Surplus of labor.
(Last time I talked about economic problems in Egypt the ministry of information turned off my phone, but I’m determined!)
This is devastating for many reasons, just ask Karl Marx. He understood the exploitation of the masses: low wages, massive poverty, no investment in technology due to a reliance on labor, etc. Any surplus is wasted, any subsidized product provides only as much value as it’s artificial price.
In Egypt, gasoline is 93 cents a gallon, pita is 27 cents for 6 loaves, government bureaucracy is little more than an unemployment benefit with a desk.
This translates to real world problems like 1000s of cabs with emissions comparable to steel mills, bread wasted feeding the street cats, and the hassle of having to spend 5 hours and about 10 visits to various offices just to get a gym ID for AUC (Seriously: ISSO, Main Gym, Photographer for 6 pictures(!?!), Printer, Nurse, Doctor, Bank – for key deposit – Falaki Gym, Locker Room, Main Gym again….and then I had to wait two days).
But the other thing to which a labor surplus translates:
EVERYONE DELIVERS! It’s the most amazing thing ever. There’s little to no charge (most I’ve seen is 80 cents) and you can get anything that you want in under 30 minutes. McDonalds, Grocery Stores, laundry, anything!
Then there's this: It’s even more amazing.When it’s 100 degrees outside, like it is right now, the last thing you want to do is turn on the oven. Or walk to the market. Or put on pants and go to a restaurant.
So you go to otlob, pick any restaurant in town, click your choices and it’s at your door in 30 minutes or less.
Last night was pizza then Chinese. Tonight we tried Turkish.
Next time: a new ethnicity of appetizer every hour on the hour.
(Sadly, Starbucks is too far away. It’s only for special occasions like Egyptian Mother’s Day – see photo album)
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