US vs Russia

In what ways is Russia better than the United States?

Peter Potnin

Works at Microsoft

Studied at National Research Nuclear University "MEPhI"

Lives in Seattle, WA

453.5k answer views27.8k this month

Turn On Notifications

Peter Potnin, born and lived in Russia for 24 years

Updated Sep 5, 2016

As a Russian native who has moved to the US recently I feel like I have something to share, too.

1. OMG INTERNET, PEOPLE! In Russia there’s such a plurality of ISPs that it’s not uncommon to have 3–4 providers to choose from in a given apartment building. For this and other reasons the prices are much lower – $9 for 100Mbps in Moscow compared to $65 for 25Mbps in my Seattle apartment (Comcast only). Come on!
2. The same goes for cell phone service – cheaper and better in Russia, at least in the cities.
3. Banks. I have found the ones in Russia to generally have superior online banking tools and mobile apps. And the fact that there are still many credit card readers in the US that don’t have chip capability was very surprising to me! Personally, this feels so unsafe – definitely an area where the US could learn from Russia.
4. Metric system. ‘Nuff said.

Also, some of the answers here are outright bullshit so I just have to interfere. INCOME TAX IN RUSSIA IS NOT 13% – it’s 33% (see note 1) if you count Social Security, Medical and Pension taxes that are hidden because they are paid directly by an employer. Even many Russians don’t know or care for this fact – a neat accounting trick indeed! Now compare this (see note 2) to an average of 31% in the US and also note that the income tax rate is flat in Russia – which IMO sucks badly – and it’s a very different picture from “Oh look, they have 13% income tax, awesome!”. Nope, sorry, not true.

And better education in Russia, honestly? At least a VERY debatable point. The fact that it’s mostly free is really nice, though, and there definitely ARE some high-quality universities. Most of higher education in Russia is garbage, however, so having 53% of college graduates doesn’t really mean anything.

Finally, I’d like to say that every country has some good and bad things about it, so take my words with a grain of salt.

Thank you for reading.

Source   https://www.quora.com/  

Wiki background  The country was from 1917 to 1991 as a Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic(RSFSR), the core of the Soviet Union . Russia is now an independent country and an influential member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). In diplomatic affairs, Russia is seen as the successor state of the Soviet Union.