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   XPost: soc.culture.baltics, soc.culture.czecho-slovak, soc.culture.russian   
   From: holman@mappi.helsinki.fi   
      
   In article   
   , David   
   Friedman  wrote:   
      
   > In article   
   > ,   
   >  holman@mappi.helsinki.fi (Eugene Holman) wrote:   
   >   
   > > Are you not disturbed by the fact that   
   > > Cuba has a lower infant mortality rate than the United States?   
   >   
   > I wanted to pick up on this particular point.   
   >   
   > How do you know what Cuba's infant mortality rate is? How can you know?   
   >   
   > We now know that Soviet economic statistics greatly exaggerated actual   
   > economic accomplishments. G. Warren Nutter, the chief sceptic among   
   > American economists, tried to make his own estimates, which were   
   > considerably lower--and rejected by most American students of the Soviet   
   > Union. After the collapse, it turned out that they had been too high.   
   >   
   > Similarly here. It is clearly in the interest of Cuba's government to   
   > report low infant mortality. It is clearly in the power of Cuba's   
   > government to lie about infant mortality--Cuba isn't the sort of society   
   > where independent journalists or academics are free to investigate the   
   > matter. So what reason do you have to take their claims as gospel?   
   >   
   > I am not claiming that your initial statement is false--merely that you   
   > have no good reason to believe it is true.   
      
   My source ius the CIA World Factbook   
   (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2091.html).   
   I assume that the CIA would not find it in ts own interest to publish such   
   information if the orgaization did not regard it as reliable.   
      
   Regards,   
   Eugene Holman   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)