British Prime Minister
Gordon Brown visits Obama
['Crufts' is a dog show in
Great Britain]
[The
Times, U.K.]
Novaya Gazeta,
Russia
Russia's 'White
Envy' Over Obama's Plans
"Here, the
prime minister [Putin] utters the word 'crisis' in dead-end situations only, the
term long having been unofficially banned from central television. … The
government stubbornly conceals the true state of affairs, believing it better not to put plans to paper and wait until America crawls out of its
crisis, pulling the world economy - and along with it, God willing, Russia's,
along with it."
By Alexander
Polukhin*
Translated By Yekaterina Blinova
February 27, 2009
Russia - Novaya Gazeta - Original Article
(Russian)
As you know, Barack Obama
went into the election with the slogan, "Change We Need." But his
formula could have been: "We Need a Plan." The country, enchanted
with the new president, waited for Plan Obama as if awaiting a revelation. It
seemed that any moment he would find a recipe for the salvation of the national
economy. In the end, a many-paged document that called for spending $787
billion received a cool reception by the markets. However the bankers have
their own problems, the net value of which is up in the trillions of a.u.
(arbitrary units).
But the average U.S. citizen
is much more interested in the section of Plan Obama that deals with modernizing
the real economy and social sphere. This is of interest not only to American
minds. We, for instance, have no such plan in the form of a systemic document
(miscellaneous measures - regardless of the effectiveness of each - do not
count). Therefore, the American experience is useful - at least as an object of
white envy [friendly jealously].
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
America, unlike, let us say,
the Scandinavian countries, has little association with the socialist state -
its historic credo being a society of equal opportunity. Meanwhile, in the midst
of this more than usual crisis, the Americans are willing to spend vast sums of
money on preserving these opportunities. In other words, the United States are
engaged in the making of aggressive social policy, while our government talks
with an ever-shrinking degree of certainty about maintaining its social
obligations - presenting this as some kind of victory.
A
carnival float of a flying President Obama with Europe dragged
along
is seen during the traditional carnival parade in Duesseldorf,
Germany,
Feb. 3
Plan Obama is also curious
because it represents a financial slice of American society that on the one
hand, is preparing to deliver Internet access to every farm; but on the other, has
yet to resolve the problem of hunger and has been forced, like the late Soviet
Union, to distribute food through ration cards [food stamps]. This is an honest
recognition by America herself of its problems. And not just by America
generally - but specifically by its leader. Here’s a quote from Barack Obama’s
address to both houses of the U.S. Congress (February 24): "My budget does
not attempt to solve every problem or address every issue. It reflects the
stark reality of what we’ve inherited - a trillion-dollar deficit, a financial
crisis, and a costly recession."
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Here, the prime minister [Putin]
utters the word "crisis" in dead-end situations only, the term long
having been unofficially banned from central television. The department here
that has been designated to confront the crisis is called The Governmental
Commission on Sustainable Development of the Russian Economy, which is
pretty extreme even for Newspeak.
The government stubbornly conceals the true state of affairs, believing it better not to put plans to paper and wait until America crawls out of its
crisis, pulling the world economy - and along with it, God willing, Russia's,
along with it.
But to say that our
government does nothing would be wrong. We know that trillions of rubles have already
been spent to bolster the economy. However in most cases, the fate of these
funds is unknown. For example, when it was discovered that the banks after receiving
state support instantly converted these funds into dollars, thereby devaluing
our national currency, the prime minister merely "chided" the
bankers, and Central Bank merely began giving them a little less. Obama’s plan,
however, requires that information about how every anti-crisis dollar is spent will
be available to the public on a special Web site. By the way, the president [Obama]
reminded listeners to his speech: "I have told each member of my Cabinet
as well as mayors and governors across the country that they will be held
accountable by me and the American people for every dollar they spend."
*Alexander Polukhin is
Economics Editor for Novaya Gazeta
CLICK HERE FOR RUSSIAN VERSION
[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US March 3, 2:20pm]
