Word: oiling
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This all amounts to the first serious test of "Putinomics" - the domestic policies put in place by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during the two terms of his presidency from 2000 to 2008, and continued by his successor, President Dmitri Medvedev. While oil money was pouring into the state's coffers, the Kremlin was able to dispense largesse to ordinary Russians through generous social spending programs and hefty pay raises awarded by the monolithic state companies that dominate the economy. Jobs were plentiful, and over the past five years, average wages have risen by 25% annually. Even then there was money...
...want to take the pulse of Russia, as its oil and gas boom of the past few years comes to a sudden and wrenching stop, leave behind the garish consumerism of Moscow and drive 220 miles (354 km) southwest to the small Russian town of Lyudinovo. For the first part of the five-hour trip the road is a smooth four-lane highway that whisks you past gleaming gas stations and a brand new Samsung TV factory. Then everything slows down. The highway turns single-track and becomes progressively rougher. For the last 20 miles, you bump along the ruts...
...them state-controlled, appear to have largely avoided the toxic assets that have been the downfall of so many of their counterparts in the U.S. and Western Europe. Yet Russia has been caught unawares by the domino effect of the financial crisis because of its unhealthy overdependence on oil, gas and metals, which account for more than three-quarters of export earnings. The collapse in energy and commodity prices since this summer is exposing Russia's fragility: the boom, it turns out, was built on expensive oil, and precious little else. Economic growth, which averaged more than...
Today, Russia's finances look a lot less robust. The government budget was based on oil at $70 per barrel, way above the current ? level, and it will consequently swing into deficit next year for the first time since 2001. The stock market has dropped more than 70% in the past year, as the nation's business élite dumped stocks to repay the huge loans they took out to finance acquisitions in Russia and abroad. Capital is fleeing - investors have pulled about $190 billion out of Russia since August - and the ruble is under pressure...
...only good economic news lately has been the collapse of oil prices. At the beginning of July, just five months ago, the price of a barrel of was more than $140. By the beginning of December, it was down to about $45. That's a drop of more than two-thirds. In the U.S., we consume about 15 million bbl. of crude a day. The saving of $95 per bbl. adds up to more than $500 billion a year. That's big - enough to bail out the auto industry 15 times...