Posted on 07/08/2013 9:08:55 PM PDT by cunning_fish
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia cannot afford to keep raising state spending, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, but it must find the money to fulfill the social commitments he made on his return to the Kremlin last year.
Putin, in an annual presentation of the government's three-year budget plan, said that "the possibility of constantly and quickly raising state spending has been exhausted."
The 60-year-old leader won a third presidential term last year with the help of aggressive pre-election spending hikes.
But a slowing economy and falling prices for oil - Russia's main export earner - are now squeezing the public finances, while foreign capital continues to flow out of the country.
The set-piece event offered Putin a chance to persuade investors, who have been selling stocks, bonds and the rouble, that he has a credible development plan after an election season marked by rising urban discontent in Russia.
But Alfa Bank chief economist Natalya Orlova said Putin failed to give much detail on how he would manage trade-offs between investment and social spending. Nor did he outline key targ
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Well comparing that to refrigerators that don’t cool or heaters that don’t heat and the piston’s in their cars don’t ... umm ... you know.
>>>>Well comparing that to refrigerators that don’t cool or heaters that don’t heat and the piston’s in their cars don’t ... umm ... you know.<<<<
Well, at least they still make things.
The best way to stay out of trouble is to approach the edge of it.
Obama will tell him that all he has to do is print more money! Look at how well that is working for Obama in America.
Well, roads are not one of them. Thirty miles outside of Moscow you’re 4wheeling. Okay in summer when it’s dry but in winter before all that rain freezes the roads eat vehicles. No interstate to be found but in and around cities.
>>>>Well, roads are not one of them. Thirty miles outside of Moscow you’re 4wheeling. Okay in summer when it’s dry but in winter before all that rain freezes the roads eat vehicles. No interstate to be found but in and around cities.<<<<
I drove midsize sedan some 700 miles from Yekateringburg to Kazan (Far West Siberia to Tatarstan) in summer 2005. It was bumpy but I did in less than 12 hours, not even a flat tire once.
I drove Yekaterinburg to Pskov and back in 2007 (some 5000 miles). Some parts of the road were perfect, some parts were listed as a six-lane highway on a map but were still under construction (most of St.Petersburg-Pskov route outside Leningrad area) and it was rough ride but I still did it in a fwd WV station wagon. There were some Wild West moments, road signs ridden with bullets in the middle of nowhere etc. Still bearable.
I haven’t driven far away for a long time there, but for a city of Yekaterinburg as for 2013 it is in a state of constant road construction. Already built or recently refurbished streets are nearly perfect so is a single highway I used recently, leading eastwards to airport. It is a six-lane, of German autobahn quality.
It is not a 1941 anymore. AFAIK you can drive from Mocsow to Pacific Coast using paved freeways nowadays.
You had a West Virginia station wagon? Oh geez, the jokes write themselves :P
>>>You had a West Virginia station wagon? Oh geez, the jokes write themselves :P<<<<
I was hurry to type. Read VW Passat Variant:)
oh ok, here I had a vision of a station wagon full of well, you know, west virginians :P
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