On the day
The protracted reform to raise the retirement age in the Russian Federation stumbled upon sharp criticism from the population. And the last word, as it is customary to say in such cases, remained for the first person of Russia. The expectations were great, since President Putin V.V. made over the past six months a lot of statements in which he saw the way out of the crisis in a significant increase in labor productivity. Which no one disputed.
Actually, for Russia it is not news how to increase labor productivity, for, relying on the postwar experience of the Soviet Union, one can recall an instructive example of increasing labor productivity immediately after the victory over fascist Germany in 1945. Then the country of the first of the victor countries abolished the ration cards in 1947 and showed a vivid example of how to work and raise the standard of living of the population ... Although our allies did not suffer such great losses in human and economic terms as the USSR, they were able to abolished their ration coupon only in 1951.
We must not forget that the Soviet Union soon experienced an atomic bomb in 1949 and declared about nuclear parity in the world. And then the rocket was launched into space, which demonstrated the creation of the entire nuclear missile shield of the country. Of course, such economic successes are unlikely to have succeeded if in the Soviet Union words were voiced about increasing labor productivity. Although we can not forget that the words about the rapid construction of communism soon after the creation of the nuclear missile shield of the country poured out, as from a cornucopia, but it was already said by people who openly embarked on the collapse of the country. Therefore, politicians from N. Khrushchev to M. Gorbachev can not be compared here. Here it is necessary to be equal to the experience of the country in the war years, when output for the front and for victory grew every day. After all, the retirement age of 55 years for women and 60 years for men was taken by the military generation that won the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
Of course, one can not help noticing that there was a vivid discussion in the State Duma of this pension reform, in which three non-governmental factions criticized the authorities for not doing anything to raise taxes on big business, whose profits are striking in the face of their abyss-the gap between the incomes of the richest 10% of the population and the poorest 10%. V. Putin only said that it is useless to raise the tax and do it in 20%, since these payments for pensioners will last for 6 days ... But after all, the conversation was about the incomes of the oligarchs much more significant, and therefore it would not be a sin to rip them. Then payments could be for pensioners much longer than 6 days ...
Therefore, returning to the speech of V.Putin on August 29, 2018, most of all I remember the words that now "we have to overcome the consequences of the shocks of the 90s". But after all, on the basis of these shocks, the Russian oligarchy was created, which now lives and does nicely out of it and, of course, offers no suggestions on mitigating the pension reform. In this sense, Putin only demonstrated complete solidarity with the oligarchs and essentially pulled them closer to his body.
Of course, V. Putin "forgot" in his address to the people of the Russian Federation to recollect statements in favor of raising labor productivity, insofar as the population of the Russian Federation has a deep historical experience. One gets the impression that the Russian president is making statements on this part, but what he really does not know about the productivity of labor. It turns out that again "everything is decided by the market", the sanctions on which threaten every day to overturn the delicate balance that has been established recently. But opposition economists in this market are predicting the inevitable collapse of the ruble. Then it certainly will not be up to pensioners ...
In our opinion, in order to improve the well-being of the entire population, and not just retirees, we must abandon the criminal liberal economic course pursued by the government of D. Medvedev. But V. Putin will never go for it ... That is why the issue of improving the life of pensioners by implementing the pension reform proposed by the current government of the Russian Federation for any of its crafty embellishments remains UNSOLVABLE ...
Economic Observer of the Central Committee of the AUCPB
