23 September 2007

But Communism is so wonderful

This from http://www.babalublog.com/: "Need bath soap? Not a problem. It's readily available at many shops and gas stations. Expect to pay about 80 cents for a bar. Not bad, eh? Think again. Those 80 cents are in Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC) - Fidel Castro's homemade dollar, which is pegged evenly (minus the sizable tax taken out when you make an exchange) with American cash. At about 25 CUC to the U.S. dollar, that 80 cent bar of soap costs the average Cuban worker with no access to cold, hard U.S. cash, about 20 Cuban pesos. Want to know how much your average Cuban worker brings home every month in the Caribbean's very own Stalinist paradise? Come on, take a guess... Let me help you out here: 375 Cuban pesos ($15 USD). That one bar of bath soap costs our friendly Cuban worker just over five percent of his monthly income. Now, let's make this all relative. Let's say the current average salary in the U.S. for an individual in their mid-to-late-twenties is about $38,000 per year. That bar of soap would cost your average American "Joe" upwards of $160. Ahem, that's a bit steep. More than that, the situation in Cuba is, in a word, 'untenable'."

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