It is entirely possible that by accepting the money from the IMF the Latvian govenment is breaking its own laws on money laundering. As we all know, the IMF is bankrolled by the USA. The rumour has it that the USA sees the loans to the Eastern European countries as a clever way of handing over paper money produced for the magic "quantitive easing" and totally unsupported by any collateral, and later getting back good money (plus interest) in return. Now if this is true then the Latvian govenment is supporting a highly questionable and probably illegal act. If this "clear money" came from Russan business serious questions would be asked!
The really bad news though is that the crisis has officially worsened - the Hammock shop on Brivibas is going to close. As regular readers will remember, I mentioned the shop on April 12th and questioned how it survived. Well it hasnt. I saw the Prime Minister on television this morning. He looked more smug than usual as he commented that the government recovery plans were working. Not from where I look they are not. I predict that a lot more shops and companies will follow Hammocks into oblivion this winter.
And judging by the growing queue of beggars outside the free food places, a few souls will disappear in the cold as well. I see and hear of no plan how to deal with the homeless. Perhaps there is one, but it is being kept as secret as all the other government plans. Democracy currently has no home here in Latvia.
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Hi Glenn
ReplyDeleteIts been a while, since my March comment.
I have tried to keep up but unfortunately been very busy on this side of the pond.
This post fell in my google news search and I have to say you are about the only one that apparently says what he observes truthfully.
I think its Latvian pride that gets in the way and too many times I get conflicting opinions.
Now to your interesting theory about IMF money laundering. I got a kick out of that one.
The USA is not the only one that contributes to this fund.
Since Obama created the megabuck stimulus plan its anyones guess where the $$ will come from.
Raising money for this folly has come from many sources. China being the main one and possibly the printing press. I predict we could possibly be in deeper shit than we realize.
Just don't have the time at the moment to see how it would tie in with IMF loans to Latvia.
Unfortunately I have cut this short and later this evening catch up with all I missed here.
Don't give up on Latvia it survived 50 years of communism. Its people are strong and resilient. They just have to stop blaming others for their predicament and kick butt.
Democracy is an overused word that has lost its true meaning. Its the road to Democracy that has to be learned and unfortunately not everybody is ready for it.
Take care
Zigrida Dzenis
P.S. Correct me if I'm wrong, is not your mayor of Riga from the same political party that yu are affiliated with?
Zigrida
ReplyDeleteI am glad it was you that commented. My heart sank when I saw anonymous because that usually means abuse and nastiness. This time the reverse. Thank you for your comments. I do have a trained eye so I can see the changes clearly. I have been surpised that things have moved as slowly as they have and with so much apparent resignation about cuts, closures and redundancies. I fear that there is a large amount of "not in my backyard" about this all.
I was horrified to hear one young friend of mine describe the begging queue as a bunch of "losers". I think that this attitude is truly awful and is more widespread than I like, but probably reflects a strong feeling of insecurity and need to distance themselves from the possibility of it coming their way too.
As for the overall financial situation. I have no idea if the world economies will suddenly fold. The veneer may be thinner or thicker than we think - and it is entirely possible that it will all just keep going along nicely and the true value of money will never be tested.
The Major of Riga, Usakovs is from the Russian coalition SC not the SCP. I wonder how many votes we have lost on that one? He has started well although ruffled a few feathers about the language issue. That is another thing that reflects Latvian insecurities rather than common sense. You cannot order people to adopt another language. Soviet history should have shown that clearly.But these are early days yet. We shall see how he goes on.
Thanks again for your comments. Pass the Blog on to any other Baltic readers you know.
Glen