Crap, I know a millionaire in the US with 3 jets. He didn’t even own them all - if you’re well off, jet manufacturers will ‘loan’ you jets long term if your hangar is geographically advantageous to them/their interests.
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One of the interesting things about being that rich is that people and companies start giving and loaning you expensive stuff for free.
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Russia has over $600 billion in foreign reserves and is still selling 4 million barrels daily. The reason that not all four Russian state banks are sanctioned is so the world can continue to pay Russia for that oil to the tune of $400,000,000 every day. Volatility in Russian financial markets aside, the economy in Russia can continue to operate for quite some time before sanctions have a real impact on survival. Sanctions are not complete until Russian oil is banned. But that would make fuel more expensive in the US and winter heating more expensive in Europe (or even cause heating and/or power blackouts, potentially) so it is not on the table now.
The wealthy oligarchs are screaming because they have assets that are impacted by sanctions and their wealth is tied to fluctuating market valuations. It’s not clear that these sanctions are having an impact on average folks, or Putin himself.
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There are still good billionaires in this world. /s
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Putin’s going to throw them into the goulash with his sangria laws.
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I think this is a great idea, but the fact that GQP recommends it makes me very suspicious…
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“Peace is very important!
NegotiationsWithdrawl, and reparations need to start as soon as possible!”
There you go Deripaska, I fixed it for you.
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IIRC we import only 5% of our oil from Russia, so it isn’t like it is a huge amount in the grand scheme of things.
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The point on increasing domestic production is to allow for cutting Russia off without significantly reducing global supply. This is intended to kneecap Russia’s last source of income without producing too big of a shock in price/barrel.
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Western governments, including Germany, seem to realise that the countering threat posed by Putin means that they’re going to have to take a hit on higher prices for fossil fuels. What’s holding them back from a full implementation of a shutout from SWIFT are the demands of the trans-national oil companies, who unfortunately call the shots there and mainly want large outstanding transactions settled.
Putin on a personal level? Definitely not. Average Russians, though? They’re about to see a return to the economic privations of the 1990s (that many of them remember) after a decade or two of enjoying the benefits of international trade. They know Putin’s war will be the cause.
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dirt? fill it with pig excrement instead
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The likely problem is that the Texas and Oklahoma refineries could be doing more right now to produce more oil and getting an ok return on their investments, but they are going to leverage this situation to remove additional hurdles or even get subsidies to increase production. Let the tax payer pay for private investments!
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My (possibly incorrect) understanding is that even if cost was no object and other countries stepped up production significantly, it would still be logistically very difficult or perhaps impossible in the short term for certain countries in Europe to physically import the same amount of energy from non-Russian sources because all the infrastructure is built up around the pipeline distribution system.
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See Ted Cruz. One would have to believe that he was pinning sanctions on the Nord Stream pipeline for no other reason than to shill Texas Tea and Gas.
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Anyone know how much of Russia’s state wealth fund is held inside Russia or controlled by Russian banks? Any themoney held outside the country is effectively out of reach to them.
Significant developments in Germany - there’s been an announcement that they will build two LNG terminals to supply the country; and the holding company for Nord Stream 2 (which is headquartered in Switzerland), filed for bankruptcy yesterday. That’s another lot of oligarchs feeling the pain.
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I think immediately would be better than Vlad’s timetable. Plus I would add the Russians also need to leave behind a big fat check for war reparations (in a currency that’s worth something, and a note of congratulations on the memo line saying ‘early congratulations for your inevitable accession to NATO’)
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Tactics he learned in the MSG.
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The Gazpacho Police…
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I don’t think the boosting production domestically is… I’d like if we used this as an opportunity to finally start shifting. It’s gonna be painful anyway, so why not get started sooner rather than later.
They are just using this as an excuse to push for giving more subsidies to fossil fuel companies… our very own oligarchs.
A more urgent switch to alternative fuels would be a better long term solution, given the centrality of oil to Russia’s overall economic well-being.
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