Final Word from Monday, August 22, 2011
For someone who speaks no world language and has no economiceducation, Miroslav Kalousek is amazingly fluent in financialdoublespeak. He said on OVM yesterday that he hopesthere won't be any more discussion about pouring unfunded,borrowed money into the economy as part of a stimulus package.Just minutes before, as ČSSD Chair Bohuslav Sobotkacorrectly pointed out, Kalousek had favored this very idea byrefusing to lower his ministry's GDP forecast for next year (seeFri.'s Final Word). Miroslav Zámečník of the NERV council understoodas early as Feb. 2009 that the Czech government wasindeed using an anti-crisis stimulant - by failing to cut spendingbased on 4.8% growth, even though growth forecasts continuedto decline. Kalousek signaled yesterday that he intendsto do the very same thing again. If reporters from HN, Právoand ČTK understood his words to mean the opposite, it's becausethey haven't yet mastered financial doublespeak theway the CR's past and present finance ministers have.
Glossary of difficult words
doublespeak - deliberately ambiguous, euphemistic or obscure language;
unfunded - (in this context) not covered by tax revenue;
stimulant - something that increases activity, interest or enthusiasm in a specific field.