Well I don’t know if Kyiv is going to fall tomorrow, but it is obvious there is a lack of…
August 1st, 2023
Voila, the “Council of Judges” (OBT) has already submitted to Orban's "reorganization" by the afternoon. https://obt-jud.hu/sites/default/files/ulesek/Osszefoglalo_2024.11.20.pdf
Putin's spokesman, Peskov: "Freezing the conflict in Ukraine [along the existing frontlines] is UNACCEPTABLE for Russia, it is important for…
According to the 2015 contract, Russia would build the the Paks-2 atomic power plant for 12.5 billion euros, from start…
Current US situation: https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-summary/index.html https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-detections/commercial-backyard-flocks
“Reduction of ESTA Validity due to Hungarian Government’s Inaction to Meet Visa Waiver Program Security Requirements”
https://hu.usembassy.gov/news-reduction-of-esta-validity/
48 minutes after the announcement, EUR/HUF is up by 0.9%
Tappanch beat me to this news.
https://www.politico.eu/article/us-america-visa-waiver-program-esta-visa-waiver-hungary-tourism-viktor-orban/
“The unprecedented move, in response to security concerns, affects Hungary as the only one of 40 countries participating in the U.S. program. ”
Now if that had happened 15 years ago when my wife and I started our series of wonderful visits to the USA.
We count ourselves lucky!
Apart from bureaucratic and ministerial papistry, there must be something the Hungarian ministry of the interior desperately want’s to be kept secret about the background of some of the dual citizens.
Thanks Tappanch, Wolf and Michael for important news regarding Visa Waiver. I read your comments (and others) when I have time. Just came back from Newberry Volcano in Oregon.
Funny and typical:
Hun gov mouthpiece “Hungary Today” has lots of articles on the “MCC Feszt” where Fidesz claims Hungary is the most free country in Europe – but no report on the ESTA problem yet.
I’m womdering when they will have found out what to describe and who to blame – Pressman or Soros?
But it’s not a new problem. Romanian born (and other non-Schengen) dual citizens/residents have been under visa restrictions for years, leading to complaints over “2nd class” citizenships.
Imho the real problem is that Fidesz gives Hun passport to everbody who can show them some money. Of course that means for traveling around the world.
Especially the fact that Hungary is part of Schengen is like an invitation to most of Europe for them.
If I remember correctly Malta had or still has a similar problem – too many passports for shady people …
And they don’ check the persons and there might be quite a few criminals who now may use a Hun passport.
Not just
criminals, but also paid Russian SVR operatives potentially on missions in the USA.
See https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/american-reporter-arrested-russia-suspected-spies-caught-rcna77503 In particular the Russians want to know about US armament shipments to Ukraine.
.
Here in Illinois we have
a US Air
base that has shipped arms to the Ukrainian military see https://sofrep.com/amp/news/learn-how-the-scott-air-force-base-in-illinois-aids-in-maintaining-the-supply-of-weapons-to-ukraine/. If the Russians can figure out when the weapons fly out then they can anticipate an interception vector when they cross a NATO border into Ukraine by train or truck. This journal article from the Chinese explains how that can be done using satellite data https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1000936118301043
Have you ever heard of this Counterpoint Institute?
Shea Bradley-Farrell, its director seems to be one of the US rightwi ngers like deSantis – homophpbe etc …
https://ungarnheute.hu/news/interview-die-biden-regierung-ist-in-ideologischen-imperialismus-verwickelt-70461/
Now we know!
‘Hungary: The Last Bastion of Freedom in Europe’ Event Headlined by Counterpoint Institute President Shea Bradley-FarrellLaughing my head off …
Anyone know this site?
https://www.hungarianconservative.com/articles/current/esta_us_embassy_hungary_visa_vwp_validity_response/
Most life, including all humans, will fry in a few decades
“July 2023 wasn’t just the hottest month ever, on this chart it sticks out like a sore thumb”
https://assets.iflscience.com/assets/articleNo/70087/iImg/69728/hottest-month-l.webp
https://assets.iflscience.com/assets/articleNo/70087/iImg/69729/without-the-poles-l.webp
Can we all move to Greenland to survive a bit longer ?
Well we have been amazingly lucky in Chicago so far this spring and summer. We have had some massive rain storms and even tornados touch downs inside the city, but very few days with temperatures even hitting 32.2 C.
We are however experiencing wildfire smoke from Canada that has some days turned the sky orange and resulted in respiratory distress for some people.
This extensive article in the Kyiv Independent discusses Orban’s possible direct involvement in the transfer of Hungarian speaking Ukrainian Army prisoners from Russia to Hungary where most appear to have been granted sanctuary.
https://kyivindependent.com/exclusive-new-insights-point-to-hungarys-collaboration-with-moscow-on-transfer-of-ukrainian-pows/
Also today it was revealed that the primary medical assessment center for Ukrajnai magyarok in Berehove city that issues medical deferments for draftees was completely corrupted. For a payment of $6,000 USD they would exempt these young draftees from military service.
According to the Washington Post this was a large-scale draft evasion scheme going back to 2014. It involved members of the military medical commission, who destroyed official documentation in an effort to cover up their activities. It operated in Kiev and 11 other regions.
The Russian news media gleefully covered this story today. One Russian telegram commentator thought $6,000 was a very good deal to avoid likely death or critical injuries.
Basically the so called Ukrajnai magyarok Tisza River swimmers are just too poor to pay. So they have to swim the river and are picked up by Hungarian border police and eventually granted dual national status.
Maybe corrupt Hungarian border police offer discount raft trips across the Tisza? After all why should corrupt Ukrainians be making all the money?
I wouldn’t be surprised at all, if the Hungarian mafia-state supports the radicalization/militarization of far-right nationalist (separatist) groups from Ukraine, the same way they do in Transsylvania. It would be a lot easier to do that in Hungary, as it is now, and if there is any meaning behind Orbán’s peace-story, it must be a sinister one, of course, because if otherwise, nothing keeps him from starting an open, constructive dialogue with the neighbors.
This article https://magyarnemzet.hu/belfold/2023/08/megteveszto-es-hamis-az-amerikai-kulugyi-szovivo-nyilatkozata totally shows there may be Russian agents given Hungarian passports.
To reveal this information also could disclose some Ukrainian draft doggers with Hungarian passports and corrupt Russians hiding from combat for their hero Putin. Telex has done articles in the past about the sale of Hungarian passports to international criminals, Russian spies, and arms dealers.
If you want to amuse yourself, then just look up the latest news on “Hungary today”:
https://hungarytoday.hu/champions-of-press-freedom-conservative-news-portal-mocks-us-embassy/
What’s especially funny is that they often quote RT as a “reliable sourxe” when everybody knows that this is Putin’s leading propaganda medium.
Nice coincidence: Russia Today = Hungarytoday ???
PS:
Does anybody know who owns Hungarytoday officially?
The German version says:
“Friends of Hungary Foundation”
But who owns that? Friends of Fidesz?
Yes “Friends of Hungary Foundation” = Friends of Fidesz! 😀
For those who can read German:
An article on the media in Serbia, similar to Hungary but even more under the influence of Russia Today and Putin. Similar to Hungary the media are all controlled by the government under president Vučić who is a big fan of Putin.
You know the typical “reasoning”:
Ukraine and USA started the war, Russia is just defending itself, the EU is just a pile of shite …
Almost funny:
Of course Serbia wants to be a member of the bad bad EU:
We want the money!
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry over the appearently semi-psychotic state of mind, as expressed by the faithful far-right nationalists, in the US as well as Europe and Russia.
It looks like a far reaching Kool-Aid cult of the worst possible sort.
Another example of the fascist international movement and the connections between Hungary’s and the USA’s extreme right wing:
Hungarytoday has an article by Chris Rufo whose name I haveb’t heard before:
https://hungarytoday.hu/a-foreign-authors-detailed-analysis-of-viktor-orbans-policies/
If you look him up on wiki (be warned, it’s a long article describing his crazy theories) you’ll find that he is also connected to deSantis and his “Don’t say gay” program, our old friend Tucker Carson and one of his main ideas is …
Later, he was a research fellow at the Discovery Institute, a Christian think tank known for its opposition to the theory of evolution and advocacy for intelligent design to be taught in public schools.
Ain’t that funny?
Now we’e waiting for Hungary’s schools to do the same …
You know, that kind of media coverage is pure poison and should be regulated.
If people are meant to have a chance to reflect and think about their lives, this kind of garbage-news should be kept down.
Today in Magyar Nemzet Laslow Szentesi a loyal Fidesz operative was given the assignment to wage ideological war on the US State Department over passport issues.
He performed his assignment by producing this article https://magyarnemzet.hu/ahelyzet/2023/08/itt-van-amerika . In this article he claims America should be in fear of not Hungarians selling passports to various Russian spies and oligarchs but rather: “American services should primarily curb two dangerous ideologies, Nazism and Islamism, because if they don’t, they face more bloody acts. So the danger did not come from across the border, but in the country: in the form of fanatical revolutionaries, whom the Americans reward with citizenship and free movement, because they have that much sense.”
He goes on: “Something should be done about the new-left terrorists, the Black Lives Matter drowned in corruption, the bloodthirsty students, the Marxist stupid kids who have been creating tension, toppling statues, and playing red guard in the country for years with great agreement and government approval.”
Szentesi avoided LBTQ+ issues in his diatribe no doubt because our US ambassador is an openly gay man married to another man, and did not want to be quoted on that.
I blame the US government for not being much more explicit about US concerns over Orban’s government allowing Russian operatives to get Hungarian passports and spend lovely vacations here spying on our armament industries that are supporting Ukraine.
Even Telex called the Russian the International Investment Bank, which relocated its headquarters to Budapest from Moscow in 2019 “the spy bank.” The U.S. wants to avoid calling Orban what he is, a compromised man who Putin knows is corrupt and who he knows in can use inside NATO and the EU to serve his purposes in his war against Ukraine.
President Zelensky admitted today that corruption in the Ukrainian military draft system way extensive. See https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/08/3/7414118/ . It appears to have been on going for years.
So the former Slovak Minister of Foreign Affairs Rastislav Káčer was interviewed for this article https://www.hlavnespravy.sk/nebezpecny-koktail-velke-percento-slovenskej-politiky-sympatizuje-s-orbanom-a-putinom-tvrdi-exminister-kacer/3218840 clearly sees Orban as something close to a Russian operative and indicates Orban’s government is “preparing for an alternative future” to being in the EU.
The article translated well using google translation software.
That interview is very much in line with the V-3 communication.
He doesn’t address the passport issues, affecting several Slovaks, and he doesn’t get into Hungarian support of separatist groups in Slovakia.
I wish they wold dig a little deeper.
I am sure that the Hungarians are since 2010 on Orban’s path to the alternative future. Alternative truth for the alternative future. What Rastislav Káčer says was also true 13 years ago, but it is good that he said it.
The Fidesz faithful have a limited hope.
Love this cartoon
We have cloud.hu it is 10 times bigger than it says.
Hotel Matra:
Quaestor —>[2015: fraud, bankruptcy]
—-> [2018 Orban’s oligarch Meszaros]
—-> [2021: Orban’s son-in-law Tiborcz]
—-> [2023: Russian oligarch Rahimkulov]
This is at least the third hotel Putin’s oligarch Rahimkulov bought from Orban’s son-in-law in 2023.
The court ordered the hotel unsaleable in 2015 until the Quaestor criminal case is finished and the depositors and investors are repaid.
The case is still pending, but, in spite of the order, the hotel has been sold three times
https://telex.hu/belfold/2023/08/04/tiborcz-istvan-cege-eladta-negycsillagos-matrai-szallodajat
In German:
Another scathing report on the Fidesz anti-LGBT policy:
https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/ungarn-anti-lgbt-gesetz-heartstopper-100.html?
Fun fact:
ZDF is the “second German tv program” which was founded by the conservative CDU many, many years ago because the first German tv program was so left wing – the successful german states had already SPD governments …
Those were the days ..
Hungary is turning into a crazy example of fascism and putinism – I wonder how long this will go on …
Totally OT:
My wife just read that several 100 000 workers from the Philippines etc are expected to come to Hungary to work in those battery factories, unsafe at any speed!
A modern industry planning to employ several hundred thousand manual workers? – In this day and age, that sounds very unrealistic. What should all these people do and where would they sleep? Ok, I know about smaller industries in India and Bangladesh, where the workers share beds in 2-shift, but still!
Michael, I alo wondered about that number – maybe she got it wrong?
Can’t find the source, sorry.
Here near Esztergom at Suzuki we now have workers from India (I_m not 100% sure though), several 1000s.
It would be some record, if that number is real!
Suzuki has some very large factories in India, where they also step up for EV and battery production.
Sorry, I just found out the real numbers:
Suzuki has 161 Indians working in Esztergom and wants to add 50 people from the Phillipines.
Of course that’s another dimension – but the question remains:
Why can’t they find Hungarians for this?
Too lazy, too stupid, unwilling?
https://www.hungarianconservative.com/articles/current/suzuki_hungary_esztergom_plant_revenue_billions_elctric_cars_foreign_labour/
Probably, the Asians and Orientals are cheaper and easier to dismiss / The Hun. govt. mafia has a good racket going with imported labour from outside EU.
Orbán’s fight against CEU and the similarities to the US “conservatives” – or fascists?
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/08/viktor-orban-illiberalism-ron-desantis-universities/674915/
You can be sure that the closet fascists coordinate things very closely. An international alliance of fascistoid conservatives is essential to their self-image.
This could be interesting to follow:
Romania Extradites Neo-Nazi to US to Face Violence Charges | Balkan Insight
Orban’s daughter & son-in-law has received, directly or indirectly, at least $1 BILLION from public funds for his real estate companies.
https://www.valaszonline.hu/2023/08/07/orban-rahel-tiborcz-istvan-36-luxusingatlan-projektjet-galeriaval-vagyon-magantokealapok-bdpst/
….haVE received …..
Why do you need hotels when you have the taxpayers’ money as salary. Hungary is privately owned by Orban’s family and all those who work and pay taxes are directly and indirectly employees of the Orban family. Even if for some unknown reason the opposition gets more votes nothing will change in Hungary. But for the EU it is a broad hint.
An alternative:
My wife just read that o1G’s friend Mészáros bought/built a new yacht, even bigger than his old one and is riding the Mediterrenean on it.
Wonder whois accompanying him?
Let me guess: A couple of Albanian politicians and a Russian collegue.
What about Serbia’s President Vučić?
Vucic, the taylor, will be summoned when the Viktor is on board and in need of re-fitting his Sweetwater-Admiral’s uniform, before impressing fascistoid guests with a deck parade.
The national operetta always delivers a fresh intermezzo.
Here’s the report – with many nice pictures of the yacht:
https://444.hu/kepek/2023/08/07/meszaros-lorinccel-a-fedelzeten-lefotoztuk-a-ner-szolgalataba-allt-legujabb-szuperjachtot?
Orban’s proxy (Meszaros) must have bought the yacht from a Russian oligarch (Konstantin Strukov)
https://hvg.hu/itthon/20230807_meszaros_lorinc_jacht_rose_dor
https://www.superyachtfan.com/yacht/rose-d-or/
https://www.superyachtfan.com/yacht/rose-d-or/owner/
Opinion poll (sample size = 1000)
FiDeSz = 31%
Mi Hazank = 6%
Opposition:
DK = 13%
Momentum = 6%
Dog party = 4%
MSzP = 4%
LMP = 3%
Jobbik = 3%
Parbeszed = 2%
Total Opposition = 35%
Uncertain: 28%
http://republikon.hu/media/125267/202307_partpreferencia-prezentacio.pdf
János Széky writes about “If Hungary would no longer belong to the EU” in his opinion only the billions count for Orban. In my opinion only the power counts for Orban the stolen billions are only means to an end. Orban is sick he is a narcissist and he is the result of Hungarian culture of education by the parents the kindergarten and the schools in which legends cover the truth. Orban is also not alone with his illness you only have to listen to the Fidesz politicians more closely. The opposition politicians are not much better if you think about the last elections.
His version of Hungary without control or outside the EU life would be lonely, poor, ugly, brutal and short. But honestly, it fits today …
An Ur-fidesznik has had enough with the mafia methods of the Orban regime.
But like in a folk tale, he claims that this is not the king’s fault, only the advisors are evil.
https://24.hu/kozelet/2023/08/08/pesty-laszlo-tusvanyos-lolo-klan-zsarolunk-lopunk-csalunk-nagyinterju/
Regime attacks the otherwise very weak trade unions:
In the future, members cannot ask the tax office to take away the membership fees automatically from the paycheck, and transfer them to the unions.
The unions have to collect the fees from each member individually.
The former Austrian foreign minister Karin Kneissl (who represented the right to right-wing “Freedom” party FPÖ in the cabinet from 2017 to 2019)
has moved to Russia.
https://444.hu/2023/08/08/oroszorszagba-emigralt-a-volt-osztrak-kulugyminiszter
Photo: Putin is dancing with her on her wedding five years ago.
Location: Gamlitz (Gomilnica) near Leibnitz (Lipnica) at the Slovenian border.
That is hardly surprising. After all she is on the board of directors in Rosneft, along with Gerhard Schröder.
Slovenian border???
Moscow Times reports in an interesting article:
Kneissl revealed in an interview with Russian media that she has been renting a summer home in the Ryazan region village of Petrushovo, some 350 kilometers southeast of Moscow.
“I have it booked for another month, then we’ll see what happens,” Kneissl told the Vidsboku online news website without disclosing how long she has been staying at Petrushovo.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/08/08/ex-austrian-minister-who-danced-with-putin-rents-summer-home-in-russian-village-a82092
After her Putin-show she had to hide, flee from Austria and stayed in France, Spain, …
Her 2018 wedding was in Austria, 4 km from the Slovenian border. And Putin went to the village to dance with her.
Tappanch, OK, you were writing about the wedding place.
I thought you were writing about where she lives now in Russia.
News:
The US will deliver 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine in the fall.
Remarks:
So almost 2 years after Putin’s invasion,
tanks: 31
airplanes: 0
In WW2,
US gave the Soviet Union
tanks: 7,000
aircraft: 11,400
In WW2, US shipped 17% of its war material by value to allies
(“lend-lease”)
10.7% to UK,
3.8% to the Soviet Union,
1.1% to France,
0.5% to China
0.9% to other allies.
Have you forgotten that a state of war hasn’t been declared by either side??
Given the losses Ukrainian is taking in its current counteroffensive the Abrams tanks are needed to replace destroyed Leopards and various Soviet tanks.
This article today in the very pro-Ukrainian Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/10/ukraine-national-mood-counteroffensive-gloom/ and this one yesterday on CNN https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/08/politics/ukraine-counteroffensive-us-briefings/index.html show the growing anxiety in the USA.
Of course the Russians have taken significant losses too, but their population is much larger. Putin seems to be modeling his defensive strategy on Stalingrad.
Basically here is the USA Army’s lessons from Stalingrad https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/stalingrad-experimentation-adaptation-implementation. It’s pretty close to what I was taught at the US Army War College.
I have real fears Putin may in the future launch is own counteroffensive and could use tactical nuclear weapons on Ukrainian positions to create their own breakthroughs.
The lack of air-control is a handicap for the Ukrainians. They are good at improvising, but in need of more heavy ground weapons. If they succeed in tiring the Russian defenses, they just might be able to break through on the south eastern front.
Nuclear seems the only “Wunderwaffe” at the Russian’s diaposal.
Tactical nuclear weapons were NATO’s only hope for halting a Russian armored assault on Western Europe via the Fulda Gap represented the shortest route (through the cities of either Fulda or Giessen) from the border between East Germany and West Germany to the Rhine River.
I had no idea of this when I was assigned to Germany from Vietnam in the winter of 1972-1973.
We practiced loading nuclear artillery shells and arming them for our 155 mm howitzers.
Of course we had tactical nuclear gravity bombs for German and US fighter bombers too. Along with MGM-52 Lance (a road-mobile) short-range ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads in West Germany in 1972. We had Variable yield technology which had existed since at least the late 1950s. Examples of variable yield weapons included the B61 nuclear bomb family, B83, B43, W80, W85, and WE177A warheads. I and hundreds of other NATO munitions specialists were taught to quickly set the yields for Teller–Ulam design type thermonuclear weapons, with on the battlefield.
Really it’s a popular illusion that tactical nukes are an act of desperation by the Russians they are part of modern battlefield tactics taught in strategy classes.
The short range missile treaty between the USA and Russia has been withdrawn . On Oct. 20, 2018, President Trump announced his intention to “terminate” the INF Treaty, citing Russian noncompliance and concerns about China’s intermediate-range missile arsenal.
Basically we are back in the situation I faced in Europe in the 1970s.
My wife and I watched the movie Oppenheimer just days ago. I told her that I had met Dr. Teller who is depicted in the film at the US Army White Sands Missile Range (WSMR). We even had a short discussion in Hungarian.
My wife and I lived in the married officer housing area in 1975. I told her nothing of what I did back then. Since then most of this history has been declassified.
By the way Chicago’s large Polish community is asking US put tactical nukes in Poland to help deter an invasion from Belarus.
The Polish government has to approve of nuclear weapons being stored or transported through on their territory before that can happen. They might have reasons for reluctance to do that.
What Istvan clearly describes was actually already a problem in the early 1960s!
I’ve written about this before:
While I was still at high school (Gymnasium) at 18 years of age our maths teacher had a connection to the “Civil defense”org which had bunkers for each West German states – the one for Württemberg was a former telecom bunker in a village nearby.
As a mathematically oriented person (wouldn’t call me a mathematician then) I was involved in analyzing the data that civil defence got from NATO.
Those were essentially flight data by radar first and then …
In the case of a nuclear attack on one of the main cities there (Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Freiburg etc – all more than 200 km away from East Germany) we would get the radiation levels measured and then calculate the development and the sum of radiation values. There was a special slide rule for this.
So we get info like:
You should not stay there for more than x hours …
If you want to return to living there you should wait at least x days until the radiation level is low enough …
And so on …
Horrible ideas but obviously NATO couldn’t exclude that action by the USSR.
I remember the nuclear threats from Russia, during the 60’s and early 70’s very clearly.
Like today, Russia flooded Europe with propaganda about the “agressive” West and their “necessary” countermeasures, that were all about posting nuclear batteries close to all western boundaries and extensive plans for Blitzkrieg and invasion of all the bordering areas.
The heavy Soviet rhetoric they use today, brings back all those memories – just as intended. Only now, the media-landscape has changed. The internet media bring that terror directly into people’s living rooms.
Yesterday was the anniversary Thilo Schneider writes: “Otto defeats the Hungarians
On August 10, 955, Otto I defeated the dreaded Hungarian horsemen, who had previously industriously plundered large parts of Central Europe. The battle on the Lechfeld can be interpreted with justification as a German battle of fate. …”
Unfortunately, only in German beautifully written humorous the story.
That is a very long time ago!
We can count ourselves really lucky!
If the Magyars had won we’d all be forced to speak their crazy language now and we’d be slaves of Emperor Orbán …
And now back to current times and their reality:
https://dailynewshungary.com/romanians-outperform-hungarians-only-the-bulgarians-live-worse-than-us/
No comment necessary …
PS:
Dailynewshungary is usually really Fidesz-friendly but here?
If you want some real Orán louspeaker you have to look to Hungarytoday or its German twin Ungarnheute.
What I find funny:
These Fidwsz propaganda sites can’t pay good translators – their articles are full of silly grammar mistakes.
Anyone her interested in a good job?
What I wanted to write, sorry for the mistakes:
And now back to current times and their reality:
https://dailynewshungary.com/romanians-outperform-hungarians-only-the-bulgarians-live-worse-than-us/
No comment necessary …
PS:
Dailynewshungary is usually really Fidesz-friendly but here?
If you want some real Orbán loudspeaker you have to look to Hungarytoday or its German twin Ungarnheute.
What I find funny:
These Fidesz propaganda sites can’t pay good translators – their articles are full of silly grammar mistakes.
Anyone here interested in a good job?
Hungarian social security,
(13 monthly payments + premiums) / 12
2023:
median: $531 @ USD/HUF = 350
average: $595 @ USD/HUF = 350
2022:
median: unknown
average: $440 @ USD/HUF = 372.775 (IRS yearly average)
———
Jan 2023 vs Jan 2022:
In forint terms, the average social security was up by
26.9% including new recipients,
while the social security payments for existing retirees
had grown by
24.9% [since 1.086*1.15 = 24.89%]
In the same time interval,
the inflation for retired people had grown by
27.4%
Sources:
https://bankmonitor.hu/mediatar/cikk/vegre-megszolalt-a-ksh-185-ezer-forint-a-mediannyugdij/
https://www.ksh.hu/stadat_files/szo/hu/szo0054.html
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/yearly-average-currency-exchange-rates
Obviously retiring on social security only equates to poverty. It is the same here in the USA.
Because I became self employed in the years before I fully retired I had to pay directly into social security. I was allowed a special catch up to over pay and boost my retirement payments.
It is really a way for those of us already with money to stash money without income taxes. The poor who really get low monthly social security payments due to lower life time payments can’t possibly pay extra into the system.
Trump of course for all his antigovernment rhetoric did this too like I did. The upside is there are some more wealthy Americans who oppose Republican plots to cut social security payments here. Even within the Trump movement.
Social security recipients / total population in January 2023:
Tolna county: 30.0%
Békés county: 29.8%
Zala county: 28.3%
Baranya county: 28.3%
Nógrád county: 27.4%
[….]
Budapest: 23.1%
Hajdú-Bihar county: 23.1%
Szabolcs county: 22.4%
Győr-Sopron county: 22.2%
Pest county: 21.3%
https://www.ksh.hu/s/helyzetkep-2022/#/kiadvany/nyugdijak-es-egyeb-ellatasok/a-nyugdijban-es-egyeb-ellatasban-reszesulok-aranya-a-nepessegen-belul-es-megoszlasuk-varmegyenkent-2023-januar
Average social security
Budapest: 248,415 Ft
Budakeszi járás: 245,909 Ft
Tiszaújvárosi járás:: 245,841 Ft (surprize)
[….]
Csengeri járás: 159,264
Kiskőrösi járás: 158,887
Mórahalmi járás: 158,765
https://www.ksh.hu/s/helyzetkep-2022/#/kiadvany/nyugdijak-es-egyeb-ellatasok/az-oregsegi-nyugdij-egy-fore-juto-atlagos-osszege-teljes-ellatas-szerint-jarasonkent-2023-januar
And we know that the median is significantly lower which means that more than half of the people on social security get much less – not enough to live on but too much to die on.
Other gems from https://www.ksh.hu/s/helyzetkep-2022 :
High schools run by churches:
2015-2016 academic year: 15.6%
2022-2023 academic year: 21.0%
https://www.ksh.hu/s/helyzetkep-2022/#/kiadvany/oktatasi-adatok-2022-2023/a-kozepfoku-iskolak-megoszlasa-fenntartotipusok-szerint
So what about those Hungarians who work in another country?
Around 124 000 of them just in Austria – officially, not counting the “black workers”.
Where will they get their pensions from?
There is a totalization agreement among the member countries of the EU. They get partial soc sec from two or more countries.
For example,
AT := soc sec from 10 years of work in Austria
HU := soc sec from 20 years of work in Hungary.
Workers get AT + HU.
My guess is
AT > 4*HU.
Szijjártó Péter, who belongs to an elitist club called Fidesz that tailors laws to defraud European taxpayers and its own people, finds it a pity that fraudsters like him are prosecuted according to law. In Hungary they remain unmolested as long as they are Orban supporters.
„… “The international liberal mainstream will not shy away from any rough interference, police and judicial means if it feels its power is in danger. They fear the will of the people like a fire. But why do Transparency International, Amnesty and the Helsinki Committee not speak out at such times? Obviously, because they are on the international liberal mainstream payrolls”, said the minister.“
The Soviet-style rhetoric, oozing from official Hungary, thickens steadily.
I thought he was talking about himself and his kind in his tiny think bubble. Aren’t the cowards in Hungary the most afraid of losing power, they are called Fidesz there and they call themselves brave … with the state power apparatus behind them 🙂 and isn’t it them who fear the will of the people. Isn’t that why they introduced the laws legalizing fraud and promoted away independent judges. This is what Szijjártó calls national interest.
The Israelis dance the racism the Hungarians also but catholic.
On 6 Apr 2011 at 17:46 domov.sme.sk wrote about Fico Slovakia … cough …
“Someone is deeply mistaken if he thinks that Orbán is not capable of provoking conflict in a European environment, in the centre of Europe. He has all the prerequisites to do so,” he said.
Fico believes that the new wording of the Hungarian constitution will also help the spread of Hungarian irredentism. “It is a constitution that denies the existence of Trianon, it is a constitution that denies the distribution of the influence of borders and territories after the end of the world wars, it is a constitution that gives a basis for Hungary to be able to do its politics of irredentism, of big-Hungarian ideas,” he warned.
An astute analysis – The time factor is crucial for Orbán. The sooner he executes a Hunxit, the better are his chances – But then, there are still the neighbours, to which Hungary is moored.
The “Open Society Foundations” (Soros) will stop its activities in the European Union.
This means the end of support for civil organizations in Hungary.
https://www.szabadeuropa.hu/a/elhagyjak-az-eu-t-a-soros-fele-nyilt-tarsadalom-alapitvanyok/32547159.html
This is a dark day for Hungary.
They will still support organizations connected to EU foreign policies and Gypsy organizations.