Michael Delyagin: Management of the Country - Pure Gigolos

Source: "World of News"

- Where is the proof that monstrous incomes of wives of Shuvalov, Shojgu, Surkov, Hloponin aren't directly connected with position of their husbands? When Luzhkov was bullied, they blamed billions of Baturina. What about these figures - if they have the right? What about fight against corruption? If it has selective character?

- These declarations make steady impression that we have crowd of either swindlers, impudently and cynically scoffing at citizens of the country publishing ridiculous data about incomes of their relatives (in Luzhkov's style "I have nothing to do with it, simply my wife has talent for business"), or gigolos living at the expense of rich spouses.

I do not know what variant is worse for public morals but anyway such people shouldn't be in the government.

If they fight against corruption as with some phenomenon - eradicate conditions, "game rules" encouraging it. There are a lot of examples in the world practice.

But even after loud "imprisonments" "game rules", as a rule, don't change. It means, most likely, that "game rules" generating corruption and corruption itself quite suit our management; it doesn't like only that element of system which it changes - that is separately taken corrupted persons: some have gone too far, some have shown disrespect, some belong to an alien clan...

Though replacement of one corrupted persons by other has the same relation to the fight against corruption as a boxing duel - to the demand to forbid box as it is.

- How to understand such steady trend that incomes of government officials are above, than of Medvedev's command and Putin's incomes are bigger, than of Dmitry Anatolevich's? If the president works so badl?

- Possibly it's reflection of bigger influence of the prime minister and the government as a whole - as well as the result of better work of presidential propagandists who show the president closer to people, restrained, deserving pity.

If you really believe that declared incomes have anything to do with the real ones?

- How to estimate in general practice of these declarations? What does it give in general? If it is simply garbage and is used to blind - what's it meaning?!

- Declarations have important propaganda effect: they show to the West and Russia that the state aspires to honesty. It fails but tries - it already looks not bad, hardly less shamefully.

Besides, it's classical "abstracting from unusable object": society starts gossiping about incomes and forgets about duties. It's already not so important who makes this or that - it is important who and how many receives. We abstract from dying children to gossip about incomes of madam Golikova. Ruin of agriculture and sowing failure is no longer important to us - we chew the rag and purse of the former proprietress of Spas-SALONS who headed the Ministry of Agriculture.

No matter ridiculous it seems, declarations really constrain avidity of officials a little, force them to hide informal incomes more cleverly.

The main thing - declarations give reliable compromising evidence on the corrupted bureaucrats. Each of them knows: if he will make something wrong - he will be checked and dismissed with a shame. So declarations at all their frank cynicism - important tool of management.

 - What do you think, whether inhabitants of heaven should report not only about incomes but also about expenses?

- Certainly, the president Medvedev already told about it. He will tell it another fifty times and then - they will discuss it even.

 - Under your data, whether there were punishment cases of at least one official, top-manager among country leaders for the doubtful declaration?

- Major general Gajdukov who was engaged no less than in nuclear safety was dismissed from the post of the Minister of Defense in September last year for that indicator. Six more were dismissed in March of the current year in the Rostov region as a result of public prosecutor's check. It has been declared that employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be dismissed for it.

It is one of the tools of "mopping up", to be honest, little applied as well as simple demonstration of the fact that the weapon basically can shoot.

 - Whether such image is pertinent: what is declared - a tip of iceberg (1/7), all the rest is under water - 6/7? Or there's different lay of things here?

- Not for all, some years ago there was a scandal with photos of the wife of Minister of Finance Kudrin: the cost of what she wore was estimated approximately in the revenue of her husband. Though, on the other hand, they are not fat - may be they don't eat. 

I think members of a class of kleptocrats ruling in Russia declare small part of their real incomes and everyone has their own. At that incomes of their wives testify, in my opinion, aspiration of these "gigolos" to legalization of incomes. After all real life of its critical part proceeds in the West and it's more and more difficult to use not laundered funds there.

- Sums of declarations of these people are incomparable to declarations of simple, ordinary citizens. Is it normal? Let's compare, if situation abroad is the same? Probably, it's correct that supervising persons of the country should earn much? More than the country population? Or it's grandness and it shouldn't be so? How ordinary person should treat these figures - to envy, to be angry (then with whom? With himself or with the rich president?) or to perceive it as reality?

- The head should get more, than the subordinate: he has bigger responsibility. Though rupture in incomes shouldn't tear off the head from life and transform it into Maria Antoinette advising complaining of lack of bread to pass to cakes.

Rupture in incomes shouldn't shock population and kindle social enmity.

Ordinary person should react to these indicators, in my opinion, adequately: as on quantitative expression of injustice and contempt for him from the part of the ruling party, as on cynical demonstration of its absolute extraneity to "this country".

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