Word: basics
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Only two kinds of businesses seem to be thriving: those that sell to the government and those that sell for it. Some merchants who have hoarded such basic items as meat, sugar, flour and even matches have made huge profits. Says a businessman in the import-export trade: "The only money to be made these days is in trading staples, house appliances and the like. People pay whatever they have to to get them...
...government launched an all-out campaign against gouging last month, giving inspectors the power to impose fines, shut down shops and force owners to post prices. The names of closed shops are published in daily newspapers, along with the correct costs of basic items. On a morning radio show called Hello, Have a Good Day, listeners have repeatedly complained about high prices and profiteering. Some gripe that while government employees can barely make ends meet, a few merchants are getting richer and richer. Nonetheless, the social and political status of the bazaari, the powerful businessmen who traditionally have...
...dreadful war never seems far away. With so many men off in the army, women are being given basic military training for civil defense. Apart from worries about loved ones at the front, there is the fear of a revival of the "war of the cities," which flared up again early this year when Tehran and other urban centers were bombed by Iraqi planes. Since then the attacks have abated, but the nervousness remains. When a severe thunder-and-lightning storm struck the capital last month, causing heavy flooding, some city dwellers thought an air raid was in progress...
Local autonomy is a legitimate concern, and a basic part of the Constitution. Jurisdiction must always be determined, and often this is done on the basis of our moral assessment of the specific issues at stake. As Barron suggests, we should debate those issues, instead of trashing whole sets of laws every time they're used for an objectionable purpose...
Pretty corny stuff, huh? Through the ridiculous plot line, Itami satirizes man's obsessive pursuit of pleasure in satisfying his basic needs. Itami sees nothing wrong with wild pleasure-hunting as long as the original purpose of such a pursuit--man's need to nourish himself--is not forgotten; in short, hedonism with sense. When this is forgotten, pleasure crosses the fine line into perversion...