Last Thursday the Latvian government has announced that it would escape bankruptcy by cutting pensions and other public spending. In principle that sounds like a good idea but somehow it does not seem likely to produce the necessary results, apart from bringing the trade unions out on strike and, probably, fierce rioting on the part of pensioners who do not have particularly large savings.
One assumes that the Latvian government has not been having second thoughts about pegging the currency to the euro as the desire to join the single currency is still strong.
In the European election just gone the pro-Russian candidates did quite well. These included the former leader of the Communist Party who has expressed his dismay at the collapse of the Soviet Union. Being able to manipulate matters in the Toy Parliament should be child's play to people like that. Whether they can help their country and its economy is a separate and rather worrying issue.
