The eccentric mayor

Here's some more on what the mayor of Kiev is looking to do. More populism? Sometimes the mayor makes a lot of sense and sometimes he sounds crack-brained. Which one is he really? I don't know, but government owned stores selling to the poor and the elderly--really the same thing here--makes a certain sense. This one, at least, isn't crack-brained. The poor here are just going to get poorer and going to be in a lot more jeopardy than they were what with the rise in energy prices which is going on apace. But it just won't work. It will just create some more Mercedes and BMW drivers because it will increase opportunities for graft and corruption.

"So, just have some kind of agency oversee what goes on in these stores. Make an example of a few of the people who engage in this kind of corruption and that will end it." Won't happen. Just cut the members of the agency in on a piece of the action and the way is paved for your grand dacha in the protected portions of the wilderness.

It will create great expense and it will poorly serve the poor. It will bust the budget and leave some guys in tailored suits and slick, pointed shoes, smiling. In other words, it will be more of the same.