Too Much Holiday Time?
Russia was shut down over the holidays - the government stopped working, newspapers have not been published and television stations have been showing lots of repeats. Not everyone thinks that is a good thing.
From an economic and business standpoint, factories have been closed and FedEx was not delivering. Statistics since the beginning of the extended holiday season in 2005 show that while the economy slows down - crime goes up as do instances of domestic abuse and alcohol poisoning deaths.
While citizen have much free time, they don’t have much money and most holiday entertainment options for Russian women and men are expensive. Couples will go to the mall for something to do and end up fighting after an hour or so. The holidays can be a down time for some people anyway and having nothing to do can exacerbate that feeling of depression.
Some officials felt that when the holiday was mandated by parliament in 2004 it would cause problems with economic development. Statistics have shown that last year industrial production fell 27% and investment decreased by 71% in January compared with the month before. Of course, this year we have no statistics yet because no one has been at work to collect any this year, but soon it will become apparent if this trend is consistent. If so, perhaps it will be revisited.
