I'm an alien I'm a legal alien... :whistle:

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

In my experience

1. Everything in the FSU is corrupt and for sale. No train tickets? Yes there is, the ticket sellers and conductors BUY them and sell them under the table. The employees of the railroad are scalping tickets! The mailman gets $1 from my MIL to hand deliver her pension check. Any clerk in any business will take a bribe. Anything that requires a "procedure" can be "bought". I think they actually create procedures to generate bribes.

2. Police will take bribes for nearly anything. They expect to be bribed and solicit bribes. They spend their shift shaking people down for bribes. A lot of the police are low-life "gopniks" who couldn't get a real job to save their life. They are patronage jobs of course.

3. Drunk driving should be MORE of a crime here. One year in jail for first offense would be a good start.

4. Russian people are generally very hospitable to foreigners. I have no bad stories to tell about my dealings with the people. The GOVERNMENT at all levels is impossible to deal with. So is our government. There, you can bribe someone so you do not have to "deal with the government"

5. FSU people are not phony. If they ask "How are you?" they WANT to know. They do not ask strangers "How are you?" Why? Because they do not care (neither do Americans)for one thing and for another they think it is none of their business.

6. No one at Walmart cares if you have a good day. They pretend to care because Americans eat that sh*t with a spoon and there are other places you COULD shop for the same thing and you can drive your car to them easily. FSU people usually have no car and shop close to home. They could buy things elsewhere also but it is hard to get there

7. FSU people accept a certain amount of corruption from people. If the cashier shortchanges them...oh well, she has to eat and cashiers do not get paid much. The mailman has to eat and he gets paid $150 per month.

In the Soviet Union it was fairly well accepted that people stole from their jobs (the government) So someone that worked at a bakery got paid a small amount of money but also took bread to trade with friends that worked at some other place. FSU people seem to have a very "practical" set of morals. They often will do something they "do not like" because "they must" to survive, and they WILL survive.

I don;t saay one system is better than another, each has its advantages and disadvantages.

But there is no comparison in the general level of corruption.

Rod Blagojovich was a good example. Alla's reaction that was "Yeah, and what? Who was expecting something else?"

[eekee 182]

In my experience

1. Everything in the FSU is corrupt and for sale. No train tickets? Yes there is, the ticket sellers and conductors BUY them and sell them under the table. The employees of the railroad are scalping tickets! The mailman gets $1 from my MIL to hand deliver her pension check. Any clerk in any business will take a bribe. Anything that requires a "procedure" can be "bought". I think they actually create procedures to generate bribes.

2. Police will take bribes for nearly anything. They expect to be bribed and solicit bribes. They spend their shift shaking people down for bribes. A lot of the police are low-life "gopniks" who couldn't get a real job to save their life. They are patronage jobs of course.

3. Drunk driving should be MORE of a crime here. One year in jail for first offense would be a good start.

4. Russian people are generally very hospitable to foreigners. I have no bad stories to tell about my dealings with the people. The GOVERNMENT at all levels is impossible to deal with. So is our government. There, you can bribe someone so you do not have to "deal with the government"

5. FSU people are not phony. If they ask "How are you?" they WANT to know. They do not ask strangers "How are you?" Why? Because they do not care (neither do Americans)for one thing and for another they think it is none of their business.

6. No one at Walmart cares if you have a good day. They pretend to care because Americans eat that sh*t with a spoon and there are other places you COULD shop for the same thing and you can drive your car to them easily. FSU people usually have no car and shop close to home. They could buy things elsewhere also but it is hard to get there

7. FSU people accept a certain amount of corruption from people. If the cashier shortchanges them...oh well, she has to eat and cashiers do not get paid much. The mailman has to eat and he gets paid $150 per month.

In the Soviet Union it was fairly well accepted that people stole from their jobs (the government) So someone that worked at a bakery got paid a small amount of money but also took bread to trade with friends that worked at some other place. FSU people seem to have a very "practical" set of morals. They often will do something they "do not like" because "they must" to survive, and they WILL survive.

I don;t saay one system is better than another, each has its advantages and disadvantages.

But there is no comparison in the general level of corruption.

Rod Blagojovich was a good example. Alla's reaction that was "Yeah, and what? Who was expecting something else?"

[james&olya 1,121]

The entire system in America is corrupt. In Russia, you pay the cops when you mess up. Here, you have to pay an entire industry. Meanwhile the taxpayers are also paying for it.

Over there, your DUI costs $50. Here, it costs several hundred bucks each to: get out of jail, pay an attorney, go to court, pay fees, take remedial classes, pay your DL reinstatement fees, increased insurance premiums and whatever else you have to pay to get from point A to B in the meantime.

Slim, I disagree strenuously on this! This is not corruption, this is JUSTICE! There is a very good reason for the penalties paid by people convicted of DUI.

[sea-monkey 13]

Corruption in America? I don't think so...

Anyone call a plumber lately? Tow service? Legalize robbery....

Whats with all the taxes we pay?

property tax

sales and use tax

income tax

alcoholic beverage tax

cigarette and tobacco tax

car registration tax

gift tax

e-waste

parcel tax

airport tax

etc

Check out the salary info for city workers around these parts...

Northern California:

Livermore City Manager Linda Barton $302,472

San Ramon manager Herb Moniz's $359,669

Dublin's city manager Joni Pattillo $205,000

San Jose retired police chief yearly pension estimated at more than $200,000

The average San Jose city worker who retired in the 2009-10 fiscal year after at least 26 years of service earned a starting pension of $93,200. For retiring police and firefighters, that number was $119,000

Bridge toll-taker's base salary starts at $48,672 and tops out at $54,080.

[mckay76 11]

The entire system in America is corrupt. In Russia, you pay the cops when you mess up. Here, you have to pay an entire industry. Meanwhile the taxpayers are also paying for it.

Over there, your DUI costs $50. Here, it costs several hundred bucks each to: get out of jail, pay an attorney, go to court, pay fees, take remedial classes, pay your DL reinstatement fees, increased insurance premiums and whatever else you have to pay to get from point A to B in the meantime.

And that's a simple case.

Don't even get started on something like domestic violence.

Because here, the taxpayers (and criminals) pay police salaries. Over there, the police make sh!t and have to make up for it with bribes.

The mafia is non-existent here because it's been replaced by the govt. and social service organizations subsidized by tax dollars. You can't out-muscle Uncle Sugar.

The two systems achieve the same goal (maintaining social order) but they operate entirely different.

You have personal experience with inner-city gangs?

yes i have personal experience with them everyday....don't forget the cops pay taxes too and if they have higher salaries than the average joe then that means they pay more money in taxes. I agree there's too many social service organ that are subsidized by tax dollars, which means too many free hand-outs with not enough money coming in.

Slim, I disagree strenuously on this! This is not corruption, this is JUSTICE! There is a very good reason for the penalties paid by people convicted of DUI.

agreed there's a reason people have to pay so much when they get in trouble.

Edited February 20, 2011 by mckay76

[mckay76 11]

Corruption in America? I don't think so...

Anyone call a plumber lately? Tow service? Legalize robbery....

Whats with all the taxes we pay?

property tax

sales and use tax

income tax

alcoholic beverage tax

cigarette and tobacco tax

car registration tax

gift tax

e-waste

parcel tax

airport tax

etc

Check out the salary info for city workers around these parts...

Northern California:

Livermore City Manager Linda Barton $302,472

San Ramon manager Herb Moniz's $359,669

Dublin's city manager Joni Pattillo $205,000

San Jose retired police chief yearly pension estimated at more than $200,000

The average San Jose city worker who retired in the 2009-10 fiscal year after at least 26 years of service earned a starting pension of $93,200. For retiring police and firefighters, that number was $119,000

Bridge toll-taker's base salary starts at $48,672 and tops out at $54,080.

I suppose if you really want to see corruption in San Jose drop city workers salaries in half and then see how things are.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I suppose if you really want to see corruption in San Jose drop city workers salaries in half and then see how things are.

I bet it would look like Madison, Wisconsin

Taxes are one of the reasons you pay so much for a plumber. 15% of what you pay him is gone immediately in self employment tax. If he is charging $75 per hour...

He has $63.75 left after employment tax. He has $51 left after income tax. 1/3 of what you pay are for taxes and that does not include any local taxes! He is paying $400 per month for liability insurance (at least). If he works 40 hours per week, that is $2 plus per hour. He is down to $49 per hour. He still has to buy his vehicle and pay insurance for that and all his tools. Health insurance he buys for his family costs more than $1000 per month. By the time all is said and done. if he charges $75 per hour he is maming for himself, perhaps $25 per hour. Not even average income for a skilled worker. What kind of business owner wants to earn $25 per hour?

[ONA 133]

And domestic violence... a woman in Russia dies every hour from domestic violence. (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92621334) In the US the number is 4. A day. (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1695157/every_day_4_women_in_the_us_die_from.html) Compare the relative populations of the US and Russia. Are you seriously insinuating that the Russian system of dealing with that particular crime is better than the American one when five times more women a day die at the hands of a domestic partner in Russia when the population of Russia is half that of the United States?

And that's partially because Russian police is... well, Russian police is being Russian police... But also, it's because American women actually call the police, get divorced and have their husbands punished, while 4 out of 5 Russian women, experiencing domestic violence would just stay hoping that their husbands will change, which actually means waiting for their own death

It's also surprising to me that Americans expect money for offering help. That's news to me. In fact I don't believe I charged once over there for opening a door for someone that had their hands full of bags and the Russians and/or Belarusians didn't even think of helping.

I don't consider this "help". It's a question of upbringing and politeness.

When I talk about help I mean that my fiance still gets surprised when my dad is ready to pick him up from the airport and then drive him back to the airport and then refuses to take money for gaz, even though it's a 500km drive (310 miles approx.).

If a Russian person lets somebody stay in their house, they don't expect that they'll get money for food or utilities, they'll just be all "be my guest". American people apparently would expect you to pay them back at least for how much more they spent on everything while you were staying.

Another example - my friends often ask me to help them with some translations or English classes, I never take any money for that, and they never offer, because it'll be weird here if you pay your friend for it. And my friend is going to help me in designing wedding invitations - and it's all free also. That's just the way it works here. And my other friend promised that if he can make it to our wedding, he is going to be our photographer, which means that we may get wedding pictures of great quality for free also. That's why we have a saying here, which can be roughly translated as "It's better to have 100 friends than 100 roubles".

Here's a good story. My wife who speaks decent German, and has her gf send her clothes from Germany said to me; "Hey let me show you something". This was in Minsk. She said for me not to talk to her unless it was in German...my German sucks, but I can get by on it. So we go the the store and she says something to me in German, I nod, and she hands the women behind the bars a couple of hundred in Euro's to exchange for Belarusian rubles. The fat chick takes her money and says to her co worker sitting next to her; "Watch what I do to these stupid Germans". Then she proceeds to short my wife close to $80. My wife counts out the money, and says to the gal in perfect Russian; "give me the rest of my money you fat thieving pig before I call the manager on you".

OK. A good story from me. My first ever day in the USA, May 30, 2008 - I arrived at JFK with a group of other students, with about $650 in my pocket and a job offer for a place in Annapolis, MD.

We all go through customs and right when we get out of there we see a very nice American guy, middle-aged, white, saying that he meets students there all the time and gives them a ride to a train or a bus station, and also saying how surprised he is that nobody in the agency (which sent us to the States) ever told us about him. OK, so a nice ride in his van cost us $65 each - and there were 5 of us. Good Lord, I wonder how much the guy actually gets a day! Can you imagine how angry we were, when we realised that if we had taken a cab for 3 of us we would have paid just about $15 each! I still can't believe I actually bought what he was saying. I guess, that's because of all that bs I heard before I went to the US about how "American people never lie to you".

The point is that people are trying to take advantage of somebody foreign probably everywhere in the world.

And I just gave you all an idea for summer business.

It works for AMERICAN culture, because that's how Americans feel comfortable. Saying hello to strangers on the street, smiling at people you don't know, etc. If, for instance, I were in a store in Russia and a male shop assistant started asking me how my day was going or whatever, I would be very freaked out and assume he was hitting on me or something, because that sort of interaction between a shop assistant and a customer just isn't the norm.

Exactly. Understanding that proves that there is a big difference between people, who actually know a lot about Russian culture and those, who know a lot less than they think they know.

The thing is that smiling at people in the streets or in the store does not mean that you are trying to be nice in Russia. It means that you are either drunk, or crazy, or on drugs, or you hitting on somebody, or you're planning on doing something bad, or you're foreign, or well.. at least you're weird. When you happen to have an eye contact with somebody, you don't smile, you look away immediately - otherwise the person you smiled at might think that there is something wrong either with you or with them - anyway it makes people feel uncomfortable.

If Russian people smile, they smile for a reason: something really great just happened to them, they are really glad to see you or/and they really like you... or they want you to think that they like you.

The same thing with "how are you?" - when Russian people ask that question, they are ready to hear how freaking terrible your whole week was, or how incredibly lucky you've been lately. We don't say "have a good day", we say "good luck" or something like that, but also only to our friends and family, when we really mean it.

So, for people, who assume that Russian people are rude or inhospitable, just because they don't act like Americans do, you clearly just don't know enough about Russian culture. Sorry.

[Lena and Igor 5]

Cheaters are not exclusive to a particular country. I was taken advantage of upon arriving at JFK after my first trip to Ukraine. I had to take a cab to Laguardia (less than 15 km). Unknowingly (debatable), I was offered a ride in an unmarked cab for 110 USD. When it was time to pay, I passed the driver (foreigner) 150 USD. He then with a slight of hand he showed me that there was only a 101 USD in his hand. Argued a bit but being exhausted after the flight across the pond, I dug deeper and gave him another $9. Obviously, he received the tip of his choosing. I should've known better and not had so much faith in the human spirit. We have an expression here: "taken for a ride.".

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

yes i have personal experience with them everyday....don't forget the cops pay taxes too and if they have higher salaries than the average joe then that means they pay more money in taxes. I agree there's too many social service organ that are subsidized by tax dollars, which means too many free hand-outs with not enough money coming in.

agreed there's a reason people have to pay so much when they get in trouble.

Slim is right about one thing in this regard. Crime and punishment in the USA is an industry. That does not in itsef make it corrupt, but it IS a business. The people engaged in that business have no desire to end their own source of income. This is why when crime increases we see people intorducing, for example, gun laws. They cannot possibly reduce crime (an assault weapons ban that bans nothing and tales nothing off the street? Are you serious?) but it does create enforcement jobs for people.

The government will say "it is horrible! We must spend 20 billion per year to fight the war on drugs" But that means that someone is getting PAID 20 billion per year and has no intention of losing that money. Legalizing marijuana would "save" the country $XX billion per year AND generate tax revenue, but that means some "industry" is going to lose $XX billion per year. Imagine closing down ALL the Walmarts. Would anyone be against that? Maybe Walmart? Maybe people that work for Walmart? Maybe people that sell merchandise to Walmart? Yet we wave our hand and say "We can save $XX billion..." without considering that a huge industry does not WANT us to "save" that money.

Would attorneys be in favor of legalizing marijuana? What if we made the mandatory minimum sentence for the FIRST drunk driving offense ONE YEAR in jail? Would attorneys like that? Why? Because they are concerned about your "rights"? NO! Such a punishment would drastically reduce the number of people driving drunk, reduce the number of their clients and reduce the repeat offenders. It would reduce the need to prosecute offenders and the District Attorneys could cut their budgets and lay off some of their staff. I am sure they are looking forward to that. Any REAL reduction in crime means lower budgets for police departments. They love that when you cut their budgets. They always have to find another battle they need to fight, something else they need to enforce...a new law! A new "crime"! They need special equipment to enforce this new law, and someone needs to make that equipment!

In Russia there is none of this nonsense. There is very low crime (statistically) because most crime gets overlooked, not reported or just bribed out of. How many prostitutes do you think get prosecuted in the FSU? How many people do you think are showing up for traffic court? Drug dealers? In a way the Russian system is better. The "costs" are paid by the offenders! The prostitutes, drug dealers and drunk drivers FUND the police directly. Here, we pretend that our laws will reduce prostitution, use of drugs or drunk driving by creating an industry we must all pay for to "fight" these terrible things.

The "war on drugs" the "war on poverty" the "war on crime" Like other wars, just wastes money in huge amounts and there are more drugs than ever, more poverty than ever (but our poor people are FAT, Russian poor people die of starvation, I guess we won that war). Crime HAS gone down because of demographics more than anything (and good people being allowed to carry guns in most places) but the budgets to fight crime have not gone down.

[mckay76 11]

I bet it would look like Madison, Wisconsin

Taxes are one of the reasons you pay so much for a plumber. 15% of what you pay him is gone immediately in self employment tax. If he is charging $75 per hour...

He has $63.75 left after employment tax. He has $51 left after income tax. 1/3 of what you pay are for taxes and that does not include any local taxes! He is paying $400 per month for liability insurance (at least). If he works 40 hours per week, that is $2 plus per hour. He is down to $49 per hour. He still has to buy his vehicle and pay insurance for that and all his tools. Health insurance he buys for his family costs more than $1000 per month. By the time all is said and done. if he charges $75 per hour he is maming for himself, perhaps $25 per hour. Not even average income for a skilled worker. What kind of business owner wants to earn $25 per hour?

Agree with you 100 percent on this one gary...if we could only find a way to make the other 47% of the population pay taxes, joe the plumber might be able to make some decent wages.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Cheaters are not exclusive to a particular country. I was taken advantage of upon arriving at JFK after my first trip to Ukraine. I had to take a cab to Laguardia (less than 15 km). Unknowingly (debatable), I was offered a ride in an unmarked cab for 110 USD. When it was time to pay, I passed the driver (foreigner) 150 USD. He then with a slight of hand he showed me that there was only a 101 USD in his hand. Argued a bit but being exhausted after the flight across the pond, I dug deeper and gave him another $9. Obviously, he received the tip of his choosing. I should've known better and not had so much faith in the human spirit. We have an expression here: "taken for a ride.".

The unlicensed cab driver...like the unlicensed taxi/van driver in ONA's post were scam artist...thieves. The lady that tried to rip us off in Belarus was a teller who worked for the store. It was her official job to exchange money..

I'm sure you can see the difference. Lying thief who is pretending to be a taxi driver vs official worker.

Edited February 20, 2011 by Why_Me

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Agree with you 100 percent on this one gary...if we could only find a way to make the other 47% of the population pay taxes, joe the plumber might be able to make some decent wages.

Simple. FAIR TAX. Eliminate income tax of all types on all people and business. Replace it with a 23% imbedded sales tax on all purchases. Provide a monthly rebate of $xxx per person in a household (regardless of income, per PERSON) to refund the tax on basic living needs.

Joe the Plumber will KEEP every dollar he earns, so will you. And pay TAX only when he spends it.

There would be NO tax on business (as you agree, taxing a business such as Joe the Plumber only raises prices) Businesses do not and never have paid tax. Businesses COLLECT taxes, they do not PAY taxes. The US would become the largest tax haven for business in the world. We would all need THREE jobs to cover the demand.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

The unlicensed cab driver...like the unlicensed taxi/van driver in ONA's post were scam artist...thieves. The lady that tried to rip us off in Belarus was a teller who worked for the store. It was her official job to exchange money..

I'm sure you can see the difference. Lying thief who is pretending to be a taxi driver vs official worker.

The unlicensed cab drivers are criminals. Their victims are victims of a CRIME.

[sea-monkey 13]

I suppose if you really want to see corruption in San Jose drop city workers salaries in half and then see how things are.

With high salaries, they're still corupt. Not like its going to make a difference. Check out this news that broke here this week:

Prosecutors say the commander of a state narcotics task force in Contra Costa County has acknowledged stealing and selling drugs that were seized during raids.

Forty-nine-year-old Norman Wielsch, the head of the Central Contra Costa Narcotics Enforcement Team, was arraigned Friday on 28 felony counts, including drug possession. He did not enter a plea.