Final Word from Thursday, January 29, 2009
"Of the people, for the people" is what democracy is all about, but the National Economic Council's proposals for resolving the economic crisis are mostly "of business, for business." Only a handful of the proposals, as published today by MF Dnes, look at the situation from the position of the common man, although many of the ideas would indeed eventually have a positive trickle-down effect by lowering business costs. Jiří Schwarz of VŠE proposes the most Everyman solutions, from cutting VAT on residential utilities to lowering employee taxes. Czechs who are counting every crown would also like to see the Council look at such things as rising energy rates, planned increases in public transit passes, the headlong rush into digital TV (requiring people to buy expensive new equipment) and other money-burning irritants in life that the well-paid people on the Council don't have to worry about. Czechs shouldn't have to turn to the financial pages to learn what their government is doing to help them through this crisis.[Czech Republic business-to-business Prague School of Economics university television value-added tax 9%]
Glossary of difficult words
B2B - business-to-business; trade conducted between two businesses (usually on the internet);
trickle-down effect - measures that benefit the poorest as a result of an increase in the wealth of the richest;
VŠE - Prague School of Economics;
Everyman - of or relating to an ordinary or typical human being;
headlong - in a rush; with reckless haste.