Communist Santa Poster Part II

Hello,

It was pointed out to Greg that not everyone speaks Spanish...

Please allow me to translate the Communist Santa poster in his last post:

May the spirit of Santa Claus make you spend all of the money in your wallet and indebt you with small monthly payments.


The real wish of your business friend...




For a little context, whenever you go shopping in Chile--or to the doctor, or to the grocery store, or anywhere else that you might spend more than a very small amount of money--you are asked if you want to pay in full or to pay in monthly installments. Signs in store windows boast just how small these payments can be. "As low as $5.99 a month for this beautiful TV!". Okay,  I guess a beautiful TV or vacation to Brazil is not really a necessity, and hard to pay for all at once, so small monthly payments make sense...

We have small monthly payments too... Actually, Greg and I have big monthly payments. For our VISA. For our line of credit. For our student loans. For the money we've borrowed to study, go out for dinner, take vacations with, and so on.

BUT, what about small monthly payments to your local hospital?? Can you imagine that in Canada? We've had to go to the hospital twice since we've been here, and both times we were asked if we wanted to pay in installments. Of course, installments are not the problem. Installments make it possible to pay for medical treatment when the other option is no medical treatment, or treatment from a public facility that cannot provide the same level of service. The problem? Incredible class disparity and lack of a social system that takes care of everyone, making small monthly payments a part of every day life.

-Eliana