Income

Few days back the government officials -without specific names- announced their inability to apply the maximum income law that was a proposal to help the government to find funds to help poor people that according to the minimum standards should not have less than x amount of monthly income for a minimum dignity!

 

As per recent studies in Egyptian economy a family should at least have 1200 Egyptian pounds to live but reality shows there are families still collect 150 only monthly moreover all so called street children -those are the children without families that live in the street homeless and jobless without records to be taken in consideration!- so seriously if those street children are still out there how do you think they survive?

 

The simplest answer is if you are a boy you need to develop your muscles to be a thug and girls need to develop their feminine skills to be a whore, but until boys become thugs and girls whores they live on begging stealing and trying to sell cheap commodities!

 

 

I have no idea and do not intend to do any studies on how much is the salary of the minister or the head of the cabinet and the president, but I do not expect they are below 1,200 Egyptian pounds! However, I know as a citizen that did pay his duties and taxes until retirement age and still pays taxes from his low monthly pension on any services or commodities he buys to pay the presidential salary and all of his helping officers ministers or advisor or what so ever personnel.  

 

I still expect from the president that I do pay his salary to do as told not as he likes, I want him to provide the minimum income regardless of how much others collect you want to have a million dollars, or sterling pounds or whatsoever income I do not mind but I do mind the family next door can not have as much as 1,200 Egyptian Pounds!

 

I do excuse the Judge or University Professor or Chief Engineer or Head of financial institution who after 20-30 years of excellent services due to age had to retire and live on his pension that in some cases for some reason could be less than ½ his original salary! 

 

 

Yesterday when I was young 60 years old minus 1 day my standards of living and income were about 2000-3000 monthly today the work place is paying me 900 only that is that today I can not afford more than ½ what I could afford yesterday, I should eat ½ my food pay ½ my rent or electricity bill! Pension masters and experts will tell you “We pay back what was deducted from your salary as insurance” right? Well my pay cheque 1975 was 30 Egyptian Pounds contribution was 5 Egyptian Pounds fair enough but on 1975 I could buy with 5 pounds as much as 250 big bottles of Pepsi Cola or Cocoa Cola at 2 piastres each today 5 pounds can only buy 1 bottle!

 

Pension masters took 5 pounds with hi purchase value and invested it at its original value then 20-30 years latter returns the same 5 pounds regardless of its purchase value! Otherwise stating if I had invested my 5 pounds 30 years ago and collected its real profits I would had become the owner of that enterprise by now not a pensioner! 

 

Back to our  Judge or University Professor or Chief Engineer or Head of financial institution who after 20-30 years of excellent services are due by law to retire and their colleagues out of loyalty and true desire to help their friends decided to hire him as an expert or advisor or may be both at extra pay that will make ends meet month end. That good move will help a person at the expense of an other one less fortunate who will wait forever for a promotion he will never achieve!

 

 

We all know and understand our financial problems, salaries, pensions, services, prices, price control and quality control almost every thing in our life costs money and to make laws and supervise them then execute them needs more money if the police officer who protects the law is hungry he can not protect the law if the supervisor to protects quality and price can not afford his breakfast he will be blinded with a cup of coffee if the judge that investigates your complaint can not pay his rent do not blame him for being corrupted! Just blame ourselves who can not prevent catastrophes before being disastrous catastrophes!

 

I pointed in my last week article, we need a brain storm we need to develop our way of thinking we need to think ahead of a problem before it becomes a problem but to see it coming we have to learn looking at both sides moreover a global view from outside expect the unexpected and find solutions for it! To explain the idea let me go back to our pension problem my pension after retirement will be as much as 950 pounds we all know minimum income should be 1200 my loyal friend helped me out and I become the new hired expert at an additional 200 we are almost there the guy that got promoted to fill in my position when I retired used me as an advisor for another 200 I am saved, but on the expense of either the old advisor or an overhead of the current budget having to pay 2 advisor cheques while the original budget never had any advisory expenses it was recovered from the forecast developing expenses or maintenance! We will repair the leaking tap and never replace it! That is we treat an urgent problem cutting off from other expected problems until they become huge catastrophes just because they are not urgent now! And for my luck if lucky enough this catastrophe will be after I finish my service in this department and who will face the consequences the poor guy that filled my position in the department most likely unable to account me for my wrong doing and paying for it he might as well loose his job and I keep making the wrong decisions! 

 

Last week again I pointed out few wrong decisions of ex-president Nasser saying it clearly it was not an attack on him or criticism, today I stress this is not a defence of ex-ousted president Mubarak  but not all negative aspects in our life are due to his mistakes, he has his fair share but we all participate with our silence, passivity, short view or even worst making wrong decisions even if they were for a good cause!

 

 

Egyptians, who love Egypt, stop your TV shows and propaganda for a sit in the parliament or ministerial cabinet, if you really love Egypt you will be fighting to find solutions to our problems solve problems before they become problems, review existing laws adjust them and develop them the ones that created those laws 20-30 years ago they did their best as far as they could view today we can see more we have a wider view and we can see where those laws failed and why we can adjust them with a more abstract view more general so that the guy in the parliament understands his role is to serve people not to seek protection and be above the laws to destroy what is left from a country that God Blessed Egypt!