We are not so poor that we cannot promise - you know that cynical phrase, right? Well, the opposition, or to be precise, the politicians of the DK (by this we mean the clowns of the so-called shadow government) stick to this "wisdom".
Now they have a problem with the pension increase, but that in itself is not so interesting. After all, they always have a problem with everything that the Christian-conservative side does or says. We're used to it. But it is still puzzling how they would be able to lead this country as a real government when their memory is almost shorter than Joe Biden's. The American president does not remember that his granddaughter is not his son, and the shadows of the South forget how they treated pensioners during their reign. How pensions were allowed to inflate (depreciate in value), how they were reduced and finally how the 13th month appanage was abolished.
How come the prime minister was not called Gyurcsány, but Bajnai? I'm sorry, but one is a dog, the other is a dog. Did they say a single word to Gordonka against taking the 13th month pension? Those of you who loudly opposed this should come forward.
Now their problem is that the 15 percent increase is not enough. In which they may even be right, but that is why the system works in such a way that if the inflation exceeds the amount of the increase, the government is also obliged to correct it afterwards. This is a self-imposed obligation, not imposed from the outside, but it is right if you stick to your own decision.
By the way, the shadow players of the shadow government are demanding an immediate, dramatic wage increase in all areas, which of course would be good, but the big question remains, from what? The country has a budget of X amount, right? This can be used for everything that needs to be spent. Just like in our civilian household. If I have a monthly income of HUF 300,000, I cannot spend HUF 400,000. Or yes, but it is already called debt. Of course, it can also be undertaken if I know what I will pay back from. I can take out a loan, for example, but the problem is that it doesn't increase my monthly income, while regular overspending increases my debt - in the end, the bank will sell the roof over my head.
True, this never dissuaded the socialists from putting the "big household", i.e. the country, into debt. They can't do it now, but they really want to. And they do everything they can to get the chance.
I haven't done any calculations - it would be a waste of time - of how much the expenditure would exceed the income if by some miracle all their demands and promises were to be fulfilled by the current government. I suspect a lot. Then the IMF could come again with the dictates of what we should sell and what discounts we should eliminate. Shadows would do well. Family allowances could be reduced again, pensions could be reduced (raising the retirement age!), the slowly growing middle class could be crushed again with a multi-step tax, hospitals and schools could be closed, and kindergartens and nurseries could be abolished.
Now, of course, they are not promising that, the opposite. But anyone with a good memory cannot forget how it happened in 2002, when Medgyessy took the reins. They won with the fact that agent D 209 found everything the Fidesz government did good, but said that they would do the same thing even better. It didn't take much time - barely half a year - to start liquidating everything that was good for the civilians. We know the end result of their successful operation, by 2010 we reached the surest path to bankruptcy.
The problem is that you can always catch bad luck with nice promises. Now it is the turn of the teachers, who are being taken to the streets (although they claim that it is not a left-liberal organization, it is known that the unions to which they belong are behind the actions), while in Brussels they are doing everything to ensure that there is no cover for the wage increases demanded at home. But they also make sure that, despite their best efforts, tempers don't subside. Because they link the cessation of the movements to demands whose realization is uncontrollable, and thus impossible. (Let's not even talk about whether one can be called a teacher who takes vulnerable students to the street in order to raise his own salary?)
The puppeteer is at work, moving his puppets, of course in the hope that he will deserve applause at the end of his performance. But if we have any sense, this show will not be a hit with the audience.
(Cover photo: Miklós Tekős )