But before curfew on his last night, he did try to defend the Albanians to a friend, saying they were like others would be under the same circumstances. The Swedes look to him like Disney creations - cute, tidy and courteous. He had gone looking for a socialist paradise, one with the prosperity of Wall Street without the chaos of Albania. And he found it. It's a welfare state from cradle to grave.
Medical care is available to everyone at nominal cost, even to tourists.
Day care is available for all. There's no poverty, no great wealth. But, O'Rourke concludes the system is broken. Their national debt is huge and their tax burden the highest in the developed world. Cuba seemed war-torn, gray, with holes in everything, paint peeling.