Parallel worlds, or anti-heroes 2018
Parallel worlds
Just recently (in mid-December 2018) there was held the annual big press conference of President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin! It was held, and forget about it, I would say. But there was something remarkable about this event. And the statement of the Press Secretary of the President Dmitry Peskov was remarkable for me. In particular, he said that some of the questions asked at the press conference with President Vladimir Putin, related more to complaints.
"We regret to have observed the questions that had no relation to the journalistic questions, different complaints. They were actually the complaints of citizens. These people had no relation to journalists", - Peskov told (the quote from "Interfax").
Thus, Peskov pointed out, there is a mixture of formats, since the purpose of communication with the press is different for the head of state. "The press conference is intended for the President to bring the state policy to the citizens of the country through the media and answer the questions that are of interest to journalists. This format is mixed with the format where citizens communicate directly with the President", he explained.
The journalists asked wrong questions! They addressed with complaints and requests, but they should have asked questions about the policy of the state. Didn’t Mr. Peskov think before sharing his opinion with public, I wonder, that:
first, it is a press conference for journalists to ask questions that interest them and their readers, and not the interviewee (in this case, the President). Well, you never know what our Leader wants to tell us, and we are interested, perhaps, in other problems. Perhaps we are interested in problems that do not interest him, but they are very, very important for us. And while working in the News Agency The DairyNews, I don’t not hide, there were moments when the interviewees or their PR people said: "Let us write everything for you, questions and answers, and you will publish it all”. But we tried to hold them off! We publish only what is interesting to us and our readers. I think that in the case of the President it should be the same.
secondly, does not it seem to dear Mr. Peskov that the fact of the transformation of the press conference of the head of state in the format of reception of citizens is actually a very serious signal. Most likely, this is an indicator that citizens do not have any other opportunity to solve their problems and issues, as soon as they take advantage of a unique opportunity to address the President directly. Isn't this the result of the notorious "manual control" of the country? This is an indicator of problems in the control system. That is, the system obviously does not work if an ordinary citizen can solve his ordinary problem only by addressing the "good king". And is it worth blaming the citizens (and journalists are also citizens)? Maybe, it's better to think about what's wrong here.
What country do we live in?
What system do we live in: under capitalism or under socialism? And that is interesting. It seems that society is divided.
Business (those who give work and those who work for them) think that they live under capitalism. Some try to make money, create, build, buy or sell something, do not sleep for days and then rest in a big way, try to get away from taxes, to reduce costs in every way, give bribes to officials so that they lag behind, or they do not give bribes, because there is a principle, they hire workers or do not hire workers, etc.
The others have three jobs, love or hate their employers, think about starting their own business, because they understand that they are brutally exploited and they don’t get wages in time, dream of stability, but continue to work for the capitalists because they pay.
And those and others are always on the go. And they are, for the most part, very dissatisfied with the situation. Because they would like to earn more, travel around the world, they want less control and more freedom. And some want to leave the country. And many do not want to go anywhere and try to make life better around them.
The State (the entire bureaucratic apparatus, the army, law enforcement agencies, all who serve them, as well as employees of all state enterprises and enterprises with state participation - that is, a lot of people), they seem to think that they live under socialism.
They come to work every day and leave it, as a rule, on time. They are calm, because, although the salary is not big, it is reliable. But if the position allows (and it often allows), they can still make extra money (actually for the sake of additional earnings they sit in this crappy room where the repair has not been done for forty years, no less). Or they are not calm in the reporting period or when the guilt is evident. They are all officially registered; the state makes pension contributions for them in full, it is almost impossible to dismiss them, because the law is always on their side.
And many of these people are also on the go, but only in a different way. After all, many have chosen (and someone even paid) such a job and such a life to have power, and where there is power there is money. So they are spinning... and twist the arms. They call it business.
There are a lot of these people. According to the data of Rosstat (well, now it can be trusted), in total almost 14 million people are employed in the budget sector in Russia. This is 10% of the total population. This is 20% of the total working population. That is, one in five people working in Russia is a budget sector employee. These people get paid by the state. This is about 5.8 trillion rubles. Moreover, part of the so-called businessmen (well, that is, those who think that they live under capitalism) in fact, are not businessmen, they just serve in budget organizations. That is, in fact, there are more than 14 million people who work for the state and therefore receive money from the state.
Among these people there are doctors and teachers. Private education and private medicine are not developed in our country. After all, a teacher working for the state (and not having additional earnings) is not going to be treated by a private doctor. And doctors (who have no extra income) working for the state, will not teach their children in a private school. That is, it is such a stable social structure, where all are poor and therefore everything is free for all (bad, but free).
Among state employees we have also ordinary officials, as well as people who are close to officials. There are about 5 million people in total. That is, about 68 officials of all stripes work for 1000 people working in our country.
We have 2 million 146 thousand state and municipal employees. Since 2005, the number of state employees has increased by 680 thousand people (this is the population of the city of Izhevsk or the entire Kostroma region).
At the same time, the number of people employed in agriculture and forestry decreased by 2 million 718 thousand during the same period (that is, the population of Novosibirsk region). So to speak, over the past 13 years there appeared Kostroma region, inhabited by officials, and disappeared Novosibirsk region with peasants.
And there is still an army and security officers among state employees. There are too many of them.
Such agencies as the Rosselkhoznadzor and Rospotrebnadzor do not belong to the security forces (but certainly would like to). Each of these agencies employs 20,000 employees. That is, 40 thousand for both. In Russia, according to the Russian Dairy Research Center, there are 2,200 dairy plants. That is, for each dairy plant there are 18 employees of two regulatory agencies. And we have a little more than 31 thousand dairy farms. Then, for every 10 farms there are 6 employees of the Rosselkhoznadzor! 6 people on 10 farms!!!
You're twisting, the reader would tell me, they don’t only check dairy products. Good! There are 9 employees of these two agencies per 1,000 employees in agriculture and forestry.
And the question arises: why do we need such an army of people? How effective are they?
First, why do we need so many people working for one employer in the country? The answer is simple. In Russia, according to the CEC, there are 109 million voters. There is no minimum voter turn-out (abolished in 2006), but the turn-out in the last presidential election was 67.54%. That is about 74 million people. In order to win the elections it is necessary to get more than 50% of the votes that is more than 37 million. If the state pays the salary to 14 million people, then most likely they and their families will vote for their employer, that is, for a representative of the party in power. And it is not less than 28 million. It is only necessary to convince 8% of voters.
Secondly, how effective is it for the state to have so many employees? In July 2017, Forbes magazine published a very interesting article.
The main idea, in my opinion, is in these two paragraphs:
"Today 914,500 people are on the staff of the Ministry of internal affairs in Russia. This is the third largest police force in the world (of course, after China — 1.6 million people) and India (1.5 million). At the same time, China (120 people) and India (128 people) lag behind Russia (623 people) about five times in the number of police officers per 100,000 citizens. It is worth noting that all developed countries lag behind us in this indicator: in the US, the corresponding figure is 256 people, in the EU countries — from 300 to 360. Ahead, not counting the exotic islands and small states, there are only our closest friends — Belarus and Serbia (and South Sudan, it is unclear how this country got in this company). In the days of the "authoritarian" Soviet Union there were 623 000 people employed in the Soviet Ministry of internal affairs and the rate of "policing" was almost three times lower.
The question of how much it costs to divert so many citizens, who could be involved in other spheres, from economically useful activities is also important. In 2016, 1.08 trillion rubles, or 1.26% of gross national product, were allocated for the needs of the Ministry of internal affairs. In the US, $134 billion, or 0.72% of gross national product was spent on police forces, paid almost entirely from local budgets. Germany has approximately the same figure (0.7% of gross national product), in France it is at a slightly higher level (almost 0.9%). At the same time, if the fight against demonstrators in Russia can be considered quite successful, the fight against crime is unlikely. In 2015, the minimum number of killings was committed over many years in the country — 11 700, but it gives the average figure of 80.3 cases per 1 million inhabitants — compared to 49 in the United States, 10.5 in France and 8.4 in Germany. In other words, taking into account the number of violent crimes and the cost of police forces, the effectiveness of public order protection in Germany is 20 times higher than in Russia! »
(See: Forbes: http://www.forbes.ru/biznes/346301-ne-mnogo-li-%07sily-za-15-let-chislo-silovikov-vyroslo-bolee-chem-vdvoe).
Look again at the table with the number of employees of budget organizations, given above.
It seems that only 1 thousand miners of minerals and 4.7 thousand producers and distributors of electricity, gas and water bring real income to the state from the listed 14 million people. The term "diversion from economically useful activities" can be applied to the other people from the list.
The crisis of faith
And here I would like to return to Mr. Peskov’s statement. 20% of the working population of the country work so badly that representatives of the remaining 132 million people often do not see any other way to solve their problems, except to ask the President for help. At the same time, the first 20% strongly convince themselves and everyone else that everything is fine. Everything's great. That our country is developing by leaps and bounds.
But it seems they themselves do not believe in what they say.
The most striking and most curious case in recent years was a show on one of the Federal channels of super-modern "robot Boris", which actually turned out to be a man dressed in a life-size doll (details can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdRSKnfFXfE).
It creates a deep belief that a fake reality is being created around us. And there are many such fakes in the dairy market, and just in life.
I refer to the fake ridiculous figures of production of raw milk on private farms. It is amusing that the majority of officials in personal conversations agree that there is no milk on private farms (at least, that volume which is declared in official reports). But most of the officials are afraid to admit this in public.
The so-called "fight against falsification" refers to fakes. Well, nobody really fights. After all, absolutely everyone understands that the concept of "milk-containing products" must be excluded from the Law (TR CU 033). But as soon as you ask a direct question, you immediately hear in response: "Well, we need to feed the country", "what are we going to feed people with", "let's not make any sudden moves", "we do not solve anything with this", etc. One of the latest gems is "QUITE EDIBLE PRODUCT". I heard this definition at a conference in autumn in 2018. Moreover, this was said in the context of child nutrition. That is, we can loudly say that child nutrition will require more strict standards regarding production processes, raw materials etc. We can scream that children should be given the best, to cultivate in them the future consumers and connoisseurs of high-quality and natural products. But there's nothing we can do about falsified products that get on the kindergarten tables!
And in this regard, the words of the Federation Council Chairman Valentina Matvienko seem particularly cynical: "The care of children is inherent in all countries and peoples. And yet, I think, I will not be mistaken if I say that in our country such an attitude towards children is deeply rooted".
And what is the difference between a falsified product and a milk-containing product? It is ONE PERCENT!
This diagram clearly demonstrates the cynicism in the determination of milk-containing products. How does a 1% difference in vegetable fat make a product better or worse, healthier or more harmful?
Well, I do not believe that the manufacturer will replace only 4% or 17% fat! If the manufacturer already makes fat replacement, he will do it to the maximum! 49% is allowed, then 49% will be replaced. But that's almost 50%!
So, our fight against falsification is a pure fake. And our care of children is also a fake.
And “Mercury” system, by the way, is also a fake!
Here is some latest news about “Mercury”: "The Federal budget is losing billions of dollars per year because of falsification of dairy products, on which VAT is paid at a concessional rate of 10% instead of the standard 18%. Only underpayment of VAT is about 10 to 17 billion rubles", - said the head of the Rosselkhoznadzor Sergey Dankvert in an interview with "Russia 24".
These words can be commented as follows: the Technical Regulation of the Customs Union "On the safety of milk and dairy products" (TR CU 033/2013) contains such a definition as "milk - containing products with a substitute for milk fat", that is, actually lays the foundation for the legal production of falsified products, but it approves VAT for products from natural milk at a rate of 10%, for products with the use of vegetable fats - 18%. And this forces manufacturers not only to replace milk fat with vegetable fat, but also to call such products dairy to reduce the VAT rate.
And at the same time, officials are all in favor of the introduction of “Mercury”, which constantly requires money, but they do not want to make any changes to the Technical Regulations of the Customs Union. Well, that's right, changing the law will solve the problem, and this seems to be of little interest.
The program of rural development is also a fake.
I live in Yaroslavl region, where my wife produces cheese. She is, of course, the only employer in the village. My wife's cheese factory has a shop where tourists and residents of Pereslavl-Zalessky come to buy cheese. But it seems, that the three kilometers of road that lead to the cheese factory, survived the bombing only yesterday. The village is home to more than 300 people who "destroy" their cars every day. For several years the villagers asked the administration to help with the road. The Administration says: there is no money.
I do not want to say that three days before the presidential election, the patching began, which ended on the day of election, almost before it began. I would like to share my impression when one morning I discovered that the road was painted!!! Yes, painted! Directly on holes and on sand they made a marking which lasted a week! They made a fake road. And, probably, reported on managing funds!
And, I believe, when the villagers will go back to beat down doors in spring, they will be told: "Guys! Well, you are brash! We made a road for you last year!»
We need a breakthrough!
"We need a breakthrough!" said the President during his press conference.
Yes, we know that we need a breakthrough! We've actually needed it for a long time!
But due to what? Due to the fact that you painted the road for us?
Who will ensure this breakthrough? Army? Police officers, the number of whom per capita is the biggest in the world? Prosecutor's office? Municipal employees and employees of public services?
We will not be able to achieve a breakthrough as long as the state is the largest employer! And it is such an inefficient employer that the Chief Manager of the country is forced to solve minor issues of "lower staff", who made his way under the guise of a journalist at a press conference. In the country where the main employer says to his employees: "Starting from January next year, I will lower your salary, because the cost of our products is very high; I will introduce new penalties for being late from lunch, for the fact that you have a mess in the workplace and for something else; to do this, we have increased the security staff to monitor when you return from lunch and what you have on the tables; you will now be working for two hours more! And no new year's corporate parties!".
If it were a private employer, it would be a disaster.
What forecasts are the most difficult to make, long-term or for the near future? Of course, long-term forecasts require serious analysis, the development of various scenarios and models, you say, so it is much more difficult to make a long-term forecast.
That’s not true, I would object to you! To make a long-term forecast is simple and safe! And the longer period you make a prediction for, the simpler you live with it: well, who'll remember what you promised 7, 10, 15, 18 or 20 years ago? But the forecast for next year should be done carefully, because if it does not come true, you have to be responsible for this.
But, as it turned out, time flies quickly, and 20 years is not such a long period - clap - and years have passed. And forecasts and promises didn't come true
We will not be able to make a breakthrough until the state ceases to put long-term fake plans to society.
We can draw any numbers on paper, but if they do not correspond to reality, nothing will happen! I remember very well how former Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov promised in 2009 to increase the production of raw milk to 38 million tons by 2013. And conscientious objections that we don’t have even 30 million did not work.
Then slogans and forecasts became more interesting and intricate: nanotechnology, import substitution, etc.
3 years ago, all the officials of the country talked only about import substitution. So what? Did it happen? Anyway, I don't see any changes in milk production. But this is no longer relevant.
We have new mantras! For example, "export of agricultural products". Well, we sold grain, and we sell, and we will sell grain. And as for milk, what kind of exports are we talking about? About the export of cheese-like products based on palm oil produced in another country?
And how can we export dairy products if we have a deficit of 5 million tons? We have a surplus only taking into account Belarus, and it will look very strange when both Russia and Belarus will try to compete by selling Belarusian dairy products to the Chinese market.
No, I'm not against exports, and I believe in our huge potential. But it is very disturbing when exports take the form of campaigning. And let us be frank: our full potential today is significantly limited by ever-increasing political isolation. While all the leading exporting countries in today's rapidly changing and unstable situation are concluding bilateral free trade agreements with each other, we are limited by the framework of the Customs Union, and even rattling weapons. In my opinion, the new hypersonic weapons cannot contribute to the growth of exports of dairy products, even vice versa!
Another mantra is "digitalization". How many meetings and discussions! In the spring of 2018, I took part in one of these meetings. There were representatives of the Ministry of agriculture, some, as well as employees of some not yet clear for me state and about state organizations. Everybody was wearing ties, except software engineers, as usual. And all of them, and even the representatives of the Ministry of agriculture, used these words (I specifically made a summary): tracks, framework, competence centers, project architecture, the right of the leadership, associative entity, decision makers, commitment etc.!!!!! I'm not exactly sure that all of them understood what was going on, but the fact that software engineers (and they were not ordinary software engineers), sniffed at the smell of money coming from people in suits - it was very noticeable!
And at this moment (at such moments), as well as while reading the impressions of the Press Secretary of the President Dmitry Peskov from the press conference, you realize that we live in parallel worlds. In their world there is the right of leadership. Mine has a painted road.
Actually, I was supposed to write a story about who I think deserves the title of anti-hero of the year. I can say for sure that everyone who produces milk and dairy (and even - forgive me for this - milk-containing) products, this year were heroes. Well, it is boring to lay the blame again on the heads of the Rosselkhoznadzor. Everything is clear with them.
Then I thought that the antihero is our government - because it deserves this title. But no! We have the government that we deserve! So, we ourselves are the anti-heroes. I am for sure!
What's the milk got to do with it? - asks the inquisitive reader! It is due to the fact that milk is a very useful product that a person consumes from childhood!
And more! There are excellent professionals and wonderful people among the officials.
Editorial opinion may not coincide with the author's opinion.
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