Poverty – the natural consequence of socialism

@ Vijay. You bring a very interesting point, but poverty is often misunderstood.
 
The poor in the U.S lead a better life than most lower middle class people in Europe. They have cars, eat and sleep in shelters. Now I am not saying people here don't live under poverty. 1 in 7 Americans are "poor" that means they collect various forms of aid from UNCLE SAM which is a form of socialism.
 
Yes, cuba has a better healthcare than the U.S at least statistically. But pure communism and socialism takes away individual liberties as we see in Cuba. Canada and Western Europe are socialist democracies and their people enjoy a better health care and other welfare benefits.
I think capitalism wins socialism, but again socialist democracies have been quite successful.

@Vijay:
When a democratic Indian state proclaims it's achievements we don't trust it and demand measures like RTI.  And even after such measures are implemented we routinely see how governments get away with lies.  Even far more advanced democratic governments in the west routinely mislead their people about the costs of their social welfare programs. But somehow we are supposed to believe that an autocratic nation ruled by a dictator who refuses to give up power for 4 decades is providing miraculous health care to it's citizens. We are supposed to believe all the statistics that their government provides, and the so-called independent observers who are taken on a guided tour around the island. In the heydays of USSR, we heard similar stories of miracles inside the iron curtain narrated by well-fed comrades from the free world. There was even an expression around here in the south about the treachorous nature of the communists – " If it rains in Moscow, the comrades will open their umbrellas here"
Having said that even if Cuban healthcare is a miracle, even if the Cuban doctors are angels who toil day and night for peanuts to cure their countrymen, I can never survive there as a self-respecting man. Of what use is a healthy body if my soul is enslaved? Of what use are healthy limbs if the government dictates what I should do with them? The idea some intellectuals entertain that poor people don't need freedom, they need to be fed,clothed and taken care of like imbeciles is downright disgusting. 
You cannot hope to understand the truth about Cuba by reading the intellectuals and activists who can afford to foul-mouth freedom, having never lived in slavery. To understand what life is like for an ordinary Cuban , read Yaoni Sanchez, the Cuban blogger who has been speaking out against her despotic government for years on the internet at http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/ . This essay she penned on Freedom and Exchange in Cuba –     http://www.cato.org/pubs/dbp/dbp5.pdf    is a master-piece.  
And finally even Castro has admitted recently that his experiment was a failure. How is he going to pay for the thousands of lives he sacrificed and the millions of souls he crushed for the sake of his personal pride? When are the intellectuals going to stop ranting that Castro is a great man who outlasted 10 American presidents. Is that supposed to be a sign of a healthy society? Anyway pure Socialism is a relic now. Almost everyone recognizes that the Socialist revolutions in the early 20th century were aberrations which mankind must never ever try again. The real threat to freedom today is the welfare state supported and justified by mercantilist policies. So there is no need to convince people who still believe in Cuban miracle. The Socialist virus has infected them beyond a point of no return. People who care for freedom should understand how welfare state works and does not work in Scandinavia, Western Europe and now the States. This comment is already longer than the article. You should continue your own research on freedom, markets, and the state. I am sure that if you stick to the principle of questioning everything and never accepting contradictions, you too will come to the conclusion that classical liberalism is the only system that can guarantee freedom and prosperity.