Latvia Parties Dig in Sofa Cushions for Additional 60 MM

The 2010 state budget must be reduced by an additional 55-60 million lats according to PM Valdis Dombrovskis. Since the sofa cushions of the Seima are unlikely to produce more than half this amount, politicians say excise- and personal income taxes will likely be raised.
"It doesn't matter a bit," said a parliament member who requested anonymity. "My wife is already trading our summer apples for meat from a neighbor. My son is trapping beaver on the Daugava, and I've gone back to smoking Belamore Kanals. Latvians will make ends meet." The parliamentarian conceded things were not too different than in Soviet times, "where those Estonian bastards always seemed to be doing a little better."