The Russian drama seems to intensify with each passing hour.
I certainly have my opinion on the matter, as, no doubt, do you. But it’s not my opinion that I want to share with you today. Instead, I want to share two charts that may well shed new light on recent events…
Here’s the first. I warn you, it’s shocking.
As you can see, Russia’s workforce growth rolled over around 2010 and now faces one of the steepest collapses I’ve seen in any country!
Demographically speaking, Russia is up the creek without a paddle. It’s already experiencing tremendous economic pain and faces a worsening situation with each day that passes.
Here’s the second chart, equally shocking…
This is Russia’s spending wave. It looks like a cross section of the Ural Mountains that run through the west of the country. And it’s going to devastate the country’s economy for decades to come… over and over and over again.
In short, the country is in dire shape and it’s led by a megalomaniac who’s desperate to show strength to hide the reality that there is none. It’s like a scrawny, weak, cartoon character who’s wearing an inflatable muscle suit (both Putin and Russia!).
Russian possible interference in our political affairs, and its “silent” invasion of surrounding territories, are desperate attempts to escape its demographic destiny.
There’s also an attempt by the country’s oligarchy to grab has much power and wealth as they can before the wheels come off.
In a July 16 interview on CNN, William Browder, co-founder of a firm that at one time was the largest foreign portfolio investor in Russia, talked about the country’s top-down, mafia-like oligarchy of 10,000 people who have all the money and power. He estimates Putin’s net worth, taking a cut off of this oligarchy, at around $200 billion – twice that of Bill Gates. He makes Chapo, the Mexican drug lord, look like a chump!
Putin is the Godfather of Russia. He benefits from the top-down communist system.
That makes him dangerous!
The country is a ticking time bomb.
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