The Weekend Economists travel the Yellow Brick Road, November 14-15.

[MattSh]

44. A Tale of Austerity - Ukraine style...

I wish I could say I'm surprised by this. But I'm not.

My wife's father is being hit big time by IMF and government imposed austerity.

About 7 years ago, he winterized what had been a typical dacha, a Soviet era summer cottage. He has chosen to live there most of the time since then.

He has been a big cheerleader for the 2014 "revolution," taking almost any chance he had to harass my wife for her opposition to it.

In the time of "he who should not be mentioned," he was getting a pension of about 1500 hrivnia a month, worth about $200 at the time. Not a great deal of money, but actually not too bad over here.

Then the US sponsored coup overthrew the government here. And he cheered it on on any occasion he could. No surprise, actually, since no matter who was running things, he never could get beyond the idea that the mass media's job is to lie in service of the current rulers. Having an informed citizenry never came into the equation.

So now I recently found out that as the weather is getting colder, he has basically restricted himself to one room in that house, his bedroom. Why? The cost of heating the place.

See, under Yanukovich, his pension was equivalent to about $200. Now, with currency devaluation, his pension is the equivalent of about $75 dollars a month. So let's do the math...

Before... Pension of $200 a month, and about $3 to heat each room. $9 to heat the 3 rooms used most of the time.

After... Pension of $75 a month, and about $10 to heat each room. $30 to heat those same 3 rooms.

Now add on top of that basic food requirements, which comes out to about $85 a month. It doesn't take an Einstein to see the problem there, though I'm often stunned about the number of people who still can't see that.

I just hope he remembers that once the temperature goes below freezing and stays there, he must keep some heat on in the kitchen and the bathroom or the pipes will freeze and possibly burst, causing another expense.

We do have an extra room in our place which has been and is available for his use. But he once said that he felt like he was in a jail at our place in Kiev. And our place in Kiev is a lot better than most around here. So I have to ask, restricting yourself to one room in the dacha is what? A palace?

On top of that, after what could probably be described as a mini-stroke this summer, he blatantly ignored doctors orders not to drive for 3 months, and started to drive again after 3 days. And it wasn't too long until he whacked 2 pedestrians in a marked crosswalk. Not surprisingly, a court recently declared him the guilty party and levied a fine against him.

While it's difficult to say exactly what changed after that mini-stroke, my wife and I both agree he's not the same person. But neither of us can pinpoint exactly what has changed with a great deal of certainty. And because of the we're afraid he might be too much of a disruptive force, which none of us need. (Me, my wife, our son). But yet, he's family, and that's a much more important factor over her than a lot of places in the US.

God I could go on, but this is only about 25% of the story.