Thread: What do we earn from selling oil?

Crocodile, in Russia, we don't build infrastructure, we steal it. I've been on negotiations with one federal agency and when the time had come to discuss the price and we said 10 million (Roubles) they said 'No, the sum is too small. Make it 25 million and we're agreed.' I should probably mention to those who are not familiar with our realities here, that we gave back a bribe worth 15 million in order to get the contract. We got 10, the federal budget lost 25, and the official got 15. EVERY ASPECT OF RUSSIAN ECONOMY IS RULED LIKE THAT. NO EXCEPTIONS!

Some years back I would probably have agreed with the rhetorics that puts all the blame on the evil Americans, but in reality, if there are 'enemies of the state', they all live here, in Russia.

Originally Posted by Ramil

Crocodile, in Russia, we don't build infrastructure, we steal it.

Yes, I know that. So, let's assume that in reality only 10% of the budget can be spent on the infrastructure building, 40% is spent on the luxury services within Russia, and the 50% go to the Swiss banks. Let's live with it for a moment and assumet it's ok as long as the majority of people are not starving to death.

The point I'm trying to make is that the stabilization fund or any other government-owned fund for this matter is a waste of the capital. Remember the parable about the silver talents? So, in my humble opinion, presently 'saving money' for Russia is worse than hiding their talents in an underground storage. At least, the talents were silver and didn't depriciate that much, but the modern money is just a temporary agreement. I think a govenment cannot afford to 'save their money' by just storing it somewhere. In case of an emergency those money would evaporate very quickly. On the other side, if the same money is spent by the government to build infrastructure and generate more GDP, they can issue (=print) more money and the entire country would be richer.

So, it's not really a question of 10% or the 50%. So, it's not efficient. Ok. But I'm really having hard time to observe any kind of the wise infrastructure development. Am I missing anything here?

Originally Posted by Ramil

Some years back I would probably have agreed with the rhetorics that puts all the blame on the evil Americans, but in reality, if there are 'enemies of the state', they all live here, in Russia.

I thought that you knew! We all have the same enemy now. It is the central banks of all the countries that own our governments, and the owners of the central bank are the same people. This is not a joke, by the way. ....maybe to the bankers but not to the people like us. These are the real enemies, and not individual countries and regular people. The Russian Revolution was funded by these same bankers.

Originally Posted by Sgt. Cold

I thought that you knew! We all have the same enemy now. It is the central banks of all the countries that own our governments, and the owners of the central bank are the same people. This is not a joke, by the way. ....maybe to the bankers but not to the people like us. These are the real enemies, and not individual countries and regular people. The Russian Revolution was funded by these same bankers.

And how they affect on Putin and others thereabouts?

Originally Posted by Romik

And how they affect on Putin and others thereabouts?

It has an affect on the people. The government should be responsible for printing a countries money. But now, the bankers have set up private banks called central banks that print the money and sell it to the government and charge interest. This interest accumulates and the interest on the interest is charged also, so this money can NEVER be paid off. In the USA and I assume the same in Russia, all of the income tax paid by the taxpayers goes to pay for this money to the central bankers. It is a scam. The central banks make billions on this scheme and the people are generally unaware.

All of our other financial problems are "small potatos" compared to this.

Originally Posted by Ramil

Crocodile, in Russia, we don't build infrastructure, we steal it. I've been on negotiations with one federal agency and when the time had come to discuss the price and we said 10 million (Roubles) they said 'No, the sum is too small. Make it 25 million and we're agreed.' I should probably mention to those who are not familiar with our realities here, that we gave back a bribe worth 15 million in order to get the contract. We got 10, the federal budget lost 25, and the official got 15. EVERY ASPECT OF RUSSIAN ECONOMY IS RULED LIKE THAT. NO EXCEPTIONS!

Some years back I would probably have agreed with the rhetorics that puts all the blame on the evil Americans, but in reality, if there are 'enemies of the state', they all live here, in Russia.

Wow that's quite an admission. If the person got caught accepting a bribe, what would happen to them? Can they bribe their way out of trouble?

Scott