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Cuba’s Bitcoin Revolution

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Re: Cuba’s Bitcoin Revolution

#111

Post by stale2002 »

anonymousDan wrote: post #70
stale2002 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> why do you think it's absurd for both a street cleaner and a brain surgeon Because a brain surgeon requires a vastly larger amount of money, effort, training, and time to achieve their skill set. Much less people would spend all of these resources, and time, becoming brain surgeons, if it was as lowly paid as much easier jobs. > This comes up frequently here when folks balk at Canadian software engineering wages I…

Then just make the cost of training free only for those that stay in the country.

What, are countries going to put ankle bracelets on every highly trained individual?

Country wide prevention of people fleeing a country for better prospects rarely works.

These types of authoritarian lockdowns just don't work in the long term.

What, do you ban people from going on vacation in other countries? Do you ban traveling entirely?

You can't stop people from leaving, if they can do those things.

Re: Cuba’s Bitcoin Revolution

#112

Post by lefrenchy »

hypnotist wrote: post #109
lefrenchy wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure how some random person on twitter saying "if you think the embargo is bad you don't understand Cuban reality" as a side note is supposed to nullify years of history? The embargo is absolutely part of the context, you can't just wave away an economic boot on Cuba's neck?

well, he is actually Cuban who lives in US and follows the situation. I am willing to believe his take much more than random dudes from CA. Here's some of his writings on Cuba. https://www.thepullrequest.com/p/the-cuban-tank-man-will-be-...

Look the reality is it doesn’t matter what any of us think about the situation on the ground in Cuba. We do not live in Cuba and therefore cannot understand their lived experiences (neither does a Cuban living in Miami who likely has an ideologically warped perception just as much as any of us). The only thing we as Americans can control is to end an economically devastating embargo. At least then American foreign policy can be completely extracted from any of these questions. It objectively has economic consequences on Cuba, and for this person to just hand wave that away makes me question their integrity.

Re: Cuba’s Bitcoin Revolution

#113

Post by anonymousDan »

stale2002 wrote: post #111
anonymousDan wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then just make the cost of training free only for those that stay in the country.

What, are countries going to put ankle bracelets on every highly trained individual? Country wide prevention of people fleeing a country for better prospects rarely works. These types of authoritarian lockdowns just don't work in the long term. What, do you ban people from going on vacation in other countries? Do you ban traveling entirely? You can't stop people from leaving, if they can do those things.

That's a bit of a straw man argument. No need for anything so extreme. People are legally required to pay back the funding. If they don't then they will be arrested on return to the country. There are many similar schemes in place to enforce military service for example. As another example the US requires citizens living abroad to pay taxes. Of course some may choose to ignore it but given family ties etc I would wager in many cases the proportion would be small.

Re: Cuba’s Bitcoin Revolution

#114

Post by stale2002 »

anonymousDan wrote: post #113
stale2002 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What, are countries going to put ankle bracelets on every highly trained individual? Country wide prevention of people fleeing a country for better prospects rarely works. These types of authoritarian lockdowns just don't work in the long term. What, do you ban people from going on vacation in other countries? Do you ban traveling entirely? You can't stop people from leaving, if they can do those things.

That's a bit of a straw man argument. No need for anything so extreme. People are legally required to pay back the funding. If they don't then they will be arrested on return to the country. There are many similar schemes in place to enforce military service for example. As another example the US requires citizens living abroad to pay taxes. Of course some may choose to ignore it but given family ties etc I would wag…

> If they don't then they will be arrested on return to the country.

A nationwide scheme to arrest people who leave the country, merely because they have in demand skills is absurd.

You are not going to be able to arrest people, who have in demand skills or prevent them from fleeing the country.

Like, what does that even mean? For how long do people have to be slaves to the nation?

People move countries all the time, and the idea that one is now going to be arrested for something that is perfectly normal and common is absurd.

What, is it just now illegal for people in a nation to ever spend time working outside of the country? Do you understand how ridiculous that is, to prevent people from leaving or working outside the country, forever?

> As another example the US requires citizens living abroad to pay taxes.

The most powerful country in the world can get away with this, yes. But a smaller nation isn't going to be able to have enforced prevention of high skilled labors leaving the country.

Re: Cuba’s Bitcoin Revolution

#115

Post by kortilla »

uniqueid wrote: post #41
kortilla wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Canada has much lower wealth and income inequality - and it's because there's a much tighter band of compensation. I can’t fathom pointing to a market that cannot compete globally (Canada’s software engineering job market) and somehow thinking it’s impressive. Knocking everyone down to achieve equality is not desirable. I’m more interested in approaches that provide safety nets and mobility upward. Not ones that el…

Knocking everyone down to achieve equality is not desirable. Not desirable in terms of average income, just desirable for the majority of citizens.

No it’s not. Most of the citizens that desire this think it will achieve them some income or social safety net.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/clarissajanlim/msnbc-ma...

The fact that a news anchor didn’t realize that was complete bullshit is an example of how mistaken people are about what “making the rich pay” will accomplish.

Re: Cuba’s Bitcoin Revolution

#116

Post by kortilla »

Emma_Goldman wrote: post #87
kortilla wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Canada has much lower wealth and income inequality - and it's because there's a much tighter band of compensation. I can’t fathom pointing to a market that cannot compete globally (Canada’s software engineering job market) and somehow thinking it’s impressive. Knocking everyone down to achieve equality is not desirable. I’m more interested in approaches that provide safety nets and mobility upward. Not ones that el…

People don't control the talents with which they were born or the environment in which they're socialised. They also don't control the distribution of talents, technologies and preferences in society that combine to determine the supply and demand curve for different careers. I would say, therefore, that an individual's earning power in the market is overwhelmingly a function of luck. It is obviously unfair to penali…

> I would say, therefore, that an individual's earning power in the market is overwhelmingly a function of luck.

Complete and utter bullshit. There are vast amounts of information available on what incomes are for jobs. Unless people have a mental or physical disability, they can put in the effort to train for something more than a trivial minimum wage job.

The average amount of hours spent on watching tv shows, movies, playing video games, etc means that time to improve is not in short supply. As a society we shouldn’t encourage people who want to just coast and contribute very little of what society wants (labor demand).

> to demand that they receive multiple times more money than the normal citizen lest they deny society their talents and leave

The entitlement is palpable here. Nobody is a heart surgeon by by birth. It takes decades of sacrifice and hard work. Very few people are willing to do that and talent only plays a small part. That’s why doctors still make a multiple in the UK of “the normal citizen”: https://www.erieri.com/salary/job/cardiac-surgeon/united-kin...

> and to discard the rest as losers that are best forgotten, condemned to low-pay, casualised and insecure work.

False dichotomy. The rest should be spending time training for skilled jobs. We should absolutely discourage people from getting a BA in Political Science and then spending their life making coffee and shitposting on Twitter. It’s an incredible waste of personal and societal potential.

> I note that the NHS pays doctors markedly less than they would receive in North America, though it is still a considerable amount. Yet we have no real brain drain.

See above. Your doctors make way more than even US software engineers (the thing I’m saying Canadian SWEs should aspire to). You don’t have brain drain because you pay them many multiples of “normal people”.

Re: Cuba’s Bitcoin Revolution

#117

Post by anonymousDan »

stale2002 wrote: post #114
anonymousDan wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a bit of a straw man argument. No need for anything so extreme. People are legally required to pay back the funding. If they don't then they will be arrested on return to the country. There are many similar schemes in place to enforce military service for example. As another example the US requires citizens living abroad to pay taxes. Of course some may choose to ignore it but given family ties etc I would wag…

> If they don't then they will be arrested on return to the country. A nationwide scheme to arrest people who leave the country, merely because they have in demand skills is absurd. You are not going to be able to arrest people, who have in demand skills or prevent them from fleeing the country. Like, what does that even mean? For how long do people have to be slaves to the nation? People move countries all the time,…

I don't know if you're being deliberately obtuse but that is some ridiculous hyperbole. If it makes it easier for you imagine that all university education is state subsidised via loans that are not repayable so long as you are working in the country but must be repayed otherwise in proportion to the amount of time you spend working in another country. Alternatively you could be required to work for a minimum number of years in your native country in order to pay back the loan. I know of many schemes for educational loans that do just that.

Re: Cuba’s Bitcoin Revolution

#118

Post by uniqueid »

kortilla wrote: post #115
uniqueid wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Knocking everyone down to achieve equality is not desirable. Not desirable in terms of average income, just desirable for the majority of citizens.

No it’s not. Most of the citizens that desire this think it will achieve them some income or social safety net. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/clarissajanlim/msnbc-ma... The fact that a news anchor didn’t realize that was complete bullshit is an example of how mistaken people are about what “making the rich pay” will accomplish.

If I had to choose living with the average income of any nation, obviously I'd consider the US.

If I had to swap lives with a random citizen of any nation, it certainly would not be the US.

I don't like the odds that I'd find myself incarcerated for shoplifting groceries, or living in a tent city, or crapping in a donut box in the back of an Amazon delivery van, or prostituting my ass to pay for insulin.

Re: Cuba’s Bitcoin Revolution

#119

Post by kortilla »

uniqueid wrote: post #118
kortilla wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it’s not. Most of the citizens that desire this think it will achieve them some income or social safety net. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/clarissajanlim/msnbc-ma... The fact that a news anchor didn’t realize that was complete bullshit is an example of how mistaken people are about what “making the rich pay” will accomplish.

If I had to choose living with the average income of any nation, obviously I'd consider the US. If I had to swap lives with a random citizen of any nation, it certainly would not be the US. I don't like the odds that I'd find myself incarcerated for shoplifting groceries, or living in a tent city, or crapping in a donut box in the back of an Amazon delivery van, or prostituting my ass to pay for insulin.

> I don't like the odds that I'd find myself incarcerated for shoplifting groceries, or living in a tent city, or crapping in a donut box in the back of an Amazon delivery van, or prostituting my ass to pay for insulin.

What percentage of people do you think you just described?

Re: Cuba’s Bitcoin Revolution

#120

Post by hui-zheng »

> the communist government toyed with capitalism “the way a tiger plays with its prey: tapping it lightly one minute, squeezing the life out of it the next. Socialist officials urged would-be Cuban capitalists to go ahead and open their small businesses, then they erected layers of burdensome regulations to limit profit and handicap success. Their real goal was not to lift millions out of poverty. It was to prevent anyone from making millions.”

It's the same thing now happening in China. Unfortunately, this mentality and ideology now also finds its home in North America.

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