Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Standard of living: the degree of wealth and material comfort available to a person or community.
Quality of life: the standard of health, comfort, and happiness experienced by an individual or group.
I think that is what W.P is referring too, and I mostly agree with him(?). Russia no doubt is a relatively wealthy and productive nation as a collective, but once you take into account the number of people there, then on a per person based, it is objectively a bit underwhelming. Granted per capital measurements are a bit crude and don’t take into account wealth inequality, cost of living, disposable income etc. but generally it’s a simple yet effective way to compare countries.
That being said (ppp) is a more accurate measurement of the actual wealth than nominal since not every buys and sells in dollars. So here is GDP (ppp) per capita, in other words gdp/population or how efficient the economy is, according to the IMF for 2018.
So compared to the developing world Russia is ranked pretty high, but to Europe it’s about at the same level of Greece, not exactly the most prosperous country out there.
You are largely right, and the fact that salaries in the West are higher is undeniable, but it is wrong to compare just the level of income (salary). It is necessary to compare the value of living costs: taxes, food costs, utility costs, fuel, health care, etc., i.e. income minus expenses. And in my opinion, the higher the difference, the higher the standard of living. And I think if you start comparing the cost of living, I think that the standard of living in Russia will not look so bad. I'm talking of course about people with average incomes, of course in Russia there are low-income categories of citizens, but in the West there are also, I think, enough.
I do not. Russians are very hospitable and nice people and I like them. But the fact that they blame west for everything is what I hate also in polish mentality, which also blames Russia and Germany for all of their failures instead of taking any responsibility for their state of being.
In both the case of Russia and Poland, their descendants in the U.S. are quite happy and productive. And most do not want to return to the "motherland", i.e. Holy Russia, for a visit.
In both the case of Russia and Poland, their descendants in the U.S. are quite happy and productive. And most do not want to return to the "motherland", i.e. Holy Russia, for a visit.
Speak for your self, I and many others of Russian descent would love to at the very least travel and visit Russia, must of us just don’t have the time or money to do so. And most of us are not going to move to Russia because we already established new roots.
But yes generally most Russians who live in the US don’t regret moving here, at least those who moved in the 90s, for those who moved after I’m not quite sure?
Speak for your self, I and many others of Russian descent would love to at the very least travel and visit Russia, must of us just don’t have the time or money to do so. And most of us are not going to move to Russia because we already established new roots.
But yes generally most Russians who live in the US don’t regret moving here, at least those who moved in the 90s, for those who moved after I’m not quite sure?
I may or may not take my synagogue's trip to Poland in June this year. One thing I will not be doing is looking for my maternal grandfather's parent's Polish village. I have no nostalgic attachment to it. Nor do I to Kyiv, Kiev or whatever you call it where my maternal grandmother's parents fled from.
Nothing in this world is equal. Russians on average are poorer to germans regardless of their geographical location, whether in Siberia or european Russia and seeking excuses instead of taking an action in improving their life will not help them in any way. United States are also big country and yet people can live there good regardless whether they live on densely populated east coast or in sparely populated Nevada or Montana.
You're still missing the point; those aren't "excuses". The standard of living in villages in Alaska and parts of northern Canada is lower than elsewhere in the US and southern Canada, and for good reason. It's simply more expensive and more challenging to develop far northern regions. If you want to make a more meaningful comparison, compare East Germany with Western Russia outside the big cities. Go ahead--compare away, have a party! I'm sure you'll find plenty to say, and your findings will have more validity, because those two regions are more similar in terms of the environmental conditions.
Proposing a comparison between Siberia and anywhere in Europe only makes you look clueless about Siberia. I'm actually in agreement with most of your posts; it's just that particular one that was off-base a little.
Among other shortcomings, Russia lacks a real economy. Instead it is a gas station, a petrostate. Laquer expresses little hope for its economy if oil prices remained in the $50 per barrel area.
This is one area that could be the downfall for Russia. I've heard discussions that revolve around the recent proliferation of energy supplies in the US. We are now a net oil exporter and are energy independent for the first time in 75 years. So good for us.
But more importantly for the Russians....if we begin to make in-roads into the European market, that will take away precious dollars from the Russian coffers. And I don't think they can afford that.
And I wonder if we are doing this purely as an economic policy? Or are we intentionally planning the demise of Russia...?
You're still missing the point; those aren't "excuses". The standard of living in villages in Alaska and parts of northern Canada is lower than elsewhere in the US and southern Canada, and for good reason. It's simply more expensive and more challenging to develop far northern regions. If you want to make a more meaningful comparison, compare East Germany with Western Russia outside the big cities. Go ahead--compare away, have a party! I'm sure you'll find plenty to say, and your findings will have more validity, because those two regions are more similar in terms of the environmental conditions.
Proposing a comparison between Siberia and anywhere in Europe only makes you look clueless about Siberia. I'm actually in agreement with most of your posts; it's just that particular one that was off-base a little.
Okay I understand your point. But while it is harder in development it can be always improved. I have never been to Alaska, northern Canada, but even though standard of living could be obviously lower in some of these regions that you mentioned than elswhere in those huge countries I do not think that comparing them to Siberia would make Siberia look good in terms of development, infrastructure, standard of living anyway, even though obviously Russia is even bigger country than United States or Canada, so such comparision can never be 100 percent fair. So I agree that my comparision to east Germany was not good. But I just wanted to make a point that when comparing countries, you cannot really compare wealthiest part of some country to the poorest part of other country and make any conclusions based on that, because I often see this practice among some people from central-eastern Europe.
Last edited by WestPreussen; 12-01-2019 at 01:09 PM..
And I wonder if we are doing this purely as an economic policy? Or are we intentionally planning the demise of Russia...?
I don't think there is anything deliberate about it. Oil catapulted to $146 during the summer of 2008, capping a period from 2006 to 2014 where oil frequently flirted with or was above $90 per barrel. That incentivized the development and use of unconventional production methods as fracking and shale oil. That's what happens when prices of any commodity go high; additional production is called forth.
As long ago as October 1973, when the so-called "Arab oil embargo" hit, an official at Mobil that was friendly with my parents warned that the energy shortage would only be uncorked when prices stayed high enough to allow increased production. He was so right.
Just to play the devils advocate:
“The bright and intelligent westerners” crazed by their religious zealotry inflicted the dark ages and inquisition in Europe- Russia- not so much.
Russian literature on par or above the West- mostly France and England
Russian music - on par and quite often above the West ( German, French, Italian)
Russians pretty much invented independently the most important technologies: radio, telegraph, flying, rocket science, etc
The core of chemistry is based on the periodic table discovered by Mendeleev from Russia.
They made remarkable achievements in medicine- Pavlov’s dogs, etc
( Most are not aware, but every modern surgery in US is based on a Russian tech from the 50th- the article below is biased and lacks the details and the name of people who officially obtained the tech from Russia, but it gives you an idea)
“Stupid” Russians just after the most devastating war in a history after losing more then 21 million people- became the first nation to start a Space exploration.
I can keep going- but hope you get the idea.
If the book you are basing your unfounded claims would be written by a Russian researcher- I bet your post would be closer to a reality...
They played a very important part in keeping Hitler from taking over all Europe. They played a very important part in keeping Napoleon from taking over all Europe.
They played a huge part in post WW2 European stability that saw Germany and Europe divided into American and Russian spheres of influence.
Because the US had to complete with the Soviet Union, it gave movements like the civil rights snd the women’s rights movement huge boosts.
The Cold War saw both the US and USSR race with each other in technological advancements. The internet, our smartphones, etc are products of cold war research.
They played a very important part in keeping Hitler from taking over all Europe. They played a very important part in keeping Napoleon from taking over all Europe.
They played a huge part in post WW2 European stability that saw Germany and Europe divided into American and Russian spheres of influence.
Because the US had to complete with the Soviet Union, it gave movements like the civil rights snd the women’s rights movement huge boosts.
The Cold War saw both the US and USSR race with each other in technological advancements. The internet, our smartphones, etc are products of cold war research.
^
And that's how it should have stayed - these two countries counter-balancing each other and producing an array of different ideas - both social and technological.
That was the main engine behind the future world development.
But since the US decided to wiggle out of this ultimate competition (attempting to trip its viable competitor, when given a chance,) and decided to take a short cut to the top position of the ultimate dominance over the world, the world is in spiral downfall now.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
