<story><title>Cuba and the U.S. will begin to normalize relations</title><url>http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-17/obama-to-announce-u-s-cuba-relations-shift-as-gross-is-released.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>iandanforth</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve visited Cuba on a Canadian passport. Aside from the beautiful beaches the thing that struck me most was the desperate poverty of people living in shacks outside the 5 star resorts.&lt;p&gt;While I hesitate to predict that this change will be all for the good, I do believe that the poorest in Cuba will benefit significantly from increased trade.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>soperj</author><text>I felt the same way visiting San Francisco, the abject poverty of the people downtown outside $400 a night hotels is just incredible.</text></comment>
<story><title>Cuba and the U.S. will begin to normalize relations</title><url>http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-17/obama-to-announce-u-s-cuba-relations-shift-as-gross-is-released.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>iandanforth</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve visited Cuba on a Canadian passport. Aside from the beautiful beaches the thing that struck me most was the desperate poverty of people living in shacks outside the 5 star resorts.&lt;p&gt;While I hesitate to predict that this change will be all for the good, I do believe that the poorest in Cuba will benefit significantly from increased trade.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>xyahoo</author><text>On the other hand:&lt;p&gt;- average life expectancy in Cuba is almost the same as the USA (and higher than Mexico, Belize, Bahamas, Brazil, etc.).&lt;p&gt;- literacy rate in Cuba is higher than that in the USA&lt;p&gt;- Physicians per 10,000 people: Cuba has 67, USA has 24&lt;p&gt;In the Ebola crisis, Cuba has been leading from the front.</text></comment>