Some chit-chat from Princeton U about Putin, etc.

[JasonM]

That should make my trip more pleasing... More Pepsi than coke... Wooo whooo... question for you DR W though... do you have a one-size can or many like asia and do they have glass or plastic bottles... (reguarding Pepsi, the best drink around the world)

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With a little research, anything can be discovered.

[Reza_Rahmani]

An article from last August's Russian Journal:

*****
It’s all in the economy

SOME 40 PERCENT of Russians live below the official poverty level.

‘It’s the economy, stupid" – this was the slogan that helped Bill Clinton become U.S. president. Russia’s leaders should forget their political games for a moment and hang this phrase above their beds to remind them of what could well be the last chance this country has.

This last chance takes the form of oil, expensive oil that brings money into Russia that could be used to modernize the economy. The Russia of President Vladimir Putin is swimming in oil dollars on a scale almost like the Soviet Union under Brezhnev. We know why this money was of little help to the Soviet Union – the Communists frittered it away on construction projects of the century, handed it out to brother regimes and pumped it into the military’s muscles.

Professional democrats and reformers have produced mountains of words describing this waste. And it was indeed a stupendous waste, but it’s in the past now. These days, more and more people are looking at today’s oil revenue and asking, "Hey guys, where’s the cash?"

It obviously hasn’t gone to the state, or else government officials wouldn’t be so enthused about a miniscule primary budget surplus and wouldn’t be vaunting the latest cuts to social spending.

Nor has the money gone to the population, which lives in poverty, recalling the Brezhnev era as a "golden age" of plenty, justice, and – strange as it may seem – freedom. For the ordinary person, after all, politics is of little concern, and freedom is not so much about freedom of speech as about personal welfare, which defines the freedom to realize oneself.

But such freedoms are just dreams in today’s Russia. Things have reached a state where people quip popular writer Viktor Pelevin’s ironic words about the evil empire being better than an evil banana republic that imports its bananas from Finland.

The only conclusion can be that the oil money has settled in the pockets of the wealthy and the oil companies. Logic would say that this money will eventually trickle down throughout the economy as a whole, bringing growth through increased consumer demand and investment. This is indeed happening, but excruciatingly slowly.

What is growing much faster is capital flight – 30 percent in the first quarter, according to balance of payments data from the Central Bank – and the shadow economy. Why is this happening? Part of the cause is certainly the much-publicized raids on big businessmen and the hypocrisy of the president and prosecutor’s office, who confuse enforcing the law with the most banal racket.

But this is far from the only cause. Russian business has gone through fire and water over the last decade. It has held its shareholders’ meetings with tanks on the streets, derailed trains to block the road for its competitors and defended its enterprises with gun in hand. Russian business is virtually immune to being frightened, it acts on a simple risk-benefit calculation.

The state hasn’t been doing anything about the most acute problems facing the economy, namely poverty – 40 percent of the population live below the poverty threshold – the lack of an anti-monopoly policy and inadequate protection of property rights. The latter is not so much about the minority shareholders’ rights beloved of Western consultants and Russian reformers, as about the highly criminal bankruptcy procedures and lack of an effective court system.

The state has not been doing anything about the investment crisis either. Industrial investment rose overall by 36.7 percent for the first semester of 2000 but fell by 10 percent in the electricity and gas sectors. If this trend continues over several years, the energy sector will collapse, depriving the country of heating and light. The reason for the drop in investment is simple – there will be a return on investment in the sector only in eight years, by which time a new president will be in power. With the state unable to give any guarantee against political risk, the cost of investment in the energy sector is dissuasively high.

Instead of concentrating on spurring economic growth, the state has been busy dividing up assets, especially in the natural monopolies, cutting back social spending and financially suffocating the regions in order to bolster central power.

This all makes for games that aid the development of children and young politicians, but it doesn’t do much to create a normal investment climate in Russia. So long as conditions for investment aren't created, Putin’s oil dollars will bring Russia no greater benefit than Brezhnev’s dollars benefited the Soviet Union, and they likewise won’t protect the country from imminent catastrophe.

This is why it would be good for the country’s current leaders to stop spending so much time meeting with say, Orthodox church officials, and give more time to a practical slogan that has worked so effectively across the ocean. If they don’t take this slogan to the voters, the voters will soon bring it to them.


By Mikhail Delyagin / Director of the Institute for Problems of Globalization

*****

Reza

[Reza_Rahmani]

correction: Publication is "The Russia Journal"

Greetings,

Great stuff boys. I, who lives in the USA,
but who prefers the life style in Europe, feel that Russia is making a smart choice.

Staying away from American firms means that
they will do business with people who have
social conscience. In America paying Living
Wages is a dirty word. A person workin 40+
hours per week, often must make use of Food
Stamps (Government Program) to feed the family.

Leasure time in America, vacation and holidays, are the lowest amongst Western
Nations. Labor, has very little say-so. In addition to all of the above, people are brainwashed into the use of credit. Items that a European would never purcahse on credit are regularly bought on credit in the USA. The result being that 10-15% of a workers income goes towards interest payment. Americans, in general have too many toys, that was purchased on credit.

Conversely, they have little quality time to spend with the family. It is an EVIL circle. Labor is needed to produce the goods, they are brainwashed into excessive consumption on credit.

When you are doing bisiness with Americans, you are importing this kind of mentality. Just read up on the history of Wall Mart in Germany. Using preditory pricing they have caused severe damamge to small stores. Once the competition folds, they raise the pricess. The German Government is unto them, they have been fined severely. Just so that you know.

Godd luck to the Russian people.

[oca]

B. Ungaro:

Your personal assessment of life in the United States is very interesting. May I add that one gets paid according to one's abilities and education. If one did not make it pass the elementary school level of education, one can not expect to make very decent wages. On the other hand, if your educational background is at college level, one can expect to enjoy a respectable standard of living (without using credit, other than gas cards).

You said you prefer the European style of living. Well, unless you are under house arrest, who is keeping you here?. Magyar country awaits its lost children's return.


[This message has been edited by oca (edited 15 October 2000).]

Greetings OCA,
You overlooked a few of my dislikes about the life in the USA.

I particularly dislike the fact that the workers have no VOICE. NO representation. We have all kinds of BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS,
AMA, ABA, Chamber of Commerce, on and on.
All of these have the attention of our Government via the Lobby that they maintain.
Everybody is reperesented, but the poor workers. The American worker is now compensated way below the compensation level of Europian workers. American workers receive
an average of 10 days vacation and 5 days paid holidays and 7 days sick leave. Compare this to the German worker who receives 6 weeks vacation, 15 days paid holidays and unlimited sick leave. I am not even going to tell you about the Italians, that would really piss you off.

On top of not being compensated properly, and not having a voice, the American worker is exploited from the day of birth until the day of burrial. The method of exploitation is called CREDIT. They are born on their parents credit and burried on their childrens credit. Since you mentioned my beloved Magyar Land, consider this, 95% of the automobiles purchased in Hungary are paid by CASH. We are not talking about LADAS
and TRABANTS and such. We are talking BMW,
Mercedes, Volvo and such. The reason being is that they have not been BRAINWASHED into the INDISCRIMINATE USE OF CREDIT. I do not know what your station in life is. I will say
this, if you are not earning more interest and dividends on your investments than you are paying, you are being SUCKERED. CAPITALISM is only a MYTH for most, perhaps including yourself.

I am not going to get into things like HEALTH INSURANCE, CARE for THE ELDERLY, PRE-NATAL and INFANT CARE. Those things really piss me off. My 89 year old mother in Hungary receives HEALTH CARE that one can be proud of. Anyway, those are some of the things that you overlooked.

As to why I stay here? I have created my own little world here in the land of the BIG SUPERMARKET. I have my children and my grandchildren here. I am spending a couple of months traveling in Europe every year. The rest of the time, I work and go fishing.
I am a world famous fisherman.(Just kidding) You are invited to go along if you are ever in the neighborhood. No politics allowed on my boat.

Good LUCK.

Ps, What happened to the info you were going to E-mail to me.

[Dr_Woland]

Bravo, now we are cooking with gas - critical material written by people working with primary source material, in the country itself :-)

Authorative writing, although it pre-dates the pensions increase, which is one solid step in the correct direction.

>> Industrial investment rose overall by 36.7 percent for the first semester of 2000 but fell by 10 percent in the electricity and gas sectors <<

It also corrects the wrong information given earlier, in which it was claimed an investment shortage was to blame! Seems as though there are lots of investors after all....

And full marks to anyone else who quotes Viktor Pelevin as source-material :-)

Dr W.