(12-24-2015 03:15 PM)Old Dominion Navy Wrote:  You gotta feel for the citizens of Brazil. They are going to feel the brunt of the financial losses. A country that's poor anyway is footing the bill for the two biggest (and expensive) sporting events in the world within 2 years of each other. At least Russia had 4 years and isn't as poor.

Russia isn't that wealthy either. While GNP at PPP (last year) was around 20k. This year it is around 15k. Next year, it will fall to the 13k level.

But even that number hides massive concentrations of wealth. And massive captive reserves earned and held by state owned or controlled enterprises.

Just for reference, a representative salary for an IT person with 5 years of experience in say, Volgograd is around 375 USD per month. Maybe 500 USD at PPP. The average Brazilian or Mexican in the same industry probably makes more at than the average Russian (other than for basic labor).

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But trying to argue about the relative weakness of Russia vs Brazil is kind of like arguing relative levels of virtue amongst wh(res. Both have serious problems. Neither can afford the Olympics or the World Cup.

But I'm glad that someone, anyone else, is paying for the Olympics.