| ECONOMY-CUBA: Cost of Living Continues to Climb
But the steps taken have fallen far short in a country where many essential goods can only be purchased with "convertible pesos" or CUCs, popularly known as "chavitos", which trade for 25 pesos or 1.20 dollars.
And prices have not stopped rising.
"Prices go up five cents here, 10 cents there. Taking a 'maquina' (collective taxi) in the city costs double what it did a year ago. Everyone, including doctors or dentists, expects you to give them a dollar or two when they attend to you," complained Garca, an engineer who like Gutirrez has had to turn to odd jobs on the side to get by.
An economist who preferred to remain anonymous told IPS that the buying power of Cubans has been shrinking fast, to judge by the marked drop in food purchases in the farmers markets, which were opened around the country in the mid-1990s and operate according to the laws of supply and demand.
Families of five fallen soldiers fly to Kandahar
Thanks to their contribution many people can blog on this web site with freedom and a political agenda. I'm not so far left or right as not appreciate the dedication and to offer my appreciation to the Canadian Armed Forces. To the families that visited Afganistan you have my deepest sympathy for your for losing a love one. May their memory give you the strength to carry on and their honor and pride also be yours. Sydney Joel Goldberg Posted 10/11/07 at 2:51 PM EST | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment .
Best Answers to Sunday Question ...
Larry Craig's press secretary and former press secretary Dan Whiting has been promoted, too. Sid married Dave's daughter, Stacey, a star athlete at Coeur d'Alene High. These two kids are among my all-time favorites.
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*Diet to date today: A container of cottage cheese, a container of peach yogurt, and a big can of apricot nectar. A guy could lose weight if he had oral surgery every day.
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*My 80-year-old mother has done a dyne-oh!-mite job of baby-sitting me today. I made sure I told her how much I love her.
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*No blog numbers to report today, of course, because I haven't been at the office. But I'm going into the last three days of the month about 2000 shy of hitting my fourth 100,000 month despite summer and a vacation earlier this month. Thanks for helping make this blog a success.
Sask. woman wins legal battle against drug dealer
We offer programs to assist addicts towards maintaining their dependancy by offering them safe drugs while still keeping them 'strung out'. Years later, they're still out there, non-productive, lost and dependant on the rest of us to keep paying for their habit(s), their housing, their living expenses, etc. A user suing a pusher? Laughable at best as they're both part of the problem and no where near a solution. The sad part of all this is that it made the news, another reflection of how far we've fallen?? .
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