re: Purchasing Power Parity
"The Ruskies can launch 25 Soyuz for the cost of ONE shuttle launch."
One U.S. dollar converts into about 30 Russian Rubles. However, it takes 16-times as many Rubles to buy the same item from a Russian retailer. So their purchasing power is actually 47 percent less than that of American's. How they launch 25 Soyuzes for the cost of one shuttle is anyone's guess. Maybe just simplicity of design.