“Volodina’s thousand” – no money, no creativity

By handing out a thousand hryvnia to vaccinated people, the Ukrainian government need not worry about inflation - the amount is so tiny that it will not affect anything either on the scale of the entire economy or in individual industries, except perhaps the attitude of Ukrainians towards Zelensky - it will change, but not like this, as he imagines it.

Ukrainians will be gifted with another “reincarnation” of probably the most famous populist idea since independence – “Yulina’s Thousand”. Unfortunately, the “green” political strategists were unable to even simply copy a technology that worked well once - they don’t give a thousand to everyone, but only to those who have been vaccinated, and not just like that, but for the most important needs, in the opinion of the authorities - travel by trains and planes, sports, concert and movie tickets.

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Some media outlets are already beginning to discuss whether this will cause a surge in inflation and even cite in favor of this argument the words of Deputy Chairman of the National Bank Sergei Nikolaychuk, which, if desired, can be interpreted in the sense that, they say, only cinema and theater tickets will become more expensive. In fact, this is not what Nikolaychuk meant.

“A thousand hryvnia is not an amount that could significantly stimulate consumer demand. In addition, the industries to which the government expects these funds to be allocated are suffering from underutilization. It is unlikely that additional demand will lead to a significant increase in prices. Even if prices in the field of culture and sports increase by 5-10%, this will have little impact on the overall inflation rate, since the share of these services in the consumer basket is insignificant,” he said in an interview with Forbes.

That is, we can talk about raising prices in the field of culture and sports as something purely hypothetical, and in the sense that even if it happens, it will not affect anything.

In fact, the happy owners of “Volodya’s Thousand”, having received it, are unlikely to immediately rush to buy up tickets to cinemas and sports clubs. The proportion of people with such expenses is negligible, and almost all of them are concentrated in large cities. Residents of small settlements will probably be able to save only a little on rail transport (which, of course, will not affect the price of tickets in any way). And in big cities, many would prefer to spend money on transport rather than on entertainment.

_{It is strange that the authors of “Volodya’s Thousand” do not understand that by limiting people on where they can spend the money that unexpectedly falls on them, they discredit the very idea of ​​a “gift”. It is clear that, having received Volodin’s Thousand, everyone will compare it with Yulina, and the comparison will not be in favor of the current one.}

Firstly, Volodina is five times thinner. If in March 2008 1000 hryvnia could buy a little less than 200 dollars, now it’s less than 40 dollars. In addition, that thousand was real money, it could be used to buy, for example, products that everyone needed, but now they don’t give us money, but something like a gift card to a retail chain.

Probably, the idea of ​​such a “modernization” of “Yulina’s Thousand” came to the mind of a marketer who was either hired to advise the government, or was even made a “Servant of the People” in 2019. And neither this head nor the other government heads understand that it looks ugly, especially against the backdrop of Yulia’s real money.

The idea of ​​a “reward for vaccination” looks about the same, especially against the backdrop of “Yulina’s” money, which was for everyone (who had deposits in the Soviet Sberbank) and without any conditions. Actually, it’s not original either. For example, the prizes that political strategists there presented to vaccinating US residents were original.

For example, back in May, New Yorkers were tempted by the national American cuisine - French fries and hamburgers. The mayor himself was seducing - on one of the local channels, with his mouth full of potatoes, he campaigned for vaccination, promising free fast food joys to everyone who gets vaccinated. To confirm his words, the mayor took a bite of a hamburger and said “mmm... vaccination.”

_{If the Office of the President had political strategists who not only share Western values, but at least try to adapt the most creative Western experience, then instead of the dull “Volodya’s Thousand” we would see Volodya himself on the screens - with lard in one hand and a bottle of vodka in another.}

I’m sure he would be great at saying “mmm... vaccination” in a familiar, hoarse voice with a rich timbre. And then everyone would... well, maybe not everyone, but many would definitely go for the vaccine, vodka and lard.