EDITORIAL
Putin Scams the Elderly
An recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald headlined “Russia a better place to grown old” complains that elderly Australians are being victimized by their government, being treated more roughly in terms of pensions than their counterparts in Russia. In fact, nothing could be farther from the truth, and the article turns out to be one of the shoddiest excuses for journalism I’ve seen from mainstream media in quite some time.
The author, one Tom Reilly, claims the value of an average Russian pension is $75 per month. To start with, that’s simply false. In 2008, an average pension was almost twice that, $140 per month. And even though the article understated the value of Russian pension by half, its conclusion that Russians were somehow better off is still hopelessly bogus.
In his lifetime, an average Australian will collect pension benefits worth more than six times than what the Russian government will pay to an average Russian, even taking so-called “purchasing power parity” currency adjustments into account. In straight nominal terms, Aussies are paid ten times more than Russians in their lifetimes where pensions are concerned.
Let’s look at the details.
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