Posts by William Miller12

Decent BBC interview with one of the authors behind that Yale report regarding the impact of sanctions on Russia.



A few takeaways worth noting:
- Since the war started, the Russians have stopped publishing—or simply faked—general economic data. To get a clear picture of what's actually happening, you have to dig much deeper using various secondary sources.
- Russia can't just swap their lost gas exports to the European Union for shipments to China or India; they don't have the pipeline capacity to make that happen.
- Russian oil (the Urals type) is trading at about a $30 discount compared to Brent and WTI. So, even if people claim the sanctions aren't working because "middlemen" are profiting from reselling the oil, the sanctions still sting because the Russians are getting less per barrel regardless.
- Shipping costs for them are significantly higher when sending oil to India or China—we're talking 30+ days by tanker instead of the usual 2 to 7 days.
- Indian oil storage is currently topped off, so we’ll likely see a dip in imports from India soon.
- There's plenty of other interesting stuff regarding other sectors of their economy too...

Here are two shorter videos based on that same Yale report:





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Does anyone have the scoop on what’s going on with the flu shots?

It's been weeks and there isn't a single flu vaccine in any pharmacy here in New York City. I'm currently 20th on a waiting list at one spot, and they told me they haven't seen a shipment since October 15th.
I checked five or six other pharmacies, and they won't even let you join a waiting list because they have no idea if they'll ever get more stock.
One pharmacist mentioned that the government pulled all the vaccines off the market weeks ago.

Over at CVS, they're saying there's zero chance—they ordered 150 doses and that was it. My mother, who’s 70 and deals with asthma, couldn't even get her shot at CVS because they "forgot to put her on the list." Meanwhile, my sister is trying to sell me this "just stay positive" routine, telling me not to stress because "there won't be any flu this year since everyone got vaccinated." Honestly, I'm half-tempted to report them.

I'm not in a high-risk group, but I still get my shot every year. It’s not the money that’s the issue $33 but the fact that the vaccines are nowhere to be found.

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