Dear John:
One tiny thing you forget, is that The USSR had, at one time, both INTERNAL
and EXTERNAL Rubles. The External Rubles were used for foreign and
inter-governmental trade, and traded at a much different value than did
their Internal Counterparts. The Internal Rubles were the Rubles actually
earned and used by the guy on the street.
Whether the current government of Russia still uses Internal and External
Rubles or not, I do not know. This really does not matter, because the
Russian Economy has historically performed very unstably. Vladimir Putin
seems to have begun to put Russia's economy back on the map, certainly with
lots of foreign aid, but isn't that what happened with Leonid Brezhnev,
also, with US Government supplies of wheat in the 1970s?
So much for Nikolai Ulyanov's argument that "we shall buy the raw materiels
from the West, and use them to make the rope which we shall use to hang
them." Ulyanov is dead. So is John Reed. So is every other 1917 Jewish
revolutionary who called himself a hero after he changed his name to remove
its 'jewishness'.
Meanwhile, pass the vodka, please?
Sincerely,
Richard C. August
"John Knight" <jwknight at polbox.com> wrote in message
news:l5VF9.31423$kz4.1546649 at news2.west.cox.net...
>> "Bob LeChevalier" <lojbab at lojban.org> wrote in message
> news:n9cbuu07mmvpb2c0jn11o5v06p9kejkmn1 at 4ax.com...> > "John Knight" <jwknight at polbox.com> wrote:
> > >"Stewart Millen" <Stewart_Millen at hotmail.com> wrote in message
> > >news:Xns92CDC95E8CBC3StewartMillenhotmail at 130.133.1.4...> > >> Simply not true. While there is some uncertainty about the
> > >> number of lives lost to alcohol, it is undeniably huge. The
> > >> figure for 100,000 lives/year in the US, and more than 1 million
> > >> worldwide (WHO) may, if anything, be undercount, perhaps only
> > >> *half* of the true total. That's because some of the countries
> > >> with the greatest known alcohol problems (Russia, Eastern
> > >> Europe, France) have some of the most unreliable statistics.
> > >> However, alcohol is believed to be one of the biggest reasons,
> > >> if not the primary one, of why Russian male life expectancy is
> > >> down to 57 years.
> > >
> > >Agreed that the statistics from Russia are suspect. And the most
suspect
> > >statistic from Russia is that Russians drink a lot of alcohol.
> >
> > Yeah, they sure would want to brag about how high their alcoholism
> > rates are!
> >
>> For one thing, Russians don't have the kind of paranoia about what people
> think of how much they drink which so many "liberal" "Americans" seem to
> have. They have a more responsible attitude about drinking, similar to
that
> in Germany or France.
>> Secondly, the comment wasn't based at all on what they SAY, but on direct
> observations. At least half of what we read about Russia in our "news
> media" is completely fabricated, and this is one of the smallest LIES
about
> Russians.
>> > Nincompoop claims:
> > >Do you know how much a bottle of Wyborova Vodka, the most popular vodka
> in
> > >Russia, costs? 60 cents per liter.
> >
> > http://geocentral.net/cgi-bin/be/searchtopic.pl?topic=vodka> >
> > indicates that the minimum price for vodka in 2000 was raised 40% to
> > 62 rubles or $2.10 per liter, so it was a long time ago that it was
> > only 60 cents a liter.
> >
> > Current exchange rate is 31.8 rubles to the dollar, so this is
> > slightly less than $2 a liter today.
> >
>> This of course wouldn't be the first time I've seen our statistics about
> Russia being turned almost completely inside out. My recent direct
> observation disputes this figure.
>> > From 1999 on that site.
> > >Forty per cent of Russian men are alcoholics, according to figures
> > > disclosed from the country's Health Ministry. Alcoholism also
> > > afflicts 17 per cent of Russian women. The average Russian consumes
> > > an equivalent of 170 half litres of vodka each year
> >
> > 170 half litres is 85 liters which would cost $170, or a little less
> > than $15/mo.
> >
>> When you finally realize that a Russian family of four earns only $10 per
> month, then you will realize that this is an impossible figure. Even if
> only 2 of the 4 members of a family consumed $15 per month in just vodka
> (and they drink a lot more than just vodka), this is $30 per month, which
is
> three TIMES their actual monthly income.
>> > Nincompoop claims:
> > >That might not sound like much, but
> > >when you realize that a family of four in Russia earns only $10.00 per
> > >month, you have to appreciate that they just can't afford to drink that
> > >much.
> >
> > You are more full of sh** than my Thanksgiving turkey. You are off by
> > an order of magnitude.
> >
> > http://www.worldbank.org.ru/eng/statistics/ereports/05_02/ereport8.htm> >
>> Do you know what the CIA estimated Russia's GDP to be BEFORE my first
visit
> to Russia? $2 trillion.
>> Do you know what I discovered the ACTUAL average monthly income to be in
> Russia? TEN DOLLARS.
>> With only 50 million workers in Russia, this is a GDP of AT MOST $6
billion.
>> THE CIA WAS OFF BY THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTY THREE TIMES (333 X).
>> And they still estimate it to be $1.2 trillion, and Russians STILL earn
only
> $10 per month.
>http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/rs.html#Econ>> There's a HUGE difference between our "official" statistics of Russia--and
> reality.
>> > >The average monthly dollar wage has increased to USD 134 in March,
> > >compared to USD 103 a year ago.
> > ...
> > >The positive aspect of the changes in real income becomes visible in
> > > Goskomstat data that shows that the share of the population with
> > > income below the subsistence level (R1574, or USD 52, per month at
> > > the end of 2001) has decreased from 30.2 percent in 2000 to 27.6
> > > percent (or approximately 40 million) by the end of 2001. The poverty
> > > numbers reported in the Russian longitudinal monitoring survey are
> > > even more positive, putting the poverty rate for October 2001 at only
> > > 18.9 percent - down from 26.5 percent in 2000, and 38.1 percent in
> > > November 1998.
> >
> > http://www.hmao.wsnet.ru/english/sociumE/social/socsf1.htm> > >Average monthly income per head amounted to 6585,6 rubles for 2000.
> > ...
> > >The average monthly pension over the Okrug cum compensatory payments
> > > amounted to 871 rubles in 2000 and increased by 33,8 % in comparison
> > > with the previous year. Over Russia the average pension cum
> > > compensatory payments amounted to 694 rubles in 2000 and increased by
> > > 28 %.
> > ...
> > >In 2000 the average pension provided only 42,2 % of a pensioner's
> > > average cost of living. Low-rate pension makes pensioners work.
> >
> >
>http://www.russianamericanchamber.org/newsletter/small_private_business.html
> >
> > >There is presently not a lot of consumer income. Entrepreneurs have
> > > been forced to keep prices low. Prices for consumer goods are about
> > > same size as in the West. Payments for housing and medical insurance
> > > are lower. Salaries are lower. The average monthly income per person
> > > in St. Petersburg in 1997 was $105. The average salary in St.
> > > Petersburg is about $230-250.
> >
> > http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/6321-2.cfm> >
> > >The average nominal monthly wage due in May was 4,234 rubles, up 38.6%
> > > year-on-year and 0.3% from the previous month.
> >
> > Thus the average salary seems to be around $100-$130 per month, and
> > the poverty level is considered to be around $40-50 per month, which
> > is between 20-30% of the population.
> >
>> Even if you were to include Russia's underground economy, which may be
> bigger than their "official" economy, you would get nowhere CLOSE to this
> figure. This figure is closer to their annual income, rather than their
> monthly income.
>>>> > Nincompoop claims:
> > >Conversely, the Germans CAN afford to drink a LOT of alcohol, and they
> do.
> > >Germans consume much more alcohol than Russians, and 45% more than we
do,
> > >per capita
> >
> > http://www.nyu.edu/odae/russianfact.html> > >The World Health Organization considers an average per capita
> > > consumption of the equivalent of 8 liters of pure alcohol a year to
> > > be a sign of a country with a dangerous level of alcohol consumption.
> > > Russian consumption is currently in the range of 13 to 14 liters
> > > annually. (TIME magazine, August 11, 1997 article)
> >
> > http://www.eurocare.org/profiles/germany01.htm#anchor24643042> >
> > Indicates that Germany runs around 12 litres per year, but used to be
> > as high as Russia.
> >
>> Your "statistics" are all over the map. Which do you believe is correct?
> 85 liters per year as noted in your first reference, or the 14 liters
noted
> in your second one?
>> Even you "liberals" must suspect something is fishy when the "official"
> statistics for Russia's alcohol consumption vary by SIX TIMES, from 14 to
85
> liters, eh?
>> Again, my direct personal observation completely contradicts BOTH of these
> "official" figures--AND Russians can't possibly afford to spend this much
> JUST for alcohol.
>> Even so, even IF we were to accept the jew LIES in our "news" media 100%
at
> face value, the entire original POINT is that alcohol consumption could
not
> possibly be the source of Russia's health problem.
>> Even IF you were to believe that Russians could even AFFORD to consume 14
> liters of alcohol per year, this is only 17% more than Germany. Do you
> REALLY think that this could shorten their life expectancy by 17 years?
>> If you do, then you must believe that all Frenchmen are dead, because
their
> average alcohol consumption is 22.6 liters per year, which is almost TWICE
> as high as Russia's?
>http://christianparty.net/alcoholconsumption.htm>> > >Germans also have a longer life expectancy than we do,
> >
> > No, actually it is almost exactly the same. 74.4 years for German
> > men, 74.8 years for American men, 80.4 years for German women, 79.9
> > years for American women.
> >
>> And France consumes more alcohol per capita than Germany, yet has an even
> longer life expectancy than Germany.
>> Certainly even you "liberals" must question a statement that "8 liters of
> pure alcohol a year [is] a sign of a country with a dangerous level of
> alcohol consumption", when almost every European country consumes more
> alcohol than that, AND has a longer life expectancy than we do?
>> Australia consumes 11.8 liters per year yet their men have a four year
> longer life expectancy than ours (77.2 years versus 73). Switzerland
> consumes 13 liters and their men have a 3 year longer life expectancy (76
> versus 73). Italy consumes 15 liters and their men have a 2 1/2 year
longer
> life expectancy (75.4 vs. 73).
>> At the other end of the spectrum, Thailand consumes only .6 liters--and
> their men have an even shorter life expectancy than American men (65.6 vs
> 73). And Peru consumes only 1.2 liters and a 5 year shorter life
> expectancy. Paraguay consumes only 2 liters, and has a 2 1/2 year shorter
> life expectancy.
>>> > http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/gallery/epidemiology/spc96.htm> > >Source: Williams, G.D., Stinson, F.S., Sanchez, L.L., and Dufour, M.C.
> > > Surveillance Report #47: Apparent Per Capita Alcohol Consumption:
> > > National State, and Regional Trends, 1977-1996. Rockville, MD: NIAAA,
> > > Division of Biometry and Epidemiology, Alcohol Epidemiologic Data
> > > System, December 1998. U.S. Average = 2.19 Gallons of Ethanol
> >
> > That's around 8 litres per year, which is lower than Germany but still
> > high enough to cause significant problems.
> >
>>>> > Nincompoop says:
> > >so if there's a
> > >relationship between alcohol and life expectancy, it's a proportional
> > >relationship.
> >
> > The lowest alcohol consumption in Europe is in Sweden, which has the
> > highest life expectancy (over 77 years for men, over 81 years for
> > women).
> >
>> This is about the only exception to the rule that the greater the per
capita
> consumption of alcohol in Europe, the longer the life expectancy.
>http://christianparty.net/lifeexpectancy.htm [and I also don't believe
this
> figure anyway, because my direct observations suggest that Swedes drink
much
> more alcohol than Russians].
>> > Nincompoop says:
> > >And we have a 45% higher fatal accident rate than they do.
> >
> > http://www.bast.de/htdocs/fachthemen/irtad/utility/p73.pdf> >
> > indicates that Germany has a noticeably higher rate of traffic deaths
> > per billion kilometres traveled than the US.
> >
> > Nincompoop manages to make an error in every single statement of
> > alleged "fact" that he makes in this post. Nincompoop is beyond hope.
> >
> > lojbab
>> The US Statistical Abstract, Table 1353, Death Rates, by Cause and
Country,
> shows that Germany's death rate per 100,000 population due to auto
accidents
> is only 10.7, compared to ours at 15.6.
>> The real measure of a nation's traffic safety record isn't the number of
> miles it drives, but how effective traffic planning is at reducing the
> overall rate at which its citizens die on the roads and highways. The
> simple fact that our MVFR RATE is 46% higher than Germany's, 67% higher
than
> Australia's, 20% higher than Austria's, 53% higher than Denmark's, and 86%
> higher than Switzerland's http://christianparty.net/mvfr.htm, even though
> each of those countries consumes a considerably larger amount of alcohol
per
> capita, is all the proof you need that this bogus argument about alcohol
> KILLING people is DEAD WRONG.
>> Handled properly and responsibly, drinking alcohol SAVES LOTS of lives,
and
> this data is just the TIP of the iceberg.
>> John Knight
>>>>