Latvia: Left bloc wins huge vote amid austerity

[Pure ja]

Oh, and with your Citizen attitude, next time Latvia comes asking loan money, Estonia will give it only with a guarantee of lands around Valka or Metsepole or Koiva (Gauja).

[Citizen]

If taxes are a definition of slavery to you, then yes to the second part.
And what kind of austerity exactly are you talking about, when Greece is still paying for dead pensioners and 100% of people in a local community are blind and thus eligible for financial support?

Is getting rid of a 14th montly salary called austerity now? How about the 13th monthly salary? What kind of a calendar are the Greeks using there anyway? A lunar calendar? Mayan calendar?

I don't see austerity in Greece for as long as Greece is still having budget deficit and Greece pensions and minimum wages are above that of Estonia and Latvia. And don't come to argue that they have financial trouble heating their homes.

Latvian and Estonian salaries are slavery, yes, taxing someone so much that he can no longer afford to live like a human is slavery. What dead pensioneers and 14th salary. They get some bonuses at the end of year and thats a normal practice for all loyal employees.

3 on 4 is actually not bad.
The rest of the necessary workforce can be replaced with robots.

Yes, robots will be invented just around the time with lightsabers and faster than light space travel of course in next 30 or so years. 3 or 4 pensioneers on 4 workers is totally unsustainable, you would have to give half your salary in just pensions alone. Taxes would be around 80% to 90%.

Yes. And yes.

50% of real estates in Estonia are being bought without a loan.
And you really don't have to buy an apartment, you can just rent it.

You can start a business in 5 minutes in Estonia. You don't even have to leave Latvia for that.

How much an average flat cost in Tallinn? In Riga a nice flat for 1 or 2 persons is around 40 000 to 100 000 euros, average salary is like 500 or 600 euros in Latvia, in Estonia its 700 - 800 I think? From official data only 10% of Latvians are able to afford a flat with bank loan, rest 90% are not able to do that at all. Imagine how small is the % of people who can by flat without a loan, this data is from Latvian commercial bank association, if you need I can you you a link as always. Those 50% are probably foreign nationals, the same who buy luxary houses in Jurmala, Russians, not Estonians or its a small % of society who can afford that, in any case the majority of Estonians can't afford to buy a flat with their 800 euros a month when it costs 40 000.

Then would you cut the crap on "austerity"?

Did you even understand your own sentence.

Enlarging ESM is quickly becoming impossible. Finland is betted to be the first to leave Eurozone if any additional fundraising is started. Estonia and Germany will be next. Our very own superman Jürgen Ligi opened his mouth and commented that he had suggested to think about the rules of leaving Eurozone already 2 years ago.

There are no rules of leaving eurozone.

So be it. If it goes for the good cause of keeping EU together. But with attacks on "austerity", I don't think saving EU is possible.
You can form your own "austerity" attacking club with Latvia and Greece and PIIGS, while Estonia will form another one with Finland, Sweden Germany and the rest of the Nordic countries.

I wish Latvia was smart and started to look at China and Russia instead of pigs or north.

The main ones are over every 5 years. The smaller ones every year.

We have the same, do you have them now, we have them just now. I guess you also celebrate 23.june with campfires and songs?

Estonian government members have made remarks, that any additional fundraising would become a serious problem.
Estonia joined Eurozone out of solidarity. Sensless attacks on "austerity" (while in reality the attacks are on true keynesianism) make sustaining that solidarity impossible.

True Keynesianis actually support deficit spending, they believe that WW2 spending ended the Great Depression in US, go look it up.

Nope. Read above.
One can debate whether Estonia was insolvent in 1990-91, but Estonia most certainly did not become that of Greece or Cyprus.
Not in 1919, not in 1991, not in the future.

Thats soviet social engineering, basically programming people to be mindless drones, you can ignore peoples aspirations, ensure that they get like 800 euros a month and they will not revolt. Not gonna happen in societies where freedom predominated for hundreads of years.

Convertible roubles were in parallel to the ordinary roubles during the soviet times, even way before the start of perestroika. It is how foreign trade was managed back then. So you can see, that Estonia has lost its foreign currency reserves more than once, and still got up again without turning into Greece.

Never heard of it, as far as I know, all foreign trade was done with USD, even if such a currency ever existed it was backed by reserve currencies, like USD, we cant complain that we didnt get them, we succeeded unilaterally.

Out of solidarity, to the extent that the net balance between Estonia and EU would not become strongly negative.

I dont care about solidarity in EU.

Yes, and that was one of the problems. Greece should have had a much lower rating.

But it didn't, which shows how wrong the current economic paradigm is.

That is not enough. And I am sure that the 30% figure is just statistics with a Greece quality mark on it.

Keep believing that if that makes you sleep well at night, reality is that Greece now is under a pretty strict observation and its almost impossible to cheat on any statistic data.

You mean strongly subsidised energy markets? In that way Belarus will never get to adopt new energy efficient building codes, like the PassivHaus standard.

They are not subsidized, they buy Russian energy on a price that is waaay under market price.

That is just a facade and the GINI coefficient is probably misleading.
I am sure that the soviet GINI was superb, but in reality the soviet elite commanded much of the better assets within the country.
You being only 26 means that you can't possibly remember that. You don't remember the empty shops, you don't remember the food stamps, you don't remember the famines.

There where special shops, it wasn't a problem if you where a member of party, veteran or family with many children.

Our budget is imbalanced only to the extent of the ESM payments. Otherwise it is balanced.

And I said that ESM is dragging you down.

The state still commands all the natural resources above and underground and mining license permits, taxes, etc. The companies own squat, just operating equipment and workforce. Have you any idea what share of the gas is flaring or leaking out from the state-owned equipment in Siberia? Have you any idea how many oil is leaking out? A lot. Money corrupts. Only local people and local government would be responsible. Yeltsin should have given local regions as much independence as possible.

Yeltsin was a clown, dancing drunk while his country going downhill.

The whole.
You know, Soviet Union was not just industry.

Have you really replaced with anything better, Estonia, like Latvia is produced nothing except timber and other raw materials, thats why our GDP is so low.

Your knowledge of the soviet times is patchy at best. Your knowledge of Ulmanis times are worse still.

As to the present, either close the borders or deal with the situation, without budget deficits.

Go read on the period, Latvia now is the second poorest country in EU, back in the day we where one of Europes prosperous nations, its a well documented fact, go google it up.

[Citizen]

Oh, and with your Citizen attitude, next time Latvia comes asking loan money, Estonia will give it only with a guarantee of lands around Valka or Metsepole or Koiva (Gauja).

I'd give you Valka any time, its a dump.

[Pure ja]

Latvian and Estonian salaries are slavery, yes, taxing someone so much that he can no longer afford to live like a human is slavery.

That is rubbish. Nowadays it is incomparably easier than in the 1980s or in the 1950s. You are yearning for a relative parity.
The soviet system was unsustainable. The welfare states of the western world are largely unsustainable. And yet you still desire more, more, more. If there is no job, make one yourself. Find teammates.

Yes, robots will be invented just around the time with lightsabers and faster than light space travel of course in next 30 or so years. 3 or 4 pensioneers on 4 workers is totally unsustainable, you would have to give half your salary in just pensions alone. Taxes would be around 80% to 90%.

Robots were invented already 100 years ago.
Your browser is spell-checking as you type.

How much an average flat cost in Tallinn? In Riga a nice flat for 1 or 2 persons is around 40 000 to 100 000 euros, average salary is like 500 or 600 euros in Latvia, in Estonia its 700 - 800 I think? From official data only 10% of Latvians are able to afford a flat with bank loan, rest 90% are not able to do that at all. Imagine how small is the % of people who can by flat without a loan, this data is from Latvian commercial bank association, if you need I can you you a link as always. Those 50% are probably foreign nationals, the same who buy luxary houses in Jurmala, Russians, not Estonians or its a small % of society who can afford that, in any case the majority of Estonians can't afford to buy a flat with their 800 euros a month when it costs 40 000.

Sure, buying a flat starts from about 30-40 000 EUR in Tallinn. Less wealthy can't and shouldn't afford a flat for 100 000.
I was born into a flat with 7 people in 63 m2.
Previous city generation had to make do with 5 persons in 30 m2.

But in central Europe and elsewhere less than half own their own flats. Anyway, why should you invest in a flat in a house which is not PassivHaus compliant?

Did you even understand your own sentence.

Yes. Never mind.

There are no rules of leaving eurozone.

When there is a will, there is a way.

I wish Latvia was smart and started to look at China and Russia instead of pigs or north.

Noone is stopping you.
It's your risk.

We have the same, do you have them now, we have them just now. I guess you also celebrate 23.june with campfires and songs?

Yes, sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX97w...eature=related

True Keynesianis actually support deficit spending, they believe that WW2 spending ended the Great Depression in US, go look it up.

No. True Keynesianism supports sparing first at good times and spending second at bad times.

[Pure ja]

Thats soviet social engineering, basically programming people to be mindless drones, you can ignore peoples aspirations, ensure that they get like 800 euros a month and they will not revolt. Not gonna happen in societies where freedom predominated for hundreads of years.

Make your own economy then. Gift economy. 20% of unemployed should be able to make their own gift economy.

Never heard of it, as far as I know, all foreign trade was done with USD...

As I understand, it all went through one bank in Moscow.

I dont care about solidarity in EU.

And yet you feel for the bad fate of Greeks and desire good life of western europeans.

Keep believing that if that makes you sleep well at night, reality is that Greece now is under a pretty strict observation and its almost impossible to cheat on any statistic data.

If you believe that stats can be magically fixed in a year or two, then you are quite naive.
Stats are only as good as the organisation. Failed state generates failed stats. That is another lesson that you have forgotten from the soviet times.

They are not subsidized, they buy Russian energy on a price that is waaay under market price.

Deal with the devil. Would you believe that Russia would sell to all its clients under market price? Baltics has been paying way over the market price for many years now.

Yeltsin was a clown, dancing drunk while his country going downhill.

Yes, and that is partly why it is foolish to believe that the reforms in Russia were a quick shock therapy. It was a shock, but it was anything but quick.

Have you really replaced with anything better, Estonia, like Latvia is produced nothing except timber and other raw materials, thats why our GDP is so low.

Lot of our economy works on subcontracts.
A lot provides services.
At times half of Ericcson mobile phones were put together at Estonia. A lot of Nokias as well.
There are also lot of small companies doing whatnot

Go read on the period, Latvia now is the second poorest country in EU, back in the day we where one of Europes prosperous nations, its a well documented fact, go google it up.

Tough luck. Deal with it.

[Hercus Monte]

GREAT LATVIAN SUCCESS STORY:

funny video, it's a pity that the Latvian government in not willing to take any criticism about their austerity policies.


have the budget cut's been restored?

[Pure ja]

funny video, it's a pity that the Latvian government in not willing to take any criticism about their austerity policies.


have the budget cut's been restored?

No. They keep cutting the military budget.
Chop-chop-chop-chop, until there is nothing left and nothing right.
And then comes Zapad 2013.

http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com...cks-syria.html

[Hercus Monte]

No. They keep cutting the military budget.
Chop-chop-chop-chop, until there is nothing left and nothing right.
And then comes Zapad 2013.

http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com...cks-syria.html

thats very considerate of them. it's nice that they still remember us. (Might this have anything to do with the scheduled meeting between Obama and the Baltic leaders?)

[Pure ja]

thats very considerate of them. it's nice that they still remember us. (Might this have anything to do with the scheduled meeting between Obama and the Baltic leaders?)

Don't know.

But besides military force, Kremlin is contemplating soft subvertive force as well.

http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com...-bring-to.html

[Hercus Monte]

Latvia, always the weakest link, bless them.