I listened to a debate last night in Europe on if Putin is good for Russia. Those who lived there and well familiar with could site mega advances Putin has done for the nation.....
..Had Putin not established a oil stabilization fund for down turns the nation would have taken a serious nosedive.
..He paid off Russia's national debt.
..Crime lessened.
..Russia has a middle class where once impossible to even imagine.
..Rose all Pensioners above poverty level where they had been for years.
..A huge difference in living standards all around.
..in 1999 wages were just 40-50....now 400 to 500.
..Putin reformed banking to comply with Int’l. standards also.
..Tax reform...and trade, foreign exchange etc.
For Russian who had 1000 years of suppression and poverty....to them they are more free and more secure today then throughout their history.....we cannot compare them to our life or Europe's....but to their own history.
Amazing was the debate team, who spoke against Putin, both had been kicked out of Russia...and liberal/progressive environmentalists to the core. I think the one was a dike. They had little more than social arguments and no evidence that wasn't debunked.
Russia today has changed dramatically from the Communist Russia of old.....it looks to me their problems, as all nations have, aren't much different than any other nation...and I'm stunned often why it is Putin's expected to have higher standards for his country then the rest of the world by International Leaders.....to be true...in some respects his standards are higher. But that's certainly open for opinion by what standards each nation considers significant.
~..in 1999 wages were just 40-50....now 400 to 500.~
In fact Chinese blue collars are paid some $700-900 monthly these days. Consider a huge difference in living costs comparing it to the West.
As for Russia take McDonald’s burger flipper as an entry level job example and it is up to 153 rubles per hour for Moscow or St.Pete and 130 rubles for any other city with a population over 1 million people. At least that were rates for late 2013. A ruble was 32 to 1 dollar at the time. Go figure. Note, in Russia employers are considered a tax and social security agents for their workforce so the wages above are ‘clean’ - after taxes, health insurance and pension payments.