Let us take another look at Russia. St. Petersburg now has a standard of living that compares favorably to many places in the US, including some of its more prosperous cities. Salaries are still considerably lower, but then so are the costs. In Russia, many consumer products, such as clothes, electronics, furniture and all of the other things that can cost almost arbitrary amounts of money, are quite expensive, and few people can afford to own closets full of clothes they hardly ever wear. On the other hand, necessities are quite reasonably priced: housing, education, heath care, communications, transportation and all the other basics are far more affordable. The US is the polar opposite. Here, all sorts of consumer items can be had for next to nothing, but when it comes to the necessities (housing, education, health care, communications and transportation) the norm seems to be to bleed people dry.
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Frederick Douglass
Let us take another look at Russia. St. Petersburg now has a standard of living that compares favorably to many places in the US, including some of its more prosperous cities. Salaries are still considerably lower, but then so are the costs. In Russia, many consumer products, such as clothes, electronics, furniture and all of the other things that can cost almost arbitrary amounts of money, are quite expensive, and few people can afford to own closets full of clothes they hardly ever wear. On the other hand, necessities are quite reasonably priced: housing, education, heath care, communications, transportation and all the other basics are far more affordable. The US is the polar opposite. Here, all sorts of consumer items can be had for next to nothing, but when it comes to the necessities (housing, education, health care, communications and transportation) the norm seems to be to bleed people dry.
The situation in St. Petersburg is exactly the right way round.
The situation in St. Petersburg is exactly the right way round.
Planning to move there?
Do you not consider it is better for people to have the essentials of life cheap whilst the non essentials are expensive, rather than the other way around?
stevecook172001 wrote:Do you not consider it is better for people to have the essentials of life cheap whilst the non essentials are expensive, rather than the other way around?
stevecook172001 wrote:Do you not consider it is better for people to have the essentials of life cheap whilst the non essentials are expensive, rather than the other way around?
Spot on - this is clearly the better way round.
The choice is complicated by the other factors of life like personnel security and the rule of law. Russia today is ruled by gangs with Putin being the supreme gang leader. So your housing is cheap but you have to have a steel door double locked to feel save while you sleep at night. You put a dash cam in your car to protect yourself from thugs trying to scam you with phony accidents.
Oh yah everybody should be signing up to move there and start a business and live the good life. "NOT"
VT-
Good job there are no gangs or Mafia your side of the pond
Seriously though, of course democracy and the rule of law are more lacking in Russia than the US, but this isn't about that. The article is about how short-termism dominates thinking in some countries.
Would you disagree about house construction in the US? Orlov isn't the only one of your country folk to have pointed this out- Astyk and Kunstler both write about this regularly.
The fire hazard part struck me strongly because the state side daughter of a friend, just lost her entire house and everything she owned to a chimney fire.
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Frederick Douglass
We nearly got gassed (CO poisoning) in our house in the States. I don't remember it being cold indoors or difficult to heat, but one of the doors fell off on me once.
However, the house is still there, after 40 years. Apparently it becomes a "Heritage House" if it can stand for another couple of decades
nexus wrote:VT-
Good job there are no gangs or Mafia your side of the pond
Seriously though, of course democracy and the rule of law are more lacking in Russia than the US, but this isn't about that. The article is about how short-termism dominates thinking in some countries.
Would you disagree about house construction in the US? Orlov isn't the only one of your country folk to have pointed this out- Astyk and Kunstler both write about this regularly.
The fire hazard part struck me strongly because the state side daughter of a friend, just lost her entire house and everything she owned to a chimney fire.
Curious that he thinks five courses of masonry and steel plates in doors make good insulation. Also odd that he didn't realise the Con Edison sells its waste heat to commercial buildings in Boston. And no, waste heat is not free it is sold for what the market will bear.
He does have a point of course . Americans have been looking at their houses as investments and paying way more then the utility value for them thinking the market could not go down or the bubble pop. Suburbia was created on cheap transportation first by rail and then by automobile running on cheap gas. It made sense to the people buying and moving out to the burbs at the time but the end of cheap gas will rework the suburban landscape and property values in the near future.
Yes there are gangs in the US but they don't own the cops or the army. I think I'll stay here and plan long term for myself.
Beautiful buildings yes, but the location is dreadful if you actually want to bring a whole body rather than just eyes. It's on a swamp, and the weather is...well let's just say that Glasgow's weather is better! Ricketts and SAD are popular afflictions.
And the "traffic police" are practically highwaymen in uniform. Dashboard cams are popular.
SPb is a necropolis - built on the bones of of 100,000 serfs who died during its construction, and it had a higher death rate than birth rate in the 19th C but still continued to expand - sucking in people from the rest of the country.
It also has one of the worst climates in Russia - perpetually damp, miasmic, too dark in winter, too light in summer - there's a sort of psychosis that develops from having no proper diurnal cues.
However Orlov is spot on about the heating, housing, transport, and other costs.
