Reason Number 4,572 Why Socialism Sucks
Sunrise over Havana. This is a photo taken by blogger Yoani Sanchez, from her balcony in Havana, Cuba. I admit I had never considered that Cuba might have a lot of air pollution. It being a Caribbean island nation with ocean breezes, sustaining itself on tourism and supposedly so committed to the common good and all. Some simple research confirmed that air quality is, indeed, terrible. Although one might find that surprising in a place with virtually no cars and pretty much incapable of producing much more than the basic necessities of life for itself. But, it is a fairly common trend. Industrialized, free market nations do a significantly better job of protecting the environment than poor nations, particularly communist ones. The reasons run the gamut from using wood for cooking fires to the development of environmentally friendly technology. All it takes is one look at Eastern Europe, Russia or China to see how badly the communist states have treated the air.
Anyway. I highly recommend Ms. Sanchez's blog, Generacion Y (you can get some of it translated into English here, but it's not as good). Though clearly political, she has a knack of avoiding ideological harangues (perhaps like this one?) and just telling stories of daily life in Cuba.
