Earlier quoted context omitted.
> but could be even higher if wealth was distributed more justly. Unfalsifiable claim since we can't predict what could have been if things had been done completely differently. But, Cuba distributes wealth more justly, so where are all the innovators coming out of Cuba? Where is the quality of life? In fact, there are undoubtedly more Cubans building things, inventing things, and performing valuable services in the…
There are many alternative ways to distribute wealth, Cuban communism being only one of them. Capitalists would like us to believe in a false dichotomy between democratic capitalism and totalitarian communism. Instead of Cuba, why not point to the sovereign wealth funds of Norway or Alaska? Or farmers' co-ops in the American midwest? Or just the generally successful democratic socialist countries in Europe where stan…
Most of those countries have had 80 straight years of paying almost 0 for their defense. Who was paying for their defense?
If we had some other country guaranteeing our security so we could pay almost nothing for it, we could indeed double our spending on healthcare!
And no, that defense spending isn't a waste of money. We don't live in a safe, secure world; much of the world merely appeared safe and secure for a few decades because it was too hard to challenge a dominant US military. Unfortunately, new technologies of asymmetry, such as cheap drone weapons, are reworking that math.