Alas, it is not uncommon, unfortunately, for people to say things like this. Fortunately however, it is opportunities like this, which give me much fodder for a column that is based (in part) on extolling the many, many virtues of the free market.
Let me say right off the bat, that far more people have been killed in the name of "equality" (i.e. socialism) then ever have or ever will be killed in the name of free market principles. Examples of this abound. For instance, Stalin was an especially likable fellow who managed to knock off a mere six million people or so who didn't agree with his point of view. Don't forget China and the "Great Leap Forward" where it is estimated that 30 million people died (most of starvation) as late as 1960. A couple of million people were killed by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the late 1970s. Cuba has people who are willing to crawl into a boat made from popsicle sticks and risk their very lives to come to the United States and face the "dangers" of the free market system. Now when was the last time you saw an American tying together innertubes to escape to Cuba and be a part of that "utopia" known as socialism?
At this point the next argument from the free-market bashers is usually that the Soviet Union and Cuba are extreme examples. If we could just get a NICE guy to run things then everything would be hunky-dory. Wrong again. It is not a mere accident or slip of fate that people who run these types of countries are such dirty dogs. The very position of communist dictator mandates that some scum-bag run the country. In order to run this type of system you need to take away individuals' money and freedom. You don't get some soft-spoken girl-scout to propagate this type of socioeconomic system, you need someone who is willing to put out their cigarette in people's eyeballs.
PJ O'Rourke has this to say in his excellent book entitled Eat The Rich:
Socialism has had a nasty reign in Cuba. Hundreds of low-level supporters of the ousted Batista regime were executed, and thousands were jailed. Homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and people with AIDS antibodies have been sent to concentration camps. Critics of the government are forced into internal exile or confined in mental hospitals. The Americas Watch human-rights group has said that Cuba holds 'more political prisoners as a percentage of population than any other country in the world.' Freedom House, a pro-democracy organization whose board of trustees is an ideological gamut running from Jeane Kirkpatrick to Andrew Young, says, 'There is continued evidence of torture and killings in prison and in psychiatric institutions.' ...according to Amnesty International, serious offenses in Cuba include 'illegal association,' disrespect,' 'dangerousness,' 'illegal printing,' and 'resistance.'
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