What is this about Cuba running out of toilet paper?

[Jenne]

 

I know, my fixation with butt humor notwithstanding...wtf?

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

well that one got posted to my facebook. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

That bums me out. Poor Cubans.

[Jenne]

Yeah, the Reuters article attached to the USA Today article above mapped out the problem.  Toilet paper is just the "funny" the media used to hook the reader in.  It's a cashflow problem, and they are doing the usual paying more for imports and getting less for their exports.  Which again, with the embargo we have on them here in the US, gets pointed right back here.

Which it should be.

[Eater of Clowns]

That bums me out. Poor Cubans.

The Cubans have an impressive track record of dealing with difficult circumstances.  Following the collapse of the Soviet Union they lost 80% of their oil imports overnight and dealt with it relatively well with things like a comprehensive public transport system and urban gardening projects.