between say Cuba and the USSR for example but neither of them follow a traditional or Marxist interpretation of socialism. Which one are you going by? Furthermore, how does your idea of socialism reflect on the economy beyond "workers" having the means of production or unions (apparently existing)?
   
   >Socialists love price controls. Free college! Free healthcare! Free this. Free that.
   
   Ok, once again, give me examples cause this is literally all hot air. You seem to wander between democratic socialism and authoritarian socialism indiscriminately and without pretext.
   
   >Many socialist countries collapse because they solved problems of things being too expensive by simply making them not expensive anymore. Then of course, demand was artificially propped up by cheap goods and that resource became scarce and eventually the whole thing fell apart. It's disastrous when that resource is actually a necessity.
   
   Which ones? Actually, it doesn't really matter. Pretty much every example you're going to try and cite fell for the same reason: an inability to be better at capitalism than capitalists. The USSR fell to the economic demands created by (surprise) an artificial scarcity of nuclear arsenals and flooding the demand by threat of not being able to defend soviet sovereignty. Cuba and Venezuela have been economically strangled by removing the possibility of exchange with other Latin American nations by the USA. The book below is a good background on the unclassified information concerning the relationship between Cuba and America and how the latter, through almost a century of financial and military intervention throughout the continent, forced every nation to refuse any form of economic exchange or assistance.
   
   https://www.amazon.com/Back-Channel-Cuba-Negotiations-Washington/dp/1469626608/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541552580&sr=8-1&keywords=backchannel+to+cuba
   
   Now, before you say "aha! if capitalism beat socialism, it's the superior economic form!" Just because one economic form is more is more suited to beating another doesn't necessarily mean it's better for us. You've already committed enough logical fallacies as is.
   
   

   If I could give you any advice, it would be to pick up a book and do some reading on subjects before you pretend to know them well.

Holy Crap! Thank you. I was aware of much of what you wrote, but there was soooo much more great food for thought.

So here's my goal, to better understand. I do get that the La Florida/Floridita Bar is a tourist trap, as are many of the Art Deco / bar and building locations in the city. That's what I'm researching and wanted first hand knowledge of. But beyond that I also want to experience the many wonderful bars and experiences that may be of that era, but not so well known either. I'll be in Cuba for a full week, so my goal is to make it as far as Trinidad and document the experiences I have. I plan on staying in a Casa Particular (Thank you for the wonderful websites etc) and can't wait for the experience. I want to approach the entire country, tourist trap or not in a historical aspect, and while there are many touristy areas, the history behind them is quite amazing. As an example, Constante Ribilagua (owner of the La Florida bar back in it's hey day ) is a bit of an icon for me and that sort of thing is what I am dying to experience.

I didn't realize Sloppy Joe's had been rennovated. This gives me an idea for the presentation for the lecture as I have photos from 2007 when it was hollowed out for rennovation (probably for the new bar). I welcome any other destinations you may have experienced. And THANK YOU for the recommendations for the travel books, I was inundated by them on amazon and wasn't sure where to go with that. I also picked up "Havana Before Castro" as sort of an historical guide for consideration.

https://www.amazon.com/Havana-Before-Castro-Tropical-Playground/dp/1423603672/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475105181&sr=1-1&keywords=havana+before+castro

I'd definitely recommend Aviva Chomsky's A History of the Cuban Revolution for a good, brief introduction to and analysis of the history of the revolution. It's a quick, easy read and very good.

I recently read Visions of Power in Cuba: Revolution, Redemption, and Resistance 1959-1971 by Lillian Guerra, and I would very highly recommend it. It's not a communist take on things, but still incredibly interesting and great analysis of the first decade after the revolution.

I actually just spent the summer in Cuba, so I can give you some first hand experience with talking to people about immigration.

First, the people who fled Cuba in the 60s were largely upper class whites who were truly enemies of the revolution. These were the original "gusanos", or worms. Most Cubans living on the island don't seem to have much sympathy with them.

But after that it gets a bit more complicated. Beginning in the 90s with the collapse of the Soviet Union/socialist bloc (and thus of Cuba's most important partner -- they lost something like 80% of their exports essentially overnight) and the advent of the so called "Special Period", things got really, really fucking hard in Cuba. There was nothing to eat, no money, no oil, no hope. As is well known in the US, lots of Cubans did everything they could to get to Miami, especially on rafts. It is hard for me, even as a communist and a supporter (to an extent) of the Cuban government, to blame them at all for their decision. Hearing people's stories about their struggle in the 90s is... harrowing. Check out the documentary Balseros for a take on the rafters.

Nowadays, things are much better than in the 90s, largely thanks to Chavez/Venezuela. But plenty of Cubans still want to go to the US. It's hard when you're living in a relatively poor country next door to Empire to not dream of living inside it.

Of course, there have also been people over the years who have fled Cuba for "political" reasons, including many artists and intellectuals. I sympathize with them to some extent -- the political, artistic, cultural, etc repression, while understandable and perhaps necessary to some extent (though that's debatable), must have been (and to a lesser extent still is) very difficult to live under.

I think that the biggest thing I learned in Cuba was to just try to be more nuanced in my understanding of the situation. I still fully support the revolution, and think that overall the revolutionary government has done an admirable job that we have much to learn from. But they messed up in a big way on a lot of things, and it certainly isn't a cakewalk to live in Cuba right now. More than anything else I think Cuba needs a resurgence of the Left worldwide -- that's the only way for the country to recover enough economically to make some necessary political changes without sacrificing socialism.

See, do, and eat.

I'm assuming you're going for the tourist version. Stay in old Havana, but if you can, go don't stay at a hotel, stay at a casa particular. PM me and I can refer you to two trusted ones.

Walk the malecon, that's the seaside. Do the walk from old Havana to Vedado, it's a nice neighborhood up on the west end of the city. It's about a one-hour walk, but totally cool to see the seaside life. I recommend you do this at night as well, different life. Thursday nights is queer night on the malecon. If you're there on a weekend, go to Las Vegas, that's a queer club near old Havana. Really bizarre and awesome drag show late at night.

Food is just not great in Havana. You have to understand that with the embargo, a lot of spices were not imported, so most food is bad pork, rice and beans. Hope you're not a vegetarian. I recommend two restaurants, Castas y Tal, a paladar in Vedado neighborhood. Also, there's a really good restaurant near Hotel Presidente and the Casa de las Americas. PM me for directions. The former is owned by a cool group of gay dudes.

If you're there for architecture, I got a whole lot longer of a list.

Go to Copelia for ice cream, it's near where they filmed Fresa y Chocolate. There's a place on the eastern side of the city where the old dock warehouses are now artisanal tchotchkes. Can't miss out on the museum of the revolution.

I suggest you look at this book, to get a good take on how queerness operates on the island After Love.

There's a list of movies that you should watch to sorta prepare you for a good take on why things are the way they are. Yo Soy Cuba as well as Before Night Falls Julian Schnabel is a dick, but whatever.

Can you be more specific about your interests? I can tell you A LOT about the art scene if that's your taste.

I haven't read any of these, but a look at a university library catalogue shows me these titles, some look pretty interesting!

• The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball 'the definitive history of baseball in Cuba'
  
• Baseball Without Borders: The International Pastime An academic work has a section on baseball in Cuba, along with sections on Japan, Taiwan, Brazil, Korea, China, etc. Used copies for only 95¢!
  
• The Duke of Havana: Baseball, Cuba, and the Search for the American Dream How Orlando El Duque Hernandez escaped Cuba and went to play for the Yankees.
  
• Pitching Around Fidel: A Journey into the Heart of Cuban Sports Looks like this is a more contemporary approach?
  
• Smoke: The Romance and Lore of Cuban Baseball more of a history book, appears to have lots of photos. No ebook.

It's time once again for the AskHistorians Book Giveaway! This month's winner is Jessica Perrigan! The selection of books we have available this month are:

• Amanda Claridge and Claire Holleran's A Companion to the City of Rome, featuring a chapter from an upcoming AMA guest (Mar. 9), Matthew Nicholls.
  
  
• Jeremy C. Young's The Age of Charisma: Leaders, Followers, and Emotions in American Society, 1870-1940. See his AskHistorians AMA.
  
  
• Lars Schoultz's That Infernal Little Cuban Republic: The United States and the Cuban Revolution, recommended by our guest, /u/thucydideswasawesome.
  
  
• E. Michael Whittington's The Sport of Life and Death: The Mesoamerican Ballgame, my recommendation
  
  Want a chance to get a free book? Help support the podcast via Patreon!

Tariq Ali speaks very positively about this group, he focuses on the subject in his book Pirates of the Caribbean, he sees alliances like these as a powerful unifying force against the Imperialist influence of the US.

Also see his discussion of the book here:

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/195292-1

Do you think calling me names is adding to the point you are trying to make, or detracting from it? Also, someone else made the claim that 100s of millions were killed by communism (though they weren't wrong). You're replying to the wrong person. I'm getting the impression you are very young, and - once again - that you have not been to or even talked to people from Cuba. I'm not trying to have an Internet slap fight with you, but you should really look into Cuban society and history. If you don't have the opportunity to actually go there or talk to Cubans, I recommend Cuba Beyond the Beach. It's written by a Canadian professor who lived many years there. It is not political, but will give you insight into what life is like there. You might curb claims like "Cuba has one of the best societies on the planet."

To say "economic success is only a measure of happiness under capitalism" is something that only someone who has lived a life of wealth and luxury will ever say. I say this as someone who lived under a communist regime, and has seen awful people both there and here. You could not be more wrong - the most materialistic people are often the poorest, or those who were the poorest, because they know the value of what they don't have. But I don't want to be antagonistic toward you - I'm just trying to point out why I think you're wrong, not that I think you're a bad person or a stupid one or anything of the sort. I hope you look into these things with a sober eye, and are not just swayed by an ideology you think is correct. Ideologies are never correct, though in a sense they are never wholly incorrect, either. It's okay to be wrong about something, it's okay to admit there's more nuance to the world than "good guys" and "bad guys", it's okay to learn. Cheers.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

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Which books have you already read and found valuable?

My recommendations:

"Cuban Revelations: Behind the Scenes in Havana" by Marc Frank


"Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know" by Julia E. Sweig


This one is kind of dry and academic, but I found the part about agricultural policy particularly illuminating: "Cuban Economic and Social Development: Policy Reforms and Challenges in the 21st Century".

I also have "The Revolution Under Raul Castro: A Contemporary Cuba Reader" and "Back Channel To Havana: The Hidden History of Negotiations Between Washington and Havana" but haven't started them yet. They look promising.

The absolute best history books? I can't say for sure, but here's some books on left-wing dictatorships:
smile.amazon.com/Visions-Power-Cuba-Revolution-Envisioning-ebook/dp/B009LPY4RK/
smile.amazon.com/Stalin-Paradoxes-1878-1928-Stephen-Kotkin-ebook/dp/B00INIXPYE/
Dictatorship isn't a right-wing or left-wing only thing. Either side of the aisle can go extreme.
And if you want to talk about moralism and media censorship, I'm pretty sure all that Tipper Gore mess wasn't Republicans. j/s

Well, I think you need to understand the potential bias those Cubans may have. IIRC most of those Cubans are comparatively wealthy families that left after the Batista regime was overthrown and they nationalized their businesses. In other words, many left before actually really experiencing living in the socialistic Cuba. For a down to earth analysis of how everyday Cubans live, I'd strongly recommend Inside El Barrio.

The demographic transition in Havana in the years following the ouster of Batista resulted in many of the homes of the wealthy being occupied by the families of those who were servants; the Revolution legalized those former servants' ownership as the years progressed. A fascinating and accessible book on the Urban development of Cuba is Henry Louis Taylor, Jr.'s "Inside el Barrio"

Like this one?

Yeah, real back channels are official and well-documented. Look no further than the Obama-Cuba negotiations, which have been reported to death and are even the subject of books. You don't try to hide them from your own fucking intelligence agencies.