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[DJ]

Well, for me personally. A liter of gasoline in Bosnia is ~1.15€, and the average monthly wage is ~250€. I personally used to spend 1/3 of my income on gasoline, luckily I've got a better job recently that pays a bit more and involves a lot less driving.

[Ukrainian Ranger]

Just how self-sufficient is Russian economy anyway? I'm guessing all the heavy industry is just piles of rust these days,

Not exactly, Russia is producing a lot of stuff. But it is either crappy or have many imported components

The south of the European part looks like prime farmland on map at least, but is it producing enough to keep Russia from being a big net importer of food?

Russia imports 35% of its food and actually it is a net exporter of food.
But one can't say that they their agriculture is autonomous. Seeds, chemicals, machinery a lot of those comes from abroad. Russians who expect that their domestic food price will not change are rather naive.

Why is a drop in gas prices a good thing? Emissions are too high already.

You are joking, right?

[Sergarr]

Spoiler: just look at that glorious production (click to show/hide)

[smjjames]

Why is a drop in gas prices a good thing? Emissions are too high already. And Americans already pay ridiculously low prices: IIRC Germany's prices are around four times as high.

Most of that difference is due to currency differences I think. Plus we extract a good deal of oil ourselves.

Also, apparently people started buying gas guzzlers again when prices got low, thinking it's going to last.

[LordSlowpoke]

Why is a drop in gas prices a good thing? Emissions are too high already.

You are joking, right?

well, he does have a case: high gas prices prompt switching over to hybrid/electric vehicles with lower greenhouse gas emission

it's an argument that nicely evades the entire economic influence of high transportation costs that said vehicles are designed to counter thing

one can even say that if gas prices were high for a long enough period demand would fall to a level where russia's resource economy would be screwed either way, but opec members and unaffiliated oil producers would probably see that coming and act accordingly

[Ukrainian Ranger]

I don't consider electric cars viable as long as humanity will not invent much better ways to store electric power.

Besides, if humanity will switch to electric cars tomorrow, that will mean only one thing: we will burn more stuff to generate electricity

[Sergarr]

I don't consider electric cars viable as long as humanity will not invent much better ways to store electric power.

Besides, if humanity will switch to electric cars tomorrow, that will mean only one thing: we will burn more stuff to generate electricity

heard about nuclear power?

[Knit tie]

-snip-

Looks like I was right in using the word "Demshiza".

One comment I have about your argument, Helgo, is that people who live on pensions almost never buy imported goods - they were too expensive for them even before the RUB devaluation, so I agree with Sheb here: real pensions in Russia are dependent on Russian, and not international, prices, and those haven't risen much.

[smjjames]

I don't consider electric cars viable as long as humanity will not invent much better ways to store electric power.

Besides, if humanity will switch to electric cars tomorrow, that will mean only one thing: we will burn more stuff to generate electricity

heard about nuclear power?

Or fusion even? Granted that's still decades off.

[mainiac]

This. If it were the central bank, there would be announcements trumpeted to every corner of the world, as that could help raise confidence.

That's not how it works.  Central banks speak in a whisper and professional central bank watchers write reports.  The target audience isn't the general population, it's large banks.

You can't create wealth by changing the numbers. Changes in exchange rates, inflation etc. only affect things in the short run - in the long run the numbers readjust to give the same situation in real terms.

This is not true...

I don't consider electric cars viable as long as humanity will not invent much better ways to store electric power.

Besides, if humanity will switch to electric cars tomorrow, that will mean only one thing: we will burn more stuff to generate electricity

Electricity doesn't come from oil (mostly) because it's so expensive and large coal/natural gas plants are more thermodynamically efficient than small gasoline engines.

Or fusion even? Granted that's still decades off.

I believe that it's 30 years off and has been 30 years off for about the past 60 years.

[smjjames]

-snip-

Looks like I was right in using the word "Demshiza".

What is demshiza?

[LordSlowpoke]

-snip-

Looks like I was right in using the word "Demshiza".

What is demshiza?

democratic schizophrenia

at first reserved for the overzealous adopters of perestroika, after the late 90s it was extended to pretty much the entirety of democratic discourse altogether

but then, sergie'll probably have a more colloquial definition for us

[Sergarr]

-snip-

Looks like I was right in using the word "Demshiza".

What is demshiza?

democratic schizophrenia

at first reserved for the overzealous adopters of perestroika, after the late 90s it was extended to pretty much the entirety of democratic discourse altogether

but then, sergie'll probably have a more colloquial definition for us

but i don't have anythin to add

[smjjames]

Would you describe the current gridlock in Washington to be demshiza?

[10ebbor10]

Or fusion even? Granted that's still decades off.

I believe that it's 30 years off and has been 30 years off for about the past 60 years.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)