Obama vs Putin

[angelina87]

How much time does Obama need to understand that Putin is playing with him a political game? Obama should worry about our country rather than the others.




You have this thread.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2380481&highlight=

No need to create three, similar threads.


esquared
Anandtech Forum Director

 

[Genx87]

And how is Putin playing Obama?

 

[Sulaco]

So when do we get the free iPad, "Angelina"? Before you're banned or after?

 

[angelina87]

And how is Putin playing Obama?

Putin is laughing at americans while Obama is spending our taxes in Ukraine

 

[angelina87]

So when do we get the free iPad, "Angelina"? Before you're banned or after?

After you will prove your sense of humor

 

[Genx87]

Putin is laughing at americans while Obama is spending our taxes in Ukraine

He is laughing at us how? Does he like watching his friends assets being frozen? You know the ones who bankroll him? Or how about the capital flight that is going to send Russia's economy into a recession? Or is he laughing at being politically isolated?

 

[AViking]

He is laughing at us how? Does he like watching his friends assets being frozen? You know the ones who bankroll him? Or how about the capital flight that is going to send Russia's economy into a recession? Or is he laughing at being politically isolated?

The asset flight is actually quite interesting. The Russian elite simply invested their money in our companies. How brilliant is that? We can't hurt the Russian rich without hurting ourselves now.

 

[fskimospy]

The asset flight is actually quite interesting. The Russian elite simply invested their money in our companies. How brilliant is that? We can't hurt the Russian rich without hurting ourselves now.

Not really that brilliant, it's seriously damaging Russia's economy. Additionally, if this were coordinated action by the Russian government whey are they raising interest rates to try and stop it?

Capital flight hurts Russia pretty significantly. While I have no doubt that Putin and his cronies are more concerned about protecting their personal wealth than with the wellbeing of their country, this is not good news for them.

 

[AViking]

Russia is an oligarchy. Why would they raise interest rates to stop it? The average Russian makes less than $10,000 a year. They don't care about that. They care about the top elite.

 

[fskimospy]

Russia is an oligarchy. Why would they raise interest rates to stop it? The average Russian makes less than $10,000 a year. They don't care about that. They care about the top elite.

I'm sure they care much more about the oligarchs than anything else but it doesn't change the fact that this capital flight is hurting the entire country significantly. Their central bank is stuck in a bad spot now where they have no growth (and perhaps a recession), high inflation, and fleeing capital. That's a dangerous mix that's not good for anyone, peasant or oligarch.

 

[AViking]

I don't really know if that's true.

If I have $1 billion and move it overseas into an Austrian company than I don't really care what happens with the local economy back home.

If I make $300 a month then interest rates aren't really affecting me either.

There is very little in between in Russia. I have spent months there and it's a poor as fuck country minus the ultra elite.

 

[fskimospy]

I don't really know if that's true.

If I have $1 billion and move it overseas into an Austrian company than I don't really care what happens with the local economy back home.

If I make $300 a month then interest rates aren't really affecting me either.

There is very little in between in Russia. I have spent months there and it's a poor as fuck country minus the ultra elite.

I'm not aware of any credible economic analysis that agrees with this.

Not only is all wealth not so liquid that it can simply be moved overseas on a whim like this, but the vast majority of any country's GDP is internal and high interest rates directly negatively impact GDP.

 

[AViking]

Yeah you're probably right. There's no way all the wealth could be moved. They did move a ton though. As soon as sanctions were imposed giant deals were struck where they bought foreign assets.

 

[HTFOff]

Koch.

 

[fskimospy]

Yeah you're probably right. There's no way all the wealth could be moved. They did move a ton though. As soon as sanctions were imposed giant deals were struck where they bought foreign assets.

I have no doubt that they quickly moved to protect as much as they can to mitigate the impact, and I'm not saying that these guys are suddenly going to be on the street, hat in hand. There seems to be a fairly significant economic problem that all these capital outflows are causing though.