A Big, big, big day for Europe, but even bigger day for Estonia
It was one cold winter day in the last February. The Estonian prime minister was front of the parliament. Someone asked him about the ACTA.
The Prime minister was upset, because someone dared to question ACTA and its impact on the freedom of the internet. He wanted to sign the treaty right there and then. The Prime minister Ansip promised that the ACTA is “the next best thing” and he would take the full responsibility for the ACTA. He said: “I cannot understand the hysteria what is going on, especially in Estonia.”
He said that if someone is afraid of the ACTA and is questioning it, then this person “has eaten seeds” and he suggested that this person should wear the foil hat. (Check www.youtube.com to see the demonstrations in Estonia against ACTA where people were indeed wearing foil hats, even some dogs are wearing them).
So today the European Parliament said quite unanimously “NO” to the ACTA. So today the politicians who said that ACTA is very good are silent. At least in Estonia.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Monday, July 2, 2012
Real Estonia- Tõeline Eesti vol 2
Dear Reader.
Do you like numbers? I don't. Statistics is easy to play with and you can show anything you want. There is saying that there are small lies, big lies and statistics.
So I do not give you any statistics in boxes and no graphs- at least not today. Still I would like to give you some numbers.
There is such statistic term as average salary- you have to sum up all the salaries and then you have to divide the sum with the number of salaries you summed up. Difficult? Yeah! Try to explain it in Chinese.
In Estonia the average salary was in 2011 839€ (around 1308$). The median wage was 623€. The minimal wage was in 2011 278€, in 2012 it was raised to 290€. The average pension is around 304€. Is it lot or is it little? (without taxes)
I don't judge, but the salary of the members of parliament were about 2888€ in 2011. In the 2012 it rose 246€. (do not include benefits of course)
The redundant worker- the one who has no work but is looking for it- is getting 60€ per month from the State. Person with income or without income has to have after paying all the taxes and utilities (the rent of the home is not included) 70€ per month (around 109$) for food and basic consumer goods. It is 2,3€ (about 3,36$) per day- to buy food, toothpaste, medications, toilet paper, transportation.
Do you like numbers? I don't. Statistics is easy to play with and you can show anything you want. There is saying that there are small lies, big lies and statistics.
So I do not give you any statistics in boxes and no graphs- at least not today. Still I would like to give you some numbers.
There is such statistic term as average salary- you have to sum up all the salaries and then you have to divide the sum with the number of salaries you summed up. Difficult? Yeah! Try to explain it in Chinese.
In Estonia the average salary was in 2011 839€ (around 1308$). The median wage was 623€. The minimal wage was in 2011 278€, in 2012 it was raised to 290€. The average pension is around 304€. Is it lot or is it little? (without taxes)
I don't judge, but the salary of the members of parliament were about 2888€ in 2011. In the 2012 it rose 246€. (do not include benefits of course)
The redundant worker- the one who has no work but is looking for it- is getting 60€ per month from the State. Person with income or without income has to have after paying all the taxes and utilities (the rent of the home is not included) 70€ per month (around 109$) for food and basic consumer goods. It is 2,3€ (about 3,36$) per day- to buy food, toothpaste, medications, toilet paper, transportation.
- · The liter of gasoline is around 1.288- 1.4€;
- · The one-room apartment is around 160-200€. Utility taxes are 80-100€;
- · The purchasing power is 67% from EU average;
- · Since Estonia got the euro, the inflation is one of the fastest in the euro area (about 4%- 6%);
- · Although public sector debt burden is quite low, the private sector burden of debt is high;
- · According to the recent data approximately 60 000 children are living in poverty.
Real Estonia vol 1
Dear Reader.
Probably you have heard something about Estonia, otherwise you wouldn't have stumbled upon this blog. If you are looking for basic data about the Estonia, then I have to say that you are in wrong place. Go to wikipedia or "google" again.
But if you are interested in the real Estonia, then please continue reading. You may have read or heard about Estonia, this tiny country, which is doing so great. Estonia joined the proud euro (€) owners last year and is
recovering from the recession (in Estonia we are referring it to MASU).
Estonia is referred to as the Northern tiger. Or at least some of us like to think that. Estonia is a little country between Finland and Latvia, next to Russia (east) and Baltic sea (west). We have been proud members of the EU since 2004 and we belong to the other organizations- such as NATO, UN, WTO...
In Estonia there are living around 1300000 people. We have internet, SKYPE, Karmen Kass, electricity, electric cars and four seasons (not a hotel but actually 4 seasons- summer, autumn, winter and spring).
But that info you can find from the Wikipedia. Just type in Estonia and you find it. I promise! The aim of this blog is to talk about real Estonia. The real problems that are behind the beautiful frontal. So if you are still interested, stay tuned!
Do not get me wrong. I absolutely love my country. But there are so many problems. I don't know even from what to start.
Probably you have heard something about Estonia, otherwise you wouldn't have stumbled upon this blog. If you are looking for basic data about the Estonia, then I have to say that you are in wrong place. Go to wikipedia or "google" again.
But if you are interested in the real Estonia, then please continue reading. You may have read or heard about Estonia, this tiny country, which is doing so great. Estonia joined the proud euro (€) owners last year and is
recovering from the recession (in Estonia we are referring it to MASU).
Estonia is referred to as the Northern tiger. Or at least some of us like to think that. Estonia is a little country between Finland and Latvia, next to Russia (east) and Baltic sea (west). We have been proud members of the EU since 2004 and we belong to the other organizations- such as NATO, UN, WTO...
In Estonia there are living around 1300000 people. We have internet, SKYPE, Karmen Kass, electricity, electric cars and four seasons (not a hotel but actually 4 seasons- summer, autumn, winter and spring).
But that info you can find from the Wikipedia. Just type in Estonia and you find it. I promise! The aim of this blog is to talk about real Estonia. The real problems that are behind the beautiful frontal. So if you are still interested, stay tuned!
Do not get me wrong. I absolutely love my country. But there are so many problems. I don't know even from what to start.
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