10 Ways Life in America Is Better Than in Russia
Anatoly Karlin • December 28, 2017
Last week, I wrote about the 10 ways in which life in Russia is better than America.
Now it’s time for Uncle Sam to have his due.
Higher Living Standards
Although Russian prices are 2x cheaper than America’s, the blunt fact is that wages are also 4x-5x lower.
Consequently, the standard of living in the US relative to Russia is at least twice higher.
This
gap widens to almost an order of magnitude so far as professionals in
the state sphere, such as doctors and researchers, are concerned.
Despite some lingering but much diminished prestige associated to their
work from the Soviet era, most of them can barely be considered
middle-class in economic terms, even by Russian standards.
The
typical urban Russian lives in gray, concrete commieblocks that are
comparable to American public housing in quality. The quality of
construction is low, internal planning is haphazardous, and contrary to
rumors, my inquiries indicates that the presence of nuclear shelters are
very much the exception, not the rule. So they don’t even have
survivability in the case of nuclear war going for them. At just 25 sqm a
person, the average Russian has barely any more living space than the average denizen of overcrowded Japan, and three times less than the average American.
Although
Russia has converged with First World levels on indicators such as cell
phone ownership and Internet penetration, this is not the case with
truly expensive durables. The US leaves Russia in the dust with respect
to car ownership, with 797/1,000 cars per person to Russia’s 293/1,000;
nor can this difference be ascribed to the centrality of automotive
culture in the US, since Russia lags typical European levels of
500-600/1,000 cars per person as well.
Although
there’s more far more debt in the US, that also reflects the reality
that Americans have the option of taking out debt thanks to a much
better-developed credit system. This enables them to take out mortgages
to buy homes and raise families in them, while paying off the debt and
assuming full ownership by retirement. There are mortgages in Russia as
well, but interest rates tend to be prohibitively high, especially for
young families with low incomes. Popular understanding of credit and
home economics seems low. When I got my credit card here from
state-owned banking giant Sberbank, it was marketed to me as a way to
get expensive goods during the New Year holidays, whereas in the United
States the talking points would be about building up a credit rating.
This reflects the fact that Russians don’t understand personal finance and have low future time orientation
relative to the Anglo/Protestant world. One American who works in a
Russian media organization says that bonuses are paid out to staff to
coincide with the start of the holiday season, the assumption being that
they would have otherwise spent it and have no money to go to the
Crimea or Egypt. As an American who understands the concept of saving
up, he had to push through a special exception for himself with the
accounting department.
Washington, D.C. in 2013. Some crazed Islamist ranting
in front of the White House, without getting arrested. Is there any
greater and more majestic symbol of the strength of American
civilization?
Freedom of Speech
Yes,
you can be ostracized. Yes, you can be fired from your job. Yes, this
might no longer be the case in another decade or two, if the SJWs have their way.
But at the end of the day you will not go to jail on trumped up charges of hate speech.
In this sense, America’s “Society 282” is still far preferable to Russia’s “Article 282.”
Guns
American gun rights are enshrined in the Second Amendment and are by far the strongest of any major country in the world.
In
Russia you need to fill out reams of forms just to get a hunting
shotgun. All handguns, magazines with a capacity of more than ten
rounds, fully automatic weapons, and open carry are illegal.
Bureaucracy
The
Russian bureaucracy is a *lot* better than it used to be, especially in
the “My Documents” centers that have proliferated in recent years as
part of a government initiative to make bureaucratic services more
transparent and accessible to citizens. In comparison to 2007, there are
fewer papers to fill out, many more tasks can be done online,
and staff are more courteous. This is reflected in Russia moving from
around 120th in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings a
decade ago, to 35th as of 2017.
Which still makes it a horrendous nightmare by Anglo standards.
Far
fewer tasks and operations need to be confirmed with the bureaucracy in
the first place, and those that do – with the notable exception of the
DMV – tend to go far more smoothly.
Volokolamsk Great Patriotic War memorial, summer 2017.
More Respect for Public Spaces
Outside
of central Moscow, which is a SWPL paradise that wouldn’t look out of
place in central Europe, public spaces tend to be unkempt, if not
entirely derelict.
Although
it is tempting to blame this on a shortage of funds, there’s no doubt
that apathy and outright corruption play a large part in this. This
summer, I went to Volokolamsk, a small town 120 km from Moscow, where I
have a few relatives. There used to be a German tank, displayed as a war
trophy on a pedestal, on the road into Volokolamsk. But now it was
absent. According to our taxi driver, the previous United Russia mayor
had sent it to Germany for maintenance – why would a hunk of 75 year old
metal need maintenance? – but it later emerged that he had sold it to a
German collector and pocketed the proceeds. In the ensuing scandal, he
was removed, and United Russia lost the next mayoral elections to the
Communist candidate. Regardless, most of the town’s historic churches
remain in a dilapidated condition, and the local World War II memorial
(see photo above) appears to be in a worse state than during the
depressed 1990′s.
Ultimately,
this is a reflection of the wider society. There is extremely little
respect for the “commonweal” as it is understood in the Anglosphere –
not just amongst the elites, but amongst ordinary Russians too. People
throw cigarette butts from balconies onto the sidewalk, instead of
getting an ashtray. Picnickers treat the reeds at the edge of the lake
in a park as a garbage bin.
If Russians do not even respect themselves, why should their rulers?
Incidence of bribery in Europe, GCB 2017.
Bribery and Theft
There isn’t a lot of everyday bribery. Certainly not for routine bureaucratic services, as was not uncommon in the 1990s.
That
said, there’s still an order of magnitude more corruption going on than
in core Europe. Though I have personally yet to encounter a request for
a bribe, I do know of a large-scale case of bribery that involves a
circle of lawyers, prosecutors, and judges just a couple of degrees of
separation from myself. I find it difficult to imagine that something
like this is even possible in the United States in anything but singular
cases.
According
to acquaintances, the incidence of internal theft within corporations –
especially the state owned hydrocarbons giants – is far more prevalent
than in the West.
There
are also far more of all kinds of scams and petty commercial tricks.
For instance, a couple of months ago, a salesperson came knocking to my
flat, offering to replace the windows at subsidized rates thanks to a
local government initiative – but we should hurry up, because the
program is on a “first come, first served” basis. A 5 minute Internet
investigation made it clear that program was entirely fictive, and the
company in question has endless complaints against it for false
marketing and charging 50% more than its competitors (presumably, its
lying salespeople have to be paid). But I can imagine them raking in
profits from Internet-illiterate elderly people.
Seattle.
Amazon Prime
The closest Russia has to Amazon Prime is Ozon.ru,
though it’s far less than comprehensive in scope, and other online
shops tend to have better prices for specific categories of products
(e.g. pleer for electronics, El Dorado for home repair equipment, etc).
I
suppose there are advantages to a lack of monopolist, but it does make
things a bit more complex for people who had settled into the one click
order & delivery pattern fostered by Amazon.
A
more specific feature of the delivery experience in Russia is that
packages are never left at the door – you either have to pick it up in
person, or answer the door yourself. Why? Because someone will
inevitably steal it, as in Black (but not Latino) areas of American
cities.
Fortunately
there are now more and more equivalents of Amazon Lockers for those
Russians who don’t partake of the NEET lyfe and can’t hang around their
home all day waiting for a delivery.
My favorite restaurant in Berkeley.
Minor Conveniences
Just as the Anglos are no good for pickles, so Russia is the bane of the chillihead.
There are approximately four shops selling a full variety of Indian spices (they are appropriately named “Indian Spices“)
in Moscow. They also have one shop in Saint Petersburg. Otherwise,
that’s it. Similar situation with Indian restaurants. There are 3-4 good
ones in Moscow (from an expert: “Aromass is the worst Indian
restaurant in Moscow. The best two are Khajuraho and Jai Hind, the
latter being my favorite. Both of them are excellent and very authentic.“), and one good one in Saint-Petersburg (by “good” I mean acceptable by London or SF Bay Area standards).
Tropical Hyperborea can’t immanentize fast enough!
Russian wines have been improving rapidly,
as tastes change from Soviet vodka-swilling towards greater refinement.
Even so, even Moscow is very far from France or California. To say
nothing of the provinces.
One
other small thing that annoys me is the near complete absence of
lined/college-ruled paper. The only ones I have been able to find were
German imports.
Globally Dominant Culture
The United States is at the center of global science and culture.
It
publishes the most scientific papers, hosts the most famous brands, and
incubates the most hi-tech startups. Everybody has heard of 23andme,
nobody has heard of Genotek.
Around
95% of scientific publishing takes place in English – if a paper
doesn’t have an English version, at this point in history, it might as
well not exist.
Everybody watches American films, follows American shows, and plays American video games.
With
the small exception of literature, where it continues to produce a
modest amount of high quality original content, Russian culture is now
but a footnote to global American culture.
For
all intents and purposes, the United States has won a global Cultural
Victory, and its culture is dominant even within Russia.
Historically,
the best of the best traditionally flocked to the imperial metropolis –
two millennia ago, it was Rome; now, it is Boswash and Silicon Valley.
There
are real benefits to be derived from being located at the global center
of cultural and scientific dynamism, from having early access to the
latest electronic toys and medical treatments (FDA obliging) to rubbing
shoulders with highly accomplished people and thereby raising your own
chances of success.
There is only a faint echo of this in Moscow, while the rest of Russia might as well be a desert.
No comments:
Post a Comment