[JumpCrisscross]

> China and Cuba were also both unquestionably improvements over the status quo

Fair enough. I'd point out that both had low baselines, and the former managed to still fuck that up under Mao. China's living standards dropped post Revolution, and didn't really start materially improving until its leaders had swapped away from communism. By that point, they proceeded to fabulously enrich themselves.

> neoliberal turn in Russia in the 1990s, meanwhile, was an unmitigated humanitarian disaster

Agree.

> unshackled Western capital to the current relentless pursuit of advantage that has yielded today's K-shaped economy

This was happening since at least the 1980s.