Письменно переведите inflation different to different people 1. the higher the individual’s living standards, the better he/she is cushioned against the impact of inflation. 2. in present-day russia, the actual inflation level is estimated within a staggeringly varying range. some experts speak about 14 per cent, some others, about 1,000 per cent – and all have their reasons. in fact, different inflation rates apply to different consumer items here. the official statisticians tend to use a mean figure, implying that the current administration is not too bad, after all. 3. matches have had the greatest price rise – 300 times – followed by salt – 130 times. the prices of gold and diamonds rose the least. leaping to conclusions, you can scream in protest: they are fleecing us on the staples! people with modest means get robbed blind when they pay for matches, salt and bread. more well-to-do get robbed all the same in paying for diamonds. 4. however, the russia public doesn’t represent uniformly ragged and emaciated crowd. in fact, it is a society more motley than even a year ago. in this country the social classes can be identified by the force of inflationary impact: the higher classes feel the least impact; the lower classes, the most. 5. in practical terms, this means that beggars, refugees, and bums are hit by an inflation rate of 10,000 per cent and more – since this is the current rate of increase in the price of staples. sugar and tea prices have gone up 100 times over their original level. paradoxically, this class consists of the most prodigious consumers: they lavishly use matches, salt, or bread. the lowest class has access only to a few consumer items, which they consume in astounding quantities. 6. the intermediate class (which is the most numerous class, like the middle class in the usa) forms the nation’s core of stability. they experience an inflation rate counted in hundreds. they consume staple goods and food like salt, matches, bread, tea, and sugar, too, but they also buy footwear and clothes (the prices for which have gone up 10-50 times). they buy books (10-20 times as costly now), soap (10 times up) and pay their rent (1,000 per cent higher). as a result, the mean level of inflation for them is much lower than that experienced by the have-nots. however, the intermediate class suffers from inflation more than the latter and must sharply reduce its purchase of books, soap, and shoes. 7. the class enjoying the maximal social privilege resembles the least privileged, in the sense that its members don’t reduce the level of their consumption. on the other hand, this class relishes living under the lowest possible level of inflation. 8. rouble costs for travelling abroad have soared to impossible heights, but the dollar costs have gone up only a little. the social elite continues to pay in dollars (provided by the cpsu central committee in the past and, at present, received as a result of its privileged social position). prices for cars and dachas went up much less than the prices for matches (proportionally speaking), which is crazy from the point of view of the common sense. it is up to economists and sociologists to figure out the dynamics of this highly differentiated inflation. but one thing is already clear: it is possible only in a “non-economy” like that which exists in russia at present.

greenxp    3   04.07.2019 03:00    0