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Comment by vetinari | Hacker News Reader

One dollar spent in Russia gets you more than in US. You cannot compare household income directly, you must go through PPP (purchase power parity). Even then, you might have expenses that they don't (medical, for example).

So in the end, objective comparison would have to go much deeper, than median household income.

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It doesn’t even make sense to compare economy in general. Russian economy didn’t grow during last 10 years, but there was significant growth in digital services with big investment in new technology and infrastructure. The government failed in many policies, but digitalization was their real success.

Nah, try to lose your paper internal passport. Your life will become very difficult. For any medical service, a paper "SNILS" and a paper "OMS" are required too.

Don't forget while the rest of the world(non US-EU) nations have to do back breaking work to produce products, the euro dollar system can just print and buy those products and life beyond their means. That's the power of having the world reserve currency system.

There are only so many turnips you can eat but Apple's Stand is $1000 everywhere.

Not, it isn't. It is 915 EUR (before VAT) here, which makes it 1072 USD today. Makes it somewhat more than $1000 :-/.

On the other hand, my spending on Apple Stands in the last years was very similar to your personal spending on Russian nuclear fuel as used in US nuclear plants. That being $0. Turnips leads this one :).

Not every developer needs Apple stands to become successful or build successful companies.

A second hand thinkpad could do the job if money is tight.

That is wrong. I have lived in both US and Russia. Some things are cheaper, but, overall, life is more expensive in Russia due to sheer inefficiency. For example, you usually pay nothing for delivery of online purchases in the US, but it's a minimum of $5 in Russia, and you should often sit all day at home waiting for the courier with the package. Taxes on labor are higher. Sales tax is 20% in Russia, so all merchandise is more expensive. Cars are much more expensive, and even the gas is more expensive.

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