Matt Frei On Cuba

Link

"Cuba's extraordinary culture is a glorious byproduct of a society that is still pitifully short on the distractions of choice and prosperity"

1. Salsa existed in Cuba long before Castro got in, and exists in many parts of latin America.
2. The ballet only exists because the state funds it and people see it as a way out of poverty (despite being unproductive culture).
3. You take a beautiful palace and put a fucking factory in it? Well, that's a great advert for misusing resources.
4. A lot of cigar afficiandos don't actually rate Cuban cigars as much better than what you get elsewhere.

But I really dislike Frei's quote, because there's so much more evidence that culture thrives when you leave it to the market. American culture dominates like no other, and yet the government does nothing.