Not as much as you think, but the actual amount (as opposed to what shows up in the official statistics) is hard to measure.

Although the official numbers here are invariably cooked and are also more optimistic than the facts would warrant, between 40-70% of the entire economy is in the “black” or “grey” areas, depending.

Hence Ukraine is MUCH richer than any official numbers would suggest. To give one example, full-sized 4×4 Mercedes/AMG Gelaendewagen are about as remarkable as Opels are in Germany. All the time, we see cars here that I thought existed only in the pages of magazines for single men and not in real life. Then remember, all of those cars from the most expensive to the most humble were bought for cash; banks here will rarely make car loans, unless you are connected, and then you don’t need a loan (interest rates have long been in nosebleed territory).

Also, all newer cars here cost between 30-50% more than a comparable car in Europe does.

Ukrainian real estate is still grossly overpriced, although there is a huge disconnect between what sellers want and what buyers are willing to pay. Still, a lot of property changes hands for EUR 200,000-500,000.

Again, almost always for cash. Not as in “bank transfer” but as in “cash,” as in you show up with a suitcase full of banknotes like in a Mafia movie.

Everything else here is expensive too, sellers in many markets cooperate to keep prices high, but people keep buying what they sell as fast as they can get it in.

This happens not just in Kiev, but in any large Ukrainian city. Odessa makes Kiev look like a farm village, wealth-wise. Big money, big violence, big willie players.

No I’m afraid I’m not ready but then I never have been. But I reckon and hope that I will deal with things ok when it comes to it

I’d quite forgotten that quote from Hailsham. Very accurate indeed.

As you say it is up to us. I think Avaaz is way behind the curve. Worrying as it is to say, I think there is no one much ahead of us here, and people like us on other web sites. It truely is up to us.

Oddly I don’t feel daunted. If anything I feel …calm. How about others? Are we ready?

Do we really have a democratic body politic? In 1976, Lord Hailsham described Britain as an “elective dictatorship” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elective_dictatorship ). Since then, it’s become increasingly obvious – even to the editor of the Telegraph – that that dictatorship is exercised by a professional political “elite” in the interests, precisely, of the wealthy and powerful.

But you’re right that we should be afraid of the kind of politics which might emerge – and on the international level, is already emerging – from the ever-deepening financial crisis. Obviously, the situation differs from country to country, but one can’t help thinking of what happened in the 1930s.

We need to be prepared for that too. With the major parties so compromised and discredited, a new political space may be opening up. It’s up to us how it will be filled, for good or ill.

PS I note that Avaaz has finally latched on to the people against the banks issue, at least in Europe. To quote their latest email:

“Collapsing economies often lead to social and political upheaval and away from the world we want. Recessions bring protectionism, nationalism, racism, and a collapse in social solidarity. Today, by building a European movement against the banks and in support of people, we can draw a line in the sand and demand solutions that strengthen communities not corporations, restoring hope and humanity to the world.”

But it’ll take a hell of a lot more than hopelessly vague petition declarations like this:

“As citizens concerned about the economic crisis and massive austerity cuts, we urge you to take bold action to save our economies. Europe must face down the banking lobbies, stop the cuts and urgently introduce the people-centred spending and regulation policies that will secure our future. ”

http://www.avaaz.org/en/europe_people_vs_banks_2/?cl=1295315682&v=10523

Some of us working class folk are also better informed than in previous crises as well

How much has the standard of living fell in the last 3/4 years in the Ukraine.

“It is my view that the European project for arriving at economic and monetary union (EMU) should be regarded as the combined result of a radical change, since the late 1970s, in the principal economic policy objective of the major industrial countries – an epoch-making shift in emphasis away from unemployment and poverty to the objective of reducing inflation; and of the theoretical restoration that has occurred over the last twenty years, with the revival of pre-Keynesin conceptions in macroeconomic thinking. This view, which I have discussed elsewhere …, makes it reasonable to believe also that the project’s fortunes will reflect developments in these two ambits. Specifically, one can sensibly expect the EMU project to be definitively abandoned as soon as the social impact of actual unemployment will again make the pursuit of its reduction each government’s main focus of concern, at the same time leading to a rejection of the ‘natural’ rate concept of the economy.

This process of gradual abandonment of the project, however, is likely to be delayed as regards countries in which the EMU is seen as a means of solving a ‘commitment problem’ in their national economic policies – an irreplaceable source of discipline, that is to say, with respect to inflation, government budget deficits and government debt.” — Massimo Pivetti (1999). “High Public Debt and Inflation: On the ‘Disciplinary’ View of European Monetary Union”. In Value, Distribution and Capital: Essays in Honour of Pierangelo Garegnani (edited by Gary Mongiovi and Fabio Petri), Routledge.

Cited: http://goo.gl/WyLdj

Latest from the Slog:

http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/crash-2-eurozone-bailout-bombshell-as-lenders-draw-line-at-20-haircut/

But the German parliament has just approved an expanded EU bailout fund by a huge majority – 523 to 85:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15107538