It touches to tears: Kudrin decided to feel sorry for the poor

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The head of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, Alexei Kudrin, as a person in power, was saddened by the fate of the poor in Russia, noting in one of his last interviews that our model of the state is bad, since people in it are primitively fighting for survival. They say that in a country where the population is 142 million people, as many as 20 million live below the poverty line. This is unacceptable for Russia, Kudrin believes, and the number of the poor should be reduced by at least 40%.

Further, speaking about the problem of poverty reduction, Kudrin considers exclusively measures of social subsidies. He proposes to find an additional 200 billion rubles. a year and distribute them to the poor. Referring to the World Bank, Kudrin sees the problem in the fact that aid does not reach the addressees well - only 20% of real subsidies go to those in need.

However, the targeted principle of subsidizing through the redistribution of budgetary funds means that some categories that previously received assistance will no longer receive it. Kudrin calls this moment "delicate" and proposes a "good solution" - to give the regions additional resources for these purposes. The regions should implement the national projects on poverty alleviation themselves, at their own discretion. Presumably, the responsibility for this will now be shifted from the center to the regions.

Everything would be fine, and Kudrin could well be presented as a guardian for the interests of the poorest strata of Russian citizens, if not for one little trifle.

The problem of poverty in Russia is a consequence of the course of the Russian liberals, to which Aleksey Kudrin belongs, which they have been pursuing since the 90s of the last century. This is a course conducted in accordance with the requirements of the IMF, and Kudrin has always been one of the main conductors of this course.

To lament now that, as a result of many years of efforts by Kudrin and the liberal bloc in the government and the Central Bank, the population's poverty has reached colossal and unacceptable proportions for the country is like crying through your hair, having cut your head off yourself.

According to academician Sergei Glazyev, over the past few years, the Central Bank has withdrawn from the Russian economy about ten trillion rubles. The goal is the so-called inflation targeting, when bank interest rates rise above the rate of return in the material production sector. The result is the disappearance of funds for refinancing the commercial banking system and the disappearance of long-term credit as the main source of investment. These are the fruits of the activities of Kudrin's team.

Economists know that the only way to reduce production costs and, accordingly, lower prices is scientific and technological progress. This requires continuous investment. If you strangle them, no matter under what slogan, inflation will come in the country, no matter how much you target it, or more precisely, stagflation will come: rising prices against the background of falling production. And these are the fruits of the activities of the Kudrin team.

Here comes the vicious circle effect. The Central Bank raises refinancing rates to reduce the money supply in order to fight price increases, markets contract, enterprises stop investing, money hangs on accounts and deposits. The Central Bank concludes that there is "too much extra money" in the country, and even more withdraws it from circulation by strangling credit through high rates. This immediately increases the volatility of the ruble exchange rate, which immediately affects the rise in prices, since 70% of goods in regional retail chains are imports.

Then everything is simple. Due to the fall in the purchasing power of the population due to the rise in prices, small and medium-sized businesses are falling. The recession is intensifying, poverty is growing, budget revenues are falling, to replenish which the authorities are raising taxes and cutting social programs. As a result of these measures, businesses become poorer even more, prices rise even higher. Poverty is becoming wider, and this spiral repeats itself up and down over and over again all the years of liberal reforms. And this is the result of the activities of Kudrin's team and his approaches to economics.

Everyone is in despondency, the authorities are in disgrace, and here, against this background, "all in white" like a baby, Alexei Kudrin comes out and suddenly starts broadcasting from above to the whole country that, they say, how shameful for the state, when as many as 20 million live in poverty - and so further, and the like. And at the same time, he offers to find more money in the meager budget in order to distribute it through the regions, realizing that this can be done only by offending someone who is already receiving help.

Kudrin understands very well what he is proposing: to sow a conflict between society and power and a conflict between the center and the regions. Despite the fact that already now all these conflicts are quite old-fashioned, and instead of easing them, he proposes something that will strengthen them.

At the same time, Kudrin did not say a word about the responsibility of the liberals for the long-term implementation of the requirements of the IMF in macroeconomics, as a result of which the country's economy is in a permanent crisis. For Kudrin, the state is always to blame, with a hint not of the liberal economic wing, but of the power bloc and the routine administrative machine. Kudrin does not in any way discuss ways to change the investment climate, except through the prism of reducing the resource of security forces. The resource of the liberals, in his opinion, is not only not subject to any restrictions, but also needs to be further expanded.

Nothing hits the integration efforts of Vladimir Putin more than the liberal policy of destroying the stability of the ruble as the single currency of the EAEU. All talk that the ruble can become a single settlement and reserve currency between countries participating in integration formats has long been put aside. And without this, no attempts to create a Union State and a working EAEU will give the desired result.

Alexei Kudrin, of course, considers himself a friend of Vladimir Putin. And "helps" him with all his might, which was expressed once again in an interview with TASS. However, judging by the results, there are friends with whom you don't need enemies. In this regard, Kudrin's sudden concern about the growth of poverty in Russia touches to the core and evokes a special heartfelt emotion.