17 replies to this topic

[Rogerdodger]

Dr. Alexander Elder:

Back in 1998 my book Rubles to Dollars was published in New York. It ended with this paragraph:

"The Russians are poor today. They are working hard, pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, rushing ahead at such speed that wind blows back their hair. They are coming up from behind, heading into a boom. When they start buying American movie studios, banks, and choice real estate, people will stop, think, and say: Russians are smart. By then you may be driving a Russian car or working for a Russian international firm. When that happens, remember - you read it here first. Meanwhile, do yourself and your kids a favor and buy some Russian stocks."

...the RTS (Russian Trading System) has risen from about 100 at the time the book was published to near 2,200 today - a 22-fold increase in 9 years. Anyone who took the advice of the book must be a happy camper. Many people at that time labeled the 1998 crisis the death of the Russian economy, but now it clearly appears to have been a bump in the road.

"Many people at that time labeled the 1998 crisis the death of the Russian economy"
I remember saying that!

[ogm]

Dr. Alexander Elder:

Back in 1998 my book Rubles to Dollars was published in New York. It ended with this paragraph:

"The Russians are poor today. They are working hard, pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, rushing ahead at such speed that wind blows back their hair. They are coming up from behind, heading into a boom. When they start buying American movie studios, banks, and choice real estate, people will stop, think, and say: Russians are smart. By then you may be driving a Russian car or working for a Russian international firm. When that happens, remember - you read it here first. Meanwhile, do yourself and your kids a favor and buy some Russian stocks."

...the RTS (Russian Trading System) has risen from about 100 at the time the book was published to near 2,200 today - a 22-fold increase in 9 years. Anyone who took the advice of the book must be a happy camper. Many people at that time labeled the 1998 crisis the death of the Russian economy, but now it clearly appears to have been a bump in the road.

"Many people at that time labeled the 1998 crisis the death of the Russian economy"
I remember saying that!

Russians are still poor.

Aside from a small group in Moscow and a few natural resource centers that has control on distribution of the natural resources the population is poor as dirt.

I think the statistics are... 2% of the population are rich to mega rich, another 10% or so are the service industry around these 2%, and 80+% are dirt poor.

Russian population is shrinking at about 1.5 mil a year on average as families aren't giving birth to children due to economic uncertainty.

Putin makes speaches that women need to give birth to children, because soon there won't be enough soldiers to guard borders. Hilarious stuff.

As usual, it has nothing to do with the stock market

Edited by ogm, 17 October 2007 - 09:20 PM.

[atlasshrugged]

Russians are still poor.

Aside from a small group in Moscow and a few natural resource centers that has control on distribution of the natural resources the population is poor as dirt.

I think the statistics are... 2% of the population are rich to mega rich, another 10% or so are the service industry around these 2%, and 80+% are dirt poor.

Russian population is shrinking at about 1.5 mil a year on average as families aren't giving birth to children due to economic uncertainty.

Putin makes speaches that women need to give birth to children, because soon there won't be enough soldiers to guard borders. Hilarious stuff.

Kind of like US!!! Doesnt 2% of the U. S population have 90% of the wealth? the other 90% (including me) just live like we are rich !!

[vitaminm]

HOW RICH ARE YOU?

http://globalrichlist.com/
http://www.globalrichlist.com/how.html

Edited by vitaminm, 17 October 2007 - 10:14 PM.

[youmast]

Russians are still poor.

Hilarious stuff.

These idiotic statements make me laugh.... When you talk about another country, please be sure to visit that place at least couple of times a year, or better to live there for a couple of years.

Yes, Russians are still poor. What does "poor" means? "Poor" has a quite different definition for different groups of people.

In a circle of my friends I consider myself as a “poor guy”. I drink vodka, drive Mercedes (Aston Martin on weekend), and I make an average a million per year. They drink Shateau Margaux, drive Bentley every day, and make $10-20 mil per year as the CEOs of the biggest investment companies in Russia. But they don’t own these companies. They consider themselves as “poor guys” compare to their employers, who make a billion per year.

Let’s go lower, much lower… My wife’s sister works for $500 a month in the shop. This “poor girl” has no debts, and her apartment in Moscow cost $1mil. She can sell it, and buy something cheaper in Paris or Boston. This kind of situation has almost any family in Russia. Yes, they’re poor, but unlike Americans, they’re free of debts. And this is a key!

Why Russians are poor? It’s because they don’t know how to use the FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS. First thing I learned in America, “Oh, you need a CREDIT HISTORY!” I took $300K mortgage at 7% on a house I bought, having $1mil on CD account at 5.5%. Idiot!

Why Americans are rich? Are they? Are their books having a positive balance? No. I guess they will be much poorer than Russians if they pay off their debts first.

But America is a smart country because it borrows the money from all over the world. Yeah, it looks rich having as much as $48 TRILLIONS in debts (and soaring). Americans are smart because they borrow the money from the US banks. Yeah, they look rich borrowing $160,000 an average per man (and soaring). Hilarious stuff. I like this country.

[BigBadBear]

Highest increasing Aids rate in the world rivaling India, super high crime rate with massive security industry, low birth rate[below replacement], a short guy president with a chip on his shoulder, cash rich due to $90 oil, over 20,000 nuclear war heads[with a 1972 inventory system]...........all of this and ' aint no brothas or homies' to blame either..... ,,..must be da ebonics All I know is no thanks to Moscow for me...mayb South Africa instead...oops seems like more the same there

[youmast]

Are you talking about Russia?

Russian AIDS ranked at the 57th place versus 69th place for the USA.

http://en.wikipedia....prevalence_rate

Yes, Russian birth rate is low. As much low as in any European or N.American country in the world. I guess, it's a "trend". Make love, no war!

http://en.wikipedia....s_by_birth_rate

I would not discuss crime and military stuff. Both Russia and the US have plenty of dat shyt.

As of Presidents... well, it's even more clear question... I would rather be "short", than "dumb".

Edited by youmast, 18 October 2007 - 05:14 AM.

[BigBadBear]

I would laugh at you using wikipedia.org as your source but just to point out that I am refering to infection rate as per :

"Russia is on the cusp of a catastrophe. The UNAIDS report published yesterday says the global rate of new HIV infections peaked in the 1990s. In Russia, the rate of infection continues to accelerate faster than most other countries in the world."

http://news.independ...ticle622116.ece

[ogm]

Russians are still poor.

Hilarious stuff.

These idiotic statements make me laugh.... When you talk about another country, please be sure to visit that place at least couple of times a year, or better to live there for a couple of years.

Yuri, I lived there

What you're talking about is Moscow and a very select group of people. Corporate CEO's.. haha.. thats a good indication of the country wellbeing.

I've graduated from the top banking school and most of my friends are in Banking on VP and above levels. And building out mansions on Rubliovka. And they keep telling me how great is in Russia now.
Yeah, Rubliovka is great, but it isn't Russia

Notice that your sister or whoever makes 500 bucks a month. Moscow is one of the most expensive cities in the world. Is that enough for her ? or she can barely make ends meet on 500 bucks ?

Her Apartment in Moscow may be expensive, but her cousin's Apartment in Bobruysk-23 or some other sh*thole somewhere isn't worth a single dime. Because the only factory that serviceed the place is long gone, there are no jobs, food gets delivered there rarely, and no one wants to live there.

Moscow isn't indicative of Russia. Everyone who has a little bit of money moves to Moscow. Nothing else is happening in the rest of Russia.

Whats the unemployment rate in Russia ? about 20% at least ? Why is the population shrinking ? Because of good things happening in the country ?

Yes, America has its own problems, and it isn't perfect. But this isn't the topic.

Edited by ogm, 18 October 2007 - 05:42 AM.

[youmast]

Oups, good point. It's a sad news for Russia indeed. But it also tells that Russians have a pretty healty sexual relationship. Just kidding Look, what's your point? I would not expect any good news from "The Independent". I'm sick of that "stone age" view on Russia. It's just like in Soviet Union 30 yrs ago. I remember how "Pravda" has described "other world" in 1970's. I thought that only families like Ozzy and Sharon Osbourn live in the capitalist states... full of drugs, gangsters and prostitutes on the streets. Here's my advice. Buy a ticket, and visit Russia. Let's talk after.