Recent content by contricusc

TACO in action. But what matters for Trump is that his lies reduce the price of oil for a while, so in the end, his trick worked.

Trump is not alone. He is an old senile man. The US establishment will not let him do things they do not approve of. But he is a useful idiot who can be used to clean up some of the mess, and if something goes wrong, he can take the blame.

You live in a parallel universe if you think the US wants to attack its NATO ally Turkey. If Turkey becomes hostile to US interests, there are many other ways to put pressure on it, without breaking NATO and engaging in full scale war. The US has so much economic leverage that it doesn’t need...

The US is betraying Europe as always. No surprise here.

The EU needs to reform itself and get rid of the unanimity system. Decisions should require only a qualified majority (like at least 60% of countries representing at least 60% of EU population). The current system is broken. It is not meant for rapid decisionmaking required in times of war.

The good thing is that winter is over. There will be a few more cold months, but that can be easily handled mostly from reserves.

You can’t be a partner with Russia. You’re either a vassal (like Belarus), or an enemy (like most of the world). In their mindset, you either are their slave or their enemy. These brutes only respect strength.

The destruction of Russia is funded for two more years already, and Putin‘s fans still think Russia can outlast Europe in an attrition war. At this point, Europe can budget the war for two years in advance, and if necessary it can do the same forever, until Russia’s economy completely...

Yes, the war is very costly for Russia. These type of hits are more important than just their monetary value, as the jets take time to replace. But in the long term, Russia will lose the war when its economy will collapse.

A low employment rate can be interpreted as bad (if you think the reason is the lack of jobs), or as good (many people can afford to live without having a job). For example, if you look at women in employment, some would say a high rate is good for the economy, while others would see a high...

I agree with you that nominal GDP is also a very flawed indicator. I thnk that the PPP variant is more relevant when comparing the purchasing power of the population, while nominal value is more relevant when comparing the size of a countr’s economy, What matters most for a person is the...

Spider Web 2.0: 11 Fighter Jets 3 Helicopters 1 Cargo plane Total losses estimated at $1 billion in military equipment.

That’s one problem with PPP. The other problem is that when you build foreign reserves, pay down your debt, or when you conduct trade with other countries, you don’t do it in PPP dollars. You do it in nominal dollars. If a country wants to import oil, copper, fighter jets, ammunition, etc., it...

GDP PPP is very irrelevant. Not only that GDP is not a very good indicator, but making further adjustments to it (like the PPP) makes it completely useless. At least nominal GDP has the same measurement unit, even though GDP is not very relevant in itself, and can be inflated by completely...

The longer he manages to prolong the war, the harder the collapse of the Russian economy will be. Let’s hope he will also sell the gold reserves, so that when the collapse finally comes, they will be with their pants down.