Posted on 04/14/2022 7:11:02 AM PDT by hardspunned
“It seems we are much closer to bankruptcy than Russia is. who will go belly up first?”
Russian interest rate on debt - 17.0%
USA interest rate on debt - 0.25%
How exactly are we closer to bankruptcy?
I have never once seen thr debt actually being paid off. The Reagan example is good and you may think it was worth the cost but it also never got paid off and left a taste for debt in nation. Had there been an effective method to make it clear that Regans defense spending was a one time deal out of true necessity it could have been a shining example however, in reality, it’s an example on how the spending is justified and they move on to the next threat, which will justify incurring more debt. It’s not just government spending unfortunately. I mentioned before that much of the economy these days is complex debt swaps, insurance, derivatives. Much of it isn’t real. No more manufacturing and an unsustainable reliance on a continuance of the lie. It may work for a few but this economy no longer works. I listened to Carl Icahn explain what he would to to protect his money in this environment (he seems quite sharp). His answer highlighted, to me, how much the economy is not built to work for thr average person.
Medvedev’s “warning” seems unusually weak.
Cost to us (USA)?
I believe both Finland and Sweden have indicated they already plan to increase their defense spending to at least 2% of GDP. Finland already has a large army. Sweden has excellent tech. We / NATO already cooperate & train extensively with both. I see no need for permanent basing of US forces in either. No need for nukes, either. Possibly Finland or Sweden might buy some more Patriot missile defenses from us depending on Russian moves, although very long term the Swedes might develop their own. Looks like a hell of a deal for us.
They seem to be over-extended in trying to deal with Ukraine. Defending more than doubled potential frontiers of invasion would be a stretch. Probably the real reason they fear a wide open plain between Eastern Europe and their oil fields.
“I have never once seen thr debt actually being paid off.”
Yes, that’s the problem. You are supposed to pay off the debt when the economy is good and you are not in a crisis but we have been operating as if that is optional. It’s really not.
You have to ask? It comes from Xi, of course. The price, you might ask? Client state status for Moscow to occupy your existential enemy half a world away. The only limiting factor in the trillions our grandchildren will be on the hook for to counter this is how much Xi would rather have a Russian/American Cold War frontier rather than Chinese/American one. All the fault of the illegitimate junta in DC and the neocons toting their water. By the way, sanctions are doing a crippling job on the American economy, especially the non subsidized working poor. Those families are being crucified for the continued corrupt DC/Kiev oligarchy. I assume you’d be all in on embargoing Chinese pharmaceuticals if they should directly cross us.
“Just curious...sanctions have crashed a fair portion of Russian economy. Just vodka production, oil, natural gas and minerals driving the economy. With significant losses on the battlefields....where’s this money going to come from to make up for this ‘beef up’ action?”
Even without the sanctions the Russians didn’t have squat for modernizing their military.
Of the T14 Armata, they planned on having 2,300 of them by the end of 2021, they have between 20 and 32 of them. The project keeps getting pushed back further and further due to cost and complexity.
The Su-57 “stealth” fighter.... Russia was supposed to aquire 52 by the end of 2020, they currently have 15 (10 test, 5 operational). This program is also being pushed back due to costs and complexity. 6 of the original test aircraft had to be withdrawn and rebuilt due to structural cracks.
These other super weapons that Putin claimed as being operational such as the so-called “tsunami torpedo” are pure bluster, they are nothing more than paper tigers because they honestly don’t have the money to develop and build them.
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