Congratulations to all Americans!

[antiquark]

Did they SUBSIDIZE the price or did they REGULATE it?

They actually regulated the prices.

(In hindsight it was a stupid idea.)

 

[Olsen]

They actually regulated the prices.

(In hindsight it was a stupid idea.)

A lot of nations 'regulate' the gasoline price. When the oil price hit 147$ a barrel I was in Singapore. The Strait Times wrote an article with a list of countries with regulated petrol prices. The countries I remember are: Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, the Emirates, Barein, Jordan, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Buthan, Pakistan, Russia, Vietnam, China, Nigeria, etc. etc.

Regulating the domestic petrol price is one thing.

Quite another is to 'subsidise' other export with 'cheap' crude oil. This is practised by most of the countries on the list above (with exception of Russia which practices a hefty 'export tax'). It is impossible to compete with this practice.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Olsen,

Does Russia have an export tax on everything they export, or just oil? I can see having such a tax on rare natural resources like oil, where few other countries can supply it. If its on manufactured goods, I'd think it would make it impossible for Russian factories to compete with those from other countries. Russian wages are probably a lot higher than Chinese wages, for example, so increasing costs of Russian goods still further would be bad I'd think.

 

[Olsen]

Olsen,

Does Russia have an export tax on everything they export, or just oil? I can see having such a tax on rare natural resources like oil, where few other countries can supply it. If its on manufactured goods, I'd think it would make it impossible for Russian factories to compete with those from other countries. Russian wages are probably a lot higher than Chinese wages, for example, so increasing costs of Russian goods still further would be bad I'd think.

Russia is in a process of changing the 'tax subject' from 'things' to 'human individuals' and 'companies'. But just everything - also manufactured goods, that is exported have to 'carry' this 'export tax'.

A typical example is the Lomo cameras. They were originally produced at the large Lomo facility in St. Petersburg. - I have been to this plant in 94. Then they were still producing the Lomo cameras, but production is now moved to China.

Further: It is of no use for the Russians - 145 million people, to do any more than just utilize their huge (look at the map!) fortune of natural resources. Any large manufactoring production of consumer goods is a waste of human resources. They are quite good at producing weapons, though.

 

[Spoks]

You should tell everyone here, Olsen, that we Norwegians are remembering the German attack on Norway, the 9th of April, 1940 today. A national trauma. Like Pearl Harbour.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Russia is in a process of changing the 'tax subject' from 'things' to 'human individuals' and 'companies'. But just everything - also manufactured goods, that is exported have to 'carry' this 'export tax'.

A typical example is the Lomo cameras. They were originally produced at the large Lomo facility in St. Petersburg. - I have been to this plant in 94. Then they were still producing the Lomo cameras, but production is now moved to China.

Further: It is of no use for the Russians - 145 million people, to do any more than just utilize their huge (look at the map!) fortune of natural resources. Any large manufactoring production of consumer goods is a waste of human resources. They are quite good at producing weapons, though.

The USA is very wealthy in natural resources too but we cannot survive on that. Our population is over 300 million and we have less land than Russia but I doubt they can live entirely off resource extraction. I thought Russia had more people, but maybe I was thinking of Soviet times when all the parts that are independent were counted.

 

[Olsen]

The USA is very wealthy in natural resources too but we cannot survive on that. Our population is over 300 million and we have less land than Russia but I doubt they can live entirely off resource extraction. I thought Russia had more people, but maybe I was thinking of Soviet times when all the parts that are independent were counted.

The old Sovjet Union possibly was twice as large. The Russian population is actually even lower: Only 140 million people, according to CIA. According to CIA, it seems that unemployment is far lower in Russia than in USA. The workforce is 75 million or more than 53%. That is high with such an old population.

The living standard in Russia is still far behind USA. But this is mainly due to housing. While most Americans have their own independent houses, Russians live in cramped apartments. But they have access to cheap heating, car petrol and a basic health care system, close to free high education and a reasonable pension system.

 

[Spoks]

Since we are discussing wealth distribution, it should be said that Russia is even far worse than USA. People live in deep poverty alongside billionaires that have become some of the world's richest men in less than 20 years.

 

[Olsen]

You forgot about the unions and their demands for higher and higher wages.



Probably not. Maybe it has something to do with workers in Vietnam making $3 a day, or Chinese making a dollar an hour.

I don't think that it is just wages that makes the difference between US and China. It is, as I have mentioned, also other cost factors. Like unfair trade practices. Like selling raw materials to far lower prices than their value on the international market.

Typical industrial wages in US is far lower than, say Sweden or Germany (no 2 exporter in the world). But with health care costs included you are no longer competitive. With the US health care cost standing at 16% of GDP - and covering about 1/3 of the population, it is out-of-this-world expensive. Something like three times as expensive as the German, at only 8% of GDP - but which covers everybody.

 

[Spoks]

Apropos wealth distribution

Apropos wealth distribution

Look up this statistics on personal income in USA.

http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/pi/pinewsrelease.htm

 

[Olsen]

The SEC (the US Security and Exchange Commission) has filed a civil case against Goldman Sachs charging 'fraudulent misconduct'. Strangely, it is not the infamous Goldman Sachs CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, that raked in 100 million $ in salary plus stocks as bonus in 2007 that id charged. Nor is John Paulson indicted, who 'composed' the CDO in question, picking out all the rotten apples he could find, betting against the market and pocketing a billion US$ in the trade. He is the 45th richest man in the world. The only one indicted is a 30 year old Goldman Sachs trader. - Like charging an individual Toyota salesman for faulty accelerators....

Typically, this case gets little coverage by main stream media over here in Europe. Which shows which far reaching powers Goldman Sachs have in the world. Despite that the Norwegian Pension fund owns a huge part of Goldman Sachs and the Swedish financier family Wallenberg sit at the GS board of directors. - Or, may be just because of this.

If this story is true, that is now being unfolded before our eyes, it proves that Wall Street moguls ran the US economy deliberately into the ground, just to make a few more bucks. It shows that their service to the society is worse than worthless. It should be stopped, money confiscated and put into investments creating jobs and a sustainable income for the 50 to 100 million Americans unemployed, underemployed or underpaid.