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...price rises. Israeli inflation has created a disoriented economy in which consumers become so buffeted by price increases that they no longer even remember what an item is really worth. The price of milk, for example, has climbed nearly 30% in just over a month to ?.27 (53?) per liter. Five years ago, the same item cost ?2.50. A large number of businesses are hurting so badly that they are cutting back on staff or closing down. A major cause: the annual interest rate on bank loans...
...lights out, the conscript normally has about two hours of free time. One familiar escape from boredom and routine is alcohol. Buying liquor, however, is difficult. Draftees earn a mere four rubles a month (about $6), enough for 13 bottles of beer or a third of a liter of vodka or a dozen packs of cigarettes. Because draftees are short of cash, the Soviet military has a theft problem. Auto parts, grease, rope, felt boots, heavy overcoats and other items in short supply for civilians are smuggled off base to nearby villages and sold or bartered for liquor. Soviet soldiers...
Cash or credit cards may be the accepted way to pay for services in most parts of the world, but in the U.S.S.R. the popular medium of exchange is vodka. Want a repairman to make a house call to fix the TV set? Pay him with a half-liter of vodka. Need someone to paint a room? Offer him his wages in bottles. Vodka is also the ideal gift for minor officials from whom a small favor is needed. Since vodka flows as freely as the Volga in the U.S.S.R., why do so many Soviet citizens welcome it as either...
...LITER BEATER...
...wine and liquor bottlers began observing a federal mandate to switch to metric measurement, the cost of boozing has been confusing. Pints, fifths, quarts, half-gallons and gallons are being replaced in stores by new-size bottles. The quart, for instance, is being supplanted by a container holding 1 liter (a good slurp more than the old bottle); a half-gallon jug of vino now comes in a 1.5-liter size, while the half-gallon of hard stuff has become a 1.75-liter container. Judging the better buy between sizes is enough to drive an Einstein to drink. A handy...