America, where bakers drive Porsches

I’ve been following Chris Freiman on X for a while. You should too. And while you’re at it, subscribe to his Substack.

I had a great time talking to the political philosopher about “degrowth;” automation; pickleball — which may be more fun to say than it is to play; and how those calling for collectivist communes are always the very people no one wants to commune with.

I give Zora Neal Hurston’s Why the Negro Won’t Buy Communism (1951) a shoutout. And we hit on Cuba a little bit.

A decade ago, Michael Moynihan wrote in The Daily Beast: “Castro's Hipster Apologists Want to Keep Cuba ‘Authentically’ Poor.” Sadly, little has changed on that front.

One of the points I make in this episode is that even if I grant the commie apologists — who are never ever tweeting from Cuba — the bullshit point (one of many) that Cubans have a longer life expectancy than Americans, I would no doubt trade a few months of my life to live it out in LITTLE HAVANA than in Havana.

Hell, I’d give up years of life expectancy if I got to spend some great months in Santa Barbara, California!

The United States is such a special place. It’s where bakers drive Porsches and at least one 42-year-old man ran up the Empire State Building in 17:01.