Thanks Patrick! That was very informative. As you may know, we have a similar problem here -- not with water, but with electricity and heating -- but for different reasons. The Far East and Siberia are plagued with shutoffs of electricity (in Siberia, in winter!!!!). This is because, in Russia, the city or regional governments, not the consumers, pay the bills (though the government is trying to get around it by increasing payments made by consumers, which are far under market rates). However, in large regions, teh authorities are chronically short of cash, for three reasons:
1. The generally grim economic situation in those areas. 2. The middle class, which is where most of the money is, often works off the books, so little tax money is derived from them. 3. Corruption in the bureaucracy skims off additionsl layers of money. Accordingly, when the energy-grid monopoly UES doesn't get its payment, it shuts down supplies. This has even happened to military facilities while engaging in exercises! This is why its head, Chubais, is often referred to by (KPRF head) Zyuganov in typical demagogic fashion as the "energy gangster." __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - Send 10MB messages! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
