politicians

In the current situation of high inflation and large budget deficits, salary increases for politicians and central bankers alike are rightly criticised. While, because of the poor economic situation, the wages of most citizens are falling in real terms due to inflation, these high-ranking civil servants are not feeling any of the pinch.

The 20th century could be referred to as the century of inflation. Monstrous inflation took place in many countries, such as hyperinflation in Germany in the 1920s, in Hungary after World War II, or in Zimbabwe and Venezuela in the recent past.

Some respected economists identified the issue of consolidation in public budget already in 2022 as a third-order problem. From an analytical point of view, he is, of course, right. A one-year deficit of 10% of GDP is nothing compared to a permanent two to five per cent deficit in the pension system with a declining workforce.

As an accumulation of national interests, a treaty is a disbanding thing if Member States consider that their national interests are being harmed. Result: a disunion.

Bureaucracy is still a burden for both entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens. One of the reasons why the political “fight” has not achieved remarkable success in fighting the red tape, is a missing connection between politics and the everyday life of entrepreneurs.

A study by McKinsey & Company showed that 49% of the working hours in Hungary can be automated with the already existing technologies. This does not necessarily mean that these jobs will be lost forever, but they are going to be transformed.

Since the great expansion of the EU in 2004, we are constantly hearing concerns about so-called social dumping from hard-core, traditional EU members. What at first seems to be an action against imminent threats to social standards in Western Europe is in fact a sophisticated instrument to eliminate competition from new EU members.

Equally promising is that many politicians have clearly understood what clever solutions are: connecting the already existing services, using of the current state of knowledge, putting pressure on solutions implemented through open online platforms, encouraging interactions with citizens, among others.

If privatisation is indeed to work its magic and liberate markets from politicians, predictable mistakes should be avoided. Thinking about privatisation failure can improve privatisation itself.

(...) finding meaningful measures of politicians’ activity and competence is a rather difficult task.