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The Revolution And Toilet Paper


The sons and daughters of the revolution are running out of toilet paper in Cuba, according to a Reuters report.

“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.”

Why, it may be asked, don’t the sons and daughters of the revolution make their own toilet paper, thus lowering the price that Cubans pay for more expensive imports?

Cash poor Cuba, under the enlightened administration of the Castro brothers, does make some toilet paper. However, it does not have the cash to purchase the raw material to produce the product in large enough quantities.

And so, the brights in Cuba have hit upon a solution: cut other imports by 20%.

Cuba imports 60% of its food.

But won’t the reduction in imports create more scarcity elsewhere in Cuba’s command economy?

Yes and no.

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

The perfect solution; wish away the problem.

Fidel Castro’s brother Raul, current president for life in Cuba, has been complaining lately that Cubans are not as productive as they might be, and he has hit upon a novel solution. According to the Reuters report, “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.”

This may sound like creeping capitalism to his brother Cubans in Miami, where there are no shortages of toilet paper.

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Comments

Charles said…
Jules Crittenden called it the Cuban Tissue Crisis. :)
9:30 PM
Don Pesci said…
Funny Charles. Of course, in Cuba you probably could be arrested for cracking such jokes.
10:11 PM
Charles said…
True, the hard left can be humor impaired. They're funny sometimes though, like when Nancy Pelosi called roughly half the American population "Un-American" in her USA Today op-ed this morning. A rather stupidly calibrated word....
10:07 AM
Jeff9 said…
They need to get hand held bathroom bidet sprayers and then they won't ever have to worry about running out of toilet paper again. With these you can use a towel to just dry off (yes your own personal towel for those with no imagination) and it's much more sanitary. I think Dr. Oz on Oprah said it best: "if you had pee or poop on your hand, you wouldn't wipe it off with paper, would you? You'd wash it off" It makes cleaning the toilet itself a breeze also. For those of us who really like to be clean it is the best invention since the toilet. It is so much better than a stand alone bidet and this is why: 1. It's less expensive (potentially allot less) 2. You can install in yourself = no plumber expense 3. It works better by providing more control of where the water spray goes and a greater volume of water flow. 4. It requires no electricity and there are few things that can go wrong with it. 5. It doesn't take up any more space, many bathrooms don't have room for a stand alone bidet. 6. You don’t have to get up and move from the toilet to the bidet which can be rather awkward at times to say the least. Available at http://www.bathroomsprayers.com
11:03 PM
Don Pesci said…
OK Jeff, you got through this time, but only because you have a wild sense of humor and I like things French.
8:30 AM
Anonymous said…
Sure Jeff, but remember: This is Cuba. So can you rig those things up in outhouses?
8:32 AM
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