by John Tamny
The American Institute for Economic Research
It was recently reported in the New York Times that Russian government debt amounts to 14 trillion rubles. Measured in dollars this number comes out to roughly $190 billion in total debt.
To Democratic politicians who think wealth is a foregone conclusion that can just be taken, the Russians and their leader in Vladimir Putin must come off as rather parsimonious. $190 billion in total debt? By American standards, the 1970s called and wants its economy back.
$190 billion is a rounding error to the U.S.! One imagines Democratic policymakers thinking of the Russians as wildly austere, and the Russian economy as microscopically small as a consequence of government doing so little to “stimulate” it. Call Paul Krugman. The Princeton economist would surely know the answer to the Russian riddle. Start borrowing, and redistributing the fruits of the borrowing, NOW. Don’t the conservative Zombies in Russia get it?