Putin offers to pay off debts as recruitment tool in war against Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin seemingly took a page out of President Biden’s book and is offering to write off debts for new recruits enlisting in the country’s military for one year.

In November, Putin signed a law allowing anyone who joined the Russian military after Dec. 1, 2024, to have debs of up to 10 million rubles, or about $96,000, written off.

The move appears to be similar to one from Biden’s own playbook, though the latter does not connect loan handouts to military recruitment.

Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced $4.28 billion in student loan handouts as Biden and Vice President Harris prepare to vacate the White House.

The massive handout will give 54,900 public workers loan forgiveness but also brings the total loan forgiveness approved by Biden to nearly $180 billion for nearly 5 million borrowers.

The Biden-Harris administration touted the program for creating an "incentive" for public servants to "pursue and remain" in their careers

BobL: "So you CHOOSE to discount the data because it’s ‘inconvenient’."

No, not at all.
However, with further looking, I did find the problem -- two different sources with two different definitions of "median income" and two very different results.

The US Census Bureau reports US median household income as $80,610 per year.

The World Population Review reports US median household income as $19,306.
Obviously, they are using different methodologies, likely having to do with the word "household" which could represent three or four people to the US Census Bureau and only one person to the World Population Review.

So, either number could be totally valid, but only one methodology compares directly to Russia's median income, and that is the World Population Review:

$19,306 US median income in 2023 according to WPR
$ 5,504 Russian median income in 2023 according to WPR
US median is 3.5 times Russia's.
This makes Russia's $1.40 eggs cost ~$5 in US terms

BobL: "So you CHOOSE to discount the data because it’s ‘inconvenient’.
Typical of you guys, going back DECADES to perpetuate your lies."

No, but now we can better compare median and mean (average) incomes:

$25,332 US mean (average) income in 2023 according to WPR
$ 5,504 Russian mean (average) income in 2023 according to WPR
US median (average) is 3.5 times Russia's median.
This makes Russia's $1.40 eggs cost ~$5 in US terms

BobL: "By the way, glad the US doesn’t have rich people to distort our data..."

Yes, we do, so we can also compare nominal GDP per capita:

$86,601 US nominal GPP per capita in 2024 according to IMF
$14,953 Russia nominal GPP per capita in 2024 according to IMF
US GDP/capita is 5.8 times Russia's.
This makes Russia's $1.40 eggs cost ~$8.10 in US terms

And, we can also look at PPP GDP per capita comparisons:

$86,601 US PPP GDP per capita in 2024 according to IMF
$47,299 Russia PPP GDP per capita in 2024 according to IMF
US PPP GDP/capita is 1.8 times Russia's.
This makes Russia's $1.40 eggs cost ~$2.60 in US terms

So, if you wish to choose PPP GDP/capita as your unit of measure, then Russians are doing relatively well in their price of a dozen large eggs.
But, if you are looking at nominals, medians & means, then not so much.

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