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62 Comments
- sodoh, on 06/23/2009, -1/+24Ireland wasn't due to Education. It was due to massive kickbacks to foreign companies like tax relief or paying the employees wages after X amount of people employed.
I doubt Cuba will be anytime soon. Even if it opened up today, their whole IT infrastructure would take years - billraydrums, on 06/23/2009, -1/+23Can you imagine the vintage car market that will explode when Cuba opens up...
- spookyttws, on 06/23/2009, -0/+21Plus the notion that we continue to block trade and flight and the other dozen things we refuse to do with them is an insane, outdated one. They live 100 miles off the coast, they're closer to Florida than LA is to San Diego. Yes they're communist, well so is China and they basically hold our nations wealth right now. Let's let them come here, and we'll go there. We get educated workers, cigars and a nice place to vacation and they get to see their family members, and have an actual trade relationship with a world power that is less than a 2 hour boat ride of the coast.
I don't know if they're the next Tech worker producers, but it's time to end our stupid embargo on our neighbor to the south. - buckyballs, on 06/23/2009, -0/+11Agreed. The reason Ireland had these tech companies move to them was for three reasons.
1) They needed to operate within the EU to avoid certain taxes and restrictions
2) The Irish government made it a tax haven for foreign companies
3) The Irish speak English (That one's more important than you think)
It's got nothing to do with education. There are plenty of other places in Europe who are full of bright people. Why do you think Google has an engineering centre in Zurich? Because it's full of bright people! - waynechng, on 06/23/2009, -0/+6Read "the prime location for the next tech boom" as "the next source of cheap labor".
- inactive, on 06/23/2009, -0/+5Cuba will become the prime destination for American sex tourists.
- topapito, on 06/23/2009, -1/+6Yes, I'm sure that the heaps of Fords and Chevys with their Russian engines and Italian transmissions would sell rather nicely. 90% of the cars rolling around in Cuba are junk yard fugitives. Granted, the other ten percent will clean up rather nicely, but sorry, I don't see a booming vintage market. More like a booming junk car market with lot's of spare parts for useless heaps.
- Barackalypse, on 06/23/2009, -3/+8Lets see, Ireland has a 12.5% corporate income tax rate, and Cuba has 30% (35% if all your capital is foreign), so I predict Cuba will not be the next Ireland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_rates_around_the_ ... - DeadSkinMask, on 06/23/2009, -1/+6You go on Vacation to watch TV?
Stop spending so much time in your hotel room! - Junkyarddawg, on 06/23/2009, -1/+6Ireland prospered because it was given enormous subsidies by the EU, both directly and for infrastructure, and also tax benefits throughout the EU for companies which built facilities there. Tax money from mainland europe bankrolled the Irish Wonder.
The only way Cuba could develop similar to Ireland would be if the US offered it the same massively preferential treatment the EU afford Ireland. - askantik, on 06/23/2009, -0/+5We don't live in the past, asshat. It's not about what happened back then, unless you still think we shouldn't talk to Russia because of Cold War ***** or we should still be at war with Mexico.
- askantik, on 06/23/2009, -1/+5Tourism is perfectly legal in Cuba. However, until just a few months ago, it was illegal for Americans to visit Cuba. Now how does that fit with us being in the "land of the free?" They were not at war with anyone, they weren't doing anything considered overly controversial... yet we couldn't go there.
- musntSurfatWork, on 06/23/2009, -0/+4The Chinese have been sending container loads of computer related crap to Cuba for the past 2 years through select brokers. The cubans are slowly being wired to the internet and youtube, and as soon as the masses are infected with the apathy disease, gone will be their culture and musical talents in the next 50 years.
- Air420, on 06/23/2009, -2/+6Viva Cuba Libre!
- pinchduck, on 06/23/2009, -1/+5Are you allowed to make a profit in Cuba yet? Because if the answer is no, then it won't be the epicenter of the next tech boom.
- Junkyarddawg, on 06/23/2009, -0/+3That it will. It already is the prime destination for European sex tourism. Well, after Thailand.
- Mercedes383, on 06/23/2009, -1/+4Judging by your spelling and grammar I would be extremely reluctant to be optimistic about your company management skills.
Also since when were the number of television channels a barometer of education levels?
Why watch TV while on "vacation"? - sanskrtam, on 06/23/2009, -1/+4I can see this as a great possibility because Cuba can get support from a tech company called KCC (Korea Computer Center) of North Korea, Cuba's closest friend.
- Junkyarddawg, on 06/23/2009, -0/+3Depends on how lucrative a market Cuba could be. Compare to Russia where the mob and ruling elite take turns shaking down/robbing/stealing from foreign companies like Shell and Ikea, and yet new investors continue to line up to try their luck.
- Elranzer, on 06/23/2009, -0/+3***** Dubai
- Type100N74STX2, on 06/23/2009, -1/+4Because they have next to no technology, despite the fact they really want it... perhaps. I think this will be great for Cuba.
- MacParrot, on 06/23/2009, -0/+3Won't happen unless Cuba would make some kind of guarantee not to nationalize whatever facilities they might build there.
- drastik21, on 06/23/2009, -0/+3Dubai was so 2006..
- gravedigga, on 06/23/2009, -1/+3LOL
- topapito, on 06/23/2009, -0/+2Nope. Profits are not part of the equation.
- harmlessdrudge, on 06/24/2009, -0/+2> Belgium competitive with Ireland?
You have got to be kidding. The Netherlands I'll buy, met geen probleem. Belgium is a quite dysfunctional country with little going for it other than its location, beer, and Brussels as the HQ of the EU. - MacParrot, on 06/23/2009, -0/+2That's true but Russia has an incredible amount of oil which is why companies are lining up. Big money to be made. Cuba has a well educated population which can be a money maker as well, but not in the same league
- Elranzer, on 06/23/2009, -0/+2Tell me more...
- ASSASSYN360, on 06/23/2009, -1/+3Cuban women are hot!
- superfusion, on 06/23/2009, -0/+1Yes, but any company with U.S. operations will soon find those operations accused of trading with the enemy.
- billraydrums, on 06/25/2009, -0/+1Somebody's gonna buy them. It's gonna be stupid. Look at the music people listen to.
Mark my words... - meed, on 06/23/2009, -0/+1currently Cuba's home grown technology is focuses at how to keep that old ass chevy running another decade. Of course they could be the place for the next tech boom, the boom would be "wow what is is this things called a computer?", "there is porn in this little tv like box connected to rectangular box?" and "check out my new Castro video I posted on youtube"
- zombiecarlin, on 06/23/2009, -0/+1You forget the massive amount of money that flowed into Ireland from the US during the same period. Largely due to 40 million Irish Americans and the ties between the two nations. At one point over a quarter of all US overseas investment went into Ireland supplementing the EU subsidies.
- WebmasterNeal, on 06/23/2009, -0/+1Like many other people have already said, it's Ireland's tax breaks that brought in so many companies.
- Gloogle, on 06/23/2009, -0/+1Well I live in the Dom. Rep. and we have "democracy" and we never have electricity. Prob, 2 hours a day's worth. I have high speed internet and 80% of the time it can't open digg.com.
- zmigliozzi, on 06/23/2009, -0/+1I usually don't even remember Cuba exists except when I smoke Cigars.
- captaintrips121, on 06/23/2009, -2/+3It is not tax breaks that helped Ireland. Sorry but that is an ignorant notion, when we see here in America, and around the world that an unfair tax system which benefits capitalism at the expense of the people, fail. Tax breaks, cause debt. If you build your nations infrastructure based on debt, it will crumble. More than anything, it takes the people wanting to have it better, wanting more, wanting to rise, for anything to succeed. All the tax breaks in the world wont amount to sh*t if the people do not want better. It is kind of amazing how much cursing of capitalism there is on digg, for so many to salute it now.
- solid12345, on 06/23/2009, -1/+2I don't see this happening, most Cubans don't own a computer and the internet has mostly been a luxury of the elite for the last decade
- suiraCLAW, on 06/23/2009, -0/+1Technically, all those things can be said about Belgium (read: Flanders as 80% of trade economy is located there) as well... Exactly the same factors as given above: highest concentration of intellectuals of Europe and perhaps the world, every intellectual knows at least 3 languages, uses the Euro, logistically extremely important, etc.
Oh wait, one more similarity: more than 1,200 U.S. firms had invested a total of over $20 billion in Belgium by 1999. (in Republic of Ireland that was 28$ billion by 2002 with a growth of 4$ billion per year)
But the taxes in Belgium are huge...
Sources: wikipedia and news.google - HappyScrappy, on 06/23/2009, -0/+1And Ireland's boom is now over. As mentioned above, Ireland has handing out money like candy to get companies to locate there and now that they've stopped (and other countries continued the practice), companies are going elsewhere.
- realcoolguy9022, on 06/23/2009, -3/+4Tax haven. It really was economic pressure that made companies interested in Ireland. Where have I heard that capital seeks it's highest return on investment before?... Anyway, good work America, work just a little harder and we'll have tons more of companies flocking oversees. Even reliable Microsoft has pledged to 'expand' overseas if more taxes are levied.
- zombiecarlin, on 06/23/2009, -0/+1All those points are valid but Ireland still had a very highly educated workforce, most of whom emigrated overseas at the first opportunity. There was a number of factors at play education wise and a few more you have forgotten.
1) The population was very young, between 1995-2005 Dublin have the youngest population of any city in Europe on percentages.
2) Of that young population a very large percentage enjoyed third level educations as opposed to similar European countries.
3) Ireland had a massive emigrant population with highly skilled Ex-Pats desperate to move home at any opportunity adding considerably to the available workforce.
4) As opposed to a lot of other European countries, Ireland was very accessible especially from the US with many flights each day.
5) Unlike their English speaking neighbors Ireland jumped straight into the single European currency adding to the attractiveness of setting up there.
6) Ireland was easily able to absorb a large emigrant population of its own making available skilled young workers fluent in every conceivable language making it a localization and tech support hub.
7) If you were an executive of a large American company and you had to go somewhere over seas very often, would you not want to go to the place with the endless alcohol fueled nights and golf courses? - harmlessdrudge, on 06/24/2009, -1/+2Enormous subsidies from the EU?
Hogwash. The EU investments in Irish infrastructure were a drop in the bucket and it did not provide money for nothing as suggested by your "directly" assertion. You're simply repeating the Euroskeptic cant of the Europhobic Brit -- the sort who is embarrassed and annoyed that the Irish have a higher standard of living, better standard of education and that Ireland has repeatedly been rated by The Economist as having a far superior quality of life than the UK.
Scotland has been directly subsidised by the British Exchequer to a vast extent and has also received significant amounts of EU money for infrastructure and it competes with Ireland for US and other investment, and while it's a good competitor it loses more than often than wins and it hasn't remotely undergone the transformation Ireland has -- and probably won't until it shakes off English rule.
EU subsidies had relatively little to do with Irish prosperity. The single biggest contribution the EU made was that the prices paid to Irish farmers quadrupled overnight on Ireland's entry to the EU -- at the time the economy was predominantly agricultural.
The EU's treatment of Ireland was not massively preferential. It was simply equitable and other marginal countries -- Greece, Portugal also benefited; new member countries in Eastern Europe are now benefiting and Ireland is a net contributer and will likely remain so.
BTW afford and offered are not interchangeable. You weren't educated in Ireland I take it. - topapito, on 06/23/2009, -1/+1Yeah so? If you were financing a software project, you'd be doing the same thing, trying to find cheap labor. Supply and demand is what they call it in your country. You sounded a little idealist there.
- williepepper, on 06/23/2009, -2/+2they're bringing cuba here.
With cormrade bojangles, we're one in the same. - technetix, on 06/23/2009, -1/+1Doubt it.
- sodade, on 06/23/2009, -1/+1Cuba could have a massive tourism boom if they would legalize it.
- cotdagoo, on 06/23/2009, -1/+1lol.. i was just there a matter of weeks ago and wasn't even able to keep the time on my room's alarm clock more than a day due to frequent power outtages (this was at a 5 star resort too)
best of luck with the IT infrastructure / tech boom - gravedigga, on 06/23/2009, -3/+2You Sir, are an Idiot.
- krakow056, on 06/23/2009, -1/+0"so while the Irish were poor, they were smart."
(most) Cubans are not. Take a look at their demographics.
There's the difference. -
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