The most depressing definition of being middle class has been overheard in Budapest today.

“So I tell my boss, do you think I’m stupid? I didn’t steal it. If I were to steal, I would steal a lot more. See what I mean? I you are poor, you must steal, you have no choice. But when you are middle class, it is not worth to steal a little. You just risk being caught. For this much? No! When you steal, you have to steal a lot. You have to steal enough to not have to steal again. Don’t be stupid.

“That’s what the NER* do, that’s why they can steal with impunity. If you steal enough, you don’t have to go to jail.” 

–  – Budapest, Király Street, 27 January, 2021

* NER is the name for Orbán’s favored group of fronts and family who win every last drop of public and EU money, winning every public tender. Lately, they are flaunting their money – and rather than infuriating the public, some people are actually looking at them as role models. As in, they are right – if they can do it with impunity, it can be done, we are stupid for not doing it. Possibly the gravest inheritance of Orbán’s regime that will haunts us for decades.