L00b   441 #25 Posted January 25, 2016 (edited) Jeez...have you seen the price of stuff in Scandinavia? I have, on and off, for bits of designer this-and-that (mostly artisan furniture)...but it's a small-time issue these days compared to where their rate of taxation is going  Denmark, with the highest tax-to-GDP ratio in the EU, added another 2.7%. At that level, it is arguable whether you can really be categorised as a free-market economy. France became the second highest-taxed state (overtaking Belgium), adding 0.5%. Ireland, Malta and Cyprus all saw big jumps in their ratios, a nasty legacy of the euro crisis.Now I know correlation is not causation but, about that bit in bold...Hollande heads the socialists in France and took the helm in 2012 with a Parliamentarian majority, on a tax-the-rich electoral platform. Just sayin' Edited January 25, 2016 by L00b Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Alan Ladd   10 #26 Posted January 25, 2016 Sure they weren't by the time you left?  I did my best.  ---------- Post added 25-01-2016 at 17:51 ----------  I don't think that China's a socialist state anymore, I'd say it's more capitalist than we are. Nowadays in China money is king.  It always was, thats why Chou en Lai and Mao had Swiss bank accounts. It is however a communist state, no free elections nothing resembling a free press. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Harrystottle   10 #27 Posted January 25, 2016 Visit Cuba? I wish. It's rained so much in the last twelve months and I could do with some sun. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Bruce_Shark   10 #28 Posted January 25, 2016 Before voting Conservative again, Visit Mars!  It'd do the rest of us a favour if the requirement to vote for Cameron and Osborne was confirmed intergalactic travel.  Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
I1L2T3 Â Â 10 #29 Posted January 25, 2016 I have just returned from the socialist paradise of Cuba. 5 million people living on an island 3/4s the size of the UK yet whose agriculture is so undeveloped it has to import most of its food. Â A doctor to every 150 people. Doctors who earn one 10th of what a taxi driver earns. Transport out of Havana is medieval. Largely horse and cart. Â If this is what 50 years of socialism has given these poor sods, make sure you vote Tory at every opportunity. Â Why did you choose to torture yourself in that way? Why would somebody with clear right-wing views choose to spend their money propping up the evil of socialism? Do you go to Wickes to play with the barbed wire too? Â Admit it Alan, you went to Skeggy for a day, saw a 'Vote Labour' poster in a window and then let your imagination run riot. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Cyclone   10 #30 Posted January 26, 2016 Socialism always fails.It defies nature. No matter which way you dress it up it doesnt work, Trots, Stalinists, Soc Dems, whichever model you choose, it fails. Communism and socialism are very different.  I would have paid a high price for a Mcdonalds or a KFC. Tepid slices of non descript "meat" accompanied by various rice concoctions, weak beer and disgusting wine, lousy service included, the worst trip ever. Thank god for capitalism.  Weird, I know quite a few people who've been to Cuba, and most of them (no matter what political persuasion) love it, some have even been several times. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Obelix   11 #31 Posted January 26, 2016 My thread is a raving success, I successfully point out the dangers of socialism and the positives of the capitalist system we all benefit from.  Well it's raving, but probably not with the adjective you think.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Alan Ladd   10 #32 Posted January 26, 2016 A few questions to answer,  I went there because I was told that as the US travel restrictions were to be relaxed the place would soon be invaded by marauding yanks and this would be the last time opportunity in its present pure socialist state.  If that is true I now feel that the sooner the yanks get there the better, although anyone who flies over Florida to get there must be mad.  If you like bathtub booze carcinogenic cigars, and truly lousy food, then go.  Regarding Skegness, the place has gone up in my estimation no end as a result of my visit to the socialist paradise. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
SnailyBoy   10 #33 Posted January 26, 2016 (edited) A few questions to answer, I went there because I was told that as the US travel restrictions were to be relaxed the place would soon be invaded by marauding yanks and this would be the last time opportunity in its present pure socialist state.  If that is true I now feel that the sooner the yanks get there the better, although anyone who flies over Florida to get there must be mad.  If you like bathtub booze carcinogenic cigars, and truly lousy food, then go.  Regarding Skegness, the place has gone up in my estimation no end as a result of my visit to the socialist paradise.  Give yourself some credibility  Post a link to a photo of the arrival/departure stamp in your passport.  Edit  Looks like the Americans were already there, how strange.  http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0V40DP?utm_source=Facebook Edited January 26, 2016 by SnailyBoy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Alan Ladd   10 #34 Posted January 26, 2016 Give yourself some credibility Post a link to a photo of the arrival/departure stamp in your passport.  Edit  Looks like the Americans were already there, how strange.  http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0V40DP?utm_source=Facebook  What a strange post. Why do I need to give myself credibility? Why do you feel I need to prove anything to you? Americans have always gone there you incipient moron, have you never heard of Ernest Hemingway?  Do you not read? The media has been telling you for months that restrictions on travel from the US are to be lifted, clearing the way for many more to visit than ALREADY DO.(they get in via Canada).  Is this a difficult concept for you? Snaily Boy come out from under your shell. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
SnailyBoy   10 #35 Posted January 26, 2016 What a strange post. Why do I need to give myself credibility? Why do you feel I need to prove anything to you? Americans have always gone there you incipient moron, have you never heard of Ernest Hemingway? Do you not read? The media has been telling you for months that restrictions on travel from the US are to be lifted, clearing the way for many more to visit than ALREADY DO.(they get in via Canada).  Is this a difficult concept for you? Snaily Boy come out from under your shell.  Read the link above, educate yourself. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
foxy lady   10 #36 Posted January 26, 2016 (edited) Did you bring home any Cuban cigars rolled on the thighs of virgin women?  That's quite funny. If you do buy cigars they are likely to be fakes and smoke like dried cabbage leaves. The decent ones are exported as is the good rum. We found a doctor moonlighting for tips as a tour guide, and none of the postcards we posted ever arrived. But still an eye opener and a fantasic place to visit if you do it properly. Sadly most tourists will go to a tourist resort like Varadero and may as well have just gone to Spain. Edited January 26, 2016 by foxy lady Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...