Quote:
Originally Posted by klinton
yeah, sure that you pay more for a lot of things in US, and for other things you pay more in Russia..or you were paying more before, when usd=30 rub. things like clothes, electronics, cosmetics, some food, stuff like that..even the real estate - sometimes it was cheaper in US in "normal" areas
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Electronics and cars here were always more expensive than in the States, but after the ruble's fall, they've got closer. Anyways you don't buy a new car or a fridge every month, right?
On the other hand, in Russia you don't have to pay a monthly fee for obamacare (the medicine here is free), so you can add a few hundred bucks to my salary. The taxes here are also much lower (I pay 6% only). Add this money to my income as well. I don't pay for the university education of my son. Our government pays him for being a student (not much of course). Add the higher education price to my income as well, because a saved money is an earned money ;)
As about the real estate. It's still not cheap in Moscow (even today), but we are used to buy it for cash. E.g. I do not pay any mortgage at all - everything I have is mine and it was bought for the full price. Yeah, add it to my income again
And the last thing. The official salary in Russia is not the same as the actual one. Almost everyone here has "white" (official) and "black" (unofficial) salaries. The "black" part is usually about two times more than the official "white" one. So do your math