Word: basic
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Dates: during 1990-1990
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...believe Moscow will lean on Hun Sen, and Beijing on the Khmer Rouge -- even to the point of cutting off military aid. Severe economic problems and the end of the cold war suggest that the optimists may be right about Soviet intentions. But despite China's agreement to the basic plan and certain vague "signals," it is by no means clear that Beijing would pressure the Khmer Rouge to capitulate. If it does not, more war is likely; if it does, the Khmer Rouge, realizing that some other Asian countries feel as strongly as China about ousting the pro-Vietnamese...
Most brutally hit have been basic social services. Even with the addition of 1,058 new police officers in October, the force will still be 14% smaller than its 1975 level of 31,683. Meanwhile crime, fueled by the drug epidemic, has jumped 25%. Since 1987, the number of street sweepers has been slashed from 1,400 to 300, trash collections in midtown Manhattan have been reduced by a third, and what used to be daily rounds in the outer boroughs have been reduced to twice a week. Epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis and syphilis have pushed the health-care system...
...behind the blinding glitter of the new multimillionaires, the city was failing the bulk of its citizens. Even the basic rudiments of civil behavior seemed to evaporate along with the glitter of the boom times. Every day 155,000 subway riders jump the turnstiles, denying the cash-strapped mass transit system at least $65 million annually. The streets have become public rest rooms for both people and animals, even though failure to clean up after a pet dog carries fines of up to $100. What was once the bustle of a hyperkinetic city has become a demented frenzy...
...stay in school often take five to seven years to graduate from high school. The system itself is rife with troubles. Almost a third of the city's 32 local school boards are under investigation for corruption, building maintenance has chalked up a $500 million backlog, and a basic in-school service like nursing care has been slashed 86%. An impossible caseload of 1,000 high school students for every guidance counselor makes a mockery of the profession...
...national wealth, large enterprises would be converted into shareholding companies; medium- and small-size businesses and shops would be put on the market; and land would be offered for sale to peasants. The Shatalin program also proposes the step-by- step deregulation of prices, with some controls on "basic necessities," along with the creation of a free market in hard currency. Like the original Yeltsin plan, everything is supposed to unfold within 500 days, beginning with a 100-day period of "administrative" measures to stabilize the value of the ruble...