I wonder how USMA could assist Burma in their metrication efforts?
-- Ezra ----- Original Message ----- From: "Martin Vlietstra" <[email protected]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, July 24, 2011 11:10:57 PM Subject: [USMA:50914] RE: Ditch the viss, govt urges traders Even dictatorships have problems and as long as they give the ordinary people “bread and circuses”, they remain in power. When South Africa adopted a decimal currency in 1961, they went to great lengths to ensure that there was no profiteering. As a result, decimalisation was accepted by the population as a “non-political” reform, likewise with metrication a decade later. The rationale behind the adoption of metrication in Burma is an opening up of trade – I am sure that the junta has realized that all their neighbours have prospered and that if they wish to prosper, then they too need to open their borders. Like South Africa, the junta need some sort of PR to promote changes which means clamping down on profiteers. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Carleton MacDonald Sent: 24 July 2011 21:38 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:50909] RE: Ditch the viss, govt urges traders I thought Burma was a dictatorship, and assumed that the military junta could just dictate what they wanted. Carleton
