Word: affordability
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Manipulating markets is a luxury that governments increasingly cannot afford. The Indian government spent almost $9 billion last year on fuel subsidies, adding to the country's budget deficit. State-run gasoline retailers have been losing billions of dollars as well because they are forced to sell to consumers at prices set by New Delhi. When the three largest state-owned oil companies warned recently that they would soon run out of money to import oil, the government finally raised price caps...
...wasn't clear before it should be now: the Bush Administration can't afford to attack Iran. With gas already at $4 a gallon and rising almost every day, Iran figuratively and literally has the United States over a barrel. As much as the Administration is tempted, it is not about to test Iran's promise to "explode" the Middle East if it is attacked...
...course, such access doesn't come cheap. A general membership can cost $1500 per year. An elite membership, which comes with a personal concierge available 24 hours a day, costs-well, if you have to ask, you probably can't afford it. "We're not saying Quintessentially is for everyone," Elliot admits. Those of us who can't afford an invite to the party will just have to find our Patagonian blueberries and albino peacocks elsewhere...
...sell their property at a rate far below market prices (or face having it expropriated), or they can move to public housing in Tasoluk, some 25 miles outside the city, for which they will have to pay a mortgage over a 15-year period that very few can afford...
...largest oil reserves, but an equally valuable commodity - the one that shields him from U.S. accusations that he's a dictator in the mold of Cuba's Fidel Castro - is his democratic legitimacy. Despite his authoritarian bent, Chavez has been fairly elected three times, and he can't afford to forfeit that cachet. That's why he surprised his critics by respecting the will of the electorate when he lost last year's referendum. The need to maintain his democratic credentials is also the reason why, in the face of howls from civil rights groups, he did an about-face...