Poverty as a state crime

What Putin will not say about in his message to the Federal Assembly

On Wednesday, January 15, the president will announce his message to the Federal Assembly. It is expected that Vladimir Putin is concerned about the problem of poverty in the country, and it will become the central theme of the message. Objectively, there is every reason for this.

Poverty in Russia has gained enormous scales: 13.1% of the population have income below the subsistence minimum, every fourth child lives in a poor family, the minimum wage and the cost of living are only about $ 200, and real incomes of the population fall for the sixth year. Sociological studies of recent years, regardless of the loyalty of power or independence of the centers that conduct them, put poverty in the first place in the list of problems that excite citizens.

Poverty beats for every poor and all poor and non -poor together, on the present and future of the country. It is no coincidence that trouble and poverty are single -rooted words. Among the troubles with which poverty turns out, first of all, the low quality of life of people with small incomes, which affects their health, education, satisfaction of cultural needs, self -realization, mood, social ties. This cannot but follow losses in motivation and quality of labor, and therefore, a decrease in the quality and accessibility of services in those areas where low -paid employees work.

The problem is aggravated by the structure of poverty, since among those who are unaft, a significant share is composed of employees of culture, science, education, healthcare - those people who determine the quality of human capital of the country. Explosed by processing in order to make ends meet, not having the opportunity to have a good rest and professional self -development, they not only cannot provide services themselves at the level of time requirements, but also reproduce the negative characteristics of human capital. You can’t build an innovative economy with such capital.

Not only for the future, but also for the existing economy, poverty is a serious factor in stagnation. In recent years, in the first three factors restraining the development of business, company leaders necessarily call "decreasing demand in the domestic market." If every third family cannot afford a second pair of shoes suitable for the season, not to mention more serious purchases, such as long -term goods, then only “patriots” on salaries can hope for economic growth.

Poverty is dangerous and its psychology. Losing strength in the struggle for survival, a person reduces the bar of his needs, is content with small, loses motivation. The Minister of Labor and Social Protection M. Topilin a year ago noted that families with children make up 80 percent of those who enter a group of people with income below the subsistence minimum. Children under 16 years old account for more than 30% in the poor group. The likelihood that the children accustomed to live in poverty themselves, becoming adults, will replenish the ranks of the poor are high. This leads to the reproduction of the problem.

So poverty deprives the country of the future.

There is no strategy or political will in power to overcome poverty. Moreover, the existence with a protracted belt is proposed as a model of a decent life and patriotic behavior.

At the same time, officials are actively operating the theme of poverty. In its own way, in a chin. They talk about her, study, change the methods of its measurement, make up programs to overcome it, as, for example, in Moscow. In 13 regions of the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation, a pilot project for analyzing the main causes of the poverty of Russians and the development of universal mechanisms to combat it. The experiment on the personified detection of low -income families and the construction of poverty paths for them ended in the fall of 2019, but it is not yet possible to detect its results.

These pseudo -acts do not change the position of the poor, but it is obvious that officials themselves receive material benefits. So, for example, the Ministry of Economic Development prepared changes in the procedure for the statistical measurement of the poverty level in Russia in order to improve the quality of poverty statistics, as well as strengthen the targeted social assistance from the state. To implement plans, 1.3 billion rubles will be required. From the federal budget for three years. The Ministry of Labor also spoke about the need for 7 billion rubles in 2020 for the experiment mentioned above.

Discussion of the topic of poverty by Russian officials shows that in Russia the poor thing is the very idea of ​​poverty. To measure it, the concept of absolute poverty is used, when the incomes of the population correlate with the established poverty line - the subsistence minimum.

That is, those who survive are attributed to the poor. It is correct to consider these people to be poor, and the poor are the majority of citizens from the rest.

Confirmation of this is the facts that the modal (most common) average per capita income in many regions of the country is no more than $ 300, 30% of existing jobs suggest a salary that determines the life below the subsistence level if there is only one child in the family, 17% of families with the income above the subsistence minimum for a family member are not enough for the clothes and services of housing and communal services, 49.2% for goods - for goods - goods - for goods - goods long use.

Is there any hope that the president in his message will offer some real actions to overcome poverty? Definitely not! The proof of this is the recently adopted budget, which does not contain any hints of solving this problem.

You can only expect vague promises with a delayed result in the spirit of "a decrease in poverty level by half by 2024."

There is no doubt about this, because poverty is beneficial to existing power. She is afraid of the well -being of citizens. It is easier to manipulate those who survive. The situation that happened a year ago in the village of Tyuzhsky district of the Pskov region, where the fellow villagers produced a 12-year-old girl who wrote a letter to V. Putin with a request for help, showed how poverty allows the authorities to redirect people's aggression, control over the collision of foreheads, distracting attention from true culprits of this situation. The head of the Sebezh district, Leonid Rastenkov at that moment stated that the Perechikov family is not the only one who experiences such difficulties: "We have in the region of 19 thousand of the population, of which such families are about the same state."

Taking the vitality of man, poverty extinguishes a political protest, and indeed any protest. It is enough to compare the ratings of the regions on the income of citizens with a protest card in order to make sure of this.

Rights are remembered where the standard of living is higher, there are political requirements there.

It was in the most wealthy region of Russia - Moscow - as a result of cynical violation of the electoral rights of citizens in the elections to the Moscow City Duma, such a politically dramatic turnover took events in the summer of 2019.

Poverty is severely protected from encroachments. According to the results of 2018, 70 Russian regions, including the poorest population, consolidated budgets were executed with a surplus. In 2019, most likely, we will see a continuation of this practice. So, for example, the Government of the Komi Republic, following the results of three quarters, informed that the surplus of the republican budget amounted to 7 billion 202 million rubles, and this is at 16.5% of the population behind the poverty line.

The federal leadership, within the framework of inter -budget relations by Cerberus, controls the regional authorities that they do not show the initiative and do not increase social obligations.

Formally, this is furnished with the good goals of effective budgeting, reduction of public debt, etc., and it is really important to preserve the levers of manipulating people for the purpose of self -preservation of the authorities.

Another such lever is poverty administration. In each regional budget, an average of 25-30% of the expenditure part is spent on social protection. Of course, this is good that people provide various forms of social support, pay benefits.

For example, at the moment when the ex-Minister of Employment, Labor and Migration of the Saratov Region stated that you can live for 3,500 rubles. per month, out of 90 billion rubles. The expenditure part of the budget of the region more than 31 billion rubles accounted for the “Social Policy” section, that is, every third ruble of the Saratov budget. Obviously, 31 billion rubles are served by a huge mass of officials who collect certificates, compose registers, analytical reports, provide wiring, etc. And they do this for a salary that differs significantly from 3,500 rubles and from the amount of benefits that are appointed.

A huge army of officials parasitizes on poverty, the need for which is obvious to the authorities - these are the soldiers of the system, providing both the necessary election results and other tasks. And the authorities will protect poverty by all means!

What would be important to hear in the President’s Epistle, whose result of 19 million beggars in the richest country? At least the following.

Message to the Federal Assembly (alternative)

There is a law in the country that is designed to protect a person from plague and cholera and various harmful habitats that threaten him as a living organism. It is called the Federal Law "On the sanitary-epidemiological well-being of the population." It establishes numerous requirements for the environment in order to maintain the physical health of citizens. But it is important for a person to be preserved not only as individuals, but also as a person, providing psychological and social health.

To do this, it is important to be able to at least occasionally buy a book or ticket to the theater, invite friends or visit relatives in another region, pay for the Internet or a tour of the child’s museum, buy, if not a bouquet, then at least a flower for mom/wife/sister for birthday. These completely ordinary human trifles are inaccessible to those who have income at the subsistence minimum to the soul and are completely inaccessible to those 19.2 million, who have below the poverty line. This is humiliating for a person, and in the Constitution of our country it is written that the dignity of a person is protected by the state and nothing can be the basis for its diminution.

Showing respect for a person, we will accept the Federal Law “On the socio-economic well-being of citizens in the Russian Federation”, which guarantees each citizen of the country, income at least a subsistence minimum, and the methodology for determining the subsistence minimum will be based on modern civilized social standards that ensure the preservation of human dignity.

Only subject to this approach, an article in the Constitution has the right to exist, that our state is social.

But we will not hear such words in the message. Because they will need to add to them about a change in economic and budget policy, conducting judicial reform, holding honest elections, equality of all before the law, abandoning wars in foreign territories.