Caps on again

The cabinet's decision to drop the idea of abolishing the caps on social-security and health tax is already yesterday's news, but it shouldn't be so quickly forgotten. It's a good example of how consistent policy-making can prevail even when a crisis-infused world prefers arbitrary reactionism. The cabinet wanted to be seen as doing something about the crisis and chose an easy prey - "rich" employees who incite the envy of many voters. Trying to take away the caps, though, set off an explosion among business leaders who felt betrayed by their "rightist" government. Some of them spoke of shifting high-paid workers to Slovakia. The government did its calculations again and relented. It nevertheless ended up winning on both ends. It got its initial boost of populist support, and then it received praise from the business community for realizing that this time, at least, no legislative action was the best action. [Czech Republic premiums healthcare]