Published: 1 October, 2009, 15:12
Edited: 10 May, 2012, 18:26
What country’s individual tax rate tops out at 13%?
Hint: It isn’t the USA where federal and local taxes in New York are projected to reach a 57% bite. If you are rich? Move to Florida or Nevada to avoid State Income Tax. If you wanna be rich? Move to this new “land of opportunity.”
What country’s higher education fosters a curiosity and practical involvement for its student body in free enterprise?
Hint: It isn’t the USA where, ironically, the very corporations who fund university endowments are seen as the enemy by professors and students alike. They are viewed as polluters and exploiters of a beleaguered laboring class. But in this country, this new “land of opportunity,” the professors, themselves, own real estate businesses, factories and sit on the boards of directors of major corporations.
Meanwhile, state corporate taxes in the USA have reached scandalous proportions and all but kill chances for a new, emerging, small business. For example, all fifty states have higher corporate taxes than the nation of France, which has the fifth highest corporate taxes in the world and is frequently held out as the poster child of anti-small business and entrepreneurs. And in this country, the maximum federal and regional corporate tax is 20%.
What country has sensible consumers who pay their bills on time and save their money? Only one in 100 even carries a credit card? Where capital investment potential abounds?
Hint. It is surely not the USA where Americans carry 450 million Visa cards alone and where their credit card debt approaches $2 trillion.
What country is a true melting pot of religion, culture and race, where Muslims, Jews and Christians live and work side by side and their values are openly appreciated?
Hint. Not here in the good old USA, where government and big business restrict language and clothing in schools and the public marketplace. (I have a friend who writes screenplays for television movies. He tells me that “Jesus” cannot be mentioned on one of the networks except as a curse word.)
What country boasts an airline where the stewardesses are still tall, trim, bright and attractive? They still smile at their passengers, and wear elegant white gloves as part of their smart uniforms.
Hint. It isn’t the USA where a $15,000, first class, round trip international ticket on a US airline will get you a bitter, grouchy stewardess, who hates her job, her passengers but has union guarantees that virtually prevent her from ever being fired.
Answer to all the above?
Russia.
Welcome to the new land of opportunity.
Yes, there are still problems galore in Russia. The roads outside of the major cities are still in disrepair. Grade schools are awful. Airline equipment is dated, even for the clever, well-run, Rossiya Airline. The government still struggles to deal with endemic corruption. (If security personnel at the airport will steal your coins going through the x-ray machine, which happened to me, it kinda makes you wonder how vulnerable they would be to a bribe by a terrorist).
The biggest problem of all? Excessive regulation. Perhaps it’s a hangover from the Soviet years that was needed to combat corruption, or maybe it’s just part of the Russian DNA. A new restaurant, for example, faces endless government regulations not only regarding hiring, but even regarding the choice of entrees on a menu also. And such rules not only limit the imagination of their people, they are cleverly exploited by competitors to block the emergence of any newcomers.
In complex industries, like “Direct Sales”, the state parliament Duma is vulnerable to manipulation by big companies who seek monopolies by regulating competitors out of the market. Members of the Duma must be generalists and cannot be experts on everything so some will be innocently led by foreign companies seeking to “clean up” their industry. The result? Expect new regulations that will confine and harass their own Russian workforce and limit their income opportunities, all to the advantage of big foreign corporations.
Nevertheless, Russia under Putin brought law and order to the streets, began an aggressive campaign against corruption and released an entrepreneurial spirit that is quickly producing a growing middle class and a Russian nouveau riche. When the “dreamers” and “doers” outnumber the “takers” Russia will truly explode. The atmosphere is right. Immigrants, the bane of fortress America, are welcome in Russia where they are needed and wanted.
And the Russian Miracle is not just a Moscow–St. Petersburg phenomenon. There are business and cultural zones now popping up all over the Russian landscape. For example, Putin helped the city of Kazan win the 2013 Universiade. The city is being transformed in preparation. Yekaterinburg is a showcase city. Distant Khabarovsk has it all. Booming Black Sea resort Sochi will host the 2014 Winter Olympics and anyone who has visited this exotic city can tell you that it will forever after become one of the world’s glamour spots.
So when President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin sit down together in the coming days to discuss their relationship and their future, they hold the hopes and dreams of millions in their hands. And they are on the verge of history. What has happened in Russia, its diversification, its wise use of the oil boom, its new freedoms for the marketplace now make it a “land of opportunity.” And just in time for a world in global crisis.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.