19 March 2024, Tuesday, 7:22
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What Have We Come To!

139
What Have We Come To!
Svyatlana Kalinkina

Not four but five zeros should have been removed from Belarusian banknotes. Five!

And then we could see the life like it used to be before.

For example, public transport would cost not Br5000 (before the denomination) and not 50 kopecks (after the denomination), but 5 kopecks per ticket known well in the Soviet times. A good benchmark to compare with.

A loaf of bread cost 16, 18, 20 kopecks in the Soviet times. If we take a trick with 5 zeros and focus on Soviet kilo, then we will find that the cost of bread is almost the same. But if we drill down deep then we have to recognize that over past 25 years products became cheaper. For example, in the Soviet times a kilogram of beef cost 2 rubles, a kilo of pork and lamb - 2 rubles 10 kopecks. And now if we apply our conditional numbers, then better meat would cost 1.40 rubles per kilogram. But have we become more well-fed?

Can you remind rent bills in the Soviet period? I asked my mother and she asked her neighbours in a village: no one remembers. On his way to a store person paid the rent - some kopecks. But now the situation differs. Sums are great, despite the fact that most people had their apartments privatized long ago. That is the state has almost no commitments, it requires money.

Did we pay for textbooks? No. Did we pay for clubs, sports classes, elective courses? No. For a blood test, dental care, residential homes for the elderly? No, no and no. But now we pay for a mere thing. Things came to such a pitch that utility providers installed water counters on some village wells. No one would believe it 25 years ago.

But in any case, do not think that I'm nostalgic for the Soviet times. We lived poorly. The country where people had to buy a coat or a suit for a lifetime, at best, a decade is awful and anti-human. But we should admit that then the state took on some obligations. Now there are no obligations. It only requires more, more and more...

If you have no work - pay; you're alone in old age - pay; send your child to a nursery school - buy toys, toilet paper; a child goes to school - pay for repairs; a child goes in for sports - pay for participation in competitions... If you are in prison - you have to pay even for this! The government has achieved perfection when it comes to fleecing.

Where should we take money from? If to apply the same formula with five zeros then it turns out that amid Soviet prices (except for products and alcohol) we earn much less. Thus, according to the latest statistics, the average salary in Belarus is 7.182 million rubles. Or 718 rubles 20 kopecks of denominated money. If you remove five zeros - if we seek equivalents in the Soviet era - it would equal to... 72 rubles. It is less than nothing. So, please, answer - why with the salary of Br 7 million we cannot live well. Although, it is well known that such income is a dream for most citizens.

How is it? Why have people become poorer and more helpless after the collapse of the USSR, if there was no was war, the government was strong and stable? Are 25 years not enough? How much time does the government need to fuel the growth in prosperity, not its bla-bla plans? Fifty years, ninety, a hundred?... Who will manage to see these days - our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, anyone?

Well, there are people who could not even imagine good life in the Soviet era. For example, on the Internet there has been recently launched video from Monaco, where keen rare and expensive cars enthusiasts made a picture of Mercedes G63 AMG Brabus B70, its value is not less than €200 thousand, and depending on the configuration it reaches €500 thousand. Identification numbers - Belarus: "0101 MИ-7." This Belarusian certainly lives well. I remember that letters "MИ" indicate ministerial status." But no one can give an answer what ministry is so successful to have such vehicles.

Now the Yaprintsevs' case is being investigated. The word "billionaire" has been repeatedly voiced in the court. Is it possible that Yaprintsev has established super profitable plant, invented a breakthrough technology or proved Fermat's Last Theorem? No, he used to make money on refining. As if state-owned companies are not able to purchase crude oil in Russia, then to sell oil products to the West and to give earnings to the budget. However, super profitable business, according to court hearings, for some reason, was under control of private companies - the Chyzhs and the Yaprintsevs. And the last one had as much money as it was possible for his son to waste $30 million on Forex. Not rubles, but US dollars!!! Then he incurred debt, beguiled well-known people out of money and found himself in the court.

32-year-old rich man wastes tens of millions of dollars in the country where most of the population balance between poverty and extreme poverty!!! Can you imagine it?

Could any leader in the BSSR imagine that he would make a mess in the republic, "ensure" failures in all spheres, but held a seat and would tell everybody what to do? No!

So, I think this is the reason why only four zeros on banknotes were removed. To make parallels be not so obvious. For everyone to be unable to make head or tail of what we have come to...

Svyatlana Kalinkina, Narodnaya Volya

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