“Before, I used to buy eggs for 70 rubles ($0.78) a dozen. Now they cost between 130 and 140 rubles ($1.45 to $1.56)—twice as much,” Ilia Zaroubine, a 21-year-old student, said.
Near the end
That’s crazy.
Those are still just a little bit cheaper than a dozen eggs at Walmart.
It doesn’t work that way. Eggs are not imported from the West and Western prices don’t apply on domestic produce. Russian earnings are nowhere near the Western ones on average.
Globally speaking though, $1 is still $1.
You could just say “Russia is a poorer country than the US” and still get the same point across.
You can’t just compare the dollar value of items across countries when median incomes and cost of living vary so much. The same dollar has different buying powers in different countries.
Do like I did and move out to the countryside, buy a vastly cheaper house with some land, work in IT so you can work remotely most days and get some hens. Spend far less on their feed than I did on eggs and I find home range eggs to be a very appreciated going away gift these days.
I remember seeing a youtube video that broke down the economics of eggs, and you need like 35 chickens before your economy of scale begins to compare to the price you pay at the grocery store.
I don’t know if that figure was counting assumed labor on the part of the homesteader though.
I do work in IT (software engineer) but I don’t eat eggs so much that I need to buy a damn countryside farm because my egg consumption is ruining me here in the city lmao. I’ll eat cheaper things/eggs only sometimes. It’s not the most expensive food here, in the least. 😄
True, but the average income / buying power has to be factored in too, right? Caveman googling gives the average Russian’s income to be $14k USD / year whereas Swedes are at $47k USD / year. Assuming more caveman math, that’d be like paying $5.23/dozen in Rubles compared to $3.60/dozen in SEK.
Of course you can’t just do these sort of comparisons exactly, because money’s always more complicated than that, but I think it gives a better context.
Get the median, not the average income, to have a good comparison. The wealth gap in Russia is pretty big.
And here in Quebec we are paying 6CAD(4.50)usd for a dozen… While not being embroiled in a war of our own design.
Correction: The 6CAD was for 18. That is what I get for checking grocery websites before coffee - It is more like 4CAD per dozen.
Americans and everyone else constantly complaining about food prices. Meanwhile us in Canada being fucked by the same three companies and a government who (regardless of party) hasn’t shown they give a flying fuck on lowering anything.
Even when Americans had the big egg shortage last year it was coming up to the average prices of eggs round me.
Utter bullshit. Half the time I’m too broke to afford food.
In the current economic system, widespread lowering of prices is considered to be harmful. So it’s not really possible without major economic reforms. Best solution is to increase wages/income to offset higher prices.
Is there a difference between regulations regarding eggs between the US and Canada? Eggs in the US are dirt cheap because almost nothing surrounding poultry is regulated. I’m happy to pay the premium in Germany for minimum living conditions, antibiotics restrictions, no culled male chicks, etc. but I also realize that not everyone here is as fortunate.
