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>Succeed at what? What success do they gain from being a doctor in a country which prevents them from being rewarded for it? I would say the success of being a

>Succeed at what? What success do they gain from being a doctor in a country which prevents them from being rewarded for it? I would say the success of being a doctor at all but it seems that to you success is purely a function of wealth. In that case these people could have left Cuba before using it's free education. It's highly hypocritical to use all the benefits of the Cuban system and then be upset when you also have to help pay into it. >It may surprise you, but it is hard work to be a doctor. Nope, I totally get that. >with a government which was built on tricking peasant farmers into willing their land to a psychopathic dictator who killed everyone who got in his way. Oh lord, put the overreaction away. How many words do you think I would have to change in this sentence to make it reflect America's founding relation between wealthy British WASPs and native americans? >The conditions they work under have every feature of slavery, even if the clothes they put on look professional. I understand you don't like communism but really the hyperbole man... and shame on you for trivializing slavery. These doctors all knew what the Cuban system was, they chose to use Cuba's excellent medical education program which is provided for free and which can only be provided, again, for free because it taxes it's citizens heavily and now that they have received that benefit, want to rescind on it's price. >A 34 y/o American doctor, even if they are somehow still paying off school, had the personal opportunity to take on that burden. Ah but how many Americans really get a shot at medical school? In the most recent year for which quintile census data are available, more than three-quarters of medical students came from families in the top two quintiles of family income. [0] And you should check that citation, Figure 2 is particularly damning. Essentially, these Cuban doctors face the reality that had they been born in the United States there is a significant percentage of them that never would have had a shot at attending medical school in the first place. You could also take a look at the Wired article[1] that I found that linked from, it's about how poor American students are actually going to Cuba for education. In effect, Cuba that poor communist country is to a certain extent actually subsidizing vital parts of our healthcare system that happen to be less lucrative: Most of the school’s American graduates go into family medicine, internal medicine, or pediatrics—all fields facing major doctor shortages and all fields on the low end of the doctor pay scale.[1] Thanks Cuba! >Every working person in Cuba, peasants, mechanics, and seamstresses alike, takes on the burden of training you as a doctor. Everyone, including the doctor, spends their entire life paying it off. Can I just change the framing of this a little bit, tell me what you think: Every working person in Cuba, peasants, mechanics, and seamstresses alike, chips in to train you as a doctor. Everyone, including the doctor, continues to chip in to train the next generation of doctors. [0] https://www.aamc.org/download/102338/data/aibvol8no1.pdf https://www.aamc.org/download/102338/data/aibvol8no1.pdf [1] https://www.wired.com/2016/03/students-ditching-america-medical-school-cuba/ https://www.wired.com/2016/03/students-ditching-america-medi...

microcolonel 9y ago
> Every working person in Cuba, peasants, mechanics, and seamstresses alike, chips in to train you as a doctor. Everyone, including the doctor, continues to chip in to train the next generation of doctors. They're not chipping in, they don't have a choice in the matter. I think Cubans would rather have a better basic quality of life, than spend so much of their income training doctors who probably won't even operate near them, and who are used basically as indentured servants by the government, a government which pockets most of the money (as evidenced by the mansions and secret wealth of the despots).
- frgtpsswrdlame 9y ago
  Come on man, I wrote a big rebuttal, actually line by line. I at least expect an attempt at addressing the meat of it. But to blame Cuba's poverty on communism is wrong, it's a result of being excluded from trade. And I really wish you could pull back from the slavery hyperbole. They're not indentured servants. I work at a corporation, I make a bunch of money for the corporation that they pocket and then I get a tiny piece back, am I an indentured servant? What about my debt? Am I an indentured servant? Come on, just pull back on the rhetoric a bit and let's hash this out. And no one likes the hoarded wealth of secretive and bad people but that exists in America just like it does Cuba.
- Can_Not 9y ago
  > I think Cubans would rather have a better basic quality of life They do have a better basic quality of life. That's exactly what they already have. Cuba is not a rich country like the US, so of course the direct comparison without historical context will mislead you. If they opened up free capitalism style trade with other nations, they would be slaves on foreign owned farms and foreign owned factories instead of the government (using this thread's definition of slavery, of course). If they opened up capitalism style free trade internally, some people would get very rich and the majority of people's lives would be much much worse off. The income inequality would skyrocket. You're suggesting that they're poor because they're communist. That's not the case. They're poor because they're an ex colony whose never became rich from wars, imperialism, natural resources, etc.. And when you consider that and the US trade embargo, they've done amazingly well.

microcolonel 9y ago

> Every working person in Cuba, peasants, mechanics, and seamstresses alike, chips in to train you as a doctor. Everyone, including the doctor, continues to chip in to train the next generation of doctors. They're not chipping in, they don't have a choice in the matter. I think Cubans would rather have a better basic quality of life, than spend so much of their income training doctors who probably won't even operate near them, and who are used basically as indentured servants by the government, a government which pockets most of the money (as evidenced by the mansions and secret wealth of the despots).

frgtpsswrdlame 9y ago
Come on man, I wrote a big rebuttal, actually line by line. I at least expect an attempt at addressing the meat of it. But to blame Cuba's poverty on communism is wrong, it's a result of being excluded from trade. And I really wish you could pull back from the slavery hyperbole. They're not indentured servants. I work at a corporation, I make a bunch of money for the corporation that they pocket and then I get a tiny piece back, am I an indentured servant? What about my debt? Am I an indentured servant? Come on, just pull back on the rhetoric a bit and let's hash this out. And no one likes the hoarded wealth of secretive and bad people but that exists in America just like it does Cuba.
Can_Not 9y ago
> I think Cubans would rather have a better basic quality of life They do have a better basic quality of life. That's exactly what they already have. Cuba is not a rich country like the US, so of course the direct comparison without historical context will mislead you. If they opened up free capitalism style trade with other nations, they would be slaves on foreign owned farms and foreign owned factories instead of the government (using this thread's definition of slavery, of course). If they opened up capitalism style free trade internally, some people would get very rich and the majority of people's lives would be much much worse off. The income inequality would skyrocket. You're suggesting that they're poor because they're communist. That's not the case. They're poor because they're an ex colony whose never became rich from wars, imperialism, natural resources, etc.. And when you consider that and the US trade embargo, they've done amazingly well.