Let say all the pre 91 communist countries were still around today, along with the ones that didn't disintegrate, and knowing what you know now about them, which one would you live in if forced to because of birth?

China. It is by far the only Communist nation that I know of that has made the most progress. I should know, since I have visited that country three times. Sure people like to rag on China for it's human rights issues and such, but as far as I'm concerned, it is nothing what it was 20 years ago, and not only it has made huge progress in it's economy, there have been some progress with human rights issues. Not to say that there couldn't be any more improvement, but you cannot expect changes over night. Anyways, for true appalling human rights abuses, try North Korea, or Burma.

I tell you one nation I would not want to be in, is North Korea. That nation is for some reason beyond me still stuck in this whole 'stalinist' type of state, such so was China during the days of Mao, but even during the near end of Mao's era, China began to slowly open up. Also, due to the recent earthquake, the government's response was very very rapid (perhaps Bush needs to take a few pointers, compared to HIS response to Katrina, but I digress). The gov. there has been quite open and have not tried to hide or downplay the casualties of the recent earthquake in Sichuan province. Fsck, look at Burma's gov. and THEIR response after the recent cyclone, sheesh!

Don't you think the LOCAL government failed it's citizens of New Orleans and Louisiana as well? They mayor of New Orleans sat on his ASS and didn't NOTHING to help his people, the governor of Louisiana sat on HER ass and did NOTHING for her people. Did the Federal government screw up? Sure, but the LOCAL government is as much to blame for what happened during/after Katrina.

I agree totally. However, due to the ineptness of the local gov. at that point, the fed-gov. should have been rather forceful. FEMA was/is a joke, and even now almost three years on, New Orleans is no where near restored. I would imagine still not even 10% of the city is rebuilt.

I can't help though compare that disaster with the recent one in China. The local gov. there was 10 times faster in reacting. Hell, even the recent snow storms that took place in late Feb, no contest.

Clearly there is only one choice: Elbonia

Funny, though I thought that 'nation' was more loosely based off of Afghanistan than any other type of Communist nation. Then again, it could be my own mistake, I never read much of Dilbert comics nor seen enough of the animated episodes.

While I may not actually be living in a Communist nation, and this discussion is purely theoretical, I would still not change my argument, and as far as I'm concerned, it would beat living in a theocracy (particularly an Islamic state), so I see Communism as the lesser of the two evils, and the most promising for progress.

I would choose Nicaragua.

ncsuapex & Jeebizz, Have you all BEEN to New Orleans since Katrina? The devastation is mind boggling. T.V. does NOT do it justice in any way, shape, or form. The entire city was almost entirely wiped out as well as the surrounding area. The roads are all buckled up from being under water for so long you can barely drive on them. Houses were destroyed. Entire apartment complexes are empty because they are now unsafe to live in. My uncle lives in NO, and I went to visit him last November (He's a retired Bank VP, so had enough money to rebuild). Most of the city is STILL a disaster area. Empty houses that still have the paint marks telling how many dead people were found inside. Sure, there are parts of the French Quarter that didn't get destroyed, but even they got a lot of damage. There isn't really a lot of industry there either. Most people there make their money from tourism. Well, who is going to go visit a destroyed city? How are they supposed to even pay for what is needed to rebuild?

I'll ask, what was the LOCAL government supposed to do? How is a LOCAL government supposed to do ANYTHING when everything they would normally use to DO SOMETHING is under water or blown 100 miles away? Remember, the "government" is a group of people. People that live in houses, drive cars, eat food, and do everything else that people do. What is the local government supposed to drive to bring aid to their people? What are they supposed to eat when all of the grocery stores are below water? What are they supposed to drink when all of the water around is contaminated? Where are they supposed to sleep when the first floors of all of the houses are knee deep in the mud that was left water finally receded? The ONLY group of people that could possibly have helped the people in NO could not be from NO. The mayor may not have done anything, but he also didn't have any tools to do anything. THEY WERE DESTROYED.

Now, as for the question...

Cuba. It's got great weather, awesome cigars, and those tasty sandwitches. That, and the women are really good looking. Besides, do you really think it will stay communist after Castro dies?

I didn't say anything to imply that NO was anywhere NEAR rebuilt, and I only gave an 'optimistic' guess that only 10% was rebuilt. And I can't help but compare the LOCAL gov. to each US and China, since the local gov of the latter was much faster in responding. Now don't feel too bad, the gov's response was better than Myanmar's!

Well, last I checked Fidel's brother is in charge now and is bringing in some reform. Rumor has it that Cuba wants to model itself off the Chinese system. That remains to be seen, but I don't see Cuba abruptly switching from communism if any other Castro is no longer in charge. Anyways, Cuba may have the weather, and girls, but China has made far more progress, and Cuba has only begun since Raul came into power and reversed some restrictions put in place by his brother.

Again I only choose China over Cuba because of the immense progress that country has achieved over Cuba. Plus there are far more places to see, I like Chinese food (and the girls, heehee )

Seriously though, even before Chairman Mao died, China began it's reforms, but the person who deserves the most credit for reform and opening up China, was Deng Xiaoping, the very Chinese equivalent to Mikhail Gorbachev. Still, don't feel too bad, Cuba is by far a better choice, then... North Korea! Plus it doesn't help that power was passed down from father-to-son in that country. That also may be a key issue.

P.S. I did some digging into why North Korea is stuck in such a regressive state. It has to do with their ideology, 'Juche'

So I guess the whole idea in a nutshell is self-reliance no outside assistance of any kind, not even by allies?

[note]

I think also since North Korea still remains technically at war with the South as well as the US, could be the very main reason why it remains the way it does half a century later, while it's own neighbor China has made remarkable strides not just socially, but economically.

Jeebiz, I wasn't commenting on your estimation of how much NO was rebuilt, I was commenting on your agreement that the local government was in any way to blame. Any resources they could use to help were gone, destroyed by Katrina. They then did the next thing they were supposed to do, begin the escalation of help request to the state and federal governments.

Forrest

Noted . As for the discussion of this thread, while I still prefer mentioning China, in all fairness Cuba would sound like a good place to live too, or at least visit. I don't understand why there are still restrictions between the US and Cuba, since as far as I'm concerned the Cold War is over. So, I think we can both agree that BOTH China and Cuba are on the top of the list, someone else mentioned Nicaragua, but I am confused as to why since he did not give any reasons why, whereas there was plenty of reasons for both China and Cuba.

I also have to make a slight correction about North Korea. Since the death of Kim Il Sung, and Kim Jong Il (the son) is now in power, the ideology has shifted from 'Juche' to 'Songun' or 'Military first.' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songun and in any case, the situation there still is not even comparable to Cuba and China. The only other country that I can think of that has opened up to the outside world, let in investors and made some kind of economic and political progress is perhaps Vietnam.

Oh, one more reason for Cuba. Spanish seems like it would be a whole lot easier to learn than Chinese. (Nothing against the Chinese or their Language, it is just Spanish is closer to English, and the alphabet at least is mostly the same).

Forrest

I agree, Spanish is much easier to learn than Mandarin Chinese. Spanish one of the other languages besides English that is spoken throughout the world, but Mandarin Chinese is gaining in popularity, particularly in business. Plus, Spanish is not a tone-based language like Mandarin is. Lets not forget reading and writing A note however: Spanish is not closer to English, but more to French and Italian (and other latin based languages). English is mostly Germanic, with a few Greek and Latin derivative words, but English is not a latin based language.

I am still waiting to see why Nicaragua was mentioned

I think I'd choose Cuba, they don't have much things but they live the best they can, even having real problems to get some money and some extra food, the people is very kind and easy going.

...and I speak spanish...


btw
check this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua

It depends quite a lot on what class your family was communist or not, it does make a difference if you're a guy who only owns the left half of his jacket or if you're a guy who is about to own the rest of the city too. But anyway, I would probably too have answered Cuba, at least some time ago. Haven't been able to visit there yet, but seen a lot of documents, read about things and all in all that would sound better than China or anything. Though now that Castro is no more holding the wheel, the land is about to change a lot - has already, and I doubt if it's going to stop there. If there ever was some romantic atmosphere (the "cuban cigars on beach" sort of things, you know) or anything there, it's now sold for cold cash, gone and I doubt if the people still get any better lives.

Nah, since "communist" people do live in every country, nation and social class, it's all the same so I can just say I'd stay here.

"For every capitalist there's a communist, in every communist there's a capitalist."