Triumph of Neo-Capitalist Economics: Latvian Politicians Gain Freedom From Russia, Drive Talented Citizens Abroad as Price of Joining Euro, Then Invite Bribes From Russians To Return. Huh?

Commentary by Roger Erickson Political rats swimming TOWARDS the buffet on a sinking ship? Whatever. If YOU don't detect any sense in orthodox economics, don't feel bad. No logician does. It's all a convenient fraud. It's just that some frauds are more convenient than others. The following is how Latvian politicians try to compete with Goldman Sachs to get noticed in the competitive world of doing "God's Work." Make sense of this chain of events, if you can. Latvia finally gains freedom from the Soviet occupation. Then, at the behest of orthodox "economists," Latvian politicians beg to be allowed to surrender their electorates new found sovereignty to the EU, and even to the EU's "monetary union" currency protocols. The agreed upon price of this political and banking surrender is aggressive austerity to gut the living standards of Latvians, and drive the bulk of their youth and talent to flee the country, for subsistence employment anywhere it can be found. Hey, it's the price a politicians got to arrange to have paid, by others, in order to secure his or her personal advancement, right? With this quid pro quo complete, Latvian politicians then turned to "agile" methods for shoring up their own prospects. How? By recruiting and accepting legal "cash-for-Latvian (and hence EU) residency" bribes, (mostly?) from Russians barred from other paths for obtaining EU residency papers. You couldn't make this up, this bitterly tragic mess - or accept it. Well, not unless you were steeped in the cynics of Latvian politics. Or used to taking bribes for screwing your country under the guise of economics declared "undeniably plausible" by certain, self serving (or breathtakingly clueless) economists. Or just a tragic fool, easily separated from the general welfare of your people. Who says life is fair? If it is, Latvian politicians deserve to live in poverty, in the country they've sold. Getting promoted to cushy jobs in Brussels will be equivalent to a "get out of jail free" ticket, from the very jail they expropriated and sold to the highest bidders. Heckuva job politiķi! Your actions are worth a četrkāršs sejas palmu! The Latvian nation is half dead! Long live the kontrole Krāpšana!