Kevin Robert Dean:
A while ago I posted an article aout Russian doctors being paid in manure. From what I understand a lot of workers are being paid on the barter system.
any truth to that?
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Me: Yes. The coal miners who haven't been paid in years survive by (among other things) stealing coal and equipment from the mines and selling them in the local village, for example. The presence of barter in the economy has gone done significantly in the past few years, though.
Also add the significant presence of unreported payment for goods and services (that is, bribes). The police take bribes and teachers take bribes, just to mention two significant categories. That's the only way they can earn enough to live (unless, like a lot of professors do, they moonlight working selling food at kiosks or fast-food restaurants or what-have-you).
Manure would be a bit extreme here in Moscow (not to mention useless), but I suppose that could well happen out in the countryside. Moscow is a totally different country than the rest of Russia.