Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

HAVANA (Reuters) � Cuba, in the grip of a serious economic crisis, is running short of toilet paper and may not get sufficient supplies until the end of the year, officials with state-run companies said on Friday.

Officials said they were lowering the prices of 24 basic goods to help Cubans get through the difficulties provoked in part by the global financial crisis and three destructive hurricanes that struck the island last year.

Cuba's financial reserves have been depleted by increased spending for imports and reduced export income, which has forced the communist-led government to take extraordinary measures to keep the economy afloat.

"The corporation has taken all the steps so that at the end of the year there will be an important importation of toilet paper," an official with state conglomerate Cimex said on state-run Radio Rebelde.

The shipment will enable the state-run company "to supply this demand that today is presenting problems," he said.

Cuba both imports toilet paper and produces its own, but does not currently have enough raw materials to make it, he said.

One of the measures taken to address the cash crunch is a 20 percent cut in imports, which in recent days has become evident in the reduction of goods in state-run stores.

Cuba imports about 60 percent of its food.

Despite the shortages, prices will be cut between 5 percent and 27 percent for some food, drugs and personal hygiene products, officials said.

A visit to a store in Havana's Vedado neighborhood on Friday found that prices had dropped for mayonnaise, barbecue sauce and canned squid.

One customer, who gave his name only as Pedro, complained that "it doesn't look like prices have been lowered for the fundamental products" such as cooking oil.

Ana Maria Ortega, deputy director for military-run retail conglomerate TRD Caribe, said there will be no shortage of basic goods.

"The conditions are in place to maintain the supply of essential products," she said on the same radio program.

Cubans receive a subsidized food ration from the government each month that they say meets their needs for about two weeks.

President Raul Castro told the National Assembly last week that the government had cut its spending budget for the second time this year and has been renegotiating its debt and payments with foreign providers.

Cuba has long blamed the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo against the island for many of its economic problems. It also said that last year's hurricanes did $10 billion worth of damage that forced the government to spend heavily on imports of food and reconstruction products.

Castro, who replaced his ailing older brother Fidel Castro as president last year, also has complained that Cuba's productivity is too low.

He has taken various steps to boost output, including putting more state-owned land in private hands and pushing for salaries to be based on productivity.








http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090807/..._toiletpaper_1

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

We are FINALLY getting some respect and now they want to make us even more accessable??


FORGET THAT SH!T

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

Can you spare a square?

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

I'd love to hear (read) Ponce Cuba comment on this!

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

Why can't they just PRINT some?
Here we have the ability to create cars by FIAT, we pay the workers in the auto factories with FIAT, we can even pay those buying the cars in FIAT.
Bernanke has repealed the second law of thermodynamics.
We now have a perpetual economy.

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

Interesting point. Consider this: M0 money supply (physical paper) has been declining for many years even though M3 has been significantly increasing. I was told recently (not sure if it is true) that physical "cash" represents less than 10% of all money in circulation in the world.

:signs14:... I'm off topic.

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

Why isn't Chavez wiping to the rescue of Cooba?

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

Maybe they're going to a elctronic digits only system :biggrin:

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

What is it about Cubans and toilet paper anyway? They must have a long history of running out.

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

ooohh.
DIGITAL Toilet Paper.
That sounds so.... frugal.

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

I've got ... oh I'd say a 2 year supply.

After that it's the

















:tongue_ma:

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

Back in early 06 Ponce was updating us weekly on the price of TP and say'in that y'all needed to stash plenty.

I know TN_Andy has a good supply, and so do many others including myself.

I just asked the wife how much we paid for the last thousand rolls we bought. She said that they were 4.99$ for eight rolls, so about .65$ a roll.

Just looked online for the price of the paper "she prefers", (now guys that is a very important thing to remember. Need to keep the wife happy, no phone books will do if ya know what I mean.) anyway, it's 9.99$ for 8 and they are smaller than the ones we have.

So, I have almost doubled our investment. Not bad, better than the stock market eh?

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

I guess this must be it. Why do you think Sinclair advised taking delivery of your mining stock certificates. See? Your shares of TRE will come in handy someday.:favorites8:

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

Fidel, no. Papel de mierda, si!

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

I got a lot of responses along the line of 'I'll send them some of mine' some added 'it's only used on one side' or that type of thing.

But I got this ONE response. Well thought out and VERY cognizant of OTHER issues we are mired in at the moment. So here's the response I got from a buddy of mine.

I highlighted in red the part I found most interesting and why I posted his response. This is a states rights issue. This is a very interesting twist on the whole socialized medicine issue.

========

Dear Folks,

You have to understand that this is a perfect demonstration of communism/socialism. There is a shortage of toilet paper, but everyone is in the same toilet, so to speak, so there is no favoritism,...except for the oligarchy elite that runs the place at the point of a gun. I kind of doubt that Fidel or Raul is running short of toilet paper.

Now how does this translate to where we are today? Of course, there was no favoritism shown when Lehman was allowed to fail and the others were given trillions in government subsidies--was the a buddy system involved there. Is there the oligarchy of Cuba at work in the financial crisis bail out? Only on a much grander scale? And don't misunderstand me--I believe that there were violations of fiduciary obligations left and right in the sub-prime debacle--even if the federal government encouraged these folks to make loans to people who were not credit-worthy. The loans were being made with the use of other people's money--depositors, for instance. The banks had a fiduciary obligation not to place that money at a risk like they did. Do we hear anything about that? Oh, no, because that would gore the ox of the supporters of Obama, Dodd, Schumer, Frank and their hooligans. We don't have change; we have more of the same only at a rate that accelerates the demise of the American dream at warp speed.

The entire health care mess is based upon absolutely false pretenses. The US health care industry, even with its problems, is not broken. Ask the folks who came to the US from Canada and UK. They want to know if we've lost our minds.

Now lets take a look at the provision that allows you to keep your present private insurance but you are prohibited by law from changing to another after the law goes into effect. Do you understand that there is no federal law of insurance? There is no federal law of insurance, regardless of whether the insurance is life insurance, health insurance, liability insurance, maritime (hull/cargo/PI). Do you understand that point at all? What the federal government is trying to do in one fell swoop is to occupy an area that has been regulated by the states from the very beginning. Even in circumstances where one might think that "uniformity" is necessary, for example, in maritime law, the law of maritime insurance is governed not by (federal) maritime law but by state law--well established rule of Wilburn Boats. How about that? Do you think that the people pushing this have any idea of the fact that this massive change might encroach upon an area of state's rights? Look at the 10th Amendment. We have lived by a principle of constitutional, law that the powers not specifically granted to the federal government are reserved to the states. Does the general statement, "To provide for the general welfare," or the statement to "regulate interstate commerce" provide the specific grant to take this overwhelming step to turn something on its ear that has worked for a very long time. This has nothing to do with need and everything to do with power. This is a power grab, pure and simple. And it is a power grab to convert this country into a huge Cuban style oligarchy. Communism is a failed philosphy! Socialism is a failed philosophy! But that is where we are headed.

Who makes the decisions in this government? The 42 czars, which form the equivalent of the Politburo--the policy making arm of any communist government--their decisions are not subject to review by anyone, they are not transparent, and we are being led by this rabble of leftists. Get it folks before it is too late to stop it. Ever heard "the power to tax is the power to destroy"? Registration of guns is now becoming an IRS enforcement power. What is the IRS doing in this area? "The power to tax..."

Am I on the list in the White House of "radicals" opposing the conversion of our Government into a communist state? I assume so. And I would suggest that each one of you who gets things from wallew are also already listed. Get used to it; you have no privacy and they will come for you if we don't get this straightened out.

I don't apologize for my Sunday morning rant. But the toilet paper issue in Cuba simply set me off. You cannot believe how many people have pointed me to Cuba as an ideal example of good government. It is plain horse shit. Believe what Mao said -- communism comes at the point of a gun. It will come to that here, too. Believe it. Unless we come to our senses. Lee Iacocca asked, "Where is the outrage?" Where is the outrage?

Have a great day.

Chuckles

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

Not a problem, When I used to work construction, if the toilet paper was out, you hopped in the shower and rinsed it off. Toilet, shower, rinse, repeat......

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

You can use your digits, just make sure you wash up with soap before dinner.




:ok:

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

People tend to forget that TP is a rather modern invention. The History Channel's Modern Marvels had a "History of Asswipe" segment on a while back, IIRC, specific-use TP was developed back ~ the 1890s.

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

Those old jeers and robot catalogs
did have their uses!!

Black and white print cheep non-slick paper!

Could not do better!!!

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

I always found it somewhat comedic that you can't buy toilet paper with food stamps.

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

As long as there are still copies of "The Communist Manifesto" Cubans will have toilet paper.

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

How many times can a dollar bill be washed before it wears out ?
Could be worth its weight in gold with a long enough life span.

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

Can't they just do a currency swap with Zimbabwe?

-end-

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

My thoughts exactly!


.
</slv>

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

I keep a two year's supply of TP. Cheapest prep ever and it can work as kleenex, paper towel. But you have to keep it it stored in a sturdy cabinet because every frigging animal in the world (including house cats) will attack it for food or nesting material or just for fun.

Re: Cash-strapped Cuba says toilet paper running short
 

Another reminder to stock up on consumable household products.

Just think about all the tail us prepped guys will get when we are the only men for miles around that don't smell like shit!