Chris Doss The Russia Journal
Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2001 02:58:18 +0200 From: "Patrick Bond" <pbond at wn.apc.org> Subject: Fw: Fw: Question
One of our e-debate correspondents was interested in the Russia economy exchange; he's Vladimir Shubin, deputy director of the Africa Institute...
- ----- Original Message ----- From: <vladimir.shubin at inafr.ru> To: "Patrick Bond" <pbond at wn.apc.org> Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2001 7:58 PM Subject: Re: Fw: Question
>
> tPatrick, this for for you but you can circlulate it as well, if you wish
> or at least send it to the person concerned ( What is Chris, by the way?
> )
I write bad articles for The Russia Journal and am a Ph.D. in Philosophy dropout.
> > Nobody knows what actual average incomes are because the shadow economy
> is enormous and everybodygrossly underreports what they earn, but I would
> guess it is about
> $400-$500 a month in Moscow,
>
> The salary of the Deputy Director of the institution with 150 staff
> including 120 reserachers is about $140 net) or 155 before tax deduction
> (and nothing to 'underreport', I wish I know who is 'everybody')
Well, "everybody" is a generalization.
The writer is an academic -- and state-employed? -- they earn very little. State employees of course pay their taxes because the government knows how much they earn. Same probably goes for big state-run companies like Gazprom or UES (when Chubais isn't stealing it, that is). The "middle class" is paid usually in dollars and under the table. I know people who earn 10 times their legally declared income. I don't know if that would apply to factory workers or whatnot.
He's aware too I'm sure that one reason the gov. was giving to increase the horribly low sums teachers and professors are paid is that their official impoverishment has led to a de facto pay-as-you-go bribe-paying system for education. The parents of a friend of mine had to pay $20,000 (!!!!) to get her into MGU. The cops and gov. officials supplement their income with bribetaking and people with cars by stopping for paying passengers. Stick your arm out in Moscow and a car will stop for you in about 30 seconds.
> > One needs to factor in that many, maybe most, Russians own their
> own> apartments or country homes and dachas and so don't pay rent,
>
> But they pay rates, services, etc and the prices went up 30-40% this year
>
> > people supplement their diet with food they grow themselves.
>
> True so, but due to a continuous rise in the train fair (or gas for car
> owners) trips to 'dachas' become hardly affordable (mine is 140 km away)
True. Train fare is going up now that Gazprom et al. are raising rates.
> > A loaf of bread in Moscow is 5 rubles.
>
> >From 5.50 to 9.00
>
> > A kilo of sausage is about 120 rubles
>
> >From 45 (very bad) to 'enternity'
>
>
> > A carton of milk is 27.
>
> >From 13 to 20 where I buy
>
>
I base my rates on the 24-hour store near where I live. :)
> >A half-liter of draught beer in the cheap > cafe-bar by my apartment is
30
> rubles.
>
> I never pay more than 20 and usually 15 or 17.
In a bar?!? Give me the address! The one near my apartment on Preobrazhenskaya Pl. is 30. Maybe the writer is refering to bottles of beer, like Baltika 3 for 15 rubles or so at a kiosk?
> > A pair of shoes is about 500-600> rubles.
>
> >From 300 to 2000
>
> > A ticket on the metro: 5.
>
> True, but 3.5 if you by 10 or so and free for pensioners
It took me a month to figure out the 35 for 10 deal. I didn't know it was free for pensioners. Good for them, they need it.
> Railway fare is still 'holding on', most probably because railways haven't
> been privatised but recently they abandoned government controls over
train
> fare exctpt the cheapest carriages. As to air transport, an average fare
> was 12-17 % of an average wage 'before' and became 150 percent now (they
> call it 'freedom of movement,,.')
One of the only things I like about the KPRF is their insistence on making transportation throughout the country affordable. It's mostly rhetoric though of course.
>
> > PS. I was robbed by the cops the other day. I hate the f'n police.
> That;s interesting. Has the case be reported to their HQ?
It took place IN their HQ. I hate the Moscow Militsiya.
An acquaintance of mine is a detective. His view was, "Hey, it's over, you can't prove anything so just be smarter next time."
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> Vladimir
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