My country is dying

[Uncle_Vanya]

YouTube - ??? ???????? ? ??????

Holy shit, it depressing, but at the same time is a major motivation boost.

Its a wake up call for Russia's youth, I hope it gets around.

Random line translations:

"You are not creating anything, you're not building, not manufacturing, not inventing, and you don't intend to do any of that. NOTHING.

You think that you don't have any relation to Russia, that everything is decided by someone, somewhere else. But in reality, aside from you it has no one. You are its present, future, past, its first and last hope. And that is scary, because you don't want to do anything."

"You are a consumer, a battery in a giant foreign system. What do you value? Money? The telephone? Car? Parties? All of that is worth nothing. And your life is worth something as well as your time and your dreams, that you don't have."


"Those who live two steps away from you-fought, built, invented, fell, rose up, and went forward, all so you could live, and they built a Great country.

And who are you? An ungrateful bastard?"

"Where is no one else but you, no one is going to live your life for you, our country has only two choices, to resurrect itself, or to die."

 

[coRtALoS]

I'm pretty sure this won't really impact or touch 99% of the people here as that movie, and all of the comments about it are, predictably, in Russian.

I'm sure if we could fully understand it, it would help us understand the plight(?) Russia's in.

 

[Uncle_Vanya]

Meh, its a well made vid in any case. Yeah, here is probably not the best place to put it up.

 

[Darkmatter]

That really sucks Ivan.

Are they talking about Dimitiri Mandev? (SP)

 

[Glowy]

iN communist russia shirt wears you

 

[Uncle_Vanya]

No they're not talking about Dmitry Medvedev. They're talking to every Russian that isn't doing anything to fix their country, those that are letting it die.

 

[Barney Stinson]

Guess Russian ISN'T better than the US in everyway like you seem to think, huh?

Although current US living situations for most are...sub-par to say...

 

[Uncle_Vanya]

Our problem is that there are on average 500 thousand less of us every year. But whats even more troubling is that majority of young people that go to the university go for degrees in law and business management while our country needs skilled workers and engineers to replace the past-retirement generation we have left over from the Soviet times. So we got plenty of lawyers and management to provide legal council and manage our energy industry (wood, coal, oil, natural gas), but no one to design and build new cars, tractors, planes, trains, etc., etc., etc. Even the construction industry, which is booming is only doing so in St.Petersburg and Moscow and a lot of those sky scrappers are designed by foreign architects. US doesn't have this problem because skilled labor and engineering are fields that can provide a stable income (plus the influx of foreign professionals from countries like China, India and yes, Russia as well). In Russia law and management provide the best income and thats there people are going. The point of this video is to personally remind whoever is watching it that our nation wasn't built on greed and self-interest but rather selflessness, putting the country in front of the well being of your own ass. And its hard to not get a sense of that being Russian, you're brought up with it, you're surrounded by constant reminders of the heroism of our fathers, grandfathers, great grandfathers and so on. However for majority of people now, with our culture getting gradually more fucked up throughout the 90s, they still sense it but they don't act upon it. The message is like this, your ancestors through their blood and sweat gave you one of the Greatest nations in history and you're flushing it down the toilet forgetting your duty to keep and multiply what those before you achieved.

 

[Darkmatter]

That really sucks Ivan. I wonder if that will happen to us? We're already screwed though, so maybe we will both go down?

 

[Uncle_Vanya]

Heh, we'll get out of this somehow, this isn't the worst time our nation has been through, infact compared to the 20s and 30s of the last century this is nothing. We'll make it through this, people will wake up.

 

[coRtALoS]

I was thinking more about it today. It shouldn't be very surprising not many people want to be part of the same working class that was oppressed under Lenin and Stalin for over 70 years. I think part of this problem was brought on by the country's previous leadership, and the country's youth being influenced by their parents to not grow up following in their footsteps.

 

[Tipsy]

Our problem is that there are on average 500 thousand less of us every year. But whats even more troubling is that majority of young people that go to the university go for degrees in law and business management while our country needs skilled workers and engineers to replace the past-retirement generation we have left over from the Soviet times. So we got plenty of lawyers and management to provide legal council and manage our energy industry (wood, coal, oil, natural gas), but no one to design and build new cars, tractors, planes, trains, etc., etc., etc. Even the construction industry, which is booming is only doing so in St.Petersburg and Moscow and a lot of those sky scrappers are designed by foreign architects. US doesn't have this problem because skilled labor and engineering are fields that can provide a stable income (plus the influx of foreign professionals from countries like China, India and yes, Russia as well). In Russia law and management provide the best income and thats there people are going. The point of this video is to personally remind whoever is watching it that our nation wasn't built on greed and self-interest but rather selflessness, putting the country in front of the well being of your own ass. And its hard to not get a sense of that being Russian, you're brought up with it, you're surrounded by constant reminders of the heroism of our fathers, grandfathers, great grandfathers and so on. However for majority of people now, with our culture getting gradually more fucked up throughout the 90s, they still sense it but they don't act upon it. The message is like this, your ancestors through their blood and sweat gave you one of the Greatest nations in history and you're flushing it down the toilet forgetting your duty to keep and multiply what those before you achieved.

This is just my opinion, but I think it is the greed and self-interest that needs to be reinforced for the success of any country. It may sound bad, but in context its welfare maximizing. A classic example is Henry Ford; by most accounts he was a pretty self-interested guy, hated unions, called his stock owners "maggots", and generally was a pretty self-interested guy. What's the result? Low cost automobiles and the innovation of the assembly line that revolutionized factory work in general. Elementary school history, but his greed was helpful both in providing lower cost goods to those who couldn't afford them before and a general economic impact.

But it's not just a matter of what we think we should value, but the incentives government create to reinforce these values. A classic example in economic growth theory is that if you take a factory and move it from the average African country to the United States holding everything except the geography constant, it instantly becomes (roughly) 7 times more productive. It's simply a matter of the institutions that have developed both within government (property rights) and the business community (for example, many banks on Wall Street do many deals during the day solely on word of mouth and don't actually solidify them legally until the end of the day or week and money is given with no real legal recourse if the people they loaned to refused to acknowledge they gave money) - and depending on the situation the government has to look into creating these institutions where they haven't yet developed.

And this applies even more so in the context of globalization; if government disincentives make something unappealing in a country, it could be completely wiped out in a country as another country specializes in it and solidifies a comparative advantage.

And I'm not picking on Russia, I'm actually being very general in what I say; each country has its own way of putting how they want it, whether it's appealing to the heroism of Russian ancestry or Obama's 'change and hope' message, but that has the be separated from the economic reality of how rational actors make decisions if leaders want to improve the economic welfare of people in the respective countries.

 

[Uncle_Vanya]

I was thinking more about it today. It shouldn't be very surprising not many people want to be part of the same working class that was oppressed under Lenin and Stalin for over 70 years. I think part of this problem was brought on by the country's previous leadership, and the country's youth being influenced by their parents to not grow up following in their footsteps.

Its not quite like that. In the USSR, the engineering and skilled labor jobs were actually among the better paying ones. The government had money to keep placing orders for the industrial military complex and that made the industry look good for potential employees (plus there was an ideological aspect). For example, my father was a Lieutenant in the Navy, a submariner with a 5 year degree in nuclear engineering (he was doing reactor maintenance and served on nuclear attack subs), his job was great, the pay was great, the future was clear....then 1991 happened, Soviet Union fell apart and the Navy ran out of money completely, suddenly he had to get out of his contract and with uncertainty about his future he had to find the means to survive and feed his family (which manifested in him starting a business, then eventually he got an MBA and it turned out pretty good). People around my age who grew up in the 90s learned how to survive from a very young age and thats why they're not taking the now lesser paying jobs that the country still needs. That coupled with a reduction of values and the post-imperial identity crisis resulted in the mess we have today. Current situation isn't due to the Soviet Union but rather its break up and the economic breakdown that followed.

This is just my opinion, but I think it is the greed and self-interest that needs to be reinforced for the success of any country. It may sound bad, but in context its welfare maximizing. A classic example is Henry Ford; by most accounts he was a pretty self-interested guy, hated unions, called his stock owners "maggots", and generally was a pretty self-interested guy. What's the result? Low cost automobiles and the innovation of the assembly line that revolutionized factory work in general. Elementary school history, but his greed was helpful both in providing lower cost goods to those who couldn't afford them before and a general economic impact.

Well, the current economic crisis kind of shows that greed and self-interest are counterproductive in the long run. Ford company isn't doing too good right now as a direct result of its management's greed and self-interest.

But it's not just a matter of what we think we should value, but the incentives government create to reinforce these values. A classic example in economic growth theory is that if you take a factory and move it from the average African country to the United States holding everything except the geography constant, it instantly becomes (roughly) 7 times more productive. It's simply a matter of the institutions that have developed both within government (property rights) and the business community (for example, many banks on Wall Street do many deals during the day solely on word of mouth and don't actually solidify them legally until the end of the day or week and money is given with no real legal recourse if the people they loaned to refused to acknowledge they gave money) - and depending on the situation the government has to look into creating these institutions where they haven't yet developed.

I agree with that, a government should definitely provide incentives (something which the Russian gov't isn't too good on), but for Russia we also need to revitalize our culture to what it used to be, that way people will work regardless of incentives.

And this applies even more so in the context of globalization; if government disincentives make something unappealing in a country, it could be completely wiped out in a country as another country specializes in it and solidifies a comparative advantage.

And thats I think that Russia should attempt to isolate itself from the effects of globalization. Being dependent on potentially hostile countries for your consumer goods isn't a good idea. But thats a different topic.

 

[Uncle_Vanya]

I'm just saying that, to go back to the moving the factory from an average African country to the US, since productivity goes up by a factor of 7, it also raises wages by a factor of seven (wages and productivity very very very strong relation) which means that an African factory worker would go to the US because the pay would be better changing only geography. Put simply, the institutions make working in that factory 'better paying ones' because it raises productivity in that sector of the economy. The way to add engineering and skilled labor jobs to the economy would be to raise productivity in that sector that would be done by government and non-government commerce institutions.

The rest I can't really speak for because its more specific to Russia and I'm just spouting general economic growth theory.

That was a reply to Cort, I've edited the post with a reply to you.

 

[Tipsy]

Well, the current economic crisis kind of shows that greed and self-interest are counterproductive in the long run. Ford company isn't doing too good right now as a direct result of its management's greed and self-interest.

I'd look at it from the perspective that the self-interest of other car firms are driving Ford out of business because ford can't adequately meet the demand of consumers. It's not that self-interest has failed, it's that Ford has failed to meet it's self-interest, providing a relative cheap and quality product that consumers want. End result is a better situation for the consumer and a change of market control for firms.

And thats I think that Russia should attempt to isolate itself from the effects of globalization. Being dependent on potentially hostile countries for your consumer goods isn't a good idea. But thats a different topic.

For economics globalization is almost always good (very few exceptions), but I do agree that if we look at it from a national defense standpoint it can pose a problem.

 

[Uncle_Vanya]

I'd look at it from the perspective that the self-interest of other car firms are driving Ford out of business because ford can't adequately meet the demand of consumers. It's not that self-interest has failed, it's that Ford has failed to meet it's self-interest, providing a relative cheap and quality product that consumers want. End result is a better situation for the consumer and a change of market control for firms.

But all the major car manufacturers are having problems right now. Also, this current crisis has come forward mostly because of the actions of major US banks, with their self-interest they screwed everyone over, including themselves.

For economics globalization is almost always good (very few exceptions), but I do agree that if we look at it from a national defense standpoint it can pose a problem.

Aye, plus Globalists have become a lot more common on the internet. You know those idiots that say that humanity should unite and all that nonsense. Annoying, really, really annoying.

 

[Darkmatter]

Yeah...even Toyota is getting screwed. It's a sad sight here in California. :/

 

[Thebannedlb]

At least you dont have hillary clinton like we do

 

[Tipsy]

But all the major car manufacturers are having problems right now.

Would you say it would be a bad thing for their problems to force them to move to a more efficient business model or get out of the way for some firm that can make one?

Also, this current crisis has come forward mostly because of the actions of major US banks, with their self-interest they screwed everyone over, including themselves.

Why exactly has the current crisis come forward mainly because of major US banks; more specifically, what makes you discount the insanely low interest rates causing a bubble in housing to not be the major cause?

 

[Uncle_Vanya]

Would you say it would be a bad thing for their problems to force them to move to a more efficient business model or get out of the way for some firm that can make one?

Or the whole industry can die altogether, one way or the other we're gonna find out. In either case you were originally trying to make a point that self-interest is good for everyone, current economic conditions show that self-interest can be a very bad thing. Car companies, the banks, etc. are just examples of that.

Why exactly has the current crisis come forward mainly because of major US banks; more specifically, what makes you discount the insanely low interest rates causing a bubble in housing to not be the major cause?

If Im not mistaken, giving out loans to people who couldn't pay them is what put the banks in the position they are in now and thus put the whole country's economy into that position. The crisis is due to more than one reason, but the banks are definitely one of the main ones.