And as I said a while ago in my most downvoted comment ever (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8442817), Sherritt stocks will go through the roof in case relations start to normalize. And they did today, with +25%.
Cuba and the U.S. will begin to normalize relations
191–200 of 276 posts
Re: Cuba and the U.S. will begin to normalize relations
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
I highly recommend reading "Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot" which explain how dictatorships can pick a handful of indicators and elevate them to first-world levels while still making everybody's life miserable. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Perfect-Latin-American-Idiot/pro...
Michael Moore needs to read this book.
I'm sure he already did
Re: Cuba and the U.S. will begin to normalize relations
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's because we don't criminalize homelessness as aggressively as other major cities and the homeless population is concentrated near downtown where the SROs and social services are located. Keep in mind that it's generally not simply poverty but mental illness or a history of abuse/violence that separates the homeless here vs. the working poor in the favelas and slums of the third world.
>> "It's because we don't criminalize homelessness as aggressively as other major cities" I don't think that matters - the op's point still stands. Do you think criminalising homelessness solves the problem? It just (poorly) hides it. There may be a different between the 'working' poor and the mentally ill that you point out but I'd be willing to bet the mentally ill aren't left to live on the street and fend for the…
I was pointing out a difference between the reasons for poverty (mental illness, etc.) between the homeless and people who live in poverty in third world countries (political/socio-economic oppression, etc.).
I don't believe in criminalizing homelessness as it's a public health issue but I would contest the opinion that it poorly hides it. Look at any thread about New Yorkers complaining about SF and count how many times they talk about how the streets of New York have so many less homeless people. Of course, they probably don't understand the reasons very well (Rudolph Giulianis war on the homeless, etc.) but it certainly seems effective at hiding it when you either lock up homeless, force them to go underground and out of sight, or buy them a bus ticket to sunny California.
Re: Cuba and the U.S. will begin to normalize relations
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
Presidents Clinton and Bush both waived that part law, and Canada, Mexico, and the EU all don't recognize it. So I'm not sure it has had any real impact other than antagonizing US allies, and generating some private lawsuits.
> Presidents Clinton and Bush both waived that part law Part of the issue with Helms-Burton is that the retaliatory provisions include a private cause of action for any expatriates whose (former) property is impacted, so that it is impossible for the executive branch to control the application of the law. > and Canada, Mexico, and the EU all don't recognize it. Whether foreign countries recognize it has no impact on…
Yes, I agree there is private lawsuit risk, and noted it. I was responding to the parent saying "So no trade for Cuba, then." There is trade, there are some lawsuits, and the US Govt. policy is to ignore the law.
> Whether foreign countries recognize it has no impact on a anyone subject to it if they have assets that become subject to the jurisdiction of US courts.
I disagree, but regardless, the fear of private lawsuits hasn't kept large European, canadian, and Mexican companies from doing business and trading with Cuba.
Re: Cuba and the U.S. will begin to normalize relations
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
The retaliatory policy the US has against any entity doing business with Cuba severely limits business engagement with Cuba, since firms that engage in many kinds of business with Cuba risk retaliatory asset seizures if assets come within the jurisdiction of US courts. While foreign trade with Cuba is less constrained by the embargo than direct US trade, it is inaccurate to say that the embargo only affects direct tr…
Right, that's an important nuance. But that means that a firm in a country like Spain is only constrained by the embargo if it also does business with US companies, right?
Things like http://lta.reuters.com/article/idLTAL2N0PE1H520140703 .
BNP Paribas is one of the biggest French banks...
Re: Cuba and the U.S. will begin to normalize relations
#196I've visited Cuba on a Canadian passport. Aside from the beautiful beaches the thing that struck me most was the desperate poverty of people living in shacks outside the 5 star resorts. While I hesitate to predict that this change will be all for the good, I do believe that the poorest in Cuba will benefit significantly from increased trade.
I felt the same way visiting San Francisco, the abject poverty of the people downtown outside $400 a night hotels is just incredible.
The city of SF spends about $26,000/yr per homeless person ($167mm / 6,355 people).[1] It is not a money problem.
1: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/S-F-spendi...
Re: Cuba and the U.S. will begin to normalize relations
#197I've visited Cuba on a Canadian passport. Aside from the beautiful beaches the thing that struck me most was the desperate poverty of people living in shacks outside the 5 star resorts. While I hesitate to predict that this change will be all for the good, I do believe that the poorest in Cuba will benefit significantly from increased trade.
It's because socialism works!!!
Re: Cuba and the U.S. will begin to normalize relations
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
On the other hand: - average life expectancy in Cuba is almost the same as the USA (and higher than Mexico, Belize, Bahamas, Brazil, etc.). - literacy rate in Cuba is higher than that in the USA - Physicians per 10,000 people: Cuba has 67, USA has 24 In the Ebola crisis, Cuba has been leading from the front.
Physicians per capita figures are misleading. The US figure reflects very long careers; late retirements; investment in large teams of trauma specialists due to high war, car crash, and gunshot wound rates; a high percentage of women physicians working part time; and a high concentration of expensive specialists with no documentation that they improve outcomes and paid for by large federal government subsidies. The a…
yes, good points. It seems that Cuba has become something of a health resource for other countries in Latin America, where there is much less access to doctors (and NPs) than in Cuba. Middle-class people in those countries travel to Cuba for health care. At least that is picture I get when I've spoken to a bunch of people in the region over the past few years. I hear about a number of people travel to Cuba, others got to Chile, and almost no one can afford to go to US to get treated.
Re: Cuba and the U.S. will begin to normalize relations
#199Earlier quoted context omitted.
On the other hand: - average life expectancy in Cuba is almost the same as the USA (and higher than Mexico, Belize, Bahamas, Brazil, etc.). - literacy rate in Cuba is higher than that in the USA - Physicians per 10,000 people: Cuba has 67, USA has 24 In the Ebola crisis, Cuba has been leading from the front.
I highly recommend reading "Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot" which explain how dictatorships can pick a handful of indicators and elevate them to first-world levels while still making everybody's life miserable. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Perfect-Latin-American-Idiot/pro...
I highly recommend travel to those countries so that you can observe it for your self. The picture is different than the book.
Re: Cuba and the U.S. will begin to normalize relations
#200I've visited Cuba on a Canadian passport. Aside from the beautiful beaches the thing that struck me most was the desperate poverty of people living in shacks outside the 5 star resorts. While I hesitate to predict that this change will be all for the good, I do believe that the poorest in Cuba will benefit significantly from increased trade.
> Aside from the beautiful beaches the thing that struck me most was the desperate poverty of people living in shacks outside the 5 star resorts.
This is, unfortunately, not a problem unique to Cuba. I had this very same reaction when my wife and I vacationed in Jamaica. To get to this lush, tropical all-inclusive resort, you spend two hours riding in a minibus across bumpy barely-paved roads through some of the most abject poverty I've witnessed anywhere. It was very difficult to reconcile the insulated world of endless food and finely manicured lawns inside the resort with the world you witness just outside its gates.