Final Word from Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Miroslav Kalousek is known for his clever one-liners and repartees, and now he'scome up with the makings of a catchy slogan for promoting the new second-pillarpension funds. He'll need to ask a spin doctor like Michal Kuzmiak to help himflesh it out, but he said at the end of TV Prima's Partie on Sun. that young peopleconcerned about their future retirement should invest in the second pillar, becausethe state "might not fulfill its obligations" when they retire in 30-40 years. Now weknow why he wanted the new funds to be mandatory - to save everyone from thecrumbling state. But wait a minute, this is the same finance minister who is so proudthat the CR's credit rating was boosted for doing such a fine job with public finances.To suggest that the state pension system might go broke, and to do it just before hestarts selling retail government bonds too.... Should we blame it on the gout?
Glossary of difficult words
catchy - (of a tune or phrase) instantly appealing and memorable;
pitch - words used when trying to sell something to someone;
one-liner - a short joke or witty remark;
repartee - speech characterized by quick, witty comments or replies;
the makings of - beginnings, ingredients;
to flesh something out - to add more details to something that only exists in outline form;
gout - a disease causing arthritis, esp. in the smaller bones of the feet.