OT - Ruble watching

[kato13]

As a numbers junkie I found the following page fascinating.

http://reports.weforum.org/global-competitiveness-report-2014-2015/economies/#economy=RUS

Each of these numbers ranks a country out of 145 countries which were reviewed.

As far as major nations go, Russia really seems to be lower than I would expect in MANY categories.

The only major categories where it is in the top 30 is market size where it is at 7.

It was at 31 for macro economics, but I think the bottom has dropped out of that category with the drop in oil and the fall of the ruble. To be fair they are probably still ahead of the the US on this one (as the US is very weak in this one category, but is in the top 16 for nine of the other eleven categories)

Its next strongest are Higher Education and Infrastructure (both 39) where solid numbers in Quantity of Education, Railroads, Airplane Seat Miles and mobile phones provide a majority of the strengths.

Then the ratings really drop with every other category being below 45 and an overall numerical average of 61 and their weighted average of 53.

edit changed quality to quantity (they are still following Stalin I guess)

[RN7]

Russia is going down the tubes fast. Remember when Obama hit them with economic sanctions over the Ukraine and the annexation of the Crimea and many thought he was being typically too feeble in responding. It seems he wasn't.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11305146/The-week-the-dam-broke-in-Russia-and-ended-Putins-dreams.html

[kato13]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/e...ns-dreams.html

That was the article that directed me to the page I mentioned above.

The economy is a tangle of bottlenecks. Russia ranks 136 for road quality, 126 for the ability of firms to absorb technology, 124 for availability of the latest technology, 120 for the burden of government regulation, and 105 for product sophistication, in the World Economic Forums index of competitiveness.

These numbers forced me to dig deeper.

[RN7]

That was the article that directed me to the page I mentioned above.



These numbers forced me to dig deeper.

Are you sure it was the same one Kato as its dated the 23rd of December

[RN7]

Some interesting discussion going on about that article in the Telegraph's comments sections. One of the commenters is a well known Chinese propaganda troll who is obviously paid to defend everything about China and its allies with a blind madness from a ChiCom government office in Beijing. Some Russian ones have also joined in to condemn the Western imperialist, they must really be rattled.

[kato13]

Are you sure it was the same one Kato as its dated the 23rd of December

Yep that is the one. (You obviously have not mastered the Flux capacitor).


Actually they probably republished it. (I found a link to the article from the morning of the 22nd here with the quote I used)

Those numbers in the 120s stunned me so I spent quite a bit of time on the WEF site reviewing their methodology and data.

[kato13]

Some interesting discussion going on about that article in the Telegraph's comments sections. One of the commenters is a well known Chinese propaganda troll who is obviously paid to defend everything about China and its allies with a blind madness from a ChiCom government office in Beijing. Some Russian ones have also joined in to condemn the Western imperialist, they must really be rattled.

Yeah I have seen lots of paid Trolls from Russia and a few from China. I think it is funny that they think they are not recognized.

For the most part I try to only follow news sites that allow comments. While you have to wade through a lot of trash, if the author has made a major mistake comments are often the only way to catch it.

[RN7]

That Roman guy reminds me a bit of Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat!

I'm still a bit confused about the Saudi role in all this. It would seem that it is a straight forward survival instinct by Saudi Arabian domination of OPEC to protect itself against US shale by manipulating the price of oil to squeeze the small shale producers out of business. But I'm now not so sure that the US government is not playing a role in this.