Sanctions on Russia

Nathan Evans78 said:The Federal Reserve's reserves have officially surged past the $600 billion mark. ☕

That’s great news! Now that half of it is frozen—which basically means that growing half could potentially be used to fund the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Nathan Evans78 said:The Federal Reserve's reserves have officially surged past the $600 billion mark. ☕

I assume we're talking about dirty dollars and euros here, likely being funneled straight into an desperate attempt to artificially inflate the value of the ruble.😁

Here’s the news along with the source and a quick little breakdown ☕

Carl Lee27 said:That 2.2% drop for last year? Honestly, that’s just an estimate. It feels like they’re dragging their feet on releasing the actual data because, if you look at all the indicators, things started taking a massive dive back in December. I was expecting the numbers to drop just yesterday! But look, it's pretty obvious what's happening: the private sector is shrinking fast, while government spending is spiking—which is basically why the overall GDP contraction looks so minimal. If anyone actually thinks this can keep going indefinitely, well, good luck to them, I guess.

I can already see new taxes on the horizon. Once the war in Ukraine escalates any further, those reserves are going to dry up incredibly fast.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/...-report-a80172

One must consider this:
report-a80172 Quote : Russia Survived The head of Russia’s Central Bank said in December that US GDP would contract Just 3 % in 2022 , while President Joe Biden predicted a drop of 2.5%.

The Russian economy and its data are simply whatever Putin says they should be.
If Putin declares a -2.2% contraction, then -2.2% it shall be!

https://twitter.com/TheDeadDistrict/...52mgayOaBULukQ

Everyone was so hyped up about the idea of Europe freezing over, but hey, karma's a real bitch. Now it’s the Russians who are shivering and struggling to pay their bills. They're out here complaining that the government didn't help them enough last year—heating went from like $40 a month to $150 this year. Talk about a headache.

It’s a good thing they’ve got those $600 billion in foreign reserves tucked away, though. I guess they need that cash to keep the champagne flowing for the elites and the inner circle, sort of like how North Korea operates.

Nancy Gomez26 said:That bolded part is the core concept. When actual money—real value—is swapped for colorful paper, they claim it's just because paper is easier to handle than heavy metal. That’s the convenient lie. This is the true motive. Once a currency is uncoupled from its obligation to be backed by the only true form of money, there are no limits. Only the user's trust remains, and we all know how fickle that can be.

Look, it’s basic common sense that seems to escape everyone lately: the amount of money floating around in the economy actually needs to scale with the amount of real value being created. It’s pretty simple logic—when people are out there grinding, producing goods, and building things, there needs to be a proportional amount of currency available so those products can actually be bought. If you decouple the money supply from actual production, you're just asking for trouble. You can't have a functioning system if the cash doesn't match the stuff people are making.

If the entire money supply were tied strictly and exclusively to how much gold we pull out of the ground, then the whole system becomes impossible to regulate. You can't just sit there and manage an economy if you're at the mercy of how deep a drill goes or how much luck a mining crew has on any given Tuesday. It’s like trying to run a high-tech logistics company where your only way to pay employees is based on how many pebbles you find in your backyard—it’s fundamentally broken because you lose all ability to steer the ship when the foundation of your currency is dictated by something as volatile and unpredictable as digging holes in the dirt.

Look, at the end of the day, whether you're dealing with inflation or deflation basically boils down to how much gold you're digging out of the ground compared to how the rest of the economy is actually performing. It’s all about that ratio. Honestly, I don't see any logical or even remotely sane reason why anyone would ever want to go down that road.

At the end of the day, all that gold is really just Bitcoin from back in the day. It doesn't even have any real inherent value; if anything, its worth is pretty much marginal at this point.

Look, at the end of the day, we still believe in the intrinsic value of gold. It’s a real asset. The difference is, you can't just tap a button and print out more of it whenever you feel like it. Money isn't much different, either; you don't just run up the presses on a whim because if you do, you're going to wreck that delicate balance we've been talking about.

You know, it’s funny how people look at modern conspiracies like they’re some new phenomenon, but if you really step back and look at the patterns, this stuff goes way back. Even ancient tribes used to run shell games and shady schemes involving seashells just to manipulate their neighbors. It's a conspiracy that stretches all the way back to the dawn of history. People haven't changed; we just have better technology to hide the same old tricks.

Looks like the European Union has cooked up a 'cunning plan' to swipe those frozen Russian funds currently being eaten alive by inflation—they’ll just sweep the Russian accounts clean and "invest" them (which is code for funneling a chunk over to Ukraine).

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/eu-urged...sets-1.1881709
The little problemcic is that banks aren't exactly rushing to report this, and honestly, some countries might have their own reservations about these schemes.

By the way, calling these accounts "frozen" feels pretty hypocritical at this point.

Realistically, pumping that cash back into circulation is just diluting whatever amount of Euros or Dollars we're dealing with. Let's be real—this money isn't coming back to Russia. Ukraine will spend it immediately, which is basically the same thing as printing and dumping new currency into the market.
It all seems like a convenient smokescreen for the EU (and the US) to keep propping up the Ukrainian economy with massive infusions, all without leaving a politically messy paper trail showing exactly how many billions were drained from EU funds and national budgets.

Carl Lee27 said:That 2.2% drop for last year? Honestly, that’s just an estimate. It feels like they’re dragging their feet on releasing the actual data because, if you look at all the indicators, things started taking a massive dive back in December. I was expecting the numbers to drop just yesterday! But look, it's pretty obvious what's happening: the private sector is shrinking fast, while government spending is spiking—which is basically why the overall GDP contraction looks so minimal. If anyone actually thinks this can keep going indefinitely, well, good luck to them, I guess.

I can already see new taxes on the horizon. Once the war in Ukraine escalates any further, those reserves are going to dry up incredibly fast.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/...-report-a80172

report-a80172 Quote : Russia Survived a Year of Sanctions by Investing as Never Before... It’s quite a curious thing to observe when you really sit down and look at the data, isn't it? One might have expected things to grind to a halt, yet here we are looking at this phenomenon where the economy seems to be finding its footing through sheer, relentless movement... It's almost as if they've embraced a massive period of internal restructuring, shifting resources around in ways that aren't immediately obvious to the casual observer... You see, instead of just sitting idle under the weight of all those restrictions, there was this sudden, massive surge in capital being poured back into the domestic machine... Companies, from the tiny local outfits to the massive industrial giants, weren't just trying to survive; they were actively spending to swap out foreign tech and software for homegrown versions, or perhaps more interestingly, they were busy stitching together entirely new supply chains to find different paths to market... It’s a fascinating bit of economic maneuvering, really, seeing how much effort goes into replacing what was lost by simply doubling down on internal investment... it makes you wonder about the long-term ripples of such a massive pivot...

It’s actually quite fascinating when you look at how businesses react to pressure... rather than just shrinking back, companies both large and small really stepped up to overhaul their entire setups, swapping out foreign hardware and software or pouring capital into entirely new supply chains just to tap into different markets altogether... It turns out that instead of facing those grim early predictions of a 20% drop in capital spending, the US actually saw a 6% increase throughout 2022, if you look at the data coming out of Bloomberg Economics... which just goes to show how resilient things can be when they're forced to pivot like that...

Yeah, it really does seem like that's exactly how things are playing out...

wiredseal7 said:Looks like the European Union has cooked up a 'cunning plan' to swipe those frozen Russian funds currently being eaten alive by inflation—they’ll just sweep the Russian accounts clean and "invest" them (which is code for funneling a chunk over to Ukraine).

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/eu-urged...sets-1.1881709
The little problemcic is that banks aren't exactly rushing to report this, and honestly, some countries might have their own reservations about these schemes.

By the way, calling these accounts "frozen" feels pretty hypocritical at this point.

Realistically, pumping that cash back into circulation is just diluting whatever amount of Euros or Dollars we're dealing with. Let's be real—this money isn't coming back to Russia. Ukraine will spend it immediately, which is basically the same thing as printing and dumping new currency into the market.
It all seems like a convenient smokescreen for the EU (and the US) to keep propping up the Ukrainian economy with massive infusions, all without leaving a politically messy paper trail showing exactly how many billions were drained from EU funds and national budgets.

This implies the Russians will walk away thinking their entire foreign debt has been settled or bought back. Granted, I suspect their external debt actually exceeds those looted reserves, but then again, Oleg wasn't exactly known for being stingy. 😁

Noah Diaz said:This implies the Russians will walk away thinking their entire foreign debt has been settled or bought back. Granted, I suspect their external debt actually exceeds those looted reserves, but then again, Oleg wasn't exactly known for being stingy. 😁

There will eventually come a day when we sit down to discuss obligations, frozen assets, reparations, and the lifting of sanctions. When the line is finally drawn, everyone will know exactly who owes what to whom.

I’m no economist, so I’ll just throw this out there... don't war costs and ramping up military production actually boost GDP since they count as massive spending?

Nancy Gomez26 said:There will eventually come a day when we sit down to discuss obligations, frozen assets, reparations, and the lifting of sanctions. When the line is finally drawn, everyone will know exactly who owes what to whom.

Somewhere around the year 2050 or 2060.

feralhawk45 said:I’m no economist, so I’ll just throw this out there... don't war costs and ramping up military production actually boost GDP since they count as massive spending?

Putin wants the West to think these sanctions aren't doing a thing. But honestly? Time is working against Russia.
...
The policy wonks out there bashing the sanctions keep pointing to those Russian Ministry of Finance forecasts predicting a measly 2.7% dip in their GDP—as if that proves the economy isn't taking a hit. But here's the catch: that GDP number includes the massive surge in arms production. A brand-new main battle tank gets rolled off the line, sent straight to the front, and then promptly taken out by a Ukrainian Javelin—that still counts as a win for the Russian GDP on paper.
...

George Robinson43 said:Somewhere around the year 2050 or 2060.

I suspect we will see it much sooner than your grim predictions suggest. Honestly, I fail to see the logic in trying to negotiate such terms after two or three decades of crushing sanctions and the total devaluation of all held assets. We will simply have to wait and see.

wiredseal7 said:Looks like the European Union has cooked up a 'cunning plan' to swipe those frozen Russian funds currently being eaten alive by inflation—they’ll just sweep the Russian accounts clean and "invest" them (which is code for funneling a chunk over to Ukraine).

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/eu-urged...sets-1.1881709
The little problemcic is that banks aren't exactly rushing to report this, and honestly, some countries might have their own reservations about these schemes.

By the way, calling these accounts "frozen" feels pretty hypocritical at this point.

Realistically, pumping that cash back into circulation is just diluting whatever amount of Euros or Dollars we're dealing with. Let's be real—this money isn't coming back to Russia. Ukraine will spend it immediately, which is basically the same thing as printing and dumping new currency into the market.
It all seems like a convenient smokescreen for the EU (and the US) to keep propping up the Ukrainian economy with massive infusions, all without leaving a politically messy paper trail showing exactly how many billions were drained from EU funds and national budgets.

Now, on paper, this might make sense from a moral perspective and wouldn't directly hit the taxpayers in the European Union, but since it could seriously shake public confidence in the banking sector, I see it as nothing more than a smoke screen.

I mean, today it's Russia, tomorrow it's China, and the day after that, it's the Gulf monarchies...

Nathan Evans78 said:Now, on paper, this might make sense from a moral perspective and wouldn't directly hit the taxpayers in the European Union, but since it could seriously shake public confidence in the banking sector, I see it as nothing more than a smoke screen.

I mean, today it's Russia, tomorrow it's China, and the day after that, it's the Gulf monarchies...

Actually, I disagree completely. If you're acting with that much arrogance and making such disastrously bad calls—just look at how Russia handled things—then you have nobody to blame but yourself for failing to secure those funds when you had the chance. The fact that the money stayed right where it was isn't some systemic failure; it's a direct reflection of how functional the banking system is and how utterly incompetent the Russians are.

They simply couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that they would desperately need that cash to fund an invasion.
In the end, that money will just be used to clean up the massive mess they created themselves...
Best regards,

Russia is cutting its oil production by 5%, which means we're looking at a drop of about 500k barrels a day
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn...cut/index.html

Carl Lee27 said:Russia is cutting its oil production by 5%, which means we're looking at a drop of about 500k barrels a day
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn...cut/index.html

Just another sign of goodwill, isn't it? It really goes to show that those sanctions just aren't doing the trick ☕

Cutting back on production is basically just a gesture of goodwill from our buddies over at BRICS.

PUTIN IN A PANIC
A top-tier trader just dropped this bombshell: ‘This recent oil move proves Russia has officially lost the energy war!’

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy-war-oil-impact-15304847

"Now that Europe is finally adjusting to life without Russian gas, why on earth would they ever go back?"

Written by: Gojko Drljača Ebote 🤔 😵 😁
Seriously, what are we even looking at here? One of Putin's biggest propaganda "journalists" in America has suddenly decided to flip the script.
I honestly can't believe my eyes. What happened? Did the checks from the Kremlin finally stop clearing? I guess even the most biased hacks have to pay their bills eventually... right?
Don't sell out now, Gojko... 😁

lp