The greed of Russian businessmen as a dead end for economic development

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

Just on New Year's Eve, the Federal Antimonopoly Service discovered that the Russian airline UTair set prices for tickets so that they could differ for the same seats by … 12 times! At the same time, passengers received the same conditions of service, accommodation in the same economy class cabin.

At the same time, the cheapest ticket for flights, for example, from Kurgan to Moscow and back in 2019 cost 1,490 rubles, and the most expensive - 19,000 rubles. Only one factor influenced the ticket price - the time of purchase. FAS did not find any other justification for such a difference in price. At the same time, UTair is the only airline that carries passengers from Kurgan to Moscow and back, so residents could not use the services of competitors.

Was the company that so shamelessly inflated ticket prices somehow punished? Not at all. The FAS only slightly chided her and recommended UTair to reconsider the fares, not to set different prices for the same tickets …

What does this example say? First, it is a testament to the pathological greed of our entrepreneurs, which each of us has to face every day. And secondly, about the unwillingness of the authorities to resolutely fight this. But you come across such a picture of unbridled greed everywhere. Here is the text posted, for example, on the Internet by the user Nikolai Timofeev. “I visit,” he writes, “in different places in different industries and I see the following picture: a state farm - on a farm - guest workers, a livestock complex - cattlemen, milkers, etc. - guest workers, guest workers sweep yards, at construction sites - guest workers, I go to the Pyaterochka or Magnit store, the cleaning lady is a guest worker, often a Kyrgyz woman sits at the cash register - guest worker … In general, wherever you look, there are guest workers everywhere, how many millions of guest workers in Russia - nobody knows. It’s a paradox, but it’s easier to find a job in Russia for a guest worker than for a native Russian.”

The wretchedness of thinking and greed of Russian businessmen is striking - they do not want to hire Russians in order to save money, and if they do, they pay a small salary, because migrant workers compete with the locals and are ready to work for less pay

These same businessmen save on wages and thereby cause enormous damage to themselves and to Russia as a whole: money is flowing out of the country, local residents are on the brink of survival, because salaries are not growing, and no one wants to pay them.

“The most significant inflation in Russia is food inflation,” says Alexander Kalinin, General Director of the National Fund for Consumer Protection. - To reduce it, it is necessary to work with society and with the government, but first of all - work with such an economic category as greed. Entrepreneurial greed. This is the scourge of today's business, I can say frankly.

I recently talked with the owner of the German concern Stern Viviol, Mr. Viviol himself was visiting me, and he proudly says to me: “Mr. Kalinin, last year we received an excellent profit of 1.6% for the concern, and we have the opportunity now give prizes to people, solve some social issues."

In our country, for 1, 6% of the profit, not a single businessman works. If the profit does not come out to 25%, then no one undertakes to do business. We need to sort out this case little by little. Greed, social irresponsibility of domestic business is a serious problem. Yesterday I went to a store to buy pomegranate juice from Azerbaijan, on the same street in one store it costs 90 rubles, and in the store opposite 50 rubles. Where did this difference come from, 40 rubles for a bottle of pomegranate juice? This is the greed of entrepreneurs, nothing else."

But how to curb this irrepressible greed? After all, profit is the main core of capitalism. However, if you cannot change the capitalist, then his greed can still be somehow limited. How? In the West, this was done long ago by introducing a progressive scale of taxation

“Even countries whose development is based on the liberal concept, according to which everyone survives on his own, today have decided that a progressive income tax is fair,” said Deputy Boris Kashin, speaking in the State Duma. - In the United States, where, as in all developed countries, a progressive scale of taxation has been in effect for a long time, Democrats and Republicans have agreed to introduce an additional tax on family income from an amount exceeding $ 400,000 per year. There, one of the richest people in the world, W. Buffett, insists on taking measures to exclude the possibility of citizens with an annual income of more than $ 1 million to pay income tax at a rate of less than 30%. François Hollande once received the support of voters in France, putting forward the idea of a 75% tax on family income exceeding 1 million euros per year. At the same time, in France, the rich now give 40% of their income to the budget. If we are not ready to compare ourselves with developed countries and admit that the authorities are helpless in the fight against the shadow economy, let's take a look at our friends in the BRICS. India has four tax rates: 0, 10, 20 and 30 percent. Moreover, the highest rate is applied to amounts exceeding approximately 500 thousand rubles of annual income. Similarly, the progressive scale works in China, South Africa, Brazil.

What actually prevents the introduction of this completely fair measure in our country? I think the main reason is the exorbitant greed of our oligarchs and their tight control over the executive and legislative powers, said B. Kashin.

What uncontrolled business greed can lead to is illustrated by our own bitter history. Historian Mikhail Pokrovsky believed back in 1924 that it was the ugliness of Russian capitalism that led to the 1917 revolution. His thought was that, unlike Western countries, in Russia the income of the proletariat, that is, the workers never grew, on the contrary, they fell, and labor productivity was at a low level. Pokrovsky gave such an example. If we take the wage that the English worker received in 1850 for 100 conventional units, then in 1900 the worker earned 178 units. At the same time, the cost of conventional food in England in 1850 was 100 units, and in 1900 - 97. Pay increased, and the cost of living decreased. That is, the living environment for the English worker was changing for the better, the capitalist paid him extra. This happened due to the growth of labor productivity. With its growth, the capitalist paid the worker less and less per unit of commodity, but since it was produced much more, with less effort, the wages also increased. And this was achieved by improving technology and improving production.

And what was happening in Russia in the meantime? And there, due to the rapid impoverishment of the village, there was no need to feed the workers. There were a lot of free hands, and the manufacturer could consider himself a “benefactor” who provided a means of subsistence. As a result, the factory owners in Russia were paid strictly barely enough. If the salary of a worker in 1892 in Russia was 100 units, then in 1902 it was 105. And the price of bread at the same time increased from 100 units to 125. As a result, the real wages and purchasing power of Russian workers were constantly decreasing, while those of British workers were growing. … Therefore, the Russian worker quickly realized that his class interests were championed by revolutionaries. And in Russia for the revolution between the words "class-conscious worker" and "revolutionary" practically formed an equal sign, noted Pokrovsky.

Now the situation in the country is, of course, completely different. And the sad lessons of all the revolutions in Russia are still fresh in the memory of many.

Today the greed of the capitalists is a brake on the path of Russia's development. They take their wealth offshore, and the migrant workers they hired transfer the money earned in Russia to their homeland. As a result, our country is not developing as fast as it could

Well, and there is nothing to say about what not only economic, but also moral damage this greed of entrepreneurs, which is corroding the country, inflicts on society. Back in 1915, Ivan Bunin published the sensational story "The gentleman from San Francisco". This is a kind of parable that tells about the insignificance of wealth and power in the face of death. The main idea of the story is to comprehend the essence of human existence: human life is fragile and perishable, so it becomes disgusting if it lacks authenticity and beauty.

Isn't that what the Bible has been teaching for centuries? “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not dig in and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”(Matt. 6: 19-21).

All this is true, but our home-grown businessmen, alas, are unlikely to read either "The Lord from San Francisco" or the Bible …