Um, anyone seen last weeks DS sales in "Other"????

[Desroko]

FreeTalkLive rocks! said:

Desroko said:

FreeTalkLive rocks! said:
About the Russian people, compared to the US, Japan, or Western Europe, almost all of them are poor. However, the people in Russia are really not poor and things have been much better the last few years as Putin has privatized many of the government functions and lowered taxes.

Egypt is in both Africa and Asia.

Actually, Russia's growth is due almost entirely to their petroleum industry. Putin has actually re-nationalized many businesses. I don't know which Putin yu're talking about.

But it's a moot point, because the average Russian has seen very few real gains.

 Not according to the lecute I sat in on from one of the leading experts on Russia in America.

He went out of his way to explain that oil was not the only reason Russia has recently improved so greatly.  He explained that is is mostly because of Putin's pro-freedom policies (like lower taxes and efforts to standardize laws).

Moscow is one of the most expensive cities in the world.  Surely, someone has seen gains there.

 Anyway you cut it, a smaller government, better legal standards, and less taxes looks like a huge plus to almost everyone in Russia.

 

This "expert" is wrong. Putin hasn't pursued anything like a libertarian agenda - he's nationalized businesses and increased subsidies and government services. There was a minor tax code revision in 2001, which was more than offset by the tens of billions of dollars Gazprom and Rosneft make every year. Of course, the last time Russia went libertarian it nearly destroyed the country, so it's hard to blame him.

And "pro-freedom" in connection to Putin is really, really funny. Except to all the people he's had killed and imprisoned for speaking out, of course.