“Газета.Ru”
Vladimir Velengurin/Kloskowski the bakers failed on the last day of the carnival to bake the largest pancake. The record was set in the garden of “Hermitage”, where he held mass celebrations. The pancake giant is not immediately behind the bottom of the pan, burnt and torn in several places
Social stratification in the country is growing, coming nearer to critical marks. Roughly speaking, some Russians today do not consider money, other save on the bread. Ways to reduce tensions in society exist, but it is unlikely the government before elections will be able to decide on drastic measures. Think it just not got the highest of the go-ahead to proceed with reforms.
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On Wednesday Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said about the sharp impoverishment of the population: according to official statistics, the number of citizens with incomes below the subsistence minimum by the end of 2015 rose to 19.2 million people. And it sounded in the key of “government recognised”, as if before that the Cabinet was not aware of what is happening with incomes in the crisis. And this despite the fact that
the “rate of depletion” of Russians in the past year became record for the last 16 years.
The situation seems really disturb the power. According to the social Deputy Prime Minister, poverty affects purchasing power of citizens and, consequently, retail sales figures, which greatly reduced, because people today are not able to buy the usual goods in the same volumes at current prices.
Not being able to do so for almost a year and a half. Apparently, so much time it took for the authorities is to fix and “to realize”.
The words Golodets confirmed by the Russians themselves. Judging by the recent poll, more than 70% of Moscow residents and the vast majority of Russians began to save even on the products, which are also seriously increased in price — that is where most noticeable reflected the influence of Western and Russian sanctions.
With all this in a country quickly growing social stratification.
In the last report on the post of the Russian Ombudsman Ella Pamfilova drew attention of the President that the current “outrageous income gap” between the richest and poorest in Russia “is one of the most significant internal threats to the state.”
As follows from the document, the coefficient of inequality in the last 25 years has continuously increased. If in 1990 the gap was 4.5 times, now at 16.5. And although it fell slightly in 2015, but if the trend is fundamentally not reversed, by the end of 2017 the gap will reach 20, predicts Pamfilova. In this case, according to analysts, is already ahead of America and not just her — were to overtake China, and become first. But the biggest gap between rich and poor is marked in 2015 in Moscow, the Chechen Republic and the Republic of Dagestan.
This is a very dangerous indicator. The higher social stratification in a society, the higher the degree of intolerance in the conditional address of the “rich” or “workers” in jobs. And higher levels of depression and aggression: a growing number of suicides, especially among young people who do not see prospects, a strong stress lead to an increase in diseases; an increasing share of violent crime. According to the report, about half (45,6%) of crimes in Russia in 2015 is proprietary in nature. Among those who have committed them, 65,9% had no permanent source of income.
Even America, where the figure between the upper and lower decile has always been distinguished several times in recent years to worry. As for Russia, gap in 20 times, regularly pop up in reports, is a terrible value. This means that some sail on yachts, and other save on the bread.
Can’t the country move in the same direction with these differences in income, which, in fact, the whole life, its vision and values.
In General, the situation seems ugly. No one tells the citizens that the bottom of the crisis passed, but no one tells me what to do to 20 million people climbed out of the pit of poverty, and millions of new it fell off.
It is hardly possible to take seriously the idea of Olga Golodets to look for reserves, limiting salaries in the financial sector or cutting the salaries of the heads and top managers of state companies. That is, for this PR, to put it mildly, non-market approach, maybe, and good — people like it. But the top management of large corporations and state corporations is not one of the children of officials, as many people think. In modern banks and corporations very high proportion of foreign managers. Forcibly cutting their salaries, we get the outflow of human capital. In a world where there is “information” the technology revolution, companies and States are willing to save on everything, except staff.
Moreover, hardly thus saved enough money for all the 20 million poor and especially for patching a giant hole in the pension system. Much rather, expect either a complete abolition of the cumulative system, if not in 2017, then in 2018 right after the election, or raising the retirement age. However, now Vice Premier, who oversees social bloc, the Central Bank and the FIU have to say about the loss of pension savings in the range of 4 billion to 200 billion rubles.
There are counselors that will again propose to introduce a system of progressive taxation, but in our situation such a measure will only hurt, as it will first of all hit the middle class, from which almost nothing left.
Because of the poor take nothing, and the rich have an Arsenal of financial instruments for tax planning. Moreover, in Russia only just managed due to the flat income tax to withdraw the revenue from the shadows, and not all. A progressive tax would drive them back to the shadow sector, and then here and there will start to bring proceedings on the fact of evasion. The problem of poverty will not solve it, and everything will be like the old joke: “what’s the shouting in the street, Granny?” — asked grandfather. “I want to not be rich.” — “Strangely, my grandfather went to the Senate square, to the poor.”
Another way is urgent action, including tax, but return the properties — stimulating the creation of new industries and jobs. But who today would be something new, if many stopped to plan the next one or two years, but just to borrow. Long money in the country, and the short road so that they just stopped taking. To give too expensive.
To live rich in a poor country not very comfortable, despite the security and high fences of mansions. Here and the crime rate is increasing, and the degree of hatred rises, and their impoverished citizens are beginning to worry. Strike continues truckers. Getting ready to move the tractors to Moscow Kuban farmers to tell the front door, as the raiders take their land from them, and the courts do not intercede.
So poverty can be considered as a means of self-preservation of the elite.
Policy — at the moment the preparations for the elections to the state Duma — persistently presses the economy: say, you cannot start the reforms for six months until the election campaign. The economy still will play, but still with a reserve for lost time. No matter how demanding the deputies to prosecute Kudrin for his forecast of an imminent increase in the retirement age, without more, apparently, not enough.
Even the inevitable tough economic reforms scare today less than the indecision of the government, which makes a diagnosis, but does not say how to treat. Think it just not got the highest of the go-ahead to proceed to real action, and the initiative is not solved. At the top, it seems, already all know, but only one utterance of the word “crisis”, will have to act. Rigidly, consistently, not populist.
