|
|
|
|
|
News
| Business
| Editorial
| Opinion
| Letters
| Arts
| Review
| Community
| Fun
| Travel |
Volume
13, Number 24 |
|
|
|
||
Also
in this section: The prices of frankincense and
myrrh are reasonable this year, but the cost of gold is through the roof
 Frankincense and myrrh? About 15
cents per teaspoon.
Christmas shopping on Avenida
Central
photos by Eric Jackson One
of the biggest political obstacles that a Fidelista who would turn
Panama into a Cuban-style communist place is that, in large part
because of our missing social safety net, the urban poor who might
otherwise be the base of a revolutionary movement are by and large
micro-sized capitalists. Yes, a few dozen families own just about
everything in this country and they and the politicians who do their
bidding may have worn out their welcome. However, just to get by in a
capital without
welfare checks but
with high unemployment and even higher underemployment, everybody has
to have a something to sell, and if the malls are the capitalism that
the rich who revere Disney World as their Mecca want the tourists to
see, Avenida Central is general headquarters for popular capitalism. It
gets particularly busy just before Christmas.
 Gold? See the current high world price, then add the merchant's markup.      You can get a gorra --- a baseball cap --- to go with your ideology    Those with no goods to sell may perform services to earn a little Christmas money. This year toenail painting became a growing part of Avenida Central's popular service sector Also
in this section: Editorial
| Opinion
| Letters
| Arts
| Review
| Community
| Fun
| Travel Make
the Executive Hotel your headquarters in Panama City --- http://ww.executivehotel-panama.com
|
|||||||||
|
©
2007 by Eric Jackson
email: editor@thepanamanews.com or
Mailing
address: |
|
|
|||||||
