Washington, D.C. is slowly but surely becoming the world's strongest economic hub

Olivia Richardson said:The dollar is going to lose its grip, and honestly, I think we're looking at the Ruble becoming the go-to currency for oil trades across Asia over the next decade. Seriously, Iran could be settling oil deals in Rubles within just two years. And man, anyone claiming the Ruble isn't being used by neighboring countries is just being ridiculous... it’s basically acting like the Euro does for those surrounding nations

😂🤣🙏

Does that figure include natural gas as well? Just asking for clarity, because if it does, I suspect that could be a massive chunk of their total export volume.

Richard Wilson4 said:😂🤣🙏

Look, if you actually have some real counterarguments, lay them on me. Right now, what you're saying feels super basic and honestly kind of trivial...
p.s. My buddy works over in Moscow and travels through all those surrounding countries constantly, so I'm getting this info straight from the source... besides, maybe try doing a little more digging online first.

Matthew Harris2 said:Exactly. Their ruble isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Nobody even uses it in the countries bordering Russia, let alone anywhere else in the world.

Goodness, what a way to think. Thank you, you actually gave me a laugh.🤣🤣🤣 How else would they express value besides using Euros or Dollars? In Russia, the Dollar has always been the standard, much like how we relied on the Mark before switching to the Dollar here in the States. And the Ruble (not "rublja"😍) is indeed used in neighboring regions. 😉

p.s. I generally enjoy reading these debates where people discuss foreign nations based solely on news clips, TV segments, or hearsay. Go there, see it for yourself, and experience it; otherwise, there’s little point in having an equal conversation about life in Russia. 😉

Anthony Gonzalez25 said:Washington, D.C. is sitting on a $44 billion budget. That puts them right up there with the big dogs—only New York City ($55 billion) and Tokyo ($50 billion) have bigger budgets now.
http://en.rian.ru/video/20080327/102399075.html
Photos: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_city

That’s great and all, but I guess what does that even matter when pretty much the rest of Russia, outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg, is a total mess?

gentleranger10 said:You flaunt that kind of massive wealth while other places are starving out there.🤣 Even a mid-sized US city like Columbus, with barely a million people, is pulling in over 1.5 billion USD.

It’s funny how you, the resident math whiz, managed to miss the obvious calculation here.

Moscow has roughly 12 million people and 44 billion dollars, which is about $3,660 per person.
San Francisco, for example, has a million people and 1.5 billion dollars, making it $1,500 per person.

Morgan Cook10 said:It’s funny how you, the resident math whiz, managed to miss the obvious calculation here.

Moscow has roughly 12 million people and 44 billion dollars, which is about $3,660 per person.
San Francisco, for example, has a million people and 1.5 billion dollars, making it $1,500 per person.

Exactly! That’s my whole point. This "richest city on earth" isn't even three times wealthier than Chicago. 🙄🤣

Plus, let's be real: Moscow doesn't quite hit 12 million, and Chicago hasn't even reached a full million, so the gap is actually even smaller than it looks on paper.

gentleranger10 said:Exactly! That’s my whole point. This "richest city on earth" isn't even three times wealthier than Chicago. 🙄🤣

Plus, let's be real: Moscow doesn't quite hit 12 million, and Chicago hasn't even reached a full million, so the gap is actually even smaller than it looks on paper.

I think your math is a little off here..😁
How are you measuring wealth? Are we talking absolute numbers or per capita???
If you're looking at it relatively, then Moscow, Tokyo, or New York City aren't the richest places on earth... it's probably some tiny village in Switzerland.
But if we're just comparing the cities mentioned in this thread, Moscow seems to come out on top when you look at budget per resident.
Now, if you're going by absolute totals... then the original poster is right to say Moscow will soon be the economic powerhouse of the world... I mean, it already has the highest concentration of global billionaires.

As for those rough budget numbers.... I just threw them together to get a sense of the scale. Go ahead and run the exact numbers yourself... I doubt your results will look much different from mine.

Morgan Cook10 said:I think your math is a little off here..😁
How are you measuring wealth? Are we talking absolute numbers or per capita???
If you're looking at it relatively, then Moscow, Tokyo, or New York City aren't the richest places on earth... it's probably some tiny village in Switzerland.
But if we're just comparing the cities mentioned in this thread, Moscow seems to come out on top when you look at budget per resident.
Now, if you're going by absolute totals... then the original poster is right to say Moscow will soon be the economic powerhouse of the world... I mean, it already has the highest concentration of global billionaires.

As for those rough budget numbers.... I just threw them together to get a sense of the scale. Go ahead and run the exact numbers yourself... I doubt your results will look much different from mine.

It's all incredibly relative. Remember that whole argument where people from the South tried to claim their city was richer than ours just because their local county budget hit half a billion dollars? Give me a break. That massive budget covers stuff our federal government handles, like healthcare and social services. It’s about how the money is structured, not just the raw numbers. Or does someone here seriously think Moscow can be put in the same bucket as New York City or Tokyo? 🤣

Look, Vienna’s budget is sitting at over $10 billion, so these numbers you're throwing around for Tokyo and New York City just seem straight-up ridiculous to me. Maybe do a little more digging before posting next time.

What are we even talking about here? What does a city's budget have to do with its actual economic muscle? Sure, wealthier cities tend to have bigger budgets, but that’s hardly a rule—and it certainly isn't a metric for economic strength. If you want the real measure, look at total GDP. By that standard, Moscow sits at 25th place, with a GDP roughly 15 times smaller than Tokyo's. And that's using PPP—if we're looking at real GDP, the gap is probably even wider!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_GDP

So, there you have it—just a little food for thought regarding the idea of Moscow becoming the world's leading economic powerhouse. 😂

gentleranger10 said:It's all incredibly relative. Remember that whole argument where people from the South tried to claim their city was richer than ours just because their local county budget hit half a billion dollars? Give me a break. That massive budget covers stuff our federal government handles, like healthcare and social services. It’s about how the money is structured, not just the raw numbers. Or does someone here seriously think Moscow can be put in the same bucket as New York City or Tokyo? 🤣

I agree that what "budget" actually means matters, since the term can be pretty misleading. But my point was simply that your math is off.

Regarding the Tokyo-New York-Moscow comparison... I’m not saying Moscow is wealthier than those cities, but saying they're closing the gap fast is just a fact.
Like I said... Moscow is already one of the cities with the highest billionaire counts in the world. To anyone claiming that doesn't matter, I'd just say you thought those numbers were irrelevant back when New York and London were flexing their wealth—not to mention all the other ways they've flexed in the past, like dominating the Forbes lists.

Joseph Watson3 said:What are we even talking about here? What does a city's budget have to do with its actual economic muscle? Sure, wealthier cities tend to have bigger budgets, but that’s hardly a rule—and it certainly isn't a metric for economic strength. If you want the real measure, look at total GDP. By that standard, Moscow sits at 25th place, with a GDP roughly 15 times smaller than Tokyo's. And that's using PPP—if we're looking at real GDP, the gap is probably even wider!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_GDP

So, there you have it—just a little food for thought regarding the idea of Moscow becoming the world's leading economic powerhouse. 😂

Looking at this list, New York City supposedly has three times the GDP per capita of Moscow, which is obviously nonsense... basically, the data is junk.

If we assumed Moscow had the same GDP as New York City based on these numbers, it would jump straight to 4th place.

Morgan Cook10 said:Looking at this list, New York City supposedly has three times the GDP per capita of Moscow, which is obviously nonsense... basically, the data is junk.

If we assumed Moscow had the same GDP as New York City based on these numbers, it would jump straight to 4th place.

And who exactly is talking about GDP per capita here? If you're looking at a city's actual economic muscle, total GDP is what matters. Besides, the per capita numbers might not be "stupid" after all—maybe Peter the Great's old territory is just administratively split in a way where they only count the downtown core as the "city." Since far fewer people live there compared to those working there, the numbers end up looking unrealistically high.

The OP was probably getting at how we’re seeing this massive divide—on one side, a tiny group of ultra-wealthy elites gaining all the power, almost like what happened back in imperial Russia, while everyone else just gets left in the dust.