Hundreds of people have taken to the streets in cities across Lebanon amid escalating protests as the country faces a collapse in its currency.
Anger has surged as the Lebanese pound tumbled to record lows, having lost 70% of its value since October when protests began.
In response, the government announced a series of measures intended to stabilise the value of the currency.
The protests paused during coronavirus lockdown, but recently resumed.
The depreciation of the Lebanese pound has plunged the country into its worst economic crisis in decades.
Many Lebanese citizens who rely on hard savings have fallen into poverty, their plight worsened by the pandemic.
The government announces measures intended to stabilise the value of the pound as protests rage.
www.bbc.com
It's far worse than it was before.
What we are seeing, is the same thing as Greece. Lebanon has been warned over and over for 3 decades now, that they need to cut government spending, and reform their entitlements.
They refused. Now they are out of money.
For example, the government run electricity system, has resulted in electricity prices that have not changed since the 1990s. So how does one pay for electricity, when prices have gone up? The government covers the cost. 10% of the entire budget, is just the Lebanese government covering the cost of cheap electricity.
Well... can't afford that. So now they are saying they might only have 10-hours of electricity a day.
Down from 12 to 16. By the way, did you know that under the government run electric companies, Lebanon has not had 24-hour electrical service since the 1990s? Think about that. An entire generation of people, has never known 24-hour electricity.
Another example is internet
Ogero Chairman Imad Kreidieh confirmed on Twitter that he is facing “tremendous pressure” to secure $4 million in foreign currency to avert a shutdown by the end of March.
en.annahar.com
The state-owned internet provider, purchases connectivity from international suppliers. Well the government was funding that, and now they don't have any money. So the entire country could have their internet shut off.
Lebanon’s medical practitioners and public officials are warning that hospitals may soon not be able to provide patients with life-saving surgery and urgent medical care because of a financial crisis, Human Rights Watch said today.
www.hrw.org
Government run health care is about to shut down.
The crisis stems from the government’s failure to reimburse private and public hospitals, including funds owed by the National Social Security Fund and military health funds, making it difficult to pay staff and purchase medical supplies.
Notice something there.... Private or public. It doesn't matter if the hospital is "technically private" if government is paying the bill.
Now what we see here, is the same exact thing we saw in Greece. Everyone warned that the Greek government could not afford their pensions and public services, and health care, and education, and everything else.
The refused to do anything about it, because every time the topic came up, the people got together and screamed "We want it!".
And then it crashed.
Now Lebanon has joined them. Lebanon has been warned since the 1990s, that their spending was not sustainable. Every time the topic came up, people screamed, so nothing was done.
Now they have crashed.
When conservatives keep saying we don't want government providing everything, this is why.
Do you want to go to a hospital, and find you can't get treatment with or without money? Or is it better to find you can at least get treatment with money?
Because that's where socialized medicine ends up.
Do you want to have internet no matter what government does, or do you want it switched off for the entire country when the government runs out of money?
That's where socialized telecom ends up.
Do you want to have a pension in your retirement, where you own the investments that you bought with your own money, or do you want to end up on the street with nothing to eat, selling your earrings for food?
That's where government run pensions end up.
Socialism does not work. The more you socialize, the more you end up in a crash, like the Soviets, like Venezuela, like Greece, like Lebanon.
