Communism Lite...I am glad they have recovered from our stupid war...

http://www.liveandinvestoverseas.com/pdf/read-2014-articles/what-its-like-living-in-communist-vietnam.pdf

The difficult days of rationing and shortages are over. Today's Vietnamese shop in traditional markets and glitzy new malls. They take their children to parks, zoos, museums, beaches, giant waterparks, amusement parks, and the aquarium on their school breaks. They buy their own fashionable clothes, choose their own vocations, and love to gossip. In many respects, Vietnam is just like anywhere else. But there are differences, too...

Because it is a socialized country, some businesses are owned, or partly-owned, by the government. You'll see many products that have the word "Vina" in the name: Vinacafe, Vinashipping, Vinatex, Vinataba... These are all enterprises that the government owns either in part or entirely.



Medical care is practiced almost entirely in public, government-run hospitals. As a foreigner, there are two choices: you can pay a steep price to go to one of the few private, English- or French-speaking hospitals or, if you have a Vietnamese interpreter, you can go with them to a government hospital and receive ridiculously inexpensive tests and treatments.

The doctors, at least in Hanoi, are skilled regardless of the hospital you attend—and the government hospitals have modern equipment and competent technicians. Whether you're Vietnamese or a foreigner, medical care in government hospitals is inexpensive but not free. An X-ray costs about US$1.50, an ultrasound is less than US$5, and a consultation with a physician costs about US$4. The staff are all government employees—even the physicians earn meager government wages. The care at the public hospitals in Hanoi has improved to the point where most illnesses and injuries can be treated in the city.

We're often asked what it's like living in a police state. It's a common misperception that a communist country is the same as a police state. Vietnam doesn't have a totalitarian dictatorship, nor does it have a military government. It has a president and a cabinet with powers and problems that are similar to those of so-called democratic governments. There aren't federal elections—the president is chosen by the Communist Party—but there are local elections.

What you don't see in Vietnam are CCTV and red light cameras, signs everywhere announcing prohibitions and fines, or any overt police presence. You'll see traffic police but rarely, if ever, see police on the beat or patrolling neighborhoods. They don't even carry guns. The police presence isn't just subdued. In many places, it's practically nonexistent.

People will ask us if we feel as though we're being watched by the government. The answer to that is a resounding "no." We are monitored much less closely than we were in the United States. Here, if anything, we're watched less than the locals...

Since 2007, the Corps of Engineers has completed 34 projects in Vietnam, and is working on another 8, including the construction of schools, clinics and emergency centers.

Oh I see we blow countries to hell and back then rebuild them....kind of a bass akwards way of living on a planet with limited resources..then again 9/11 was just another form of urban renewal.

I'm beginning to think humans evolved from insects... or are evolving into them.

TEOTWAWKI wrote:

Oh I see we blow countries to hell and back then rebuild them....kind of a bass akwards way of living on a planet with limited resources..then again 9/11 was just another form of urban renewal.

No, they work throughout the Asia-Pacific Rim.

I think that the point is that a lot of Americans died for nothing in Vietnam. Americans were brainwashed into thinking that the Vietnamese becoming communist was the worst thing in the world that could possibly happen to them. It wasn't and it hasn't been.

Otter wrote:

I think that the point is that a lot of Americans died for nothing in Vietnam. Americans were brainwashed into thinking that the Vietnamese becoming communist was the worst thing in the world that could possibly happen to them. It wasn't and it hasn't been.

exactly. communism isn't that bad see. Yay!   

*~Tree~* wrote:

Otter wrote:

I think that the point is that a lot of Americans died for nothing in Vietnam. Americans were brainwashed into thinking that the Vietnamese becoming communist was the worst thing in the world that could possibly happen to them. It wasn't and it hasn't been.

exactly. communism isn't that bad see. Yay!   

Good. I'm glad you agree with me. I'm tired of arguing with you.  

I feel that the only reason we fought in Vietnam was to prove to the Soviets & Chinese that we were not going to idly sit by while they absorb all the countries in the world.

That would have worked if we had won.

Otter wrote:

That would have worked if we had won.

I think it had a psychological effect even though we got out of Vietnam. It cost them a lot of resources and made them think twice before expanding further.

Eric wrote:

Otter wrote:

That would have worked if we had won.

I think it had a psychological effect even though we got out of Vietnam.  It cost them a lot of resources and made them think twice before expanding further.

I know but over 50,000 kids died for a psychological effect. A lot more of them came home messed up for life. I knew a couple that died and at least one that was so bummed out on war he wanted to move out of America for good.
And it was another war we were lied into.

Sometimes I wonder if we would ever go to war if it weren't for being lied to by our politicians in Washington.