The CIA publishes the following information about Cuba. To some people, especially the ones in the U.S. who have aids, or contribute via their deaths to the 14 percent higher annual deaths per thousand inhabitants, living in Cuba could be more advantageous than living in the U.S. Your tax dollars helped the CIA to fund the information that I'm posting here.
It appears that Cuba is a better place to live compared to Iraq, or Afghanistan or to residing in some U.S. inner city or rural locales. Why is there such an angry and taunting reaction to comparisons of the quality of life in the U.S. vs. other societies with other political and economic systems? The CIA data refutes the argument that those worst off in the U.S. are still better off than the lower echelon in Cuba. Consider that poor women in labor, people with a high risk of contracting aids, and working poor with no health insurance who find themselves or their children ill or injured, political ideology and nationalistic fervor do not care as much as you do about defending absolutes distilled to "U.S. good", "Cuba bad".
Quote:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/...k/geos/cu.html
Infant mortality rate:
total: 6.33 deaths/1,000 live births U.S. stat= 6.5
male: 7.11 deaths/1,000 live births U.S. stat= 7.17
female: 5.5 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.) U.S. stat= 5.8
ife expectancy at birth:
total population: 77.23 years U.S. stat= 77.71
male: 74.94 years U.S. stat= 74.89
female: 79.65 years (2005 est.) U.S. stat= 80.67
Death rate:
7.19 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.) U.S. stat= 8.25
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
less than 0.1% (2003 est.) U.S. stat= 0.6%
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 97% U.S. stat= 97%
male: 97.2% U.S. stat= 97%
female: 96.9% (2003 est.) U.S. stat= 97% (1999 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $3,000 (2004 est.) U.S. stat= $40,100
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/...k/geos/us.html
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Here are the infant mortality rate statistics on an island near Cuba that has a recent history of much U.S. "influence":
Quote:
Haiti http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/...k/geos/ha.html
Infant mortality rate:
total: 73.45 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 79.92 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 66.79 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)
Dominican Republic http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/...k/geos/dr.html
Infant mortality rate:
total: 32.38 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 34.81 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 29.84 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)
Background
........................The Dominican economy has had one of the fastest growth rates in the hemisphere over the past decade.........................
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The simplistic, absolutist nature of the objections to discussion on this thread, when placed up against a comparison of infant mortality rates that occur on neighboring West Indies islands, IMO, expose the misaligned priorities of the objectors, especially the priority towards the lives of the newly born.
In terms of purchasing power parity, the U.S. seems indifferent to devoting economic resources to the goal of lowering it's mortality rates and rates of infectious disease. Cuba, very poor comparitively, seems to have it's economic priorities in order, managing a parity in key measures of health with one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Isn't a reliable measure of a successful and healthful society observed in birth and population mortality rates?