WEBVTT

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The middle class. Where have we lost it? We were told it would account 

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for more than a half of the population.

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Listen, do you know what the middle class is? If you think that 

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the term “middle class” is about the way people live in France,

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Germany or the United States, this is not so.

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The middle class is different in different countries.

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There is a relevant methodology of the World Bank.

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The middle class is estimated using the number of households,

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of people whose incomes are 50 per cent above the minimum wage.

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This year’s minimum wage is, if I remember correctly, 11,280 rubles,

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while the average wage is far higher.

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There are a lot of such people, well above 70 per cent.

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Then our middle class should rather be called ‘middling’.

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You know, we have to proceed from the realities.

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Within one's means.

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Not within one's means but using the methodology of the World Bank.

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”Within one's means“ is a very unclear formula.

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The World Bank's methodology, however,

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suggests that each country has its own middle class. So do we.

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Our task is just to make this middle class stronger.

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I wish it were like in France or Germany…

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Boost incomes…

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I would not like it to be like in France.

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Don't you?

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Just look at what is happening there.

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Is there anything good about it? Protests there continue nonstop, right? 

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Whole branches of the economy are stalled.

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The unrest left 11 people dead, many were injured,

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lost their eyes to rubber bullets.

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What is so good about this? Is this what you wish? I do not think so.

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The people in France went to the streets.

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Yes.

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Macron made a move, then backtracked.

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Is this a good thing?

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I do not know. For the French people it probably is.

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I do not think so. Firstly, fundamentally nothing has changed.

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In the context of the reform, the most critical issue, as I see it,

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was the one related to early retirement and basically equal 

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treatment for all.

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From the economic standpoint, this is actually reasonable.

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Pragmatically, President Macron, on the whole,

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is doing the right thing.

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We, pragmatically speaking, have done the wrong thing because we have 

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left in place practically everything –

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retained almost all the privileges,

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all privileged categories.

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We still have early retirement,

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while in France this is the principal reason for discontent –

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that early retirement plans are being canceled.

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Early retirement has remained for the military 

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and for the law enforcement agencies.

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Where?

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Here, in Russia.

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Not only for them. It has been preserved for coalminers, for instance,

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and for other categories. It has remained for teachers.

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We have many groups entitled to preferences.

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Moreover, for mothers of large families the retirement age is 50.

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We need to fulfil a very important task –

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to raise people's real incomes.

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We should think about the best use of the available 

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resources, which are big enough.

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Our National Welfare Fund has exceeded 7 per cent of the GDP –

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to be more precise, it is 7.3 per cent.

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Next summer, in July, as far as I remember,

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funds are expected to be credited to our accounts and we are getting 

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to the point when we will begin to spend the NWF more actively –

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we agreed upon it before, we made a decision to do it when this reserve 

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fund, and we have only one reserve fund left, the NWF,

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exceeded 7 per cent. The question is on what we should spend the money: 

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on investment, on support for certain groups of the population, etc. 

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This is what our discussion is revolving around today.