Posted on 02/16/2024 5:55:52 AM PST by marcusmaximus
I can remember when Mikhail Gorbachev visited America for the first time in 1988 the American media fawned and slobbered all over him, and treated his arrival in DC in similar fashion as when the Beatles first came here in 1964. It is amazing how the MSM has turned against its old ally. Russian authoritarians never bothered them until Putin came along!
He could do it, but since grocery stores make only 1-2% profit the only way would be to nationalize all grocery stores.
Then we could get that 75% savings - but the downside is the lines would be long on the few days they were open, and the shelves would often be empty.
But that 75% grocery savings could be a slogan for JoeB’s reelection campaign. To go with his Russian-nukes-in-space and new-Palestinian-state and abortion-on-demand-up-to-birth ideas.
Yeah. probably not a place I’d want to go so maybe not the best of looks for Tucker
On the other hand, back in the bad old days of the USSR we loved to contrast American supermarkets with Russian bread lines.
Now in the US we have inflation cutting into food budgets, Biden “shrinkflation” and food deserts in minority dominated areas due to stores fleeing rampant theft and the dangers of violent crime.
And our elites are actively pushing policies and laws to destroy farming and food production in general so food lines for anything but bugs are definitely in our future if things keep going the way they are going.
And it looks like Russia is doing better these days.
Might be nice to ponder
As Tucker Carlson talks about feeling “radicalized against western leadership,” I find myself rolling my eyes and saying, “welcome to the party pal.” But seriously, it’s good to see him awakening more people.
When I began talking about the western created propaganda in 2023 people had a difficult time understanding it. {GO DEEP} As I began researching and explaining the futility and fraud of the Western sanctions against Russia, the confusion expanded. {GO DEEP}
Nothing makes sense until you realize we are being lied to by every element of Western review, government, media, corporations, academia, financial punditry, the works… all of their claims are based on lies and false information.
Tucker Carlson visits a grocery store in Russia {Direct Rumble Link} and immediately starts to get red-pilled on the truth.
WATCH:
Tucker Carlson: Moscow Supermarket In 2024... Sanctions & All
Keep in mind that Carlson is only looking at the ‘goods’ side of the ledger. On the ‘service’ side, the disparity in pricing is beyond jaw-dropping. {Example: A 30-mile cab ride for $5}.
From a production side perspective, Russia actually has a larger economy now than Germany, the largest EU nation. The cause for this is “autarchy” or self-sufficiency. Indeed, as the timeline of the sanctions completes the second full year, the Russian production economy is even stronger than when the sanctions began. Quite simply, they are making even more of their own goods now.
The sanctions typically fall into the service side of the economy, as well as financial and economic roadblocks. However, that aspect of the Russian economy was much smaller than most suspected and there were sanctions going back to 2014 which made the outcome of the 2022 western imposed restrictions far less impactful.
I’m very serious when I share with people that almost everything we understand about the geopolitical purposes and impacts of sanctions against Russian economic interests is entirely fabricated. However, because the scale of the propaganda against us is so effective, breaking the mental/cognitive barrier is almost impossible.
It’s not that situations are ‘shaped’ or information is ‘manipulated,’ as in the definition of the term “disinformation.” But rather the entire construct of reality regarding the economic issues -as presented- is fabricated, created by massive financial interests, and flat-out lies; I mean, total unadulterated nonsense. Complete fiction.
This article from Reuters, and the accompanying graphic from ZeroHedge, only scratches the surface.
[SOURCE]
We are through the looking glass folks. Literally captive to the narrative as sold by our Western government officials, and there’s a huge one-way mirror; beyond which, massive segments of the grey zone are looking at us as if we are pathetic victims of professional propaganda.
The worst part of this dynamic is how the USA looks insufferably weak, because we are playing this massive game of pretending that only the Yellow Zone is participating in.
MOSCOW, Dec 27 (Reuters) – Almost all of Russia’s oil exports this year have been shipped to China and India, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday, after Moscow responded to Western economic sanctions by quickly rerouting supplies away from Europe.
Russia has successfully circumvented sanctions on its oil and diverted flows from Europe to China and India, which together accounted for around 90% of its crude exports, Novak, who is in charge of the country’s energy sector, told Rossiya-24 state TV.
He said that Russia had already started to forge ties with Asia-Pacific countries before the West introduced sanctions against Moscow following the start of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022.
“As for those restrictions and embargoes on supplies to Europe and the U.S. that were introduced… this only accelerated the process of reorienting our energy flows,” Novak said.
He said that Europe’s share of Russia’s crude exports has fallen to only about 4-5% from about 40-45%. (read more)
What Alexander Novak shares is stunningly accurate, only the ramifications are far more serious. This is why I am spending so much time trying to break the issue down into digestible portions.
Russia and Iran are now trading oil (and other things) in their own national currencies, not the petrodollar. This is the epicenter of a process initially triggered by the BRICS economic alliance and is now taking place in real time while the proverbial WEST pretends it is not happening. Now, it might sound esoteric, as if it is a disconnected or academic issue that doesn’t have real substantive ramifications, but that’s not true.
I can literally see how global trade is now cost-shifting as the dollar starts to weaken (become less used) as a trade currency. Again, like our domestic social issues, this de-dollarization process is “slowly at first,” but eventually this is going to come all at once.
As USA consumers we cannot see it yet, because we are inside an economic system that is entirely dependent on dollars. However, as the devaluation of the dollar continues slowly to happen, outside our dollar-based economy, the cost of goods, products and stuff in the ordinary life of people within the GREY ZONE is now stunningly less. It’s not showing up in currency markets (dollar -vs- fill_in_blank), because the currency trades are not part of the trade/cost dynamic outside the YELLOW ZONE.
Go into the grey zone and compare the price of “product X” to what you would pay in the United States for “product X”, and you will see the difference in the end consumer price is starting to widen faster. Identical goods in the USA cost much more than goods outside the “west.”
As the de-dollarization continues (mostly driven by the lessening of oil sold using the petrodollar), the disparity in price will get even more stark. As a result of this dynamic, wages in the USA (or the “west”) must necessarily rise faster; however, that’s only part of the issue.
If I took $200 into a Russian supermarket, buying only consumable food products, I would end up with about 3 shopping carts full of food. Take that same $200 into the average USA supermarket and you get one shopping cart or less. This is the scale of what is likely to happen in durable goods. The “cleaving” is underway.
Let me say that again, the “cleaving” of dollar-based price/value is underway.
Starbucks pulled out of Russia. The building still exists, the furniture still there, the equipment still there, just a different name, “Star Coffee” lolol. Starbucks is roughly $6 for whatever, the StarCoffee is $1. Same stuff. A cab/uber ride in USA might be $25, or in EU might be €30, but outside the yellow zone around $6 to $10/max. It’s getting crazy how big the difference is.
Now, the price disparity is not in everything, only in the products that do not originate from inside the yellow zone. The increased price of the yellow zone goods transfers into the grey zone when the product is moved. However, if the yellow zone and grey zone both produce an identical product (or service), that’s when you see the massive difference in price. [And no, this is not a lower cost labor issue]
Conversely, prices of goods originating from the grey zone shipped to the yellow zone will be far less than the comparable product created from within the yellow zone.
What is going to happen?
I suspect we are going to import even more products from the grey zone at a greater rate, because there’s a lower origination price and greater opportunity for profit. Wait and see.
China needs energy, Russia needs computer chips and tech. They are trading thusly. Now watch… if the sanctions are ever lifted, we will start importing Russian made electronic goods, because less expensive. It’s nuts.
The cost of the groceries are what they are. The salaries in the US and Russia are what they are.
Are we saying that our food prices are boosted or lowered based on what my salary is?
Shouldn’t they be at market price?
For example, is the spot price of oil on the open market different in different countries? Yesterday, it was approximately $80. But, if my wages are lower in Russia, can I buy a barrel of oil for $30?
Is an ounce of gold $2000 in the USA but only $600 in Russia? But a pound of flat iron steak can be $15 in the USA and only $4 in Russia. Wonder how that works???
Nonsense. That wouldn't even pay for the gas - oh, wait. They produce their own.
“What jacks my jaw is seeing all those Californians and East coasters coming to Texas and marvel at the cost of homes.”
With ad valorum taxation governments have an incentive to drive up housing prices.
In the UK houses are taxed based on what they would have cost in 1994. Instead of having to reassess every house every year, the tax assessor only has to assess the value of new houses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_Tax
He has revealed himself to be a foreign policy ass. How can a guy so smart on domestic policy be so stupid on foreign affairs?
His point is that despite the sanctions, average Russians can still get what they need while US citizens can’t afford McDonald’s and friggin eggs and bread are barely affordable.
Haven’t seen anyone mention cost of Labor between Russia and the US.
No the cost of groceries should not be different based on your own personal paycheck.
But the cost of doing business are probably very different in the US versus Russia.
Much of the cost of buying groceries or any other product is paying the labor cost of the hired help who run the store.
If American grocery stores could pay their labor 1/6 of what they are paying them now, undoubtedly grocery prices at the retail level would be a good bit less than they are now.
—> Well, the average Russian salary is less than 1/6 the average American salary, but the food cost is 1/4 of America’s, so their grocery bills, relative to their earning power, are even more onerous than ours.Tucker is an idiot here.
The American filled the cart with everything they eat each week in America to get a financial cost comparison they could make sense of.
It was 1/4 as much as the Americans pay at home.
Russians do not eat as Americans do.
It is worth watching.
“a grocery store, paid a utility bill or bought gas”
The things that are not bought everyday are even more shocking - pickup trucks, houses in areas with a large percent of jobs paid by salary with high salaries, drugs, health insurance, new kitchens & baths, etc.
Who is not in the top 10?? Oh my god, us the US.
Well where is the US ranked in terms of standard of living
Nuber 21? Shirley, that can't be right can it?
You can argue about all of it, but the obvious thing is that no one ranks us anywhere near number one any more. We have slipped a lot and are slippping fast down the list year by year. The first derivative of the US position by year is on a slippery slope to hell.
Like I said, there is a huge difference between what Tucker said and what folks are saying he said. There are places in remote parts of America where folks have never heard of sushi and can’t afford it too.
“Tucker is an idiot here.”
I was in Matamoros, Mexico about 15 years ago and visited a supermarket.
The produce was about half the price it would have been in America.
So if Russian food prices are much less, it is nice knowing that.
You seem to have a lot of issues and complaints boiling in a single stewpot.
Which do you think is better for most children in each country, Russian public schooling or American public schooling?
Because there all part of rancid stew that the Zeepers have cooked up.
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