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First, you mistake the devaluation of a currency on the market with mass printing, which causes hyper inflation. If anything Russia's inflation has been going down steadily. It was hyperinflationary when the ruble was 5 to a dollar. And for your information, Russia does make things, a lot of them.

I don't understand why you are so negative. Its not your currency. Is it just out of spite? You can say what you want, but almost 4 years of only positive results and sustained growth rates makes the case. The US dollar, by the way, is being steadily devalued. The EU is now worth more then the dollar, by almost 10%.

It is not spite, it is more trying to get policies right. And of course I am very much aware there are inflationists here, too, who are just an order of magnitude slower about trashing the currency. That's more than half the point about debunking inflationist horsefeathers whenever it is peddled; we don't need more of it here.

On other matters, Russia still hasn't paid those it defaulted to, in case you just forgot. A deadbeat should not look around for applause. As for making things, I meant besides Iranian nuclear reactors and giant Iraqi arms caches. Russia doesn't act as a responsible country in the world, so you should not be surprised if it doesn't get a whole lot of respect.

As for Russian consumer price inflation, it has averaged 34% since 1994, which tracks the progressive devaluation rather closely. It has been lower in the last 3 years, primarily because the 98 devaluation "front loaded" a lot of it.

The article wants to make it out as a good thing, that interest rates are 10% while prices go up 15%. Then that gets called "capitalism", when it is confiscation of savings. Capitalism *starts* when the *opposite* relation exists between inflation and interest, when people are paid to save instead of paid to loot savers.