(12-24-2022, 08:39 PM)Jags Wrote:

(12-24-2022, 03:27 PM)mikesez Wrote: A friend of mine lived in one of the -stans for a few years.  They could burn as much wood as they wanted, but they didn't have good equipment for burning wood.  And there wasn't much around.
They were planning to use an electric space heater.  But those were banned suddenly their first year, because electricity is scarce.  The authorities would spot check their house multiple times each winter and destroy any electric heating equipment they found.  Rumor was you could bribe the right people and keep your space heater. But they didn't want to play the game that way.
Instead, everyone got a nearly free coal stove and a couple hundred pounds of very cheap coal at the beginning of each winter.  If you could afford more, it didnt matter.  You couldn't buy coal.  Only the government had any to sell. And they'd only sell so much.
If you didn't want to be breathing in coal smoke all winter, tough. If you wanted electric, tough. If you wanted to buy a propane heater, tough.  The propane ration was too small for anything but cooking.  Your choices were coal stove or using a yak carcass as a blanket.
All of this was driven by currency and foreign exchange.  Buying electricity or propane from a neighboring country was liable to create runaway inflation.
Moral of the story is be grateful for what you have.  Our government gives us lots of choices, and the government itself has many choices.

“You’ll have nothing and be happy”.  Glad to know where you stand.