Paul
Goble
Staunton, May 6 – Russia is far from
unique in having a large number of poor people, Vladislav Inozemtsev says. In modern
societies, those without higher educations have been falling behind those who
have gone to university. But it is unique in that its government in contrast to
others neglects the poor and doesn’t work to compensate for the actions of the market.
In a Gazeta commentary, the Moscow economist says that the share of
people in Russia living in poverty is not radically different than the share doing
so in other countries, although the standard of living of poor in Russia is
much lower than that in the United States or France, for example (gazeta.ru/column/vladislav_inozemcev/12326545.shtml).
But what sets Russia apart,
Inozemtsev continues, is that Western governments provide various forms of tax
relief and subsidies to the poor to help them cope with their situation while
the Russian government shows “a surprising neglect of the needs of its least
well-off citizens.” As a result, they suffer far more than would otherwise be
the case.
Washington spends more on SNAP (what
used to be called “food stamps”) to help the poorest Americans than Russia
spends on defense, and it provides even more assistance via Medicare and
Medicaid to the elderly who often fall into poverty because of medical needs
and the poor more generally.
Russia has only three percent fewer
pensioners than does the US – 46.5 million compared to 47.8 million, despite its
population being less than half as large – provides only four percent as much
assistance to the elderly than does the United States government, the Russian
economist continues.
Western government spending on the poor
is “a unique form of the payment by society for social peace and stability” as
well as “a most important means of supporting public solidarity and banal humanism.”
It is even profitable for society and the state because it boosts the
purchasing power of the population and promotes medical and other innovations.
“Russian poverty is distinguished
from its American and European counterparts above all by the fact that its ‘primary’
and ‘secondary’ types are not different from one another” but have the same
sources and are not addressed by the state as they are in the West, the economist
argues with conviction.
“I cannot agree with the opinion of the
head of Chuvashia according to whom people live poorly in Russia because the
work poorly or too little. In fact, the majority of them live poorly because
they cannot call on the state to fulfill its obligation” to help them cope with
the situation they find themselves in.
There is no question that “Russia cannot
permit itself to secure for its least well-off citizens a standard of living
equivalent to that achieved in the West,” Inzoetmsev says. “But no one would
prevent us from focusing on it” taking the level of Russian economic
development into account.
Russia could reduce the suffering of
the poor significantly and help the economy as well by providing massive
assistance to the poor as Western governments do. Unfortunately, the attitudes
of the Russian state and the experiences of the Russian people hold out little
hope that this will happen anytime soon.
In the West, politicians and
officials expect to be evaluated on the basis of how well society as a whole is
doing. Those who fail to help the poor will in many cases fail to keep their
jobs. But in Russia, politicians and officials are not dependent on public
approval but only on the approval of those above more interested in self-aggrandizement
than in spreading the wealth.
Russians, even the Russian poor,
still accept this as a natural and universal state of affairs. It isn’t. And it
is time for everyone to acknowledge that “poverty in Russia is not a vice but a
state of existence,” one unlikely to be overcome despite Kremlin promises until
both state and society recognize that they can and should do something about
it.
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