[cgbg]

“Nobody alive has lived under capitalism.”

The closest thing to true capitalism these days is the black market—wherever it appears around the world.

The transactions are not taxed or regulated since they are illegal.

While there are obvious issues that get a lot of headlines most of the time for most of the participants it works rather well.

My own experience was obtaining Cuban cigars by mail order from European vendors.

No taxes.

All high quality goods delivered as promised.

Fair prices.

Win win.

(Nowadays the prices are too high—because the Cuban economy has collapsed and produces only about a third of the pre-Covid output.)

[Theoria]

Cuba is another example of .gov picking the winners. The heavy hand of the US on cuba has helped to squash it along with their own socialist leanings. However, the US rewarded trade with Communist China, and has helped to create a potential rival. A country that helped to kill tens of thousands of Americans in Vietnam and Korea.