Debt Rattle April 12 2016
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Gottscho-Schleisner Fulton Market pier, view to Manhattan over East River, NY 1934 • US Bank Stocks Are Having A Terrible 2016 (WSJ) • BofA Warns “Eur
[See the full post at: Debt Rattle April 12 2016]Russia looks frightening (but then it always has). (The Guardian)
Offshore bandits combine features from both of Olson’s categories – their money is “roving” while they themselves are “stationary” – without the side effects of either. They can continue taking money indefinitely, without feeling any need to improve the society they are living in. For a bandit, it’s the best of both worlds; but for a society, it’s the worst.For a sign of what this means in practice, take a look at last year’s Credit Suisse Global Wealth report. According to the bank’s survey, in the 15 years of Putin’s tenure of Russia, the middle class (assessed as those owning $18,000-180,000, and making up 4.1% of the population) gained $137bn in assets.
That doesn’t seem too bad, until you notice that those above the middle class – just 0.5% of the population – gained an astonishing $687bn over the same period.
Revealed: the $2bn offshore trail that leads to Vladimir Putin
A massive leak of documents shines new light on the fabulous fortunes of the Russian president’s inner circle
Read more“The top decile of wealth-holders owns 87% of all household wealth in Russia. This is significantly higher than any other major economic power,” the report states.
Unprecedented inequality is the effect of offshore bandits in action. When people can enjoy all the benefits of power, without the responsibility that comes with it, it’s hardly surprising they take the opportunity to get really, really rich.
Of course, this also requires unprecedented degrees of hypocrisy, to obscure the realities of what is going on. That then leads to people like Lesin, who ran an anti-western propaganda machine while investing in Beverly Hills; or people like Yakunin, who cautioned against contact with the west for everyone but his own children.
It is customary at this point to state that there is nothing illegal in any of this. But offshore bandits are a very long way from the dictatorship of the law that Russia was promised a decade and a half ago. And pointing this out is not Putinophobia.
On Russia Putin is no friend of the oligarchs who flourished after the collapse of the USSR, with our help and advisement. The transfer of wealth to the top in the west dwarfs Russia’s in the same period. At any rate Russia is poor. It’s just that we want to bring it into the neoliberal world order so we can own what’s worth owing. That is why we hate them and have always hated them and why we will continue to hate them and work to keep them poor.
I am no apologist for Putin nor Russia but what is coming into focus is that part of the Russian character at least as far as the countries political character is that it distrusts debt. Alone among all other nations in the world. As should be apparant to all AE followers this is a virtue. It may serve them very very well going forward. If we and they can avoid blowing the world up.
Addendum to the above. Americans and the West have always mocked Russia for being poor. Even AE’rs probably dabble in gloating about it. Perhaps one should consider that it is poor because they have mostly eschewed the ‘wealth’ created by debt.
Yes, we are furious that Russia does not bend to us, does not allow us to own all of their resources. I mean, we’ve brought everyone else to their knees! “God damned Russians! Why don’t they just submit, already? Quick, bring on more sanctions. We’ll sanction them until they submit to our will.”
On another note, it looks like Lattakia, Syria is returning to normal again.
https://en.farsnews.com/imgrep.aspx?nn=13950115001056
And more Syrian families are now returning to Palmyra after collapse of ISIL there.
I need not point out that the Russians are pikers compared to the wealth disparity in the West. Only 6:1 ratio in your numbers? Over 100% of the gains over the last decades have gone exclusively to the top, and not “decile”, but 1%, and probably the 0.01%. What did I just read about us? The top 60 PEOPLE in the west own more than the bottom 50% of the planet? Russia could only dream of that level of disparity, past anything seen in the West, or the world, ever.
More importantly, this trend is accelerating in the West, where beyond stagnating wages since 1970, the top 1% is on a parabolic trend for decades while the bottom is being killed, as shown in not just their wealth but now in their life expectancy. It’s generally considered fact that Russia tangled with their oligarchs from the 90’s and have generally brought them to heel, as the Russian middle class recovers not only wages, but has gradually been able to do business without appalling corruption of that time. That is to say, the oligarchs and wealth disparity are going down while the middle class and the rule of law are slowing going up.
Last, Putin was not named in the Panama Papers. At all. But for example, Cameron was.
Brother, look to the beam in your own eye and decide who is really free here.
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