So, our car is sitting in the endless Moscow traffic, and the driver asks me whether the traffic is as bad as this in the United States. The answer is: Yes.
This caused me to write down a few other similarities between Russia and the U.S. right now:
* Cell phones are everywhere.
* Gas is priced the same, around $2.08 a gallon (15 rubles per litre).
* bp gas stations are rampant.
* housing downtown is popular, and expensive.
* if you ask someone a question about presidential politics (as I did), you get the same 15 minute rant in both countries, including an allusion to stealing the election, and serving only the rich.
* the middle class is in decline.
* commutes are measured in hours, not miles.
* democracy is suggested to be in decline.
* the elderly are losing their benefits.
** And astronauts in BOTH COUNTRIES go to Russia to get launched into outer space **
((3 years ago I took my son Willie to Moscow, and he got to see the American scientists working with the Russians in the space center - - their Houston))
Comments