Paul Goble
Staunton,
January 11 – Russians have long been accustomed to buying eggs 12 to a package,
but now they are being offered this important foodstuff in packages of only
nine, the most obvious confirmation that inflation is running much higher than
the Russian authorities say it is.
People
in other countries have experienced something similar: when prices rise,
manufacturers and store operators offer smaller packages so that the full
impact of the increase will not be noted.
That is accepted by most as just the way things are, but in Russia, it
is something new at least for a basic product like eggs.
As
a result, Russians are angry and drawing exactly the conclusions the
authorities do not want them to draw, that the inflation rate is vastly higher
than the government says it is and thus that the government is lying to them yet
again (idelreal.org/a/29703158.html, ura.news/news/1052366982,
and
nakanune.ru/articles/114772/).
This is far from the only signal
Russians are getting that the situation in their country is far less rosy than
Vladimir Putin and his state-controlled television suggest. Many are now faced
with the prospects of losing some of their benefits and even their pensions
because of a sleight of hand Russian firms are employing, again one familiar in
some Western countries.
In order to avoid paying taxes of
certain kinds, some Russian employers are shifting the status of those who work
for them from employees to private contractors. The companies may benefit but the
workers don’t – and again many of the latter are anything but happy with this
additional means of taking money away from them (news.mail.ru/economics/35927735/).
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