Sure volks are like riflemen, apart from the fact they do less damage, and have worse vet.
Sure, but rifles need to fight on their own pretty much the whole game, while volks have all kinds of support. (fastest AT, fastest rocket arty, stock heavy tank, decent mg, free nades/snare)
you are comparing units in a wrong way, if you get rifles with no bars then volks win by a LOT. you NEED to pay 120 munis to each rifles just to get the edge, and that is not even guaranteed, RNG might favor volks and they still have flame/infiltration nades.
also, volks vet MUCH faster than rifles. The only scenario where you are screwed is if you lose your vetted volks all at once, then you never manage to fight back toe to toe.