Russia Is Still In Transition

     A friend of mine posted an excellent article on why we shouldn't stab fun at Russia's standard of living. It is unfair for such a large group of people to have gone through such a rough transition. However, when I see this at their ceremony, I start to wonder if they've really transitioned? I've read about Putin mentioning the rise of small business start ups but this is hardly the case when most Russians do not want "capitalism," per se. I guess this is starting to change, finally. I know why: they're still culturally in tune with over-arching government, controlling much of the economy. It's a slow transition but this is normal. For a socialist country to transition is nothing short of amazing.
        However, they still strive to have their country compete with the global market. Guess what? They have to. No more nationalistic economies.They may have had "full" employment during the soviet era, they may have not experience a real recession but here's the deal: there standard of living is lower that a great deal of industrialized nations and not experiencing a real recession or depression is pointless if your country is in a constant one.... what would rather have? A constant recession, poverty, corruption with the mafia controlling your government or instead, a poorly informed housing committee (Barney Frank and Maxine Waters) that indulge in market socialism. causing a horrible recession? Well, I would pick the latter, as long as people were informed about this.
         It also reminds of Sweden. Once hailed as the socialist utopia of the world had to reform from a socialist/centrally planned market into....guess what...... yeah. You know what I'm going to say....