A confession on the verge of a foul. The former Minister of Finance, who now heads the Center for Strategic Research, Alexey Kudrin, made a frank admission, in his opinion, about how the Russian government is now dealing with money for the people.

Thus, Kudrin emphasized that “there is no money at all,” and in the near future pensioners will have to rely only on themselves and their own strength. And savings, if there were any.

Kudrin notes: old people are about to stop paying pensions. And we’re not even talking about modest, meager subsidies.

“I’ll tell you straight: yes, the state has no money left for pensions,” Kudrin said. According to him, last year the government acted wrongly when it did not index pensions. Now here is the result: the State Duma and the government are discussing the issue of not paying those old people who still find the strength to somehow work for their own survival.

They say they cope on their own, and well. On the other hand, Kudrin immediately emphasizes, they say, our dear grandparents, what would you like? Free medicine and good roads? Then be patient! Do you want your grandchildren to receive a quality education? No problem! Let's deduct it from your own pensions, which you don't have anyway, ha ha ha. All this looks like a bad joke, but Kudrin doesn’t even think about joking.

He argues quite seriously that now the government has money for only one thing: either invest in medicine, or build roads, or pay pensions. So far, it will not be possible to close such a huge financial hole through other sources. Although the idea of ​​raising taxes, of course, to be honest, has long seemed quite attractive to many officials.

“Compare the scale of spending: over the past seven years, spending on pensions has increased by 3% of GDP,” Kudrin calculates. “At current prices, this is approximately 2.5 trillion rubles a year. This is how much we spend today on the education system.”

However, so that older people do not immediately feel all the decay and hopelessness of the situation, Kudrin is introducing a kind of alternative: they say, we will raise the retirement age, and immediately there will be enough for everyone.

According to Kudrin, such a solution would be optimal. It is noteworthy that in ancient Japan, the issue with the elderly, for example, was resolved once or twice: all the infirm were carried to the mountain to die. To get rid of excess mouth. An exception was made for those who could at least somehow work in the field. Here, fortunately, we do not have the first version of the Japanese massacre of the elderly. But they propose to introduce a second one - work until the grave. If you can't, it's your own fault. But, they say, everyone can count on a pension. Anyone can live with money. And you try to get by without them, and even bring benefits to the state. However, in our modern world it is much easier for pensioners, the former Minister of Finance is sure.

“The life expectancy of the population has increased noticeably,” Kudrin is quoted by the Argumenty i Fakty publication. “In addition, now pensioners at 60 years old feel the same as before at 50.”

In connection with this sad fact - the Government of the Russian Federation does not have enough money to support Russian pensioners - I propose that the entire Russian people be puzzled by two classic questions: "Who is to blame and what to do?"

Now we are all faced with another sad fact: the Government of the Russian Federation, headed by D.A. Medvedev, has already found a solution to this problem by raising the retirement age of Russians! Fewer pensioners means fewer payments!

This inhumane initiative the Prime Minister, to the general amazement of the people, was supported by the entire party in power - "United Russia", with the exception of one of its members - Natalia Poklonskaya. She is the only one (in violation of party discipline!) said no raising the retirement age of Russians to 65 years for men and 63 years for women, knowing that in a number of regions of the Russian Federation the average life age of Russians is less than 65 years!

Folk satire:

History shows that Prime Minister D.A. Medvedev went towards this inhumane anti-people decision consciously. Back in 2016, answering a question from Crimean resident Anna Buyanova, "When will the pension indexation be done?", he allowed himself to say easily: "There is no money! But you hold on..."

"A meme (English meme) is a unit of cultural information. A meme can be considered any idea, symbol, manner or course of action, consciously or unconsciously transmitted from person to person through speech, writing, video, rituals..."

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Recently, pensioner Anna Buyanova (from the meme “There is no money, but you hold on”) gave an interview to a journalist from Novaya Gazeta:

Anna Buyanova. Photo by Ivan Zhilin, Novaya Gazeta.

Journalist Ivan Zhilin found the same Crimean woman who two years ago complained to Dmitry Medvedev about the low pensions of Russians, and in response heard from the Prime Minister: “There is no money, but you hold on” . Anna Buyanova lives in the village of Novopokrovka near Feodosia and almost every day goes to the city market to sell fruits and vegetables from her garden or chickens.

“I didn’t just go on my own [to Medvedev]. We have people in our market... a team. They asked me: the prime minister is coming, I need to tell him about pensions. I'm not the only one with a problem. I replied: “Well, let's do it. I can resolve this issue."

When Medvedev arrived, people were not allowed to see him. But I know Feodosia well, and I walked through the courtyards on Aivazovsky. And she went straight to where his car stopped. He saw that I was breaking through so brazenly and told the guards to disperse.

- And you asked him that same question?

- Well, yes, about pensions. You understand correctly: I have 30 years of experience, I worked as a cook in a canteen, then as a manager in a canteen, then as a teacher in a kindergarten, then as a caretaker at a school. The minimum length of service required for a retirement pension is 20 years, and I have 30 years of experience. But in the end I receive not a labor pension, but a social pension - 8,000 rubles.

- Why?

- Don't know. The district pension fund does not provide an extract for the second year. And without this you cannot complain to Simferopol.

After communicating with the Prime Minister, the pensioner’s life did not change in any way over the next 2 years: the pension was raised by only 442 rubles, and now instead of 8,058 rubles, the woman receives 8,500 rubles. Anna's vegetable garden, orchard, and her own chicken coop help her survive.

Photo by Ivan Zhilin: “The standard of living of a Russian with a pension of 8,500 rubles”.

Next to this a picture of the life of an ordinary Russian living in the 21st century on 283 rubles a day, I would like to bring this “oil painting” from the life of the so-called “new Russians”:

The woman is still waiting for the promised increase in the minimum pension to 12 thousand rubles. To Medvedev's new appointment as Prime Minister Anna Buyanova I'm not happy.

“Medvedev won’t give us anything! But, on the other hand, for some reason I think that this time Putin will tighten the screws on him!”- said Anna Buyanova.

So why doesn’t the Russian Government have money to adequately support Russian pensioners?

To some extent, statistics provide the answer to this question.

Currently in Russia there are 96 dollar billionaires (!) and 130,000 (one hundred and thirty thousand!) dollar millionaires!!!

According to the Global Wealth Report: "The richest 1% of Russians account for 71% of all personal assets in Russia!!!" ,” analyst Elena LARINA, author of the book “Multiplying Sorrow. How to survive in the era of elite war."

5% of the Russian population already accounts for 82.5% of all personal assets in the country. And the richest 10% of Russians own 87.6% of all personal assets in Russia.

Accordingly, the remaining 90% of Russians account for only 12.4% of the total share of Russia's financial wealth.

Once again, we read carefully about what kind of government and what economic system we live under!

If 1% of Russians account for 71% of all personal assets in Russia, and 10% of Russians account for 87.6% of all personal assets in Russia, and the remaining share of assets of 12.4% falls on 90% of the population of Russia, then we have in Russia at the moment OLIGARCHIC CAPITALISM. With such an economic system, state managers are interested in the people of Russia only so much and because they, the people, must bear military service for external and internal security oligarchic system and serve the enterprises that are devastating the bowels of Russia, owned by the oligarchs and bringing them super profits.

It’s clear now why Russia decided to carry out a pension reform designed to reduce the number of Russian pensioners?!

UPD: 13:30 Moscow time
The Crimean authorities called the problem with pensions in the region “far-fetched.” According to the deputy chairman of the local government, Dmitry Polonsky, money is paid on the peninsula in the same way as in other parts of Russia - there is no special Crimean problem. Meanwhile, at the request of a resident of the region, an inspection will be carried out.

During the visit of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to Crimea, residents of the region complained to the head of government about the size of their pensions. The Prime Minister admitted that there were problems with pensions throughout the country, but his answer was laconic: “there is no money.” A short video of Medvedev’s meeting with citizens is posted on YouTube.

Related materials

During the prime minister’s meeting with residents of Crimea, one of the women complained to Medvedev that the size of the pension in Crimea is so low that it is “impossible to live on it.”

“Pension is impossible to live on. The prices are outrageous, we have no strength, and they calculate the indexation for us incorrectly. They offend us, they don’t even give us 4%! What is 8 thousand - this is a meager amount! They wipe their feet on us,” one of the women was indignant.

The Prime Minister admitted that there are problems in all regions, but the authorities cannot raise pensions in just one region of the country.

“There is no money now, we will find money and do indexation. You hang in here, all the best, good mood and health to you!” - the prime minister answered the residents of Crimea.

The public liked the Prime Minister’s honest answer, for which they said “thank you.”

Earlier it was reported that the Ministry of Labor is ready to replace the increase in the retirement age with a freeze of pension savings.

Now, in connection with new US sanctions against Russian companies and their owners and promises made by the country’s leadership to “support fire victims,” this thesis is again being exaggerated by cliques of all stripes. I’ll explain with two fingers...

Large Russian companies are not only the property of the damned oligarchs, but also significant revenues to the country’s budget (at least, starting from Putin’s first presidential term, this has become the case), and the same jobs. Therefore, no matter how outrageous it may be for some cliques, the state does not benefit from their collapse, since they are the largest taxpayers. And the same pensions are formed... That's right - by tax deductions. Amazing, right? Formally, the pension fund is off-budget, but is formed from state revenues in the manner established by the budget code and the law on the budget of the Russian Federation.

This is the first part of the Marlezon ballet. The second part is larger. Behind some citizens' misunderstanding of true scales (proportions/ratios of quantities) generally lies a deep misunderstanding of many processes. For example…
The media are reporting that in total, due to the new sanctions, Russian companies have lost about $12 billion in capitalization (this figure seems to me a little overestimated, but that’s not the point).
So, even if the state fully compensates for these losses (which, of course, will not happen, but let’s assume that this is what will happen), the cliques, of course, will scream: "Ahah! For pensioners, it means “there is no money, but you hold on”; and here please: receive it, sign it, dear oligarchs.” Well, and so on: about the snickering thieves’ government, saving its own and spitting from a high bell tower on “what’s his name... people!”
We have already mentioned the role of these “insiders” in the formation of the national budget. And this happens on an ongoing basis, that is, regularly. These companies are structure-forming parts of the economy. Their salvation is a kind of investment on the part of the state, although forced, but ultimately benefits all of us as citizens. But what will happen if you give the same 12 billion dollars to pensioners? Well, literally, how many of you understand the true scale of the numbers?

About a quarter of all state income is spent on pension payments in Russia. Estimate the real proportion of these expenses: 1/4 of the part goes to pensions, and the remaining 3/4 to all other needs of the state in total - salaries of public sector employees, army and navy, medicine, construction, industry, benefits and subsidies, transport, infrastructure projects, science, education, space, all kinds of reserve funds, etc., etc.
At the same time, economically, pensions are a pure liability, i.e. expenses that will not bring profit.

But I won’t bore you...
According to statistics for 2017, there are 42,729,000 pensioners living in Russia, the number of which is gradually growing (there are already more of them now). If we allocate $12 billion from the country's annual income and divide it among all pensioners, then each of them will receive an increase in pension in the amount of $23.4 per month for one year. At the current, increased, exchange rate, this is about 1,400 rubles. Whether it’s a lot or a little, decide for yourself. But the fact that this will not qualitatively change the lives of pensioners is an obvious fact. And in a year this increase will disappear.

Pension provision is a very serious problem for the state precisely because of its scale. Therefore, when types like Navalny, from an armored car, declare that they will double or triple their pensions as soon as they are given the royal scepter in their hands, know: this is pure populism and balabolism.

Watch out.

ABOUT! Of course we do, for example, you also saw quite recently how the ASEAN Forum lasted from May 19 to 20. and cost 1.36 billion in two days!

As you know, the international forum of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was held in Sochi. Are we opening a window to Asia in an attempt to somehow compensate for the failure in relations with the West?

For the sake of such a thing, it’s not a sin to dance the Kalinka!

For the sake of friendship with Asia, she is ready to do anything!

Medvedev also tried. The representative of Thailand suddenly called him “Bear”, but the prime minister swallowed it for the sake of the same friendship. Putin laughed heartily.

But the budget is not happy. As experts from our Center for Anti-Corruption Policy calculated, the summit and events dedicated to it cost the country 1.36 billion rubles (!).

For 1.36 billion you can build:

8 kindergartens (300 places) or

4 schools (for 1 thousand places) or

2 hospitals (250 beds) or

1 sports complex with swimming pools (7,500 seats)

(Based on Orders of the Ministry of Construction on construction price standards).

What did you spend it on?

That's just part of the PR - 86 million.

The state channel spent 140 million on television PR for the summit.

Another 78.8 million to eat well.

Among the ordered products are more than a ton of potatoes and beef, 400 kg of pork, 340 kg of pike perch, 150 kg of salmon fillet, 50 kg of eel, 30 kg of brook trout, at least 12 kg of flying fish caviar, 10 kg of scallops.

Of particular note is the sanctioned Italian ham.

Citizens of Russia, therefore, are not allowed, but the Kremlin-MFA elite can do as much as they want until they are completely glutted!

Well, gifts, where would we be without them? Cost the budget 16 million.

The painting “Shwedagon” for 63,720 rubles, the painting “Borobudur” for 127,440, the wristwatch for 33,480 rubles (apparently, it was not Peskov who ordered, otherwise the price would have been more respectable).

And much more. One equipment cost 623,869,850.

Moreover, the entire forum lasted from May 19 to 20. 1.36 billion in two days! I’d really like to look at the investment contracts that the forum participants concluded after gorging themselves on Italian hams and scallops and watching Zakharova’s dances. However, the traditional phrase “as a result of the forum, ... contracts worth ... dollars” were concluded for some reason in official communications.

Were the hams not the freshest, or did Zakharova dance poorly? Or maybe you didn’t like the film “Borobudur”?

But as a result of the meetings and negotiations, Channel 1 said, “an important document was adopted - the Declaration on Mutually Beneficial Strategic Partnership.”

The following is said about economic cooperation:

"13. Continue dialogue on possible ways to strengthen cooperation in order to support the ASEAN Economic Community (EAC) and contribute to the implementation of the ASEAN Development Agenda for the period up to 2025"

Somehow you involuntarily shudder at these words: “continue the dialogue”! Especially if you know how much unbuilt schools, hospitals and kindergartens this dialogue is costing our people.

It would be more honest, in my opinion, to write: “continue the banquet!”

It's the damned Americans who don't need banquets to ensure the "explosive growth of Chinese investment in the US. The January 2016 figure is 3.9 times higher than last year’s January figure.” In our country, “a complex discussion about the expected support from China is taking place against the backdrop of a general drop in foreign investment in Russia by 92% (a similar serious drop in Kazakhstan - 66%) in 2015.”

However, as we see from the forum in Sochi, this discussion has not only difficult, but also pleasant moments. True, there is reason to believe that, watching all this fun, a serious investor would rather hold on to his money than spend it on projects in a corrupt (from his point of view) state.

Corruption in law

Instead of investing in our economy, super-expensive international PR brings super-kickbacks to officials and super-income to their business friends.

And here’s the funny thing: it’s legal to waste money on such parties! True, not to everyone, but only to the President. Only he, in accordance with Law 44-FZ “On the Contract System”, by his order has the right to organize purchases from a single supplier. So, for example, 74.5 million without any competition went to Krasnodar LLC Automobile Transport Agency AGATA.

Another of the companies that organized the banquets was Concord-M LLC, owned by Evgeniy Prigozhin.

Perhaps it was in this conversation that Putin’s cook explained why the ASEAN Forum would not be the same without him...

We already wrote about him when we were investigating a case of collusion in the school food market in Moscow. Here, too, he got a considerable piece. Of course, the food was not at all the same as what he supplies to Moscow children:

This “noodle soup” that Prigozhin feeds to Moscow children is unlikely to grace the tables of the forum in Sochi

Think about this savagery: the anti-corruption norm applies to everyone except the President. He is so passionate about fighting corruption that he has forgotten about himself. And about your Administrator too. Meanwhile, as we just found out, the income of the manager of the affairs of the President of Russia, Alexander Kolpakov, increased 8 times over the year - to almost 80 million rubles, and for his wife they grew from 68 to 114 million.

A. Kolpakov’s income last year grew many times faster than the investments of ASEAN countries in Russia

Why be surprised if 71 purchases were made for the ASEAN forum alone, including from the Presidential Administration. Each of them was carried out from a single supplier without any competition and reduction in the starting price.

They have a reason to be happy: things in the country are going OK!

The servility of the legislator is understandable: The President is above suspicion! However, the fawning made one forget the obvious rule: where the law is not the same for everyone, there is always room for corruption.

We can probably come to terms with the fact that so much money from the budget went to food, even sanctioned food. But I don’t want to put up with the fact that, thanks to a corruption gap in the law, the lion’s share went into the pockets of another leader and friend from business.

An amendment is urgently needed to exclude from Federal Law 44 “On the Contract System” paragraph 2 of part 1 of Article 93, allowing the President of the Russian Federation to make purchases for government needs from a single supplier.

However, another couple of hundred anti-corruption amendments are needed in order to reduce the level of corruption in the country and thereby increase its investment attractiveness.

And until this is done, don’t worry about it, but instead of increasing investment, it’s still just one big borobudur.
©
author
Sergey Mitrokhin
Member of the YABLOKO Political Committee