Darbs dara darītāju.

/P

[Comment elsewhere on same.]

Inflation has now hit 16,7%, and even the PM is not promising that it
won’t top 20%—his latest claim (and I assume it’s optimistic) is
that inflation will cease to rise in June.

Though there are many benefits to EU membership and a few bright spots
in the economy—I think you’re painting far too rosy a picture,
Eugene. And that goes for Russia as well.

Consider, for instance, this story (and the economist Edward Hugh’s
comments) --

http://latvianabroad.blogspot.com/2008/02/troubling-economy-news.html

Rebir was a survivor (of the early 1990s collapse and the 1998 Russian
crisis). What you see there (accounts of what happened are far more
detailed in Latvian) is happening in every industry, according to
Rebir’s chairman.

Latkovskis, in a couple of provocative articles observing that Latvia
could join Russia voluntarily in 5-10 years, remarks that the share of
Latvian capital in the economy is probably lower than it was even in
the Tsarist empire.

Does that matter? Sure it does. There are some “well-educated people
of the younger generation working in innovative service industries,”
to be sure, and I can agree that there’s some innovation and
occasionally some admirable success. But fetching and carrying, money
laundering and hamburger flipping do not a decent economy make.
Neither does bloated credit—_that’s_ the main driver of inflation,
Eugene. Though it’s been reined in a bit (and only a bit—you can’t
even go to the [nearly bankrupt] post office without being peppered by
loan sharks), the country has been magically transformed into a land
of indebted wage slaves, mass emigration, flourishing speculators, and
government bureaucrats who form a class unto themselves.

Education is rolling downhill for a snowball’s chance in hell. Health
care is approaching 19th C levels. Meanwhile, what remains of the
social fabric that survived the occupation has been torn to shreds --
it was, after all, rural Latvia that formed the core of the
independence movement (i.e., Latvian Latvia).

The latest survey on the EU is interesting. 24,8% evaluate our
membership positively. 26,1% negatively. To 45,4%, it’s neither good
nor bad. Those giving an above average positive rating, besides the
usual “educated, age 18-39, higher education and a high income,” and
in Rîga—are now joined by those from Latgallia. I find this very
strange, though the provinces where support ebbed and flowed have
shifted in the past (between Semigallia and now Courland, for example
-- those from Courland are negative these days). But the main area in
which respondents see the EU as successful (47,9%) is in the free
movement of labor—i.e., a lot of people love the EU ‘cause it gives
them the chance to get out of here (or to get remittances from their
grandkids?).

There is another recent survey that’s quite interesting—65% of
those surveyed in Latvia agree that “honest work will not make you
rich.” 39% think dishonesty is important to success. In terms of
working hard and fast, Latvia has the lowest indicators in the EU.
Lithuania is second lowest. What you see is reflective of the
degradation of society by a fake economy.

Regards,
/P

Mans zelts ir mana tauta,
Mans dimants – prezidents,
Kā spoža pērle – saeima
Un valdība – skaists zieds.
Te smaidu jūra staro, te labestības gars…..
Ak vai, nu kāda vēlna, kāds mani modinājis!? :)