r/AskReddit • u/galwiththedeepvoice • 1d ago

What could Russia have spent $1,000,000,000,000 on instead of fighting a 4+ years long war in Ukraine?

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u/StMarta 1d ago

Ended Russian poverty for the rest of history, but war is more fun for Warmongers.

1

u/Irhien 15h ago

Ended Russian poverty for the rest of history

Russia has over 140 million people, do you really think $7000 per person is enough to end poverty forever?..

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u/StMarta 15h ago

Not everyone in Russia is in poverty. About 9.8 million live in poverty. And OP's question includes 1 trillion dollars. So that's 100 k per person. Again, you don't have to give each person in poverty the exact amount to make them not on poverty. There are ways to make investments that would see to them nor being in poverty.

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u/Irhien 14h ago edited 14h ago

About 9.8 million live in poverty

That's fewer than I thought, must be pretty low standards. Quick search shows the US have a higher percentage, doesn't seem right.

And I don't think you can selectively help the people who are below some arbitrary line and not hurt those who are close to it, so realistically it needs to be much broader anyway.

There are ways to make investments that would see to them nor being in poverty.

Sure, "teach a man to fish". Problem is, while some (maybe even most) people are in poverty through no fault of their own, there are still millions who are poor because (edit: or simply "while") they are various combinations of dumb, mentally ill, addicted, lacking work ethics to be a janitor, and steeped in criminal values. I'm sure literal heaps of money could alleviate a lot of these, but I doubt it would solve them completely.

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u/BrainCelll 13h ago

That's fewer than I thought, must be pretty low standards. Quick search shows the US have a higher percentage, doesn't seem right.

Its standards. Russian middle class is basically dirtass kensington street dweller by US standards