I don't see anyone comparing it to costs in the US. The US dollar is still one of the most leading currencies used for trade, and it makes sense to convert to US dollars for the figure to be meaningful outside Russia. Though again, Russia and the US are not quite on par, as the US is 25 on the list with a lower Gini ratio as of the latest data point from 2021. I don't know why you keep shifting it from one subject to another. Just like bringing up the US has no relevance to someone being arrested in Russia, income inequality is not as relevant to my point about wealth inequality.

Edit: Also, if you were 100% in the right on this, the conclusion would then be "Average salary is a poor metric for the US too". OK. So?

[–] sxan@midwest.social 1 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

Gini is wealth and income inequality, which is States in the page you linked. In developed nations, income inequality is strongly correlated to wealth inequality.

The Gini index for Russia was 0.88; the US was 0.85. There was more of a delta between US in 2008 and US 2021 than that. There's more difference between the US and almost every other western developed country in 2021, than there was between Russia and the US in 2021. Russia is higher; it's not much higher.

The US entered into it when you replied to the comment:

Average monthly salary in USD: $1256

the only possible reason was to put it in US context. Not just USD, but US salary, which is specifically a US thing. Your reply was that it was a huge deal in Russia because of wealth inequality, implying, via your response to a comment about US salaries, that it wouldn't be a huge deal in the US. To which I suggested it was, because the US, too, has a wealth disparity similar to Russia's.

What's confusing about that?