My wife has gone back to Russia to visit her mom and all the rest. She had been gone only 7 months.

She reports that prices for a lot of basic foods have just about doubled. To humor me, she's keeping grocery receipts for us to review back here. We'll do the same when we return in November.

But it sounds as though the situation for pensioners who are on their own is completely terrible. Things aren't a cake walk here, but we sure do have it easier!

Just wondering what others here are hearing and how you are responding.

I'm hearing this from a lot of my friends that either have wives or fiances. I've had to up the financial help a little with my fiance because of the grocery prices going up.
I was over for a visit recently and from a previous thee month visit I could tell a big difference in the grocery prices increasing and it seemed the Ruble was down on us also.

bruc

yes, prices for food and everything else have gone up a lot. But as far as food goes, i find that if i go far from the center of the city (spb), things aren't that much more expensive than they were a year ago. Where I live prices have gone up a lot, so i do my big food shopping 10 km away or so.

No problems for my wife's family. Her mom and sis still have boyfriends that take care of them, so they should be fine.

She did mention something the other day about buying her mom a new washing machine. The good news is her sis is going to cover 1/2 the cost so that boyfriend of hers must be a pretty nice guy!

I'm not sure who's going to cover our 1/2 though..... no rich boyfriend here. Yet. (I keep telling her if there is one to have him pay the rent too. So far, no takers.)

Forget them, I have enough problems with inflation from gasoline and food right here in the United States.

Inflation is a big problem in Ukraine right now too. They are pegged to the US dollar, so that doesn't help things.

Alla has told that prices have "grown up many" but they all seem to be doing okay.

Prices in St. Petes are out of control, food is like gold

The real issue will be the rise in airfares...which will soon be beyond the average person's budget.

Today I read an article about the results of an opinion poll of whether the Russian goverment should introduce food stamps, and a full 28 percent of respondents felt that food stamps were something they personally needed.

I called Delta this morning to make reservations for August to fly back to my girls and was a little surprised to find the tickets were only a little over $1400 from Atlanta to Moscow. I remember paying $1200.00 this time last year. My last trip a couple of months ago was about the same price of $1400.00. I went ahead and made more reservations for October and the tickets were $1200.00. This could be the end of that fare and it could explode even higher.
I have a friend flying back to Ukraine to visit his girl about the same time in August and his ticket was over $2000.00 and he tells me an increase of $800.00 from his last visit. He has to fly to JFK and connect there to Kiev.
My fiance told me that one of her girl friends fiance has had to postpone his trip to her until winter rates because of the increase in the fares.
The economy where I live, mountain resort area construction being the major industry, has been totally dead for a year and we see it not improving.
I'm an architectual engineer and where 90% pf my business comes from this area I'm now having to reach into several more areas to find work to have something to do.
I know a lot of people that have stop flying because of the increase in airfares and trying to keep their businesses alive via the internet and phone.
It's tough right now and some of us think maybe we haven't even got started good going downhill due a lot to the price of oil now.

bruc

Airfare is weird.

[quote name='slim' date='Jul 2 2008, 11:26 AM' post='1981561']
Airfare is weird.
[/q

Sometimes I think my fiance is weird too

Airfare is strange I sent my wife and son to south carolina for 2 weeks to visit my sister and I found a ticket for 300 round trip from grand rapids to charlotte NC. The first one I found was 1100 and then 800 and then 300.

Just because a country's money is based on the dollar doesnt always mean that food prices will go up, oil is having a large effect on food prices all over the world because of added cost of seed, running farm equip etc. Its staggering what oil speculation has done to mess things up.

Trans Atlantic tickets are usually cheapest October to May, as fewer people want to go. Airlines lower the prices to fill the seats (your $1400 loses less money than an empty seat does). On long haul flights, they don't have the option of using smaller equipment to cut costs during the off season.

Inflation adjusted, tickets are about where they were 20 years ago. Which is expensive. 4 years ago, the first time I was in Russia, I managed to go roundtrip on BA for $700. About $700 for us on Delta last year too. This year, I guess it will be frequent flier miles. (50,000 Delta miles is still a good deal, even though you get nickel and dimed - $50 booking fee, $200 in taxes, $25 telephone fee, etc)

Jet A was 34 CENTS a gallon 8 years ago, and about 4 DOLLARS a gallon now. The airport across the street from my house is charging almost $7! Ouch! Long Haul flights (like Russia) are inherently less fuel efficient, since the extra weight from the fuel means carrying yet more fuel. When oil gets to $200 a barrel, at least it should start cutting demand, and boosting output - which should in theory start to lower prices...

If she's anything like my wife, yes she is.




Which would be true if today's prices were reflective of the current cost. Prices today are what we "should've" seen at about $90/barrel. By the time it all catches up, we may see $10/gallon gas.

Your theory may hold true, but if gas prices climb to $10/gallon before they start to fall again, it's unlikely they'll ever fall back under $4/gallon.

Gas now is "cheap."

I wish this was true. But in reality, when demand drops so will production both in oil producing and refining thus artificially maintaining a high price as demand falls. The oil folks aren't idiots and have now grown accustomed to the high profits.

The real solutions lies in alternative energy for our vehicles, mainly the electric car that costs under $25,000, gets 300 miles to the charge, is easy and cheap to dispose of, and runs under warranty for 10 years. Secondly, developing nations like China, India, and even Russia, lifts their government subsidies on gasoline, thus forcing all their citizens to cut back.

With gasoline prices in Russia around $3.80 a gallon their not doing a great job with government subsidies for a petroleum producing nation.

Perhaps that is what the price at a Moscow gas station is selling it for, but my relatives are doing just fine getting diesel on the black market at 7-8 rubles a liter.

The Russian government subsidizes the black market?

No, that is the price in Rostov, not Moscow. And you clearly said gasoline, NOT diesel. Two very different things.

When no effective controls are implemented or enforced, it's hard to argue that the government comes out clean.

So who is dirty here, the government or your relatives?

Oh they are not alone, trust me on that one.

Real inflation in Moscow during the past year = 40%.

And neither Medvedev nor Putin are popular with a majority.

Sounds familiar.....

Yeah. Last month I met a Brit who now lives in Moscow. He was asking how we Americans could allow our executive branch of government to ruin our country's economy, individual freedoms, reputation, etc. (basically 200+ years of progression) without impeaching the inept president and vice-president. I suggested that he sit back and watch the fireworks until the end. He then said that what he fears most is that with the Bush+Cheney+Evangelicals' agenda the end was coming soon - the end of the world, that is. Perhaps a bit of high inflation is not so bad after all.

Historically, OPEC has not been very good at cutting production when prices drop. Record prices are about the only thing that will prod OPEC members to develop or exploit fields. When prices drop, the reaction is typically to produce more oil, since the petro-states are addicted to money, as much as we are addicted to oil.

After the oil shocks in the 70's, oil was very cheap for a long time.

Where did you get your information from?

http://www.russiavotes.org/president/presi...fe50dcdf4ff#202

here the figures from 2 weeks ago are 69% (Medvedev) and 80% (Putin). Seems like a healthy majority to me.

The Russians I talk to in Russia view Medvedev, Putin, Bush & Cheney as the same type (bad). They think Putin has made their country worse (less democratic; and, becoming nearly impossible for many economically), and they think Medvedev will widen the disparity Putin has created. Also, a member of the DUMA told me four days ago that there was probably only one person in the DUMA that thought Medvedev should have become the new president. These are facts and not government-approved statistics.

but it's not based on any empirical evidence. my friends and colleagues are anti-edinaya rossiya, but i don't consider my own personal sphere of friends to be representative of russia as a whole. my friends range from anarchists to tsarists, but no edinaya rossiya supporters.

if you asked your friends how they felt about the other candidates, well, no good choices there. Zhirinovsky? What a joke.

Ever notice how the talk of inflation always gets back to the cost of gas. And that generally gets to politics which goes nowhere. At least one thing can be said. Inflation is hitting everyone, but mostly from the cost of gas and the resulting effects it has on food prices.

I know that we have increased the amount of support for my mother in law in Ukraine by 25% and this is even though she got a 33% increase in her pension. Of course, when the pension was $60 a month and is now $90, that doesn't help that much. The really sad part is that people who survive on fixed income or those earning poverty wages are the ones that will suffer the most from these food increases. Subsistence living doesn't change even though your costs when up. You still need a minimum amount of food to survive. I'm just glad I can help out my mother in law without a severe impact to my family here.

I'm no mathematician here, (and I wasn't in any of those AP classes either) but isn't going from $60 a month to $90 a month more like a 50% increase?

True, 60 is 33% of 90, but if you go from 60 to 90, that's a 50% increase, not a 33% increase as stated above. (A 33% increase from 60 would only take her to 80.)

Either way, 30/month isn't really helping anyone. Well, maybe the starving kids you see on TV. Definitely not mother-in-laws in Ukraine.

Well done, Slim! And I thought your wife only married you for your looks!

No, she married me for the money too, but much to her dismay, just because I can add and subtract doesn't mean I have any extra. (I believe the running balance right now is around $30... which isn't bad considering everything's current, tanks and fridge are full.... life is grand.)

Yeah, I guess I goofed on that percentage. But, seriously, is an extra $30 a month really going to matter when things like beets have gone from 2 hrivna per kilo to 16 hrivna per kilo. And, winter is just a few months off. I wonder how much Russia is going to hold up Ukraine for heating oil this winter. I'm afraid that Putin and his puppet still think of Ukraine as their territory.

No doubt about that. I have really enjoyed watching Ukraine shake hands with Russia while simultaneously slapping it in the face with the other hand. For example, Timoshenko opens a free trade zone with Russia on an island near Crimea, while Yuschenko goes public with his hopes to move Ukraine towards NATO and EU membership. Belarus solved the oil problem by increasing the surcharge for transporting fuel in the pipelines across their country by an amount equal to the price increase for the oil. The US also enjoys putting a thumb in Russia's eye occasionally (Kosovo recognition, applauding Croat EU movement loudly). Better than TV!

I'll watch Timoshenko on TV any day. There are some pretty good clips on YouTube as well. (A friend told me... I wouldn't know.)

well, ukraine is pretty much half and half, isn't it? the east is pro-russia, the west is pro-EU/US.

That is correct.