Conan O'Brien proves Haiti not a sh!thole

It’s a thing now – high priced US celebrities go to Haiti for a few days and a few photo-ops to prove that far from being a shithole, Haiti is in fact a lovely getaway with pristine beaches, stunning vistas, and photogenic schoolgirls…

Hmm… Cuba has all that and so much more. Free education and health care. A GDP per person ten times that of Haiti. Life expectancy fifteen years greater.

Here’s another difference; Haiti gets American “aid.” Cuba gets American sanctions. In spite of that, few would deny that Cubans enjoy a vastly superior quality of life.

A mere sixty miles of ocean separate these two Caribbean states. One has enjoyed a socialist mode of governance for over half a century. The other has had its elected leader removed by Uncle Sam and friends any time he starts mouthing vaguely socialist rhetoric.

This contrast raises a couple of intriguing questions:

• what might Cuba’s economy look like absent US sanctions? 
• what might Haiti look like absent US interference?  

Frankly, I think they’d both be better off if Uncle Sam stayed home and worked at fixing America’s problems instead.